Speak Bird Speak Again (26 page)

"As
if all that weren't enough for you," he went on, "you had
to top it all with your aunty act. 'Welcome, welcome, aunty! It's
been a long time since we've seen our aunty. It's been such a long
time since aunty has washed our clothes!' And you kept me washing
clothes all day. And after all that, you insisted, 'We must bathe
aunty.' By Allah, I'm going to burn the hearts of all your paternal
and maternal aunties!"

Seeing
her nod her head in agreement, he yelled, "You mean you're not
afraid? And you're not going to apologize?" Taking hold of his
sword, he struck her a blow that made her head roll. A piece of
halvah (If the teller is not lying!) flew into his mouth. Turning it
around in his mouth, he found it sweet.

"Alas,
cousin!" he cried out. "If in death you're so sweet, what
would it have been like if you were still alive?"

As
soon as she heard this, she jumped up from under the bed and rushed
over to him, hugging him from behind.

"O
cousin! Here I am!" she exclaimed. "I'm alive!"

They
consummated their marriage, and lived together happily.

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

Afterword

In
general, the five tales in this group portray the early stirrings of
sexuality, when they are still subjective feelings and before formal
arrangements for marriage have been made. Except for "Jbene,"
the individuals in the tales, whether male or female, handle these
feelings in a way that communicates them to those for whom they are
intended. In "The Little Bird," the theme of sexual
awakening is manifested in the bird's preparation for marriage. By
collecting her trousseau, and by beautifying and putting herself on
display, she arouses the interest of the sultan's son. In "Jummez
Bin Yazur, Chief of the Birds," the youngest daughter's request
is ambiguous enough that the father can acquiesce without feelings of
shame. The girl is sending the message of her readiness, which Jummez
is able to decipher. In "Sackcloth," the sexual awareness
begins even before the girl leaves home, producing feelings of
confusion, shame, and guilt, especially since she seems to arouse a
most unnatural passion in her father. Hence her desire to cover her
body completely, so as to appear to be not only of the opposite sex
but also a horrible freak whom no one would want to touch. Only
later, when she has had more experience and feels secure at the
palace of the king's son, is she able to accept her sexuality. Her
dancing in public in the wedding dress her father had brought her is
a declaration of her new awareness, her readiness to accept a mate.
In "Sahin," the girl is the more mature of the two
protagonists, and she awakens Sahin to his manhood. The emotional
upheavals arising out of the first stirrings of sexuality are here
shown not to be limited to young women: young men feel them also.
Sahin must work through his frustrations and his confusion to assume
the responsibility of his manhood.

In
"Jbene," in contrast, the girl attempts to hide or deny her
sexuality. Her behavior differs from the straightforward courtship
behavior shown in the other tales in this group. She is more
concerned with the welfare of her family than with her own; thus, her
feminine, "nurturing," character emerges in relation to
them, not to the husband-to-be, even though they were not willing to
accept the responsibility that might have prevented her abduction.
The tale shows the poignancy of separation, the isolation of the new
bride. Jbene overcomes this isolation through acceptance of her mate,
which in turn leads to reunion with her family. In "Jbene,"
sexual identity must be drawn forth from a reluctant woman, and her
sorrow over the loss of her home security overcome.

The
narrative devices used in these tales reinforce the theme of sexual
awakening and the attendant personality changes. While the use of
disguise is common in folktales, it seems to be particularly
appropriate here. In the last three tales in the group, the heroines
or heroes put on some form of disguise in an effort to mask their
confusion while in transition to the new identity. The first two
tales share the metaphorical disguise of the bird symbol, thus
conveying a culturally complex meaning that would be impossible to
communicate directly. Jbene's disguise of staining her body black
literalizes the metaphor of ruining one's reputation; it serves as an
appropriate symbol of her ambivalence and confusion, and of the shame
or dishonor she might feel concerning her sexuality. She stains her
body black not only to remain anonymous but also to protect her
reputation and ward off possible advances from the son of the emir.
Her longing for her parents is expressed in her ditty, which at the
same time is instrumental in attracting the attention she is trying
to avoid. Similarly with Sackcloth, if merely being a woman is
sufficient to arouse unnatural passions, then her disguise transforms
her into a monster of the opposite sex. The son of the king signals
his readiness for marriage by his willingness to disguise himself as
a woman, which, as can be seen from "Sahin," is a
humiliating thing to do, especially if the disguise were to be
discovered. Whereas in "Sahin" the feminine disguise is at
first thrust on the hero against his will, he later assumes it
voluntarily; here, then, the use of disguise helps to convey the role
reversal on which the tale is based.

As a
group, these tales also convey something of the power that women
possess. through their sexuality. The first half of "The Little
Bird" presents us with the archetypal image of a girl ready for
marriage who, having made all the preparations, sends out her signals
to attract the male. She appears to be passive and receptive, prey to
be hunted. On the other side we have the archetypal male, an
authority figure with symbolic gun in hand, ready to assert his will.
Yet he could not be more wrong than to assume that he can have the
upper hand, either because he is a male or because of his social
position, or both. In "Jummez Bin Yazur," the lover risks
his life by admitting his secret to his sweetheart. And in
"Sackcloth," as we have noted, the king's son risks his
masculinity by wearing women's clothes. Finally, in "Sahin,"
it seems that no matter what the vizier's daughter does to the hero,
his attraction to her only increases. The images here are reversed:
she is the hunter and he the hunted.

