Speak Bird Speak Again

by Folktales

  The third and fifth tales are concerned with the relationship of fathers and sons. Both illustrate the sons struggle to achieve independence by challenging the authority of the father. In the third tale, "Precious One and Worn-out One," the father is shown as being a deceitful tyrant who resents the sons courage and independence and attempts to compete with him sexually. By overcoming the father, the son succeeds in demonstrating his maturity and achieving independence. Similarly, in the fifth tale, "The Golden Pail," the son proves himself worthy of inheriting his father's kingdom by meeting his uncle's challenge. Here the co-wives also compete, wishing their respective children to inherit the throne. In particular, it is the rejected co-wife who urges her son to challenge the father and who provides him with the means to achieve success, thereby vindicating her position in the family. In a polygynous situation, the struggle over inheritance starts very early in the marriage; indeed, often the main worry of a first wife and her children is to prevent the father from marrying again because of concern over inheritance. Although the stake in the last tale is the entire kingdom, the struggle over a family's small piece of land could be just as intense.

  SIBLINGS

  6.

  Half-a-Halfling

  TELLER: Allah has spoken and His word is a blessing!

  AUDIENCE: Blessings abound, Allah willing!

  Once upon a time there was a man who was married to two women. One of them was his first cousin and the other was a stranger, and neither of them could get pregnant.

  "I'm going to visit the sheikh," he said to himself one day, "and maybe for the sake of Allah he'll give me some medicine to make these women conceive." He went to the sheikh and said, "I want you to give me a medicine that'll make my wives get pregnant."

  "Go to such and such a mountain," the sheikh advised, "and there you'll find a ghoul. Say to him, 'I want two pomegranates to feed my wives so they can get pregnant,' and see what he says to you."

  The man went forth, and came upon the ghoul, He approached him immediately, shaved his beard, trimmed his eyebrows, and said, "Peace to you!"

  "And to you, peace!" replied the ghoul. "Had not your salaam come before your request, I would've munched your bones so loud my brother who lives on the next mountain would've heard it. What do you want?"

  The man told him what he wanted, and the ghoul said, "Go to the next mountain over there, and you'll find my elder brother. Ask him, and he'll tell you what to do."

  The man went to the next mountain over and found the ghoul. He did with him as he had done with his brother. Then he said, "Peace to you!"

  "And to you, peace? replied the ghoul. "Had not your salaam come before your request, I would've munched your bones so loud my sister who lives on the next mountain would've heard it. What can I do for you?" The man told him what he wanted, and the ghoul said, "Go to my sister on the next mountain over there, and she'll tell you what to do."

  The man did as he was told, and found the ghouleh grinding wheat, her breasts thrown over her shoulders. He came forward and sucked on her fight breast, then on her left. After he did this, he put a handful of her flour in his mouth.

  "You've sucked at my fight breast," declared the ghouleh, "and now you're dearer to me than my son Ismain. You've sucked at my left breast, and now you're dearer than my son Nassar. And now that you've eaten my flour, you're dearer than my own children. What can I do for you?"

  "I want two pomegranates to feed my wives so they can have children," he answered.

  "Go to that orchard over there," she said. "You'll find a ghoul sleeping, using one ear for a mattress and the other for a blanket. Pick two pomegranates and run away as fast as you can."

  Having done as he was told, the man took the two pomegranates and started on his way home.

  As he was traveling, he became hungry. "I'm going to eat part of my

  cousin's pomegranate," he thought to himself. "She's my cousin and won't get angry if I offer her only half a pomegranate."

  When he reached home, he gave his other wife the whole pomegranate and his cousin the hale They became pregnant at the same time. The stranger gave birth to twin boys, and he called one Hasan and the other Husen. His cousin gave birth to half a human being, and they called him Half-a-Halfling.

  The boys grew up. One day they told their father they wanted to go hunting. Hasan and Husen said they each wanted a mare and a gun, and the father consented and granted them their wish. Half-a-Halfling said he wanted a lame and mangy she-goat and a wooden poker. He got what he had asked for, and the boys all set out together to hunt. Hasan and Husen fired their shotguns, but they did not hit anything. Half-a-Halfling, meanwhile, would lie in wait on the ground until the deer came near, then he would hit and break their legs.

  "Give us the deer you've hunted," said Hasan and Husen, "so we can take them home and say we killed them."

  "All fight," he replied, "but on one condition only. I'll heat my brand, and brand each of you on the backside."

  They agreed, and he branded both of them. They took the deer and gave them to their mother, who cooked them and threw away the bones at the doorstep of Half-a-Halfling's mother. She started to cry. When Half-a-Halting saw her crying, he asked, "Why are you crying?"

  "Look!" she answered. "Your brothers Hasan and Husen were able to hunt deer, but not you."

  "What!" he cried. "Do you think they killed the deer? You'd better go and see my brand on their behinds." His mother went, and she could see the brand.

  The following day they went hunting again. The sun set while they were still away from town. They came to another town and found no one there except a ghouleh chasing a rooster.

