Pearls on a Branch

by Najla Jraissaty Khoury

  “O climbing vine,

  Does love not pine

  When forced to part

  From his sweetheart?”

  Looking at the king’s son, the girl repeated the question:

  “Would not a lover weep

  For a love he cannot keep?”

  Not grasping what she was trying to say the young man was confused and answered:

  “Yes, yes, he must surely weep!”

  The girl sat at the edge of the pool and pulled a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe the tears that wet her cheeks. The king’s son meanwhile noticed nothing. The girl said:

  “O pool of clear and shining water

  Is not love’s loss the heart’s disaster?”

  “Do you talk to things as well as flowers?” asked the youth.

  In reply the girl pointed to a lamp hanging from a tree, and addressed it tearfully:

  “Call me tyrant! Why else assault

  A lamp that knows no sin and has no fault!

  My lamp hangs from a golden chain

  It burns with a brave and lively flame

  Yet I pray to God up in the sky

  To snuff it out and let it die.

  Why and for what reason?

  He trusts his lying cousins

  He will not seek the truth!”

  The king’s son listened to her overcome with love and adoration but without any notion that he was the subject of her verses. At first the girl had been annoyed but now she was sad. She decided to return to her room. As she climbed the wooden stair she tripped. The king’s son seized her hand to stop her fall. He saw that she had cut her ankle and quickly tore his sash to make a bandage for her foot. The girl said:

  “My heart was breaking

  My knees were shaking

  I fell upon the stair

  And saw Death waiting there.

  Give me pen, give me paper

  With black ink to write a letter

  To the one who abandoned me and fled.”

  The girl went to her mother-in-law and asked to be the one to bring the prince his dinner without revealing who she was. The king’s wife consented. When it was time for the evening meal the prince sat at table sunk in thought. He knew that he loved the girl in the garden and wished to marry her but he was married already to a woman he had never seen. He asked for a glass of water. The girl brought it to him. When he did not lift his head, she dropped the tray so the glass shattered on the floor. Still the prince did not turn his head. The girl went for another glass and the same thing happened. The third time the prince lost his temper and raised his voice:

  “Why are you so clumsy-footed?”

  “And who was it who tore his sash and tied this clumsy foot?” she asked.

  The king’s son shook himself and stood up. He looked the girl fully in the face. He heard his mother say:

  “This is your bride, my son. This is none other than Sitt Rafeeah!”

  He rushed to take her in his arms. Then the wedding was celebrated anew. For seven days and nights all food and drink was from the king’s purse.

  So they were married and very glad

  May such joy for everyone be had.

  Say: “Amen.”

  THE FROG AND HIS WIFE

  There was a man who had a woolen cloak

  He trimmed it here

  He trimmed it there

  He turned it downside up and inside out…

  But let me tell the story from the beginning:

  THERE WAS A FROG AND HIS WIFE who lived happily with each other. They quarreled and they made peace. They were sad and they were glad. Then one day, as they were sunning themselves they fell asleep. But all at once the frog’s wife dived into the water nearby. Splash! She wet the frog and soaked him through and through. He leapt up with a start and yelled:

  “What a silly thing to do,

  For someone old as you!

  An outrage

  At your age!”

  The frog’s wife was stunned. She was speechless with anger. The words stuck in her throat and she could not make a sound in reply. Instead she turned around and left. Back to her parents’ house she went.

  The frog stayed behind frustrated, hurt, and depressed. He no longer sunned himself nor did he swim but sat on a stone, lonesome and alone.

  The donkey walked by and asked him why he was sad:

  “Hey! What is plaguing you, our Uncle the Doctor, why are you looking so distressed?”

  The frog replied:

  “Your Uncle the Doctor is in a hole!

  His wife, sweetest of souls,

  Has packed and gone.

  So now he is on his own.”

  The donkey asked:

  “Do you want me to try

  And bring her back, by and by?”

  “By God, it would be a big favor!” said the frog.

  The donkey went to the frog’s wife and knocked on her door.

  Without opening, she asked:

  “Who knocks at a private person’s door,

  With no invitation sent out before?”

  The donkey replied:

  “I am your Uncle the Donkey,

  Also known as Ass,

  Professor of All-and-Sundry,

  Preeminent in my class.”

  She unlocked the door and demanded:

  “What do you want?”

  “I want you to accompany me to our Uncle the Doctor,” he said with a smile.

  “That I won’t!” she snapped and banged the door shut.

  The donkey went back to the frog and reported that his mission had met with failure:

  “She said she will not come.”

  So the frog sat on his stone, lonesome and alone.

  The camel walked by and asked him why he was sad:

  “Hey! Our Uncle, the Doctor! Why so down in the mouth?”

  The frog said:

  “Your Uncle the Doctor is in a hole!

  His wife, sweetest of souls,

  Has packed and gone

  So now he is on his own.”

  The camel said:

  “Do you want me to try

  And bring her back, by and by?”

  “Our Uncle the Donkey has already gone to her, but she does not want to come,” explained the frog.

