Speak Bird Speak Again

by Folktales

  "You're free," he answered.

  "I want to pluck their eyes out, and you will put them in a well and send them only a pitcher of water and a loaf of bread every day."

  "So be it!" he said.

  She gouged out their eyes and put them in a bottle which she sent to her jinn family for safekeeping, then she had the women thrown into a well. The king married her.

  By Allah, it turned out (so our tale comes out right) that his three wives were all pregnant. The first gave birth, and by Allah, she delivered a boy. "Are we going to let him live like this?" asked the others. "Let's eat him." His mother divided him, giving a piece to each of them and eating two-thirds of him herself. One of the women found she did not have the heart to eat her piece, and since it would not have filled her anyway, she saved it. When the second gave birth, they did the same thing. When the third gave birth, she said, "Why for Allah's sake don't we save this boy? He might be helpful to us."

  "Impossible!" objected the others. "We divided up our children, and yours is to remain alive?"

  "Give me back the leg I gave you!" demanded one.

  "Give me back the shoulder!" said the other.

  "Here!" she said to them. "You take back the leg, and you the shoulder. As for me, I want to keep my son. Who knows but Allah? He might be useful to us."

  A day went and a day came, and the boy grew up, his three mothers nursing him. What else would you expect from the child of a tale? He grew up in no time at all. And no sooner did he start crawling than he began to dig a hole at the bottom of the well. As he grew bigger, the hole became larger. One day he looked, and lo! the hole he had made led to his father's kitchen. He would then go into the kitchen and take meat, rice, and whatever else he could find, tying it all in a bundle and stealing away to feed his mothers. After that, he would take a handful or two of salt, dump it into the pot, and turn his back.

  Now, the king would fire one cook and hire another, but it was no use. Then they said, "Let's keep watch. Maybe somebody sneaks into the kitchen and puts salt in the food." One day the cook caught him red-handed. "All right," he said. "You're taking the food. But what makes you do this?" Word was sent to the king, and he said, "Bring him to me!"

  "Why did you do that?" the king asked when the boy was brought in.

  "Why not?" answered the boy. "Why did you have their eyes plucked out and then have them dropped into the well? I'm their son."

  "So!" they all exclaimed. "The king has a son!" They called him Bear-Cub of the Kitchen, and from then on it was, "Here comes Bear-Cub of the Kitchen!" and "There goes Bear-Cub of the Kitchen!" After that he took food and water to his mothers, and looked after all their needs.

  His father's wife became jealous of him.

  "O my head!" she complained. "O my arms! O my legs!"

  "What do you need?" asked the king, and she answered, "I want pomegranates from Wadi is-Sib." (Whoever goes to this wadi never comes back alive.)

  "And who would dare go to Wadi is-Sib?" asked the king.

  "Send Bear-Cub of the Kitchen," she answered.

  Bear-Cub of the Kitchen went, and somehow came back and brought pomegranates. And what! All hell broke loose. "Bear-Cub of the Kitchen has gone to Wadi is-Sib and come back safely!" they all shouted.

  Now, his father's wife - how frustrated she felt! She was ready to crack. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself. "This time I want to send him to the region where my people live. They'll kill him for sure, and he won't come back."

  "O my heart!" she moaned. "O my this, O my that!" and I don't know what else.

  "What's the matter?" asked her husband.

  "I want Bear-Cub of the Kitchen to bring me medicine from such and such a place."

  "Go, son," said the father.

  Bear-Cub of the Kitchen gathered himself together and went. Allah helping him from above, he found her entire family - her mother, father, and brothers - gone. There was no one left in the palace except a little girl with a mass of disheveled hair as big as this.

  "Where's your family?" he asked.

  "They've gone out," she answered.

  Looking this way and that, he spied some bottles on the shelf.

  "Well," he said, "what's in these bottles?"

  "In this one," she answered, "is my mother's soul, and in that one is my father's. This one here contains the soul of my brother So-and-So, and that one there has the soul of my sister who lives in such and such a place."

  "And these that sparkle," he asked, "what are they?"

  "These," she answered, "are the eyes of my sister's co-wives, who live in such and such a place."

  "And what will cure these eyes?"

  "The medicine in this bottle," she replied. "If the eyes are rubbed with some of this medicine, they'll stay in place and will be cured."

  "Fine," he said. "And what are these ropes here for?"

  "Whoever takes hold of these ropes can take the palace and the orchard with him wherever he wants."

  "And this small bottle over here," he continued, "what's in it?"

  "This is my soul," she answered.

  "Good," he said. "Wait a moment and let me show you."

  First he cracked her soul, then the souls of her brother, mother, and father. Then, taking hold of the ropes, he headed home from the direction of Bab il-Hawa. What clouds of dust he raised! You might have thought two or three hundred horsemen were on their way. The whole town rushed out, and what a commotion there was! When he came closer, they exclaimed, "But this is Bear-Cub of the Kitchen, and he's brought the palace, the orchard, and everything else with him!"

  His father's wife looked out her window, and behold! there was her family's palace. You couldn't mistake it. And how her eyes sparkled! Her soul was in his hand.

