Pearls on a Branch

by Najla Jraissaty Khoury

  It was close to sunset when she woke up. She looked around and couldn’t believe her eyes. “Am I dreaming or is this real?” she asked herself. What she saw before her was a strange building – as people like to say: “neither in the earth implanted nor from the sky suspended.” Both she and her horse were hungry, so she decided to go inside, hoping to find something to eat. She stepped cautiously and when she stood on the threshold she announced:

  “I am a traveler at your door!”

  Then she called out to the people of the house:

  “O masters of this house! Hey, masters of this house!”

  There was no reply, so she entered. Near the doorway, there was a well-equipped stable, where she led her horse and fed it and watered it. Next, she went into the kitchen and found food and drink ready for someone to cook it: every kind of vegetable, meat, and fruit, sorted and arranged for cooking. The girl was delighted. She rolled up her sleeves and set to work. When she was done she cleaned and tidied the kitchen, then ladled the food she had cooked onto plates she found there. She took something to eat for herself, then joined her horse in the stable. “I’ll sleep here tonight,” she said to herself, “and tomorrow I’ll go.”

  The next day when she went into the kitchen she saw that the dishes had been emptied and again there was food laid out to be cooked. So she prepared it, dished it onto the plates, and had a meal herself. Then she cleaned and tidied the kitchen and returned to the stable to sleep, saying to herself: “I’ll sleep here tonight and tomorrow I’ll be off.”

  She spent the night in the stable and in the morning, when she went into the kitchen for the third time, she saw that the dishes were empty as before and everything readied for cooking. However, when she rolled up her sleeves to begin her work, the door flung wide open and an ancient man entered, venerable in appearance, with a beard down to his belt.

  The girl was startled and quickly crouched under the table to hide. She heard the old man’s voice saying:

  “I sense a stranger in the place!

  If it is a boy he will be a son to me,

  If a girl, my daughter,

  If a man, my brother,

  If a woman, she will be my sister.

  Whoever you may happen to be

  Come out and show yourself to me!”

  The girl was frightened and tried to run away but the old man saw her. He thought she was a boy because she was wearing her father’s clothes and he called to her:

  “O my son, my dear one!”

  She corrected him and told him that she was a girl:

  “No, Father,” she said, “I am a maiden pure and untouched.”

  “Welcome, O my daughter, my dear one!” said the old man.

  And so the girl lived with him as if she were his daughter and as if the old man were her father. Every day she would keep house and prepare the meals and then, in the afternoon, she would sit at the window with her spindle, twisting wool into yarn.

  One day she saw an ostrich that belonged to the sultan’s son in the palace garden next door. She greeted it from her window:

  “Good evening to you, O ostrich, pet of the sultan’s son!”

  “A pleasant evening to you too, O daughter of the ghoul!” replied the ostrich and it went on to recite:

  “O ghoul’s daughter,

  How fair your face and form

  How fine your twist of yarn

  Today the ghoul is raising you and feeding you

  Tomorrow he will be roasting you and eating you!”

  The girl was alarmed to hear this. She listened to the ostrich’s warning but said nothing. She went to her room in silence and took to her bed. She would not eat or drink. She became thin and weak and her face lost all color. Seeing the state she was in, the old man asked:

  “Dear heart, what has been happening to you?”

  The girl did not respond. The old man persisted and continued to question her until she told him how she had seen the ostrich of the sultan’s son. She repeated to him what the bird had said:

  “It claimed that you are raising me and fattening me in order to devour me!”

  The old man gave her this advice:

  “If the ostrich recites the same words to you again tomorrow, tell it that I am feeding you and raising you so that the sultan’s son may marry you.”

  The girl recovered her strength on hearing this. The following day she took her spindle and sat at the window spinning and waiting. As soon as she caught sight of the ostrich in the garden she greeted it:

  “Good evening, O ostrich of the sultan’s son!”

  “Good evening to you too, O daughter of the ghoul,” said the ostrich, adding:

  “O ghoul’s daughter,

  How fair your face and form

  How fine your twist of yarn,

  Today the ghoul is raising you and feeding you

  Tomorrow he will be roasting you and eating you!”

  This time the girl was unafraid and answered boldly:

  “He wants to feed me and raise me

  So people may see me and praise me

  And the sultan’s son will ask my hand in marriage.

  Then with your feathers I’ll make my bed

  And with your blood draw patterns red

  Then with your flesh shall guests be fed

  On my wedding day!”

  When it heard the girl’s boast, the ostrich shook with rage and began plucking its own feathers in frustration, scattering them on the ground. For several days they continued with the same exchange: the girl bidding the ostrich good evening and the ostrich ending by pulling out its feathers. Soon the sultan’s son noticed the sorry shape of his bird. He saw the feathers covering the ground, so he asked:

  “O ostrich, my pet, what is ailing you?”

  The bird told how it had seen the girl spinning at her window and how it had warned her about the ghoul. And how, in response, the girl had dared to boast that she was going to marry the sultan’s son.

  “What time of day does this girl appear?” asked the sultan’s son.

