Speak Bird Speak Again (42 page)

"Yee!"
quavered the girl. "You're scaring me."

"Don't
worry!" said the woman. "It's only because I've eaten
raluxxiyye and lava beans, and my stomach's upset."

Anyway,
she gave her earrings, bracelets, rings, and whatever else she wanted
for nothing, and went on her way. What was she to do? She then went
home and talked it over with her relatives. "What are we to do?"
they asked, "now that we know who his murderers are?"

"Well,"
she said, "we're going to ask for her hand. We'll say I have a
son, and we want her as a bride for him."

"Fine,"
they agreed. "Let's do it."

Taking
two or three men with her, they set out. Who is her guardian, now
that her father is in the hajj? Told that it was Abu Xalil, they went
to see him.

"O
Abu Xalil," they said. "We want this girl. We want, we'd
like to be, in-laws to you." What else they said, I don't know.

"Uncles,"
he responded, "I'm not related to her. I'm not her paternal or
maternal uncle. I'm only her neighbor, and her father has entrusted
her to my care. And the Prophet himself bade us take care of our
neighbor, and our neighbor's neighbor, down to the seventh neighbor."

"We'll
take care of her," they said. "We'll provide for her, we'll
buy her things." They dazzled him.

"That's
fine," he said. "But what am I to say to her father when he
returns?"

"Don't
worry," they answered. "He won't say anything when he sees
all that we've brought for her. He won't say anything."

"All
fight," he agreed. "It's nothing unusual. Everyone gets
married."

After
buying the trousseau, they came and prepared the bride. The ghouleh
then came with a few people, claimed the bride, and left.

When
the bride arrived at her new home, the ghouleh's house, she found it
poverty stricken. It was the house of poor peasants. The ghouleh also
had a daughter (May it be distant from you!) who was ugly and lame,
her body twisted and deformed all over.

Now,
the ghoul's mother lit the fire and put a huge caldron on it, filling
it with water. "In a moment," she thought, "I'm going
to slaughter her and cook her on the fire. But first, until the water
boils, I might as well go invite my relatives." Then, forcing
the bride into a burlap sack, she sewed it shut over her.

The
poor girl sat in the sack. She happened to have some gum, so she
started chewing: "Chew, chew, white gum! Chew, chew, red gum!
Chew, chew, blue gum! Chew, chew, yellow gum!" Her
sister-in-law, the pitiful one, called out to her, "Hey,
sisten-in-law!" (She couldn't talk properly.)

"What
do you want?" asked the other.

"Give
me some gum!"

"And
how can I give you anything? I can't stretch out my hand. Make an
opening in the mouth of the sack so I can give you some."

"I'm
afraid you might nun away" (that is, "run away").

"Don't
worry," the girl reassured her. "I won't run away."

The
ghouleh's daughter fetched a knife and cut away a stitch, while the
girl inside loosened a few more stitches, then reached out her hand
and gave her a bit of gum. The ghouleh's daughter chewed and chewed,
while the other was making a wider opening in the mouth of the sack
until she was able to pull herself out of it. Now that she was out,
what was she to do? How was she to act? Dragging the dim-witted girl
over, she slaughtered her, put her in the caldron, and fled. And what
did she do then? She went up to the roof and waited.

Meanwhile,
the ghouleh arrived with her guests. "Yee!" she exclaimed.
"It looks like my daughter (Allah bless her!) has already
slaughtered her and put her on the fire. And here, she's almost done.
Allah bless my daughter!"

The
food served, they sat down to eat, but the daughter's scalp came into
the mother's hand and she recognized it. "Yee!" she
screamed. This is her daughter (the distant one!).

Now,
the bride, while they were eating, sneaked into a room and found it
full of money and treasure. Filling her pockets, the front and other
parts of her dress, she pulled herself together and got out of there.
She walked and walked, until she came to a carpenter's shop.

"Listen,
uncle!" she said.

"Yes."

"Won't
you make me a dress of wood? I'll pay you as much as you want."

"Yes,"
he answered, "I'll make you one."

"In
that case," she suggested, "hide me here in your shop until
you finish it. And if someone should come by, beware of telling them
you've seer me!"

He hid
her behind the planks of wood and set to making her dress. Now (the
distant one!), the ghouleh, her insides burning (her daughter and son
were gone!) Came chasing the girl. She ran here and there, and
whomever she saw she asked, "O uncle, haven't you seen a bride
all decked out and perfumed?"

"No."

"O
uncle, haven't you seen a bride all decked out and perfumed?"

"Not
at all. We haven't seen anyone like that."

She
kept running from one direction to another, always returning to the
carpenter and asking him, and he always answered her, "Not at
all," until he had finished the dress. The dress finished, the
girl put it on and walked away.

"What's
your name, niece?" those who saw her on the road asked, and she
answered, "My name is Little Woodling." The ghouleh too,
running back and forth, asked her, "Little Woodling, have you
seen a bride all decked out and bustling?"

"Not
at all," she answered. "I can't see, and I don't know. I
haven't seen anybody."

Now
(the distant one!), the ghouleh kept running and searching until she
burst and died. And the girl took off her wooden dress and went home.
When her father came back from the hajj and heard the story, he
blamed his neighbor for what he had done, marrying the girl off
without his permission. After that they lived in bliss and happiness,
and may Allah save the mouths of my listeners!

