King Solomon replied:
“We shall look into the matter.”
She came back the following Friday and pleaded and begged:
“Let it please you, O King Solomon, to crown me queen of the birds!”
“All in good time,” he said.
She returned a third time, determined and persistent, saying:
“I beseech and implore you, O King Solomon, crown me queen of the birds.”
But he shook his head and said nothing.
After that the little bird went back to the palace and stood before the king threatening him and shouting at the top of her voice:
“O Solomon, our King and Sovereign
Unless you make me queen of the birds and give me the crown
I will roll in the dust of your protected grounds
I will rub the dirt into everything you own
And what is now a palace will be your ruined home.”
The king nodded and said:
“Little bird, I consent.
But first go find me a wooden stick
That is neither thin nor thick
A stick that is not green or dry or short or long
And as soon as you are done,
I will crown you queen of all the birds.”
So off the little bird went, flying and flying! She fluttered from tree to tree, hopping from this twig to that, turning her head right and left as she looked and looked for that wooden stick. But every time she found a piece of wood she rejected it crying:
“Tsk! Tsk! No! No! It’s too long! Tsk! Tsk! It’s too short! No, too thick! No, too thin!”
The little bird has not stopped looking to this day. She hops and flutters and turns her head to right and left searching with her interrupted chirp of: “Tsk! Tsk! No! No! Tsk! Tsk! No! No!”
You can see her for yourself hopping about looking right and left. Because of her Tsk! here and Tsk! there, people sometimes call her the “Tsk-Tsker.” And her real name, Chiffchaff, also sounds like her chirping.
The chiffchaff is still looking for the wooden stick.
That is neither thin nor thick
A stick not green, not dry
Not short, not long
To give King Solomon
So he may crown her queen of birds by and by.
SITT YADAB
LONG AGO, IN A FORMER TIME and another clime, there was a young girl named Yadab. She lived in the city with her father and mother who loved her dearly. They indulged her every wish and refused her nothing. Lady Yadab, Sitt Yadab, is what they liked to call her. When she needed shoes they ordered clogs to be made for her: one shoe of silver and one of gold. The girl was an only child. Her parents had not been blessed with a boy. Her father sent Sitt Yadab to the kuttab, the Koran school, just as he would have sent a son, to learn to read and write.
So every morning Sitt Yadab left the house and walked to school. One day, the Sheikh who taught them told the students to come early, with the dawn, and whoever arrived first would receive a prize.
Sitt Yadab was a serious, hardworking student. When she returned home she asked her mother to wake her very early the next morning as the Sheikh had promised a prize to whoever came to school before the rest. The girl went to bed. But she could not sleep. So she got up and put on her clothes and began to ready herself for school. Her mother heard her and said,
“It is much too early yet!”
“The world is full of light outside,” replied her daughter.
“Moonlight,” said the mother.
All the same, the girl got dressed, slipped on her new clogs, one of silver, one of gold, packed her notebook and pencil and set off for the schoolhouse.
When she got there, she found the door was locked. So she looked in at the window. What she saw was the Sheikh, her teacher, devouring a small boy. She spun round and fled. Running as fast as she could to get home she did not notice that the clog of silver had fallen off her foot. In her terror she was hoping that the Sheikh had not seen her. But the Sheikh had heard her anklets ringing.
That night while Sitt Yadab was asleep the Sheikh appeared to her and said:
“Sitt Yadab, O Sitt Yadab,
When you came, so bright and bold,
What did you see your teacher do
That made you lose your silver shoe
And run in just the one of gold?”
Her response was:
“I saw our Sheikh preparing tests
To help his students do their best.”
The Sheikh said:
“Tell the truth or I will seize your father’s camels.”
She repeated:
“I saw our Sheikh preparing tests
To help his students do their best.”
The Sheikh took her father’s camels and vanished.
On the following day, Sitt Yadab did not go to school, saying that her head ached. That night the Sheikh appeared to her again asking:
“Sitt Yadab, O Sitt Yadab,
When you came, so bright and bold,
What did you see your teacher do
That made you lose your silver shoe
And run in just the one of gold?”
She answered:
“I saw our Sheikh preparing tests
To help his students do their best.”
“Speak!” said the Sheikh, “or I’ll take your father’s sheep.”
She said:
“I saw him praying and fasting,
Praising God, the Everlasting.”
The Sheikh took her father’s sheep and disappeared.
The next day, Sitt Yadab did not go to school, saying that her stomach hurt.
At night the Sheikh returned and asked:
“Sitt Yadab, O Sitt Yadab,
When you came, so bright and bold,
What did you see your teacher do
That made you lose your silver shoe
And run in just the one of gold?”
She said:
“I saw our Sheikh preparing tests
To help his students do their best.”
“Go on,” said the Sheikh, “or I will devour your mother and your father.”
She said:
“I saw him praying and fasting,
Praising God the Everlasting.”
