Folktales from the Arabian Peninsula

by Nadia Jameel Taibah

  Nesóp went to the home of Al Husni, the fox. The fox was known for his wisdom in settling difficult matters. “I picked up this snake, when it was dying of cold,” Nesóp told Al Husni, the fox. “And now the snake refuses to leave from its warm place on my belly. The snake threatens to bite me with its poisons if I even try to remove it. Can you resolve this matter?”

  “Well, we will have to have a court hearing,” said Al Husni, the fox. “Both of you must stand before me. And I, as judge, will decide the matter.”

  So the snake crawled out from Nesóp’s clothing and lay on the ground before the fox.

  “I have heard Nesóp’s side of the matter already,” said the fox. “Now what is your story, snake?”

  “I am very comfortable residing inside Nesóp’s warm clothing,” said the snake. “Why should I be asked to give up such a warm home?”

  Al Husni, the fox, turned to Nesóp. “Well, you have heard the snake’s argument,” said the fox. “Now what do you propose to do about it?”

  “Only THIS!” shouted Nesóp. And with his mugwar (club-headed stick), he whopped the snake on the head and did it in.

  And thus ended the court hearing and this story.

  THE HATTÁB (WOODCUTTER) AND THE KHAZNAH (TREASURE)

  This folktale was told to H. R. P. Dickson by Háji Abdullah al Fathil in camp on January 7, 1935.

  There was once a poor woodcutter who had a wife, a family of children, and a donkey. He owned very little other than his donkey. He made his living digging up dry shrubs and taking them into the town to sell.

  One Friday, he heard the preacher in the mosque talking about faith. If a man had enough faith, this wise man told the congregation, they would not have to do anything at all, and yet all good things would come to them.

  The woodcutter liked this thought. He decided to stop working so hard and just trust in God. His wife was soon desperate. The woodcutter refused to go out and work. He just sat at home and proclaimed, “God will provide.”

  One day two young men came by en route to the desert for a hawking expedition. They asked if they could hire the woodcutter’s donkey, as he wasn’t using it. He gladly agreed. Now the woodcutter showed his wife the five silver coins the men had given him as payment for hiring his donkey. “See? It is just as the preacher said. God will provide.” His wife was skeptical. But she did make good use of the coins to lay in provisions for the family.

  The two young men were on their trip for five days and then one night. As they started heading toward home, they stopped to make a fire for the night, and scraping sand away from a spot to prepare their fire, they struck something hard. Digging in the sand, they unearthed a large wood box. It turned out to be full of gold.

  They loaded it on the donkey’s back and headed for town. But they dared not just ride into town with a huge box of gold, lest someone question them about it. So they made plans to sneak the gold into the town after dark and hide it in their homes. But first they needed to have supper. So one man stayed with the donkey and the gold, while the other went into the town and brought back food for their meal. The man who was left with the gold soon decided he wanted all of this and prepared to shoot his companion when he returned.

  As soon as the man came back with the food, he was murdered. Then the murderer sat down to eat the food his friend had brought back from town for their evening meal.

  But his friend had decided that he wanted all of the gold for himself, and so he had poisoned the food. Soon the murderer too lay dead.

  After a while, the confused donkey just walked off and went home.

  When the poor woodcutter heard his donkey bumping its head on his door, he opened it and was amazed to see a huge wooden box on the donkey’s back. “Come, wife, and help me get this box off of our donkey.”

  They opened it and found the box was full of golden coins! “We must go and report this to the authorities at once,” said the wife. “This gold does not belong to us.”

  “I am not so sure about that,” said the woodcutter. “Remember what the preacher said. ‘You need do nothing. If you have faith, God will provide.’ I had great faith, and God has provided.”

  So the woodcutter and his wife buried the gold under their own floor. And using a little here and a little there, they were able to live for a very long time. The woodcutter kept his faith in God. And he never worked again.