In the
Introduction we discussed the potential for conflict between husband
and wife, especially when they are not first cousins. In this group
of tales we can glimpse the source of this conflict: the power
residing in women's sexuality on the one hand and the superior social
position accorded males on the other. In this respect the first and
last tales in the group ("The Little Bird" and "Sahin")
differ markedly from the others ("Jummez Bin Yazur,"
"Jbene," and "Sackcloth"), where the female is
presented as having no concern but to be taken for a mate by the
male. In "Sahin" and "The Little Bird," however,
the roles themselves are put. to the test. Whereas the male, as
represented by the son of the sultan, with his hunting tools and
pretensions, receives his power from the role endowed on him by
society, the power of the female is from within, from her own being.
It is the source not only of her procreative power, but also of her
creativity, her playfulness. For only the female is presented as
playful, her playfulness in the courtship ritual being an outward
expression of the power of her sexuality.

Yet
this playfulness has serious overtones, because in the end the
private passion must be channeled into public behavior that is in
harmony with the norms of society. As Sahin says, "We have no
recourse but for each of us to ask for the hand of his bride from.
her father." In other words, legal and public sanction must be
sought to validate private desire; otherwise, the whole process of
courtship will remain at the level of a game. "The Little Bird"
teaches us that underneath the charming acquiescence of Jbene and
Sackcloth lies a power that no man can master. And "Sahin"
teaches us that behind the apparent role of male domination
sanctioned by society there may lie another reality altogether.

THE
QUEST FOR THE SPOUSE

16.

TELLER:
Allah has spoken, and His word is a blessing!

AUDIENCE:
Blessings abound, Allah willing!

There
was once the king of a city who had a very beautiful daughter. He
announced that he would give her hand to anyone who could kill the
ghoul. He also let it be known that the ghoul would be easy to kill:
all one had to do was remove three hairs from his head. If they were
removed, the ghoul would die. The ghoul had been giving the people a
hard time, eating them and their animals, and they wanted to be rid
of him. He lived in a cave in the forest, not far from the city.

A lad
in love with the girl but too poor to become the king's son-in-law
one day decided to try his fortune against the ghoul, even though he
could not be sure if he would come back alive or not. No one except
him dared agree to the king's condition.

The
lad went to the ghoul's cave while it was still daylight, but did not
find him at home. He was roaming about, looking for someone to eat.
In the cave the youth found the ghoul's wife, who was a girl from
their city. The ghoul had fallen in love with her and had abducted
her. The moment she saw the young man, the girl gave him some advice.
"You'd better go back where you came from," she said. "When
the ghoul comes home in the evening, he'll make a feast of you."

But he
refused to listen and stayed with her, telling her his story. The
girl agreed to help him because she hated the ghoul, who had abducted
her when she was engaged to her first cousin, whom she loved and who
loved her. By helping the lad, perhaps she could get rid of the ghoul
and go back to her cousin.

When
the ghoul came home, he was growling from hunger. He had not been
able to find anyone to eat. The girl hid the young man in the
wardrobe.

"I
smell a human being," roared the ghoul as he came in.

"Nonsense!"
replied the girl. "You brought that smell with you."

The
ghoul then ate whatever he could find and went to sleep. She lay down
to sleep next to him. As soon as he was fast asleep, she plucked one
of the hairs from his head.

"What's
going on?" the ghoul grumbled, waking up.

"I
dreamt you were drowning in the sea," she answered. "And by
the time I got to you, your whole body was under water. Nothing was
above except your head. So I pulled you by your hair to save you from
drowning, but you woke up and woke me up, and it turns out I really
was pulling your hair."

Believing
her, the ghoul closed his eyes again, and no sooner was he fast
asleep than she plucked another hair from his head. He woke, jumping
up like a madman. "What's the matter with you?" he asked.

"I
was dreaming," she lied, "that you and I were traveling
together on a boat and I fell overboard. If I hadn't taken hold of
your hair, I would certainly have drowned. And when you shouted at
me, I woke up. It turns out I really was taking hold of your hair."

The
ghoul, out of his stupidity, believed her again. When he was

again
sound asleep, she plucked the third hair from his head, and he died,
thus sparing her and the people of the city his evil.

In the
morning the girl and the lad headed back to the city, taking with
them whatever they could carry from the cave, and not forgetting the
three hairs. The king, the princess, and the people of the city
received them joyfully when they heard about what had happened. As
for the girl, they celebrated her wedding to her cousin. And as for
the princess, they celebrated her marriage to the lad, arranging
festivities and beautiful nights.

We ate
from their feast, left them, and came home.

17.

TELLER:
[Not] until you testify that God is One!

AUDIENCE:
There is no god but God.

Once
upon a time there were three brothers. Their father happened to be a
king, and he said to them, "Listen! I'm about to die, and you
have three sisters. He who comes to ask for the hand of any of them -
don't even ask where he's from. Just give her to him in marriage."

After
the king died, the first suitor came to ask for the hand of one of
the sisters, and he gave her to him. The second also he married off,
and the third. Now the eldest brother, whose name was Hasan, thought
to himself, "Here I've married off the girls, and I have no idea
where they ended up."

"Let's
go," he said to his brothers. "We want to go hunting."

They
went hunting, you might say, to the outskirts of our town here. And
lo! a gazelle sprang among them. This one said, "She's my prey!"
and that one said, "She's mine!" [Finally] they said, "Not
for me, or for you. Let's make a ring around her, and he whose horse
she passes near - she's his, and he becomes her hunter."

Now
she was not really a gazelle. She was from the jinn (In the name of
Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate!). She gazed at them, and,
since a good person always stands out among his folk, she picked one
of the brothers and passed right under his horse.