Speak Bird Speak Again

by Folktales

  Her mother went and asked her friends, but they said, "Jbene didn't come with us."

  Later a horseman came by, riding a mare. The mare approached the tree but backed away in fear. Looking up into the tree, the horseman saw the girl. "Come down!" he said, but she would not because she was afraid. "I swear by Allah your safety's guaranteed," he said to her, and only then did the gift heed him. She came down, and he set her behind him on the mare and rode home with her?

  During the night Jbene painted herself black all over because she did not want anyone to know who she was. In the morning they thought she was a servant and sent her out to graze the herds of sheep and camels.

  Every day after that, while roaming with the herds, Jbene would cry out:

  "O birds that fly

  Over mountains high!

  Greet my mother and father

  And say, 'Jbene's a shepherdess.

  Sheep she grazes, and camels.

  And rests in the shade of the vine.'"

  Then she would cry, and the birds would cry, and the sheep and camels would stop grazing and cry.

  The son of the emir noticed that the animals were going out to pasture and were coming home without having eaten. They were getting thinner day by day. "By Allah," he thought, "I must follow her and find out what the matter is."

  He followed the herds until they reached their grazing ground. Jbene sat down and cried out:

  "O birds that fly

  Over mountains high!

  Greet my mother and father

  And say, 'Jbene's a shepherdess.

  Sheep she grazes, and camels.

  And rests in the shade of the vine.'"

  Then she started crying, and the birds cried. The herds all stopped grazing and stood in their tracks and cried. Everything around her cried, and the son of the emir himself stood up and cried.

  In the evening he said to her, "Come here! Confess the truth! Who are you, and what's your story?"

  "My name's Jbene," she answered. "This and that and that happened to me." She then removed the soot from her face, and behold! what was she like but the moon?

  The son of the emir made her his wife. They arranged festivities and beautiful nights. He married her, and she brought her mother and father to stay with her. I was there, and have just returned.

  The bird of this tale has flown, and now for another one!

  14.

  Sackcloth

  TELLER: Testify that God is One!

  AUDIENCE: There is no god but God.

  Once upon a time there was a king who had no children except an only daughter. One day his wife laid her head down and died, and he went searching for a new wife. They spoke of this woman and that, but none pleased him. No one seemed more beautiful in his eyes, so the story goes, than his own daughter and he had no wish to marry another. When he came into the house, she would call him "father," but he Would answer, "Don't call me 'father'! Call me 'cousin.'"

  "But father, O worthy man! I'm your daughter!"

  "It's no use," he insisted. "I've made up my mind."

  One day he sent for the cadi and asked him, "A tree that I've cared for,' feeding and watering it - is it legally mine, or can someone else claim it?" "No one else can claim it," replied the cadi. "It's rightfully yours." No sooner had the cadi left than the father went out and brought his daughter jewelry and a wedding dress. He was preparing to take her for his wife.

  The girl put on the new clothes and the gold, and sat in the house. Her father came home in the evening. When she realized that he was absolutely intent on taking her, she went to a sackcloth maker and said, "Take as much money as you want, but make me a tight-fitting sackcloth that will cover my whole body, except my nostrils, mouth, and eyes. And I want it ready by tomorrow morning."

  "Fine," he said. "I'll do it."

  [When it was finished] the girl went and brought it home. She put it in a shed in front of the house and locked the door. She then put on the bridal clothes and jewelry [again] and lounged about the house. Her father came home in the evening.

  "Father!" she called to him.

  "Don't call me 'father'!" he said. "Call me 'cousin.'"

  "All right, cousin!" she replied, "But wait until I come back from the outhouse (All respect to the audience!)."

  "But you might run away."

  "No, I won't," she answered. "But just to make sure, tie a rope to my wrist, and every once in a while pull your end of it and you'll discover I'm still there."