  "Come here!" he said. "Just like you plucked out my mothers' eyes and then left them in the well, right now I'm going to crack your neck."

  He cracked her neck. Then, bringing his mothers out of the well, he took them down to the bath and put their eyes back in place. They were cured. He took his place by his father's side, and the wives came back just as they had been before.

  Its bird has flown, and now for another one!

  31.

  The Woman Whose Hands Were Cut Off

  TELLER: May Allah bless the Prophet!

  AUDIENCE: Allah bless him!

  There was a man whose wife had given birth to a daughter and a son and then died. One day the man himself died, and the children remained alone.

  They had a hen that laid an egg every day. They would eat the egg for breakfast and wait till the following day. It so happened one day that the hen stopped laying. "I must go check inside the coop," said the girl to herself. She went down into the coop to search the straw, and behold! she found a pile of eggs, and under it was all her father's money. Her father, it turned out, had been saving his money under the straw in the chicken coop. "Here, brother," she said when he came home, "I've found the new place where the hens been laying eggs." She did not tell him about the money. They brought the eggs out and ate one every day.

  One day, when the boy had grown up a little, she asked him, "If someone were to show you the money saved by your mother and father, what would you do with it?"

  "I'd buy sheep and cattle," he answered.

  "Brother," she said to herself, "you're still too young."

  Time passed, and she asked again, "If someone were to show you the money saved by your mother and father, what would you do with it?"

  "I'd get married," he answered.

  "Now you're older and wiser," she said, "and I want to get you married. Such and such is the story."

  She took her brother with her, and they went searching in this world to find a bride. Before long they came upon a girl living in a house all by herself. The lad married her, and she became pregnant and gave birth first to a girl. In the middle of the night, the woman got up, devoured her daughter, and smeared the lips of her slee
ping sister-in-law with blood. When they woke up in the morning, she said to her husband, "Your sister's a ghouleh, and she has eaten our daughter. Come take a look at her lips."

  "Why did you eat the girl?" he went and asked his sister.

  "By Allah, brother," she answered, "I didn't eat her."

  The young man did not say anything. He just waited.

  The following year, his wife gave birth to a boy, and she got up in the middle of the night and ate him, again smearing her sister-in-law's lips with blood. Becoming suspicious of his sister, the brother did not say anything to her. "I must kill her," he said in his mind.

  In a few days he said to her, "Come, let's you and I go into the countryside." When they had gone some distance, he sat her down under a tree by a well and said, "So, this is how you treat me, eating my children!"

  "By Allah, brother," she answered, "I didn't eat them."

  Drawing his sword, he cut off her hands and her feet, and she called down a curse upon him: "Brother, may a thorn get stuck in your foot that no one can pull out." Allah heard her prayer, and a thorn got stuck in his foot on his way home. As he approached the house, he found his wife chasing after a rooster and realized she was a ghouleh. Not daring to go in, he ran back the way he had come.

  Now we go back to his sister. As she was sitting by the mouth of the well, lo! a female snake came up to her panting and puffing with fear. "Hide me," she begged, and the girl hid her under her dress. In a while a he-snake showed up puffing and asked her, "Have you seen a she-snake?"

  "Yes," she answered. "There, she's fallen into the well."

  The male dropped himself into the well, and the female, coming out from under the girl, called after him, "Explode! Here I am!" The male burst and died. The female, meanwhile, rubbed like this on the girl's stumps, and her hands came back as before. She then rubbed the girl's legs, and her feet came back as they had been. Then the girl went her way. She found a husband, got married, and had children.

  One day her brother, who had been wandering around looking for someone to pull the thorn from his foot, but without success, came to his sister's doorstep. He did not realize it was his sister's house, but the moment she saw him she recognized him, while he had not recognized her. She had in the meantime said to her children, "When a man who limps comes by here, keep asking me, 'Mother, tell us the story of the man who cut off his sister's hands and feet.'"

  "What's your problem, uncle?" she asked, calling him over.

  "There's a thorn in my foot," he answered, "and nobody's been able to pull it out."

  "Come here and let me see," she said, and doing with the pin like this, behold! the thorn jumped over there. Rising to his feet, he kissed her hands.

  "Stay and have dinner with us," she said.

  He sat down to eat, and the children said again and again, "Mother, tell us the story of the man who cut off the hands and feet of his sister." The mother began to tell the tale, and at the end she said to them, "I'm the one whose hands and feet were cut off, and this man here's your uncle."

  The moment he heard this, they all got up and hugged each other.

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

  32.

  Nayyis (Little Sleepy One)

  TELLER: Once there was a king - and Allah's the only true King. Let him who has sinned say, "I beg Allah for forgiveness!"

  AUDIENCE: May God grant us remission from our sins!

  Once there was a king who had an only son and no other. His name was Nayyis, Little Sleepy One, and his father loved him very much and indulged him. One day the daughter of the king of the jinn fell in love with him and stole him away from his father. There was no place left in the world where the king did not ask about his son, but he could not find him.

  In that country there were three girls who were spinners. They used to spin their wool, sell it, and eat from what they earned. When they grew sleepy while spinning at night, they would sing:

  "O Nayyis

  Go away from here!