The Sheikh took her parents and disappeared.
When it was morning, Sitt Yadab decided to escape into God’s wide world so she would not meet the demon Sheikh again. She left her home and walked all day. Just as the sun was about to set, she came to a souk, or market. There she entered a grocer’s shop and said to the owner:
“O Uncle, I have no one I can go to, no one to care for me. Please let me sleep here tonight and I will leave in the morning.”
The grocer hesitated a little but then, seeing how exhausted she was, how pitiable and scared, he agreed to let her sleep in his shop. He gave her a round of bread and a jug of water, turned his key in the door and left. During the night the Sheikh appeared as before and asked:
“Sitt Yadab, O Sitt Yadab!
When you came, so bright and bold,
What did you see your teacher do
That made you lose your silver shoe
And run in just the one of gold?”
She said:
“I saw him praying and fasting
Praising God, the Everlasting.”
“Speak up,” said the Sheikh, “or I will ruin everything in sight.”
She repeated:
“I saw him praying and fasting
Praising God, the Everlasting.”
The Sheikh turned the shop upside down; he mixed the fat with the olive oil and the lentils with the wheat and the sugar with the rice then he left.
When the grocer unlocked his shop in the morning he found Sitt Yadab in tears. When he saw what had been done to his goods, he beat his head with his fists and called his fellow storekeepers to come and look. He declared that the girl was mad and drove her out into the street.
Walking and walki
ng, Sitt Yadab came to another town. She went into a potter’s shed and said to the potter:
“O Uncle, I have no one to go to and no one to care for me. Please let me sleep here tonight and I will go in the morning.”
The potter hesitated at first, but then he agreed. He gave her a round of bread and a jug of water; he locked his shop and left.
The Sheikh came during the night and asked:
“Sitt Yadab, O Sitt Yadab,
When you came, so bright and bold,
What did you see your teacher do
That made you lose your silver shoe
And run in just the one of gold?”
She said:
“I saw him praying and fasting
Praising God, the Everlasting.”
“If you don’t speak further,” said the Sheikh, “I will smash everything there is.”
She repeated:
“I saw him praying and fasting
Praising God, the Everlasting.”
The Sheikh broke the jars and jugs of earthenware and the cups and plates of finer ware and left.
When the potter unlocked his shed in the morning he found Sitt Yadab crying. When he saw what had been done to his wares, he began to shout and scream so that people gathered round. He yelled that Sitt Yadab was crazy and chased her away.
The girl walked on until she found herself by the prince’s castle. She searched for food on the ground outside the castle wall, picking up scraps of bread and weeping as she ate. The prince who was looking out his window caught sight of her. He was struck by her beauty and sent one of his serving men to bring her into the palace. After she had been fed and her hunger stilled, she went to thank the prince for his kindness. He asked her for her story so she told him:
“I have no one to go to and there is no one to care for me. Time has swept me up in its stream: my people are dead and here I am, wandering from place to place.”
The prince had been dazzled by her beauty and he was touched by her words. He decided to marry her. Wedding celebrations were arranged and Sitt Yadab became a princess living in the prince’s palace. Soon she was pregnant and gave birth to a handsome boy as splendid as the moon. She forgot her troubles and the sufferings of her parents. But on the night after she gave birth, the Sheikh appeared to her once more. He asked:
“Sitt Yadab, O Sitt Yadab,
When you came, so bright and bold,
What did you see your teacher do
That made you lose your silver shoe
And run in just the one of gold?”
She said:
“In his hands he held the Holy Book
And on his face he had a saintly look.”
“If you don’t say more,” said the Sheikh, “I’ll snatch your son.”
“The child is no dearer to me than my mother and my father,” said the girl.
The Sheikh took the child, smeared Sitt Yadab’s lips with blood and left.
The next day when the prince discovered that his son had vanished without a trace and he saw the blood on his wife’s lips, he was overcome with sorrow and anger. He ordered Sitt Yadab to be confined to her quarters, and no one was to speak to her.
Days came and days went and the prince’s heart softened towards his wife. He visited her in her rooms and asked her what had happened but she said nothing. For a second time, Sitt Yadab became pregnant, and this time she gave birth to a little girl. Again on the night after she gave birth, the Sheikh came to her and asked:
“Sitt Yadab, O Sitt Yadab,
When you came, so bright and bold,
What did you see your teacher do
That made you lose your silver shoe
And run in just the one of gold?”
She said:
“In his hands he held the Holy Book
And on his face he had a saintly look.”
“If you don’t tell,” said the Sheikh, “I’ll take your daughter.”
“She is no dearer to me than my mother and my father,” said Sitt Yadab.
The Sheikh took the child, stained the mother’s lips with blood and left.
In the morning when the prince found that his baby daughter had disappeared and when he saw the blood on his wife’s lips, he was convinced that she must be a ghoul. He ordered Sitt Yadab to be locked in her room and announced that no one was to speak to her.
