1. Nabatu, daughter of the blacksmith
How many troubles have beset you in life!

2. How often have I blamed and reproached you in vain,
Saying, "What lies people spread about you!"

3. You are but a bride on her wedding day,
Adorned on the dais with splendid robes.

4. As for Nabatu, now she is stained with henna,
Her hair parted and washed with bán.

5. She pleaded the henna as her excuse,
But I said, "Do not make vain excuses."

6. These adornments are out of frivolity and nonsense,
Not, as you claimed, kohl around your eyes.

7. She claimed an eye inflammation as her excuse,
So I said, "What excuse for your soaked hair?"

8. She said it rained on us, but I told her,
"Why then are your polished undergarments wet?"

9. She said she carried a load and it weighed her down,
That this loincloth would not release her pants.

10. She admitted she was overcome with desire,
So I said, "This is your adultery, enough of lies!"

11. The donkey slipped and thus met its fate—
An evil donkey falls into the mud.