  There was a big stone in the lower part of the house, and on her way out she tied her end of the rope to it, together with the bracelets. She then went out to the shed, put on her tight sack, and, invoking the help of Allah, ventured into the night.

  Meanwhile, the father tugged at the rope every few moments and, hearing the tinkle of the bracelets, would say to himself, "She's still here." [He waited and waited] till the middle of the night, then he said, "By Allah, I've got no choice but to go check on her." When he found the rope tied to the stone, with the bracelets dangling from it, he prepared his horse, disguised himself, mounted, and went out to look for her.

  She had already been gone awhile, and by the time he left the house she was well outside the city. He followed after her, searching. When he caught up with her, she saw and recognized him, and clung to the trunk of a tree. Not recognizing her, but thinking she was a man, he asked, "Didn't you see a girl with such and such features pass this way?"

  "O uncle, Allah save you!" answered the maiden. "Please leave me to my misery. I can barely see in front of me."

  He left her and went away. Seeing him take one path, she took another. [She kept on traveling,] sleeping here and waking up there, till she came to a city. Hunger driving her, she took shelter by the wall of a king's palace.

  The king's slavegirl came out with a platter to dump leftover food. Sackcloth fell on the scraps and set to eating. When the slave saw her, she rushed back inside.

  "O mistress!" she called out, "There's a weird sight outside - the strangest-looking man, and he's eating the leftovers."

  "Go call him in, and let him come here!" commanded the mistress.

  "Come in and see my mistress," said the slave. "They want to have a look at you."

  "What's the situation with you, uncle?" they asked, when she came inside. "Are you human or jinn?"

  "By Allah, uncle," she replied, "I'm human, and the choicest of the race. But Allah has created me the way I am."

  "What skill do you have?" they asked. "What can you do?"

  "By Allah, I don't have any skills in particular," she answered. "I can stay in the kitchen, peeling onions and passing things over when needed."

  They put her to work in the kitchen, and soon everyone was saying, "Here comes Sackcloth! There goes Sackcloth!" How happy they were to have Sackcloth around, and she stayed in the kitchen under the protection of the cook.

  One day there was a wedding in the city, and the king's household was invited. In the evening they were preparing to go have a look at the spectacle.

  "Hey, Sackcloth!" they called out, "Do you want to come with us and have a look at the wedding?"

  "No, Allah help me!" she exclaimed. "I can't go look at weddings or anything else like that. You go, and I wish you Godspeed, but I can't go."

  The king's household and the slaves went to the wedding, and no one was left at home except Sackcloth. Waiting till they were well on their way, she took off her sackcloth and set out for the festivities, all made up and wearing the wedding dress she had brought with her. All the women were dancing in turn, and when her turn came she took the handkerchiefs and danced and danced till she had had her fill of dancing. She then dropped the handkerchiefs and left, and no one knew where she came from or where she went, Returning home, she put on her sackcloth, squatted alongside the walls of the palace, and went to sleep. When the slaves got back from the celebration, they started badgering her.

  "What! Are you sleep
ing here?" they taunted. "May you never rise! If only you'd come to the wedding, you would've seen this girl who danced and danced, and then left without anybody knowing where she went."

  That happened the first night, and the second night the same thing happened again. When the king's wife came home, she went to see her son.

  "Dear son," she said, "if only we could get that girl, I'd ask for her hand - the one who comes to the wedding and leaves without anybody knowing where she comes from or where she goes."

  "Let me wear women's clothes, mother," he suggested, "and take me with you [to the women's side]. If anyone should ask, say to them, 'This is my sister's daughter. She's here visiting us, and I brought her with me to see the celebrations.'"

  "Fine," she agreed.

  Putting women's clothes on him, she took him with them. Sackcloth, meanwhile, gave them enough time to get there, then took off her coat of sackcloth and followed. She went in, danced till she had had her fill, then slipped away. No one recognized her, or knew where she came from or where she went. Returning home, she put on her sackcloth and went to sleep.