  To us you're no cousin

  Or a brother dear.

  Go to the princess instead

  She will clothe and indulge you

  And keep you well fed."

  Now, there were scouts in the town searching for the son of the king, and they heard the song of the spinners. To the king they rushed and said, "O Ruler of the Age, we've found your son!"

  "Are you sure?"

  "Yes, we've found him!" they answered. "We heard a gift sing:

  'O Nayyis

  Go away from here!

  To us you're no cousin

  Or a brother dear.

  Go to the princess instead

  She will clothe and indulge you

  And keep you well fed.'"

  "Ah, yes!" exclaimed the king. "This must be my son."

  "Go, bring the girls!" The order was given, and the guards went and brought the first one.

  "Young woman," said the king, "do you know Nayyis?"

  "Yes, my lord," she answered. "He comes to me every night."

  "Good," they said to her and brought her to live in the palace, where servants and attendants waited on her. She ate and drank her fill, doing no work and feeling no fatigue, and stopped feeling sleepy. When two or three nights had gone by, they asked her, "Young woman, have you seen N'ayyis?"

  "No, by Allah," she answered, "I haven't seen him in a couple of nights."

  The king married her to his cook and sent after the second one.

  "Young woman," he asked, "do you know N'ayyis?"

  "Yes, my lord. Day and night he's with us."

  They bathed and clothed her and put her in the palace where she lived in bliss and comfort. When she had rested and slept enough, she stopped feeling sleepy.

  "Have you seen Nayyis, young lady?" the king asked.

  "No, by Allah, my Lord," she answered, "I haven't seen him in two or three days."

  The king married her to the baker.

  "Have you been seeing Nayyis, young woman?" the king asked the third girl when they had brought her.

  "Yes, my lord. Every night I see him."

  They did with her as they had done with her sisters, settling her in the palace. She turned out to be more clever than her sisters. Every time they asked her, "Did you see Nayyis, young woman?" she would answer, "Yes, my lord. Every night I see him."

  For a month, two, three, four, she said she had seen him every night. Finally the king said to his wife, "Take this pair of bracelets. Give them to her, and ask her to pay for them. If she can come up with the money, then she really has been seeing Nayyis. If not, then she's a liar."

  "Here, young woman," the wife said, "take this pair of bracelets and bring me their price from Nayyis."

  "Yes, my lady," replied the girl.

  That night, she sat up in bed, crying and calling out:

  "O Nayyis

  Go away from here!

  To us you're no cousin

  Or a brother dear.

  Your father has given me

  This pair of bracelets

  How am I to pay the treasury

  The price of this jewelry?"

  And how she cried! When she had called out three times, lo! a voice said, "The key's in the wardrobe, and the wardrobe's full of treasure. Reach in and take what you want." Opening the wardrobe, she took out the price of the bracelets, laughing happily.

  "Here, uncle," she said, "take the price of the bracelets."

  "So," thought the king, "it's true, my son's still alive."

  She had stayed another three, four months (Allah knows how long!) when the king brought her a ting.

  "Bring me the price of this ring from Nayyis," he said.

  "Right away, my lord," she answered and went back to her bed, crying and calling out:

  "O Nayyis

  Go away from here!

  To us you're no cousin

  Or a brother dear.

 
Your father has given me

  This ring

  And how am I to pay the king

  The price of this precious thing?"

  Again the voice said, "The key's in the wardrobe, and the wardrobe's full of treasure. Reach in and take what you want!" Taking out the price of the ring, she gave it to her uncle.

  One day Nayyis himself came up to see her and said, "Young woman, my wife's pregnant, and you must stuff your dress with rags and pretend you're pregnant until nine months are up."

  Wrapping a bandage around her head, she made a point of going to see her uncle every once in a while.

  "Uncle, I'm pregnant."

  "Yes, daughter. What do you want?"

  She said she wanted a piece of liver, and he brought her three.

  "O uncle, I want squabs. O uncle, I want this, and I want that," she kept asking. Whatever Nayyis's wife down below craved, the girl would ask the king for. Then Nayyis would come and take it to his wife below.

  Her pregnancy over, the jinn wife gave birth first to a boy.

  "Here, young lady," said Nayyis. "Take this baby and hide it inside your underwear. Then cry out, 'Mother, I've given birth!'"

  Putting the baby in her undergarments, the girl came to the top of the stairs.

  "Master!" she cried out. "I've had the baby."

  "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful!" exclaimed the king.

  Bringing the baby out, they washed and dressed him. Then they looked after her, wrapping a bandage around her head and putting her to bed.

  She brought the boy up, and how handsome he was - the son of royalty! The king was crazy about him.

  The jinn wife became pregnant again, and the girl did as before. The wife gave birth to a boy, and the girl took him and hid him in her underwear.

  "Uncle, I've given birth!" she cried out. "Mistress, I've given birth!"

  They spoiled her more and more, giving her four wet nurses to help her. What can you say? She was now a queen!

  The wife became pregnant and delivered a third time, giving birth to a girl. And the same thing that had happened with the two boys also happened with the girl.