Folktales from the Arabian Peninsula

by Nadia Jameel Taibah

  And most remarkable of all, the camel can keep going for three days or more without drinking. If vegetation is available, the camel can live for an even longer time without water, getting moisture from the plants on the ground.

  Camel’s, however, are said to have very bad tempers. There is a saying, “The camel driver has his plans, but the camel has his.”

  Source: Daniel da Cruz and Paul Lunde, “The Camel in Retrospect,” Saudi Aramco World (March/April 1981): 42–48.

  WHY LOVE IS BLIND

  This folktale was told by Abdulrahman, a student at Salalah College of Technology.

  One day, Madness was playing hide-and-seek with Lying-and-Cheating, Love-from-the-Heart, Honor, Duty, and A-Thinking-Mind. Madness hid his eyes and counted to 100. Everything hid. Madness found everything except Love-from-the-Heart. Madness looked and looked. Finally, Lying told Madness where Love-from-the-Heart was hiding. It was inside a flower. So Madness took a stick and poked at the flower, putting its eyes out. That is why today, Love is blind. And from that time, Madness leads Love everywhere.

  THE THRIFTY ANT

  This story was retold by Sufa, a student at Salalah College of Technology.

  Suleiman had the ability to understand and speak with animals. One day, he saw an ant and spoke with it. He asked the ant how much food it ate during a year. The ant replied that it ate three grains of rice in a year.

  Then Suleiman put the ant in a box with three grains of rice. After one year, he looked in the box and saw that only one and a half grains of rice had been eaten. He asked the ant why this was.

  The ant replied, “When I am outside, God provides. Now that I am in a box, I did not know if you would forget me. I want to live, and so I have eaten less food than I normally would.”

  THE FAKE BRIDE

  A greedy man once had the luck to find the prince passing beneath his house. Quickly he hatched a plan. Mixing his most-expensive perfumes, frankincense, myrrh, sandalwood, and musk, he tossed the beautiful scents out his window so that they perfumed the air all about. He did this just as he spied the prince’s entourage coming down the street. So when the prince passed under his window an amazing scent touched his nostrils.

  The prince stopped in his tracks. “Whose house is this? Bring the owner out at once!”

  When the greedy house owner was brought out, the prince wanted to know where this beautiful scent came from.

  “Oh, this is no special scent,” lied the greedy man. “This is just the water in which my daughter washed her hands. When she tossed it out into the street, the scent of her hands escaped into the air.”

  Of course, the prince was fascinated by this story. “If the daughter’s hands smell so delicious,” he thought, “what must the daughter herself be like?”

  So the next day, he sent word that he wished to talk to the man. The prince was so enamored of this mythical girl that he offered a large dowry for her hand in marriage. This is just what the greedy man had hoped for. He agreed at once, and a date was sent for the dowry to arrive and a date for the wedding to take place.

  Now, this greedy man did not even have a daughter. He planned to take the dowry riches and disappear with them. But to continue the ruse a bit longer, he created a life-sized doll and dressed it in silks and jewels. When the camel procession came to take the bride to the palace for her wedding, the man carried the doll, scarves wrapped around her face for modesty, to the covered stall atop the back of the bride’s camel. The man installed the “bride” inside and drew the curtains. Then he bid her good-bye. And taking his falsely gained treasures, he left the country.

  As it happened, a genie lived in an upper room along the procession’s route. This genie was bothered by a horrid boil on his head, which pained him greatly. When the genie saw the procession passing, he could see from his high window that the “bride” was nothing more than a wooden doll! This tickled him so much that he broke out laughing. And he laughed so hard that the boil broke. Then he laughed even more.

  And he had an idea. Calling his own daughter—who was as ugly as all genies are—he worked his genie magic and turned her into a beautiful princess. Then he swished her into the stall on the camel’s back where the wooden bride sat and put her in its place.

  So it was that the prince was married. And what a wedding night that was!

  Trickery, luck, and a happy ending—all from a fling of perfumes.

  STRANGERS ON THE ROAD

  A man of the Hurth tribe of Oman told this story about the Hinawi and Ghafiri tribes.

  A man of the Hinawi tribe was making his way to Muscat when he came upon another traveler. The two men decided to travel together to guard against dangers on the road.

  When night came, they made camp, cooked their food, drank their coffee, and laid out their bedding to sleep. But as they chatted, each came to realize that the other was from another tribe.

  The man of the Hinawi people was frightened. “This man lying near me is a Ghafiri. What if he decides to murder me during the night?”

  And the Ghafiri man was thinking similar thoughts. “This fellow here is a Hinawi. He might try to kill me while I sleep.”

  Pretending he needed to relieve himself, the Hinawi man went off into the night and loaded his rifle. Soon the Ghafiri man also had to go relieve himself, and he too loaded his rifle.

  They lay chatting a while longer and then each pretended to fall asleep. But both men were very alert, thinking, “That stranger might kill me at any moment.”

  It became very dark, as there was no moon that night. The Hinawi crouched with his gun pointed where he thought the head of the Ghafiri would be, poised to shoot. Sitting like this, he remained awake and alert, ready to fire, all night long. As the first light came, the Hiwawi saw that the Ghafiri was crouched just opposite him, in the same position, with his gun pointing at the head of the Hinawi!