  The following day the king's son said to the others, "You go to the wedding," and he hid outside the door of the house where the celebration was taking place. Sackcloth came again, went inside and danced, then pulled herself together and slipped away. No sooner had she left than he followed her, keeping a safe distance until she reached home. No sooner did she get there than she went in, put on her coat of sackcloth, and squatted by the palace wall and went to sleep.

  "What!" he said to himself, "She dwells in my own house and pretends to be some kind of freak!" He did not say anything to anyone.

  The next morning he said to the slaves who bring up his meals, "I don't want any of you to bring my food up today. I want Sackcloth to serve my dinner, and I want him to share it with me."

  "O master, for the sake of Allah!" she protested, "I can't do it. I'm so disgusting, how could you want to have dinner with me?"

  "You must bring up my dinner so we can eat together," he replied.

  The servants prepared dinner, served it onto a platter, and gave it to Sackcloth. She carried it, pretending to limp, until she was halfway up the stairs, then she made as if her foot had slipped and dropped the whole platter.

  "Please, master!" she pleaded, "Didn't I tell you I can't carry anything?"

  "You must keep bringing platters and dropping them," the son of the king insisted, "until you manage to come up here on your own."

  With the second platter she came up to the landing at the top of the stairs, slipped, and dropped it.

  "This isn't going to get you anywhere," said the son of the king. "Do not for one moment hope to be excused."

  With the third platter she limped and limped, leaning here and there, until she reached the top and served him his dinner.

  "Come sit here with me," said the prince, closing the door. "Let's eat this dinner together."

  "Please, master!" she protested, "Just look at my condition. Surely it will disgust you."

  "No. Do sit down! I would like to have dinner with you."

  They sat down to eat together, and the prince pulled out a knife and reached for the coat of sackcloth.

  "You must take this thing off!" he said. "How long have we been searching, wondering who the girl was that came to the wedding. And all this time you've been living under my own roof!"

  He made her remove the sackcloth coat, and called his mother. They sent for the cadi, and wrote up their marriage contract.

  "For forty days," the public crier announced, "no one is to eat or drink except at the house of the king.""

  They held wedding celebrations, and gave her to him for a wife.

  And this is my tale, I've told it; and in your hands I leave it.

  15.

  Sahin

  Once there was a king (and there is no kingship except that which belongs to Allah, may He be praised and exalted!) and he had an only daughter. He had no other children, and he was proud of her. One day, as she was lounging about, the daughter of the vizier came to visit her. They sat together, feeling bored.

  "We're sitting around here feeling bored," said the daughter of the vizier. "What do you say to going out and having a good time?"

  "Yes," said the other.

  Sending for the daughters of the ministers and dignitaries of state, the king's daughter gathered them all together, and they went into her father's orchard to take the air, each going her own way.

  As the vizier's daughter was sauntering about, she stepped on an iron ring. Taking hold of it, she pulled, and behold! it opened the door to an underground hallway, and she descended into it. The other girls, meanwhile, were distracted, amusing themselves. Going into the hallway, the vizier's daughter came upon a young man with his sleeves rolled up. And what! there were deer, partridges, and rabbits in front of him, and he was busy plucking and skinning.

  Before he was aware of it, she had already saluted him. "Peace to you!"

  "And to you, peace!" he responded, taken aback. "What do you happen to be, sister, human or jinn?"

  "Human," she answered, "and the choicest of the race. What are you doing here?"

  "By Allah," he said, "we are forty young men, all brothers. Every day my brothers go out to hunt in the morning and come home toward evening. I stay home and prepare their food."

  "That's fine," she chimed in. "You're forty young men, and we're forty young ladies. I'll be your wife, the king's daughter is for your eldest brother, and all the other girls are for all your other brothers." She matched the girls with the men.

  Oh! How delighted he was to hear this!

  "What's your name?"

  "Sahin," he answered.

  "Welcome, Sahin."