  FOLKTALES FROM OMAN

  ABU NAWAS, THE TRICKSTER

  This story was collected by JonLee Joseph from Mahbrook Massan in his desert camp on the edge of the Empty Quarter on the evening of September 12, 2010. Mahbrook is a leader in the Shisr community and maintains this camp for visitors in the desert some miles from Shisr. Shisr is the site of archeological remains believed by some to be the lost city of Ubar, much searched for by archeologists over the years.

  Abu Nawas is a trickster/fool whose stories are told throughout the Middle East. This tale has several Abu Nawas adventures strung together.

  There was a time when Abu Nawas was crossing a desert and was very, very thirsty. This was at a time when animals and humans could speak to each other. He saw a leopard.

  “Abu Nawas,” said the leopard, “you can put your head inside my body. Then you can see where water is to be found. There will be a place with bitter water, a place with so-so water, and a place with sweet water.”

  Abu Nawas was ready to do just what the leopard told him.

  “But, Abu Nawas,” warned the leopard, “whatever you do . . . after you have finished drinking the water, DO NOT look up!”

  Abu Nawas put his head inside the leopard. Then he saw all three drinking places. He went right to the one with sweet water. But after he finished drinking, he was hungry. So, he looked up. There were two large things hanging inside the leopard. So, Abu Nawas ate one. It was an organ of the leopard. So, the leopard crawled off to die, with Abu Nawas still inside of him.

  At that time, it began to rain in the desert. This softened the dead body of the leopard so that Abu Nawas could crawl out. He then traveled on to a wadi.

  In the wadi, women were tending their goats. Other women had invited the women to a festival, and they wanted to go. So, Abu Nawas said that he would take care of the goats while they went to the festival.

  The women put on their best dresses and gold jewelry and went off to the celebration. Suddenly Abu Nawas had a vision. He saw a river of white and a river of red. So Abu Nawas milked all the goats, creating the river of white. Then he killed all the goats, creating the river of red blood.

  After a while, one of the women came back. Horrified, she called to the other women, “Abu Nawas has killed all our goats.” Because the women were far off, they could not hear her.

  “What did you say?” they shouted.

  So, Abu Nawas called out to the other women.

  “She said you should leave your gold jewelry there for Abu Nawas!” So they did. Abu Nawas gathered up the gold jewelry and traveled on.

  He traveled on until he came to a tree. He hung all the gold jewelry on the tree and then climbed up into it. Eventually, a camel caravan of six merchants came by. They were astounded by the tree hung with gold jewelry. Abu Nawas explained that the tree grew the jewelry. They arranged a trade. Abu Nawas would be given the camels and their goods; the merchants would be given the tree that would blossom with gold. Abu Nawas took the gold jewelry down from the tree and rode off on the camels with their goods. The merchants sat down under the tree to await the blossoming of more gold jewelry. They are still waiting.

  And Abu Nawas is still creating more stories!

  A DJINN STORY

  This folktale was told to Kiera Anderson and JonLee Joseph in Arabic by Mahbrook Massan on November 28, 2012 in the Empty Quarter, close to Wubar, in Oman. It was translated into English by Kiera Anderson.

  One evening, three Bedouin men were sitting in the desert around a fire. It was night, and the night sky was full of stars and the moon. They were drinking gowha (coffee) and talking.r />
  Suddenly, a small child appeared. He approached the men. They welcomed him to the fire and offered a cup of gowha. He answered them in an adult man’s voice. They marveled at this and asked him how this came to be. The young child said that he was a djinn.

  He drew two lines in the sand and said, “Let me take you to the Sheik of the djinns. He took the hand of one man, and the others followed, crossing the double lines. The child introduced them to the Sheik.

  Sitting beside the Sheik was a very beautiful woman. One man fell in love with her. He told her that she was the most beautiful woman in the world, and he wanted to marry her. She told him to ask her father, the Sheik.

  He did ask the Sheik, who said, “Yes, but don’t make her angry, whatever you do.” If the man did, she would return to live with the Sheik in the Land of Djinns.

  So, the man and woman married and returned to his home in the desert. Soon, a child was born. One evening, the man’s father and mother, his wife, the man, and his baby boy were sitting around the fire. The wife took the baby and gently placed him in the fire. The baby boy disappeared. The man and his mother and father were horrified. The man was angry and sad but did not say anything.

  Several days later, the man had to work out in the desert. When he returned home, he found everything broken and torn. Every dish, furniture, and curtain was in pieces and tatters. He thought that his wife was crazy.

  He drew two lines in the sand and crossed over them, taking her back to the Land of Djinns. He asked the Sheik to explain the meaning of the two events. The Sheik said that the mother put the child in the fire so that it could become a djinn. He pointed out that there, in the Land of Djinns, was his child, perfect and whole. Next, he explained that when djinns cleaned house, that was the way they did it, by breaking and tearing everything. He pointed at the man’s house, in the Land of Djinns, and said, “See, everything is whole.”

  The man shook his head sadly and left his wife in the Land of Djinns. He crossed the double lines in the sand alone and was back in the world he understood.

  JOUHA LOSES HIS DONKEY

  Many stories are told of the fool Jouha. A few are given here. Also see the Jouha tales from Kuwait (pp. 33 and 35) and Saudi Arabia (p. 7). Here is a tale shared by Hared Al-Sharji. He heard the story from his grandmother, who lives in the Dhofar Mountains.

  When Jouha was traveling in the mountains, he lost his donkey. People told him how sad they were for his loss. But Jouha was relieved. “Thank goodness I only lost my donkey,” he told them. “If I had been with it when it got lost, I would be lost too!”

  WHO SHOULD RIDE THE DONKEY?

  This story was told by the mother of Mohammed Marhoon. Mohammed was a student at the Salalah College of Technology.

  Jouha and his son were headed for market, riding on their donkey. As they passed through a village, people began to call out to them.

  “Why are you BOTH riding that poor donkey? A donkey like that should only carry one person!”

  Jouha was embarrassed. So his son got down and walked along behind the donkey. But in the next village, people were even more adamant.

  “Why is a strong man like you riding that donkey, while your son has to walk? You should get down and let HIM ride!”

  So Jouha got down, and the son mounted the donkey. But in the next village, people were furious at them for riding the donkey at all.

  “That poor donkey cannot carry a load like that. You should not be riding that poor beast!”

  Jouha was totally confused. So he told his son to get down, and he and the son hoisted the donkey onto their shoulders and gave IT a ride to market.

  When they reached their destination, everyone laughed at them.

  “Never mind,” said Jouha, as they put the donkey down. “People will never be satisfied.”

  WHEN JOUHA’S DONKEY PASSES GAS

  This tale was told by the father of Reem, a student at Salalah College of Technology.

  One day Jouha climbed a tree and started to saw off a limb. Unfortunately, he was sitting on the limb he was sawing off!

  A passerby called to him, “Jouha! You are sawing through the branch you are sitting on. You are going to fall when the branch falls!”

  Just then the branch was cut through, and sure enough, Jouha fell down with the branch.

  Jouha jumped up. “You can tell the future! Tell me something more. Tell me when I am going to die!”

  The man protested that he had no idea when Jouha was going to die. But Jouha would not let him go.

  “You obviously can tell the future. You just told me I would fall . . . and I did! Please tell me when I am going to die.”

  So finally the man just made up the first silly thing that came into his head. “Jouha, you will die when your donkey farts.”

  Jouha went on his way, and after a while, his donkey passed gas. Jouha promptly lay down in the road, thinking he must be dead now.

  After a while a group of men came along, arguing about which road to take at the crossroads. One to the right led to one village, the one to the left led to another.

  Jouha heard them trying to figure out which road to take to reach the village they wanted. So after a while, he sat up and said, “You take the right road for that village.”

  The men thanked him and went on. Jouha looked at himself. “That man couldn’t predict the future after all,” he said. “I’m not even dead!”