35.

There
was once a woman who had no children except an only daughter whom she
indulged. She had a pair of golden slippers made for her. The mother
loved her daughter very much and would send her to the sheikh for
lessons. (In the old days there were no schools; the sheikhs were the
teachers.) Early one morning the girl went to the house of the sheikh
and found him skinning a little boy and devouring him.

She
gathered herself and ran away, not returning to her mother. "If
I return to my mother," she thought, "she'll want to take
me back to him, and he'll devour me. I'd rather not stay in this
place at all." She ran away in fear, leaving one of her golden
slippers by the doorstep. One slipper fell off, while 'the other
remained on her foot as she ran. She came to a shopkeeper.

"O
uncle!" she pleaded, "It's now evening, and I'm a stranger
in town. Won't you let me sleep here tonight, in your shop?"

"Yes,
my daughter," he replied, "why not?"

He
left her in his shop and went home. Who came to her? The sheikh. He
said to her:

"Tell
me, Pomegranate Seeds!

What
strange sights did you see,

When
by the doorstep of the master

You
forgot your golden slipper?"

She
answered:

"I
saw him praying and fasting,

The
eternal Lord worshipping."

The
sheikh tore up all the cloth, turning the big shop upside down, and
left. When the owner came to open his shop and check on the girl, he
found it all torn up. "Oh! My son!" he cried out. "Help,
people, help!" The townspeople felt sorry for him. They brought
a tray and collected money for the goods he had lost. He beat the
gift until he nearly killed her. "Have pity? they reproached
him. "Why are you beating her? Could she have torn up your
shop?"

Eventually
the girl made her escape to another town. She came to a grocer who
sold ghee, sesame oil, sugar, and olive oil.

"O
uncle!" she begged him, "Won't you let me sleep here
tonight?"

"Yes,
my daughter," he replied, "why not?"

The
sheikh came to her at night, and he said:

"Tell
me, Pomegranate Seeds!

What
strange sights did you see,

When
by the doorstep of the

master
You forgot your golden slipper?"

She
answered:

"I
saw him praying and fasting,

The
eternal Lord worshipping."

The
sheikh poured the olive oil into the sesame oil, mixing them together
with the ghee, the rice, and the sugar. Then, turning his back, he
left.

In the
morning the owner opened his shop. "Oh! My son!" he
lamented, beating his breast. As they had done for the other one, the
people collected money for this one.

The
girl meanwhile pulled herself together and left. "Where am I to
go?" she wondered. "I've nowhere left except this tall tree
here. Live or die, I'm going to climb it. He won't see me up there."
She climbed and sat up in the tree, looking like the full moon, like
a doll.

In a
while the king came to water his horse by the pool under the tree,
but the animal shied. The king looked up and saw a maiden like the
full moon sitting in the tree.

"Young
woman!" he called out, "Are you human or jinn?"

"By
Allah, I'm human," she answered. "From the choicest of the
race."

"Come
down and ride behind me!"

She
was hungry. She had not eaten in two days (and of course the Son

of
Adam cannot live if he does not eat). She collected herself, came
down, and rode behind him. He took her to his mother and said,
"Mother!"

"Yes,
son."

"I've
captured a treasure. If you like me, you must like her. And if you
love me, you must love her."

"Of
course, son," she said. "Like my own eyes." The mother
brought the girl up until she became a young woman, lovely like the
moon.

"Mother!"
said the king when the maiden came of age, "I want to marry
her."

"Marry
her," said the mother.

The
king married her, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy.
When she had given birth to her first son, the sheikh came to her in
the night. He said:

"Tell
me, Pomegranate Seeds!

What
strange sights did you see,

When
by the doorstep of the master

You
forgot your golden slipper?"

And
she answered:

"I
saw him praying and fasting,

The
eternal Lord worshipping."

Snatching
her son away from her, he smeared her hands and mouth with blood and
disappeared.

In the
morning the servant went up to the master's quarters: "O Master,
she's all bloody!"

"Don't
worry about it," the king said.

The
next time, the sheikh did with the second son as he had done with the
first and disappeared. The king questioned his wife, but she would
not say a word, neither yes nor no. She was afraid to speak.

The
third time, she gave birth to a girl. The sheikh came, seized the
baby, and disappeared.

"That's
it!" announced the king. "She's hereby deserted! Put her in
a separate house!"

"But,"
protested the servants and his mother, "tomorrow she'll devour
us and our children!"

"No!"
insisted the king, "I won't get rid of her. I'll leave her in
separate quarters." And every day after that he himself came to
give her food through the window.

One
day the king decided to go on the hajj. He said to himself, "I
might as well go see what Pomegranate Seeds wants."

"Pomegranate
Seeds!" he said, "What do you want from the Hijaz?"

"I
only want the box of myrrh and seven switches of pomegranate wood,"
she answered. "And if you don't bring them, may your camels
start dropping blood and pus, and stop you from coming back!"

He
traveled and traveled. He bought the whole world but forgot the box
of myrrh. Halfway home, the men were going to leave the camels
behind. They had collapsed, and not one of them was able to move.