  He went and fetched a chair, and set it in front of her. She sat next tohim, and they started chatting. He roasted some meat, gave it to her, and she ate. She kept him busy until the food he was cooking was ready.

  "Sahin," she said when the food was ready, "you don't happen to have some seeds and nuts in the house, do you?"

  "Yes, by Allah, we do."

  "Why don't you get us some. It'll help pass away the time."

  In their house, the seeds and nuts were stored on a high shelf. He got up, brought a ladder, and climbed up to the shelf. Having filled his handkerchief with seeds and nuts, he was about to come down when she said, "Here, let me take it from you. Hand it over!" Taking the handkerchief from him, she pulled the ladder away and threw it to the ground, leaving him stranded on the shelf.

  She then brought out large bowls, prepared a huge platter, piled all the food on it, and headed straight out of there, taking the food with her and closing the door of the tunnel behind her. Putting the food under a tree, she called to the girls, "Come eat, girls!"

  "Eh! Where did this come from?" they asked, gathering around.

  "Just eat and be quiet," she replied. "What more do you want? Just eat!"

  The food was prepared for forty lads, and here were forty lasses. They set to and ate it all. "Go on along now!" commanded the vizier's daughter, "Each one back where she came from. Disperse!" She dispersed them, and they went their way. Waiting until they were all busy, she took the platter back, placing it where it was before and coming back out again. In time the girls all went home.

  Now we go back. To whom? To Sahin. When his brothers came home in the evening, they could not find him.

  "O Sahin," they called. "Sahin!"

  And behold! he answered them from the shelf.

  "Hey! What are you doing up there?" asked the eldest brother.

  "By Allah, brother," Sahin answered, "I set up the ladder after the

  food was ready and came to get some seeds and nuts for passing away the time. The ladder slipped, and I was stranded up here."

  "Very well," they said, and set up the ladder for him. When he came down, the eldest brother said, "Now, go bring the food so we can have dinner
." Gathering up the game they had hunted that day, they put it all in one place and sat down.

  Sahin went to fetch the food from the kitchen, but he could not find a single bite.

  "Brother," he said, coming back, "the cats must have eaten it."

  "All right," said the eldest. "Come, prepare us whatever you can."

  Taking the organs of the hunted animals, from this and that he made dinner and they ate. Then they laid their heads down and went to sleep.

  The next morning they woke up and set out for the hunt. "Now brother," they mocked him, "be sure to let us go without dinner another evening. Let the cats eat it all!"

  "No, brothers," he said. "Don't worry."

  No sooner did they leave than he rolled up his sleeves and set to skinning and plucking the gazelles, rabbits, and partridges. On time, the vizier's daughter showed up. Having gone to the king's daughter and gathered all the other girls, she waited till they were amusing themselves with something and then dropped in on him.

  "Salaam!"

  "And to you, peace!" he answered. "Welcome to the one who took the food and left me stranded on the shelf, making me look ridiculous to my brothers!"

  "What you say is true," she responded. "And yet I'm likely to do even more than that to the one I love."

  "And as for me," he murmured, "your deeds are sweeter than honey."

  Fetching a chair, he set it down for her, and then he brought some seeds and nuts. They sat down to entertain themselves, and she kept him amused until she realized the food was ready.

  "Sahin," she said, "isn't there a bathroom in your house?"

  "Yes, there is," he replied.

  "I'm pressed, and must go to the bathroom. Where is it?"

  "It's over there," he answered.

  "Well, come and show it to me."

  "This is it, here," he said, showing it to her.

  She went in and, so the story goes, made as if she did not know how to use it.

  "Come and show me how to use this thing," she called.

  I don't know what else she said, but he came to show her, you might say, how to sit on the toilet. Taking hold of him, she pushed him inside like this, and he ended up with his head down and his feet up. She closed the door on him and left. Going into the kitchen, she served up the food onto a platter and headed out of there. She put the food under a tree and called to her friends, "Come eat!"