  “She comes in the afternoon,” said the ostrich, “and sits at the window and spins.”

  The sultan’s son decided to see for himself. He was impatient for the hours to pass until afternoon. When it was the time for the girl to sit at the window and spin, he hid where he could watch her without being seen. He observed the ostrich passing by the window.

  “Good evening to you, O ostrich of the sultan’s son,” said the girl.

  “Good evening to you too, O daughter of the ghoul,” replied the ostrich and said:

  “O ghoul’s daughter,

  Great beauty you have and elegance

  And sweet is the sound of your spindle

  Tomorrow the ghoul his fire will kindle

  To roast you

  And eat you

  And rid us of your presence.”

  To which the girl responded:

  “No!

  He has saved me from harm and from distress

  He allows no speck of dust to touch my dress.

  Tomorrow the sultan’s son I’ll wed

  And with your feathers make my bed.”

  Again the ostrich was enraged and pulled at its feathers till they fell on the ground.

  As for the sultan’s son, one look and he was smitten with love for the girl. He found himself thinking about her both night and day. She was on his mind even while he ate and while he drank. In the end he went to his mother and said:

  “O my Mother, I beg you, go and ask for the girl’s hand in marriage!”

  “What are you saying?” his mother exclaimed. “Do you expect me to ask for the hand of a girl from that strange quarter? From a place where we saw no builder building, or plasterer plastering, or painter painting, as the walls of the house rose up!”

  But the young man was determined and he pestered his mother until she conceded and set a date to visit the girl.

  The night before the visit, the old man told the girl:

&n
bsp; “My child, tomorrow some people from the sultan’s palace will be coming here. Welcome them politely and hospitably but when they offer you a platter filled with jewels, lay it aside without a second glance. And when you take their outer wraps, hang the clothes on the ropes above them. Then, after you have done your duty by them for a couple of hours, pull the ropes in such a way that each wrap falls into its owner’s lap.”

  The next day, the girl prepared herself for the visitors from the sultan’s palace. She made sure that the ropes the old man had mentioned were in place, and waited for the guests.The party finally arrived: the sultan’s wife accompanied by a number of women from the palace, bringing with them the gift of a platter heaped with jewels.

  The girl welcomed the visitors and thanked them for their gift. Then she called a servant girl to put the platter away on a shelf and continued to entertain her guests as if nothing of significance had taken place. This annoyed the palace women. They were irritated by the girl’s behavior and wondered, “How can she not be impressed by our gift of jewelry?” But they did not show what they were feeling.

  The girl took good care of her guests, offering them coffee and sweetmeats and conversing with them politely, so that the time passed quickly and after two hours, the sultan’s wife and her women were still sitting with her. At that point the girl pulled the rope that let fall each woman’s wrap into her lap. The women understood that this was a signal that the visit was over and it was time for them to leave.

  The sultan’s wife could not contain her anger as she hastened back to the palace followed by her women. They were all puzzled by the girl’s behavior.

  The sultan’s son was waiting on tenterhooks for his mother’s return and ran out to meet the women saying:

  “Tell me: How did it go? What do you think? Did you see her, Mother? Don’t you like her?”

  His mother replied:

  “Likable she is and pleasant and kind and well bred, and also beautiful, I’ll admit! But she did offend us on two counts.”

  “What did she do?” asked the youth.

  His mother described to him how the girl had dismissed their gift of jewelry and had it put aside on a shelf. But her son’s reaction was:

  “She must have far costlier jewelry than that or she would not have cast your gift aside!”

  Then his mother told him how after they had sat with her for two hours she had caused each of their wraps to fall into their laps. The son responded:

  “She was a proper hostess to you and there was no need to linger beyond two hours!”

  When eventually the palace decided to make a formal request for the girl’s hand in marriage, the old man said:

  “Dear child, tomorrow the palace will be sending a party to ask for your hand in marriage. Welcome them hospitably but put the gift of wedding jewels by the fireplace. After half an hour pull the rope to let them have their wraps.”

  So when the palace women arrived, the girl conducted herself as on the previous occasion except that this time she placed the palace gifts by the hearth and pulled the rope holding the visitors’ coats after a mere half-hour.

  Again, the women did not betray their feelings. But once they were outside and on their way back to the palace, they gave vent to their disappointment, buzzing with complaints and muttering to each other.

  The sultan’s son who had been waiting to hear the news was surprised by the mood of the delegation.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  Talking all at the same time, the women said:

  “She insulted us!”

  “She made fun of us!”

  “She did not like us!”

  “She spoke to us without any warmth!”

  “This time she treated us worse than the time before!”

  “She did nothing wrong!” insisted the sultan’s son. “The first time she welcomed you as guests and strangers. Today she knew that you were asking for her in marriage so how could she treat you as before.”

  “Well,” said the women, “we refuse to be her escorts on your wedding day or bring her in procession to your palace! Ask someone else to do the honors!”

  “I shall go and bring her myself!” declared the sultan’s son.