  THE DJINN OUTSIDE THE WINDOW

  This story is about an incident that took place in the Salalah Mountains. It was related by Shaika, a student at Salalah College of Technology. The “Cow Sura” (Surat al-Baqarah) is the longest chapter in the Koran.

  A woman lived in the Jebel (Salalah Mountains). One night she was alone in the house. She heard a noise outside the house. So she closed the windows and pulled the curtains. When she went to close one window, she saw a face with long teeth and blood all over it. It was very ugly. The woman was terrified. All night she could hear that djinn outside the house.

  In the morning, when other family members came home, she told them what she had seen and what had happened. A Mullah came to read the “Cow Sura” to exorcise the djinn. No one else saw or heard the djinn. But still to this day, she is startled by sounds outside the house. She is still frightened and stays inside her house.

  THE SAD STORY OF THE MOTHER CAMEL

  Said Al-Mahri, a student at Salalah College of Technology, related this true story.

  Saeed had a female camel that was ready to give birth. She did not come to the corral in the evening for several days. When she did return, Saeed went to her.

  She led him out into the Jebel and showed him where her baby had been born. She had fought off wild dogs for two days and nights before giving in to exhaustion. She showed Saeed where the dogs had killed and eaten most of her baby camel. He could see the tracks of the struggle and dogs and a few bones left from the baby camel.

  His mother camel had tears flowing down from her eyes.

  Mother camel photographed in Shisr, Oman by JonLee Joseph.

  Here is a traditional story known throughout the Arab world.

  The Camel from the Rock

  The Koran tells of a time when the prophet Salih was preaching to the people of Thamud. These people had cut homes into the mountainsides and lived well. But they were an arrogant and unkind people. They refused to accept the words of the prophet Salih about the one true God. Instead, they kept worshipping their own idols. Their leader, Jonda, challenged Salih to bring a she-camel big with young out of the solid rock behind them. He swore that if Salih could do this, he and his people would accept the God of Salih.

  Salih prayed to God. Then the rocks began to shake and rumble, and out of the rock emerged a large mother camel, big with young. Seeing this, Jonda did believe. But many of the Thamudites still refused to accept God.

  Then the she-camel went to the village well and drank up all the water in the well. And after that, she walked through the village giving milk to all w
ho came. Some versions of the story say that the mother camel even cried out, “If anyone wants milk, let him come forth!”

  But the Thamudites were not willing to accept the one God. So they cut the hamstrings of the camel and lamed her. And then they proceeded to kill her. But her baby camel was born unharmed and went straight back into the rock from which they had come and disappeared.

  Salih warned the Thamudites to stay in their houses for the next three days and repent. He and the believers left the city. Then on the third day, a frightening sound roared down from the heavens, the earth quaked, and the Thamudites, who had not repented, were all killed in their houses.

  The rock where the baby camel entered may still be seen. And the town there is now called Mada’ in Salih. This is in Saudi Arabia. It is an area of remarkable edifices carved into the cliff sides, somewhat like the Jordanian archeological site of Petra.

  Facts: The Remarkable Camel

  Camels have a long history in the Middle East. They are believed to have been used by man as early as 3,000 BC. Job, in the Bible, was said to own 6,000 camels.

  The desert dweller can drink the camel’s milk; eat its meat; use its skin to make water buckets and shields; make rope, clothing, and blankets from its wool; and burn its droppings as fuel.

  A camel can carry up to 600 pounds, going 20–30 miles per day, for weeks on end. In a short haul, it can carry up to 1,000 pounds. It can survive on nothing more than thorns, leaves, and bitter desert plants that it encounters on its way.

  The camel’s sight and smell are very acute. Flaps over the nostrils can be opened to sniff and closed to keep out sand. A double row of eyelashes protects the eyes from blowing sand. Its upper lip is prehensile, allowing it to feel plants before it plucks them to eat. Its broad feet are padded to allow it to move quietly and without pain over sharp flinty ground and to pad with stability in soft sand.