  “My friend, why are you pointing your gun at my head this way?” gasped the Hinawi.

  “It is just that I had a strange dream,” said the Ghafiri. “I dreamed I was out hunting, and I saw a fat gazelle. This gazelle was so fat that I wanted at once to shoot it, so I aimed my gun at the gazelle. And when I awoke, I realized I was aiming my gun at you! But why are you pointing your gun at me?”

  “I had a similar dream,” fabricated the Hinawi man. “But in my dream, there was a huge lion. That lion saw the gazelle in your dream and rushed after it. I followed that bounding lion with my gun, unable to fire, and now I find I am pointing my rifle in the direction in which the lion ran . . . right at your head.”

  Both men packed their things quickly and continued on their way. And once they reached Muscat, they definitely parted company.

  THE JINN BUILDS A ROAD

  This tale was collected from Muscat, Oman.

  When people used to wonder why there was no road for cars to go to Sur, they were told this story.

  Once the people of Sur collected $1,000. They went to an engineer and asked him to build them a road. But the engineer said there was no way. “A road over these hills is impossible to build! You might as well ask the jinn to do it, because man cannot.”

  So the people of Sur went to the jinn and asked them to build a road. Even the jinn felt it was an impossible task. “There is only one who might be able to do this. His name is Anja. But he will try to trick you. He is known as the prince of cheats. So make sure you have a contract drawn up which is very clear and has witnesses.”

  So the people went to the wisest man in Sur and had him draw up the contract. It said clearly:

  The road shall run from Muscat to Sur. It shall be 10 yards wide. It shall be completely level so that no part of it shall be up and no part of it shall be down and no part of it shall be above and no part of it below the rest. Its surface will be so smooth that it is like a mirror. And it shall be covered with oil, so there is no dust.

  The jinn Anja, looked this over and signed it in front of witnesses. He said, “In seven days, your road will be ready.”<
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  When the people of Sur arrived on the seventh day, they did not see a road. There was no wind that day, and the sea lay calm. But where was the road?

  “Oh, right here it is,” said the jinn.

  And he pointed toward the sea. Sure enough, the sea was a level as glass. And on it stretched a broad strip of oil 10 yards wide. And the strip extended all the way across the sea to Muscat.

  The people of Sur were furious. They took the jinn to court, and when they went before the Qadhi, the Qadhi examined the contract.

  “You did not write anything here about the road being hard and on land,” said the Qadhi. “The jinn has met all the stipulations of your contract. You must pay him the $1,000 you promised.”

  And so the jinn went off laughing with his pay. And the people of Sur remained without a road on land.

  TRICKING THE SAHAR

  The sahar are magical creatures related to the Jinn. They can change shape into a donkey, wolf, bird, and so on. They look like a human but have horns on their heads.

  A woman was traveling in Oman when she met an old woman on a mountain road. The old woman asked her to look for a louse in her hair.

  “Please look in my hair. A louse is walking there, and I cannot catch him.”

  So the woman checked the old lady’s head for lice and was shocked to see four small horns under the hair. She knew now that the woman was a sahar.

  The sahar said, “Tonight, I am going to Zanzibar. I will return at dawn and will bring you a nargil.”

  The nargil is a special kind of coconut which does not grow in Oman. So the woman was amazed the next morning when the sahar appeared again on the road before her.

  “I was in Zanzibar last night. Here is a nargil I brought you.”

  Now the woman knew for certain that this was a sahar, because it was more than 3,000 miles from Oman to Zanzibar.

  Thinking quickly, the woman opened her own basket, where she had a flashlight and some chocolate and cookies that she was taking as a present to her relatives in the hills. She said, “You know, while you were in Zanzibar last night, I was in England. Here, I brought you some chocolates from there.”

  The sahar was now convinced that this woman was a sahar too, for no ordinary human could go to England and back in one night.

  “I didn’t realize you were a sahar as well,” she said. “Then I will leave and do you no harm. Good-bye.”

  And the sahar left her unharmed on the path.

  THE BIGGEST LIE

  This is a folktale heard in Muscat, Oman.

  A fisherman of Muscat once told his friend about the huge fish he had caught.

  “It was as big as half my hand!” he said.

  “Oh, yes,” yawned his friend.

  “But before I could take it out of the water, a fish the length of my arm swallowed that fish!”

  “Really?”

  “And before I could pull that fish out . . . a fish as big as an ox swallowed them both!”

  “Yes, yes . . .”

  “And then a fish as big as a truck came up and swallowed them all. . .. And then a fish as big as the mail steamer swallowed that one. . .. And then a fish bigger than all the towns of Muscat, Muttrah, Seeb, and Busher together came and swallowed them all! And this fish was so powerful that it broke my line and escaped with all the other fishes in its mouth.”

  “Do you know,” said his friend, “I went to the bazaar and was amazed at what I saw there. There were 10,000 coppersmiths making an enormous saucepan. It was bigger than all the oil storage tanks of Bahrain. It was so large that it could hold Muscat, Muttrah, Oman, Bahrein, and Karachi all inside!”