  Meanwhile, the girl was bubbling with joy as she made ready for the day of her wedding. The old man came to her once again to offer his advice:

  “Listen carefully to what I have to say, my child,” he said. “Don’t forget that you arrived here a king’s daughter, riding your father’s horse and wearing your father’s clothes, carrying a saddlebag full of gold. When you are married, do not give your husband leave to speak with you until he has met one condition.”

  “What condition is that?” asked the girl.

  So the old man explained:

  “Tell your husband that you will be ready to speak to him on one condition – you will talk to him only after he has built a public drinking fountain in your name and placed your portrait above the water spout. In addition he must appoint two sentries to keep watch at the fountain. And if they see a man weeping and grieving after coming to drink they are to take him to the prison and inform the sultan’s son. Tell your husband that you will know what to do then.”

  The girl guessed what the old man had in mind and thanked him for his instructions. She was longing to see her parents again.

  “I shall climb to the top of the minaret to see you go to your new home in your husband’s house,” said the old man. “And when you leave this place my soul will depart also.”

  “No! No!” protested the girl, “Then I’d rather not get married!”

  “It is time for your wedding procession,” said the old man. “The sultan’s son is on his way. Go to him! Live your life! May God grant you happiness and good fortune!”

  The old man embraced the girl as she stood in her bridal finery and kissed her. And when the sultan’s son came for her, the old man handed her to him with God’s blessing. Then, from the top of the minaret, he watched as the sultan’s son led his bride to the palace. When the girl turned one last time to look back at the minaret, she saw a light that grew fainter with every step she took.

  Everyone in the city joined in the wedding celebrations: eating and drinking and dancing and singing! The palace women were there and the sultan’s family and friends – even the ostrich of the sultan’s son took part! The festivities did not end until the night became day!

  When all the guests had gone and the bride and groom were alone with each other, the sultan’s son wanted to sit with his wife and talk, but she stepped away saying:

  “There is one condition that must be met before we may speak with each other.”

  He asked what that was and she told him that she wanted him to build a public drinking fountain and place her portrait above the water spout. He was to appoint two sentries to keep watch nearby. If they saw someone come to drink at the fountain and burst into tears, or sob or grieve, they were to take him down into the prison and report to the sultan’s son. The sultan’s son was to inform her and she would know what to do next.

  The sultan’s son met her condition: he built the drinking fountain with her portrait above the water and he appointed two sentries to keep watch nearby.

  In his own kingdom, the girl’s father began to miss his daughter. As the expression has it: “When gone are the fumes of drinking, regained are the powers of thinking.” The king was remembering with regret how he had commanded the girl to be shut up in the palace of isolation and that he had not visited her since. He missed her.

  “Dear lady,” he said to his wife, “‘Gone are the fumes of drinking; regained are the powers of thinking!’ I am missing my daughter whom I banished to the palace of isolation. I want to see her.”

  “Dear husband,” said his wife, “Your daughter left a long time ago. She took a horse from your stable and a suit of your clothes and I gave her a saddlebag full of gold. She rode off and I don’t know where she has landed.”

  The king was heartbroken a
nd filled with remorse. He said:

  “I will go and look for her and will not come back until I have found her!”

  His wife embraced him and wished him success in his quest.

  The very next day, the king summoned his vizier and the two men disguised themselves as wandering dervishes and started on their way. They traveled here and there, “one place receiving them and another sending them away.” The journey was long and the weather was hot. They were constantly thirsty and looking for drinking water. So it happened that one day they were led to the fountain that the sultan’s son had built for his wife.

  As the king cupped his hands and bent down to drink, he thought his eyes were deceiving him; for there, shimmering in the water he held in his palm, was the image of his daughter! He looked up and realized that it was the reflection of her portrait hanging above the water spout. At the sight, he sank onto the stone ledge of the fountain, holding his head between his hands and sobbing. The vizier rushed to comfort him but before he could finish a sentence the two sentries fell upon both dervishes, the king and his vizier, arrested them and threw them into prison. Two days passed before the sentries informed the sultan’s son and two more days passed before the sultan’s son remembered to tell his wife.

  As soon as the young woman heard the news, she asked the sultan’s son, her husband, to release the two men from prison; to have them taken to the bathhouse and bathed, then to the barber and shaved, after which they were to be brought to the palace for a meal. She herself would prepare the food.

  When the sultan’s son went down to the prison the next day and ordered the cell to be unlocked, the king and his vizier kissed his hands, first one and then the other.

  “We are devout dervishes, your Majesty,” they said. “What have we done to be imprisoned?”

  The sultan’s son apologized, and after they had bathed and shaved, he invited them to his palace to dine with him at his table.

  When all the palace men gathered round the table, the king was made to sit in a chair that his daughter had designated for him. She wanted to observe her father through a peephole in the ceiling above the chair. She had cooked the king’s favorite meal that she and her mother used to make for him every Friday. Through the opening in the ceiling the girl was watching closely. As soon as her father had tasted the first mouthful, his eyes welled with silent tears. On her part, the girl was crying too and one of her tears fell onto her father’s hand. So the sultan’s son said to the king: