Speak Bird Speak Again (28 page)

"Well,
mother," he asked, "I've opened four directions. So why are
the neighbors wailing?"

"You
should know, son," she answered. "There's a demon guarding
the spring, and every year around this time he must have a bride.
This year it's our neighbors' turn. They will dress her up and leave
her in a room, and they don't know where the demon of the spring will
take her."

"I
was ready to leave for home," he said, "but now I've
changed my mind."

In the
morning they clothed the girl in a bridal dress and put her in the
room so that the guardian of the spring could come take her and
release the water for them and their animals to drink. By Allah, he
did not take long to show up.

"Who's
this sitting with my bride?" he roared.

"By
Allah, it's only me," answered the youth. "Stretch out your
neck and take her!"

When
the demon stretched out his neck, the lad cut off his head, and water
gushed from the spring. And how pleased were the townspeople! They
were overjoyed. Some of them said, "My sister's yours [for a
bride]!" Others said, "My daughter's yours!" While
others were saying, "You have so much and so much money coming!"

"No!
No!" he announced. "I'm not staying. Not for an
inheritance, or for money!"

By
Allah, he said, "Magic carpet, don't bring me down except [at
the house] of such and such a family!" And when the carpet
landed, he thought to himself, "By Allah, I'm going to see
what's in this snuff box." (You know that an unfortunate one
remains so always.) Taking hold of the snuff box, he struck it to
open it, but it flew down into a well. "And what in the world's
going to bring it back?" he thought. Then, remembering the hairs
his brothers-in-law had given him, he rubbed them, and lo! some rams
appeared. They threw themselves down into the water and kept stirring
it until they recovered the box. After they recovered it, they fought
[over it]. It came open, and 1o! a bird flew up into the sky.

Again
he rubbed his brother-in-laws' hairs, and a whole flock of birds, so
thick they blocked the sun, appeared. They chased and chased the bird
until they brought it to him. Holding on to it tightly, he said [to
his carpet], "This time don't land except in Gazelle's town!"

He
found Gazelle and her foe still sparring. "Who knows," he
was saying, "but that I'll kill you and take away your soul?"
And she was answering, "Not at all! Who knows but that I'll be
getting the better of you and taking your soul away?"

"I
told you where my soul was," mocked the other. "How are you
going to get to it?"

Hasan
immediately squeezed the bird, showing no mercy.

"Ouch!"
the jinni cried out. "By Allah, I'm in a tight spot."

"What!"
she yelled back. "Are you mocking me?"

"No,
by Allah," he confessed. "This time, I really am pressed."

Meanwhile,
her husband kept tearing the bird's limbs. When he tore the bird's
foot apart, the man's foot would fall, a wing from the bird, and a
hand from the man - until there was nothing of him left at all.

The
bird of this tale has flown, and now it's someone else's turn.

18.

TELLER:
Testify that God is One!

AUDIENCE:
There is no god but God.

Once
there was a king who had a son - an only son and no other. He made a
vow. If his son survived and grew up, he would run two channels into
the city for the benefit of the poor and the destitute. One channel
would be filled with honey, and the other with ghee.

One
day the boy grew up and started school, and an old crone began
annoying him. Every day she would meet him and say, "Tell your
mother to fulfill the vow, or I'll cut short your life!" But
when he reached home, he forgot. The next day, she would wait for him
on his way to school and say, "Tell your mother to fulfill the
vow, or I'll cut short your life!" And he would answer, "But,
grandmother, I keep forgetting."

"You
forget," she said one day. Gathering some pebbles from the road,
she put them in his pocket and said, "These stones are to remind
you. The moment you put your hand in your pocket, you'll remember."

"Very
well," he said. But when he came home from school he changed
clothes without putting his hand in his pocket. When they washed his
clothes, his mother found the pebbles in his pocket. "Yee!"
she thought to herself. "Allah forgive me! A king's son with a
craving. O my little baby! It looks like he wanted to put candy in
his pocket, but look, he put in pebbles." The moment he came
home, she asked him, "Son, why did you put these pebbles in your
pocket? My darling boy, if you've been craving something, tell me and
I'll give you the money to buy it."

"Ah
yes, mother," he recalled. "No, I don't crave anything.
Rather there's an old woman who meets me every day and says, 'Tell
your mother to fulfill the vow, or I'll cut short your life.'"

"Yes,
all right," she said.

The
mother went up to see the king, and he gave orders, "Dig two
channels, clean them well and paint them, and run honey in one and
ghee in the other!" Now there was one who had news of the
channels and who also knew the old woman. He was (Save your honors!)
mean, a rascal. He went to the old woman and called out, "Hey!
Old lady! The sultan has declared he will cut off the heads of all
the old women." She locked herself in and hid.

Meanwhile,
the king had the channels built, one for honey and the other for
ghee. People scooped the honey and ghee up until there was no more.
The old woman's neighbor came to her, saying, "Hey, neighbor!
What's the matter? Why do you have yourself locked in?"

"O,
dear neighbor," she answered, "so and so told me such and
such."

"Yee!
God help you!" exclaimed the other. "He's tricked you.
Didn't you know the king was today fulfilling the vow he'd made for
his son? He's had a channel dug for honey and another for ghee. You'd
better hurry."

Taking
with her a piece of cotton, two small pots, and a little glass, she
set out. She sat under the king's palace by the channels and started
soaking her piece of cotton and squeezing it into the glass. The few
drops of honey she poured into one pot, and the few drops of ghee
into the other. Now the son of the king looked over and found it was
the old crone who used to pester him every day, and she was letting
[whatever she could get] soak into the cotton. She was too late to
get much. Waiting until she had filled her glass, he brought a pebble
and threw it out the window fight down at her glass, and lo! he
spilled it. Looking up like so, she exclaimed, "Yee! So it's
you, the son of the king! For over an hour I've been trying to fill
this glass, and you've spilled it for me just like that! May Allah
afflict you with Lolabe, daughter of Lolabe!"

"Don't
worry, old woman," said the boy. "Come around this way, and