  The fisherman said, “What a big lie! There never was such a saucepan. You are just making that up.”

  “Oh, no,” replied his friend. “The coppersmiths had heard about the fish you were catching and were making the saucepan to cook the fish that you clumsily let get away.”

  FOLKTALES FROM QATAR

  THE HELPFUL FISH

  This is a Cinderella tale from Qatar.

  One day, Fsaijrah’s stepmother told her, “Take these fish to the seashore and clean them there. Bring them back, and we will cook them for our dinner.”

  Fsaijrah cut up all of the fish except one small one, but when she lifted her knife to cut that one, it spoke to her.

  “Please don’t cut me up. Let me go, and I will make you rich.”

  “Oh, I can’t let you go. My stepmother would be angry with me.” But she did let the fish slip out of her hands, and it dove into the sea.

  When she went back home, her stepmother wanted to see the fish she had cleaned.

  “Show me the fish.”

  “One got away while I was cleaning the others.”

  So the stepmother made her do without lunch and supper as a punishment.

  When the family had finished eating, her stepmother sent her to the sea to throw away the bones. At the seashore, the little fish was waiting for her. He had prepared a beautiful food tray for her, with fish and Qatari clarified butter—the most delicious butter in the world.

  A few days later, there was a drums party. The stepmother dressed her own daughter in beautiful clothes and took her to the party. But to Fsaijrah, she said, “There is plenty of work for you here. You stay home.”

  But as soon as they had gone, the little fish appeared. He brought her a beautiful dress and diamond slippers, and sent her off to the party.

  No one recognized the beautifully gowned girl as Fsaijrah, and she hurried home before the others could return. So they had no idea she had been at the drum party.

  But she was in such a hurry to reach home that one of her slippers fell off and dropped into a well. She had to return without it.

  The next day, the shaikh and his friends passed by the well, and he noticed the glittering shoe. He declared, “Whoever this shoe fits, I will marry.”

  When the shoe was brought to Fsaijrah’s home, the stepmother’s daughter tried it on. But the shoe did not fit. But when Fsaijrah put the shoe on, of course it fit perfectly.

  So Fsaijrah was engaged to be married to the shaikh.

  Her stepmother said, “For her dowry, we want radish, pickled fish, and dates.” When they were delivered, the stepmother and her daughter said to Fsaijrah, “Now eat them.”

  The little fish arrived and dressed her in the most beautiful dress of all, gave her jewelry, and put pearls and red coral on her stomach, which she brought out in the bridal chamber.

  As for the daughter of her stepmother, luck was not her ally.

  WEALTH, SUCCESS, AND LOVE

  Three visitors once arrived at the home of a couple. The wife invited them in for a meal, but they refused to enter unless the entire family was present. So all waited until the son came home. Then the wife once more invited the three to enter and eat.

  The visitors refused again. “Only one of us may enter your home,” they told her. “You must choose which of us shall come in.”

  One man stepped forward. “My name is Wealth. Do you wish me to be the one who enters your home?”

  A second man stepped forward. “My name is Success. Perhaps you would like me to be the one who enters you home?”

  Then the third man stepped forward. “My name is Love.”

  The three family members had a hard choice to make. They talked it over for some time. The husband wanted to invite Wealth in. The wife preferred to invite Success in. But the son felt that Love should enter. At last the husband and wife agreed that their son’s wish should be honored.

  “We have decided that Love shall be the one to enter our home,” they told the three men.

  So Love stepped into the house.

  And Wealth and Success followed him in.

  “What? We thought only one could enter?” said the couple.

  “If you had invited Wealth or Success, we would all have left,” they were told.

  “But wherever Love goes, Wealth and Success will follow.”

  ORIGIN OF THE DHO
W’S LATEEN SAIL

  Small sailing boats in the Arabian Gulf were able to travel widely following the winds. The boats, called “dhow,” used a lateen sail, a triangular sail, which was easy to adjust to catch the wind. Pearl fishermen used these dhows to work closer to shore. But many boats traveled to Africa and India.

  The village of Al Khor, in northern Qatar, was a center of pearl fishing. The pearl divers worked from small fishing boats which were rowed offshore. But it is said that one day a beautiful woman arrived with her own fleet of dhows. Her fishermen surpassed the local fishermen, and soon she was cutting into their business.

  The fishermen of Al Khor challenged this woman to a contest in the hope of getting rid of her. They would have a race with their boats. The one who lost would leave Al Khor and dive for pearls somewhere else. For a while, no one was winning. But suddenly the Al Khor fishermen saw their enemy’s boat spring a huge wing! A sail had been raised! Now her boat sped swiftly away, leaving the Al Khor fishermen far behind.

  The Al Khor fishermen packed their gear and agreed to move on to another pearl-diving spot. But before they left, the woman offered them a gift. She had her men show them how to construct a sail. Now they too could travel swiftly and improve their catch.

  FOLKTALES FROM THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

  WHY THE HEN CANNOT FLY

  There came a time when everything dried up. There was no rain for many days, and the birds were sickening in the heat. So all of the birds met together to decide what to do.