Days came and days went and the prince decided to go on the pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj. He sent a serving girl to ask Sitt Yadab whether there was anything she wanted from there.
The serving woman entered Sitt Yadab’s room and said:
“My master sends you greetings. He asks, what do you want him to bring you from the Hajj?”
Sitt Yadab said:
“Give your master my greetings. Tell him that I would like him to bring me the stone of patience and the knife of sorrow. Don’t forget.”
The prince was puzzled when the serving girl told him of Sitt Yadab’s wish. Still, when he went on the Hajj he brought back the stone of patience and the knife of sorrow.
Sitt Yadab held the stone and began to cut its surface with the knife as she unburdened her story:
“O Stone of Patience! O Knife of Sorrow!
Help me to endure!
Our teacher the Sheikh,
God grant him good night and good morrow,
Took my father’s camels and his sheep and I said nothing!
O Stone of Patience! O Knife of Sorrow!
Help me to endure!
Our teacher the Sheikh,
God grant him good night and good morrow,
Took my father and my mother and I said nothing!
O Stone of Patience! O Knife of Sorrow!
Help me to endure!
Our teacher, the Sheikh,
God grant him good night and good morrow,
Ruined grocer and potter, they called me mad, and I said nothing!
O Stone of Patience! O Knife of Sorrow!
Help me to endure!
Our teacher the Sheikh,
God grant him good night and good morrow,
Took my heart’s lifeblood, my little son and daughter,
People thought me ghoul and monster,
And I said nothing!
O Solid Stone, lend me patience! O Sharp-edged Knife, help me to endure!”
Sitt Yadab wept as she etched with the knife a cut on the stone for each of her sorrows. She shed tears as she recited her refrain. She cried through the day and cried through the night. But, as darkness was lifting, the ground at her feet split open and the Sheikh appeared. He addressed her with these words:
“O Sitt Yadab, no human has existed
Who defied my orders or strength resisted
Until your patience and your tears,
For the first time in all my years,
Sapped my strength and conquered me!”
With that he returned the camels and the sheep, the father and the mother, and Sitt Yadab’s little son and daughter. Then the Sheikh, her teacher, vanished.
Now Sitt Yadab’s tears were tears of joy and all who were with her wept also.
A serving woman passing heard the sound of voices and looked in. She witnessed all that had taken place and brought the news to her master.
On entering Sitt Yadab’s room, the prince beheld, with joy, his son and daughter. Clasping them to his heart he said:
“Yadab, O Yadab, my dear wife,
Will you tell me the story of your strange life.”
She answered him:
“Rather, ask this Stone of Patience, it can tell the tale.
Patience taught me to bear every slight
Patience made the heaviest sorrows light
Patience is a gift from God, Who sees wrong and right.
I was silent. I did not sigh.
Now God has blessed me.
The return of dear parents and dear children is my reward.”
Sitt Yadab was reinstated as a princess. She handed the Stone of Patience and the Knife o
f Sorrow to her daughter, advising her to keep them safe for they would give her strength when she had to endure in silence.
The parents arrived and the wedding celebrations were renewed; this was a marriage for which there were two rejoicings. The prince and Sitt Yadab then lived together in happiness and peace.
The bird has flown and is gone,
Goodnight to you every one.
BIR BRAMBIR
There was or there was not
In days that time forgot…
Shall we stay up and speak
Or go to bed and sleep?
Then let us begin with a prayer
For the Prophet, God’s Messenger.
THERE WAS A MAN whose wife died and left him to look after their only daughter. In time the man remarried. Soon his second wife became pregnant and gave birth to a little girl. Now that she had a daughter of her own, the stepmother grew jealous of her husband’s child. She favored her own daughter, giving her food that was tasty, words that were sweet, and tasks that were easy. Her husband’s child was made to eat stale leftovers, hear harsh rebukes, and do all the heavy chores. So much did the woman dislike her husband’s daughter that she was forever thinking how she might be rid of her. Then one day she called her and said:
“Go to Mother Ghoul and ask to borrow her sieve.” Under her breath she added: “This time she will surely not come back.”
The girl set off.
After she had walked a while, she noticed a date palm with its trunk bent over. She went up to it and asked what the matter was.
“I am thirsty. Bring me some water,” said the palm tree. The girl went to the stream and brought water to pour round the tree’s roots. As soon as the date palm felt the water, its trunk straightened and it said:
“God willing, you will grow to be tall like me.”
* * *
On walked the girl and soon she saw a rose that was all wilted.
“Why are you like this?” she asked.
“I am thirsty. Bring me some water,” said the rose.
So the girl went to the stream and brought water to splash on the rose. When the rose had sipped the water its petals unfurled and it said:
“God willing, your cheeks will be rosy like mine.”
The girl continued walking. On her way she passed by a horse kneeling on the ground. She asked what had happened. The horse said:
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