  "Welcome to my nephews!" she said when she saw them. Tying their horses and the she-goat in front of the house, she invited them in, and made dinner and fed them.

  "What do your horses eat?" she asked.

  "They eat hulled barley and pure milk," they answered. She brought feed for the horses. Then she asked Half-a-Halfling, "What does your she-goat eat?"

  "Bran left over from sifting," he answered, "and water left over from kneading."

  She put food in front of the she-goat and laid out bedding for the brothers to sleep on. Hasan and Husen went to sleep on the floor, but Half-a-Halfling said, "I can't sleep on the floor." Seeing a reed basket hanging from the ceiling, he said, "I'll sleep in this basket. But first you must give me a waterskin and a handful of lava beans for munching." He pierced the waterskin and hung it above his head and let it drip on him, as he sat in the basket munching the fava beans.

  In a while the ghouleh, thinking they were asleep, started jumping around and singing, "O my teeth get sharper and sharper, for Hasan and Husen his brother!" Now, Half-a-Halfling was awake, and he heard her.

  "How am I going to sleep?" he said. "And how am I going to sleep, when my belly has no food in it to keep?"

  "What do you want to eat?" asked the ghouleh, and he answered, "I want a stuffed rooster so I can eat it and go to sleep."

  She prepared the rooster for him, and he ate it and climbed back into the basket. Again the ghouleh started prancing around, singing, "O my teeth get sharper and sharper, for Hasan and Husen his brother!"

  Half-a-Halfling jumped up and said, "How am I going to sleep? And how am I going to sleep, when my belly has no food in it to keep?"

  "What do you want to eat?" she asked, and he answered, "I want a lamb, stuffed and roasted to a turn."

  By the time she finished preparing the lamb, the sun had risen.

  "We want water so we can wash," the boys said. When she had gone out to fetch the water, Half-a-Halfling said to his brothers, "You'd better get up! This woman is a ghouleh." They got up, mounted their animals, and ran away. When she came back and found them gone, she called out, "O milk, thicken! thicken! and tie up their joints so they can't move." The horses came immediately to a stop and would not budge. They got down and mounted behind their brother on the lame she-goat, and he prodded
the animal with the poker, calling out, "O flint, spark and spark! O bran, fly and fly!" The she-goat flew with them and brought them home, while the ghouleh caught up with the horses and gobbled them up.

  The father was very pleased with Half-a-Halfling, who was able to save his brothers. from the clutches of the ghouleh.

  "And what would you say," the boy asked, "if I were to bring the ghouleh herself right here?"

  "We'd confess you're cleverer than both your brothers if you could do that," replied the parents.

  Half-a-Halfling went and bought a donkey, and loaded it with a huge box filled with halvah. "Here's the halvah! Here's the halvah? he cried out when he reached the ghouleh's house. She came out and asked how much it was. He answered, you might say, "A piaster for a quarter of a kilo."

  She ate one quarter, then two and three, but she was still hungry.

  "What do you say to getting into the box," he suggested, "and eating as much as you want. We'll figure out what you owe me later." She agreed and got into the box. He closed the lid on her, securing it with a rope, and started moving. She was too busy eating to notice. When he approached their town, he called out, "Light the fire and let the flames rise! I've brought the ghouleh herself. And let him who loves the Prophet bring a load of wood and a burning coal!"

  "What're you saying?" asked the ghouleh.

  "I was saying," he answered, "spread the silk and put the silk away! I've brought you the princess, daughter of the prince."

  When the fire was big enough, they threw the box in it and rid themselves of the ghouleh and her evil.

  The bird has flown, and a good evening to all!

  7.

  The Orphans' Cow

  TELLER: Testify that God is One!

  AUDIENCE: There is no god but He!

  There was once a man who was married to a certain woman. The wife died, leaving behind a son and a daughter. The man said, "This cow is for the boy and the girl."

  One day the man married again. His wife became pregnant, gave birth, and had a boy. She became pregnant again, gave birth, and had a girl. She fed her children only the best food, and the others nothing but bran.

  The orphans used to roam with their cow in the countryside every day. When they were well out of town, they would say to her, "Open, O our cow!" The cow would open the space between her horns, meat and rice would come out of it, and the children would eat their fill. When they were fed bran at home, they would boil with anger.

  When the children played together in the evening, the woman noticed that her children were sallow, while the orphans were like red apples. She said to her son, "Tomorrow you'll go out to the countryside with them and find out what they eat!" He said, "All right."

  The next day he went roving with them. Early in the morning the children fed their pieces of bread to the cow. And what? Were they going to suffer from hunger all day? "Listen!" they said to their brother. "Do you promise not to tell our mother and father?"

  "No. I won't say anything," he answered.

  "Good," they said. "Open, O our cow! We want to eat."

  The cow opened between her horns, the three of them ate till they were full, and then the cow dosed her horns again.

  "Hanh!" snapped the mother when they came home. "What did you eat out there?"

  "What did we eat?" he answered. "We ate the dry bread you gave us." He refused to tell. Not believing him, the woman then said to her daughter, "You go out with them in the morning, and whatever you see them eat, you must tell me."

  The following morning, the girl went roaming the countryside with the orphans. "Do you promise not to tell?" they asked her, and she replied, "No, I won't tell." They said, "Open, I our cow! We want to eat." The cow opened between her horns, and what rice and meat there was! They ate until they had their fill; but the girl was putting one bite in her mouth and hiding the next in the front of her dress. When she came home, she said, "Mother, see! Here's what they eat! Their cow does such and such."

  The woman brought some straw and boiled it until the water turned yellow, yellow. Then she bathed in this water, laid out her bed, and put her head down and went to sleep.

  "What's the matter with your mother, children?" asked the father when he came home. The children said she was ill.

  "Don't talk to me!" she said. "I'm not well."

  "Woman, what's the problem? I'll take you to the doctor, just tell me what you need!"

  "I was told no prescription would cure me, except that you slaughter for me the orphans' cow."

  "O no, woman!" he said. "The children are having such a good time with her," and so on and so forth.

  "Nothing else is possible," she answered. "I won't get well until you slaughter the orphans' cow for me."

  So he caught the cow and slaughtered her, and they ate her, while the orphans wept and lamented.

  Angry, they ran away, the sister with her brother. They walked and walked until a shepherd met them. The girl was the older, and the boy the younger.

  "Sister, I'm thirsty," said the boy. "I want to drink."

  "Uncle," she asked the shepherd, "do you happen to know where there's water for us to drink?"

  "Listen, daughter," he replied. "You'll come upon two springs. Drink from the lower one, but the other one - don't drink from it! A gazelle has pissed in it, and whoever drinks from it now will turn into a gazelle."

  "Thank you," said the girl.

  They reached the springs, and quenched their thirst from the lower one.

  "By Allah," insisted the brother. "I must drink from the other spring too, just to see what will happen."

  "O brother, brother, please!"

  He would not listen to her, and drank from the upper spring. When he drank, he turned into a gazelle. The girl led him away, her tears flowing into her mouth. She arrived by the walls of a palace and sat down. A servantgirl looked out and saw her.

  "Sir," said the servant to her master, "down by the palace wall there's one so beautiful she'll take your mind away."

  "Go call her for me!" he said. She went and called over to her, "Girl, come up and see my master," and the girl replied, "I have a gazelle with me." The king said to his servants, "Take the gazelle and tether him down below, and have her come up here!"

  "No," said the girl. "This gazelle - wherever I stay, he stays with me."

  "Very well," said the king. "Let him come up with her."

  She led the gazelle up the stairs with her, and stayed. She stayed a month, perhaps two, Allah knows!

  "Young woman," the king asked one day, "would you rather have me for a brother or for a husband?"

  "No, by Allah [not as a brother]," replied the girl. "Marriage is shelter."

  He married her. A day went and a day came, she became pregnant, and he set out on the hajj. But before leaving he said to the women of the house, "Take good care of so and so. And this lamb here - when she gives birth, have it slaughtered for her!"

  "Yes," they said. But after he left, they whispered, "This one's so beautiful and well behaved, he'll sell us all for her sake when he comes back. What're we going to do with her?" They dropped her into a well, slaughtered her lamb, and ate it themselves, burying its skin under the floor of the house.

  Now, the gazelle, whenever they fed him a mouthful of bread, would take it and drop it into the well.

  The king returned from the hajj. "Where's my wife?" he asked.

  "Allah have mercy on her soul!" they said. "She died. And, by Allah, since she was so dear to us, we've dug a grave for her fight under the floor here."

  Looking the gazelle over, how thin the king found him! He said, "What use do we have for him now that she's gone? Let's feed him till he fattens up, then slaughter him."

  But the gazelle still took the mouthful of bread and went away. The king thought, "By Allah, I've got to follow this gazelle and find out where he takes the food." He followed him, and behold! the gazelle carried the piece of bread in his jaws, went to the
mouth of a well, dropped it in, and started calling out:

  "O my little sister, O Bdur!

  For me they've sharpened the knives

  And raised the pots over the fire."

  And she answered:

  "O my little brother, O Qdur!

  My hair's so long it covers me,

  In my lap sits the son of the king,

  And the whale has swallowed me."

  Looking into the well, the king asked, "Are you down in this well?"

  "Just as you see," she answered.

  He had a young man like Mhammad Musa lowered into the well. The man went down and brought her and her child up. Then she told the king what had taken place. "My story is such and such and such," she said, "and so and so. We drank from the springs, this gazelle is my brother, and the women of your house dropped me into the well. This is exactly what has happened to me."

  After she was out of the well, the king took her brother and made him drink from the same spring again, and he turned back into this youth that you should come and see.

  He then brought together his mother, his sister, and his servantgirl and had it announced that he who loves the sultan must in the morning bring a lapful of wood and a burning coal to, you might say, the town's threshing grounds. He lit a fire and dropped his mother, his sister, and the servant into it, and burned them.