  “Maybe I can persuade her and she’ll agree to come with me,” said the camel.

  “It would be a great favor, by God!” said the frog.

  The camel went to the frog’s wife and knocked at her door. From inside she asked:

  “Who knocks at a private person’s door

  With no invitation sent before?”

  The camel said:

  “I am your Uncle the Camel,

  Also known as Dromedary,

  Across dry deserts I travel

  Heavy the loads that I carry.”

  She pushed open the door and inquired:

  “What is it you want?”

  “I want you to come with me to our Uncle the Doctor,” said the camel with his wide grin.

  “No. I won’t!” she exclaimed and locked the door.

  The camel went back to the frog and told him that his attempt had failed:

  “She said she will not come.”

  So the frog sat on his stone, lonesome and alone.

  The horse went by and asked him why he was sad:

  “Hey! What’s up, our Uncle the Doctor? Are you in mourning?”

  The frog said:

  “Your Uncle the Doctor is in a hole!

  His wife, sweetest of souls,

  Has packed and gone

  So now he is on his own!”

  The horse said:

  “Do you want me to try

  And bring her back by and by?”

  “Others have tried before you,” answered the frog. “Our Uncle the Donkey has gone to her already and she refused. Then our Uncle the Camel went and she still won’t come.”

  “Let me intercede! With me she will surely come,” said the horse.

  “By G
od,” said the frog, “That would be a grand favor!”

  So the horse went to the frog’s wife and knocked on the door.

  Through the wall the frog’s wife asked:

  “Who knocks at a private person’s door,

  With no invitation sent out before?”

  The horse replied:

  “I am your Uncle the Horse,

  Also known as Stallion,

  I race the longest course;

  My rider is the Sultan!”

  The frog’s wife was smiling as she flung open her door. She asked:

  “What can I do for you?”

  “Come with me. We are going to our Uncle the Doctor,” the horse commanded.

  “Of course I’ll come. It is an honor to ride the horse that carries our Sultan,” she said. “How can I refuse?”

  And with one long leap she landed on his back. The horse took her right to her husband, the Doctor. As soon as the frog caught sight of her, he began to jump for joy, skipping around her and loudly singing:

  “Spread and put on display

  Bright silks in colors gay

  Hide and pack away

  All that’s black or gray

  The prince’s heart in pain was churning

  O Joy! His princess is now returning!”

  The frog’s wife, however, stayed on the horse’s back.

  “Come down,” said the frog, “dismount!”

  “No!” said his wife.

  “What are you waiting for?” asked the frog.

  The frog’s wife stood on the horse’s back looking down at her husband and said:

  “I will not move until I have listed all your failings. Answer me: Why is your head so swollen?”

  “I wear a cashmere turban!”

  “Why are your eyes so bloodshot?”

  “In the officers’ club, I drink a lot.”

  “Why are your legs so long and thin?”

  “They fit my soldier’s boots of stout goatskin.”

  The frog’s wife took a long look at her husband. She decided that he was a model of virility, after all. So she jumped into his lap. And from then on the frog and his wife sunned themselves and lived happily with each other again…

  Until this day

  They jump and play

  They eat and drink and sleep and snore

  Content, they ask for nothing more.

  JUBAYNA THE FAIR

  There was or maybe no

  It was a long time ago…

  THERE WAS A WOMAN who was childless. She had never tasted the joy of carrying or giving birth to an infant. One day, as she was making ewe’s milk cheese, she held up a piece and begged the Lord to grant her a daughter as white and as tender as the cheese in her hand. She would call the child Jubayna, diminutive of the word for cheese.

  God heard her prayer. She became pregnant and gave birth to a beautiful girl as fair and as fine as the freshest cheese. She called her Jubayna and raised her with love and care.

  The child in a story grows fast. Soon Jubayna was a young woman. The other girls in the village envied her and resented the way she was pampered and indulged. One day, when they were going to pick wild apples, they invited her to join them:

  “Come with us, Jubayna, we are planning to go out for crab apples.”

  Jubayna asked for permission from her mother. The woman was hesitant but eventually she agreed:

  “Take good care of her! She is my only child.”

  So Jubayna went with the other girls. When they reached the place, the girls asked Jubayna to climb into the tree and shake the crab apples down. They said:

  “Climb up and we’ll fill your bucket for you.”

  Jubayna clambered into the tree and shook its branches. The ripe fruit rained down covering the ground. The girls filled the buckets choosing the good apples for themselves and the gnarled ones for Jubayna’s bucket. They had put pebbles in it first.

  On the way home the girls stopped and said:

  “Let’s empty our buckets and see who has the best fruit.”

  When Jubayna saw the stones in the bottom of her bucket, her eyes filled with tears and when she noticed that all her crab apples were spoiled, she stood up, took her bucket and said that she was going back to fill it with the most beautiful fruit of all. She would choose her apples one by one. She retraced her steps and reached the tree just as the sun was about to set.

  There was an old man standing there. He asked:

  “What are you doing here, Jubayna, all by yourself?”

  “I’m picking crab apples!”

  Jubayna did not know that this old man was a spirit in human shape! She recounted to him how she had been tricked by her friends and that now she wanted to pick the best crab apples for herself.

  “If you do as I say,” said the old man, “I will fill your bucket with the largest and most attractive fruit on the tree. Then I will blow one breath and you will find yourself back with your mother before your friends get home.”

  She asked:

  “But what do you want me to do in return?”

  He said:

  “All I want is for you to come to me whenever I burn one of the hairs of my head, and let me suck the end of your finger.”

  Jubayna accepted. So the old man filled her bucket with the best of the crab apples, then he sucked the end of her finger and blew her home to her mother. After that, whenever he burnt one of his hairs at sunset, Jubayna went to him and he sucked her fingertip. This continued until Jubayna began to grow thin and weak. Then one day she decided she would not do this any longer and she ran away. She ran and ran with the old man running after her shouting:

  “I’ll change myself into a tom cat and catch you!”

  “It is unlucky for me to go near cats,” replied Jubayna.

  “I’ll change into a horse!” he yelled.

  “It is not proper for me to ride horses,” she said and went on running.

  “I’ll change into a camel!” he said. But by then Jubayna had run a long way and did not hear this last threat. She went home and was able, for a time, to live in peace.

  When the season for the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, came round, everyone went to the cattle market to choose a suitable camel for the journey. Jubayna picked a camel with colorful tassels, and bells decorating its neck. Then, with the setting of the sun, the caravan set off for Mecca.

  At the first stopping place everyone dismounted except Jubayna. She was unable to move and no one could pull her off her camel; it was as if she had been glued to it. They left the problem for the morning, citing the proverb, “An early start in the mornings brings success and big earnings.” And they all went to sleep. Jubayna was forced to stay where she was on the back of her camel. But before sunrise, when it was still dark, the camel transformed itself into a ghoul. Jubayna realized that this was the old man who had hounded her. He said:

  “I don’t have the heart to kill you and I don’t have the heart to devour you but I cannot leave you alone. I will blow on you and turn you into a mangy dog. People will be disgusted by you and no one will touch you. And I warn you, should you take off your dog skin, even if only for a single day, you will die.”

  Then he blew a single breath, which transformed Jubayna into a mangy dog, and disappeared. As it happened, the ghoul died soon afterwards, but Jubayna had no knowledge of that.

  In the morning there was no trace of Jubayna or her camel among the pilgrims’ convoy. Instead there was a mangy dog that kept following in the caravan’s wake. Everyone would give it a kick or shoo it away for fear of the mange spreading.

  When they reached the city, Jubayna left the pilgrims and ran through the streets until she happened upon a house belonging to an old woman. The woman saw that the dog was hungry and tossed some food for it on the ground. But the dog did not move towards it. When the woman placed the food in a dish the dog was willing to eat. And so Jubayna stayed in the house eating the old woman’s food and sleeping on a straw mat on her floor.


  Every day, in the early morning, Jubayna would make her way to the Sultan’s gardens, which were planted with every kind of fruit tree. There she would chant these words:

  “O keeper of the prince’s seal

  Seal the eyes of the watchman here

  So I can pick some fruit and fill my basket

  For a kind old lady – else I would not ask it.”

  While the eyes of the watchman were firmly shut and he could not see her, Jubayna would shed her dog skin and bathe in the garden pool and swim about. But she always put on her dog skin again before returning to the old woman’s house. The people in the palace were puzzled by the disappearance of the fruit from the garden. So the sultan’s son decided to keep watch. When he saw Jubayna in the water taking her swim, he was struck with her beauty and her fair complexion and instantly felt that he loved her. Keeping her in sight, he followed at a distance without her noticing and discovered where she lived. Then he hurried home to the palace calling to his mother:

  “O Mother, dear Mother,

  Put away all signs of gladness

  Spread out the colors of sadness

  Your son has a grievous illness

  That no drug or doctor can cure.”

  His mother said:

  “May God keep you whole, dear son. What is the matter with you? What do you want?”

  “I want to get married,” he said.

  “What blessed news!” said his mother, “A thousand blessings on you, dear Son! You can choose any girl you want. Which of your cousins do you wish for? Is it your uncle’s daughter? Is it your aunt’s daughter?”

  “I want the mangy dog that lives with the old woman in the alley,” he said.

  Striking one hand against the other, his mother cried:

  “Did you say mangy dog? Impossible! My son, the son of a Sultan, wanting to marry a mangy dog!”

  She tried to dissuade the young man but it was no good. Reluctantly, she went to the old woman to ask about the dog.

  “It will only eat off a plate,” said the old woman, “and it will only sleep on this mat.”

  In the end, the Sultan’s wife accepted the dog for her son. The marriage took place quietly in secret and no announcements were made.

  When the young couple was alone in their room, the prince asked Jubayna to take off her dog skin. She barked in refusal. He threatened and she barked again. Then he told her how he had seen her bathing in the garden pool and how he had loved her in that first instant and how, if she was afraid of anything, he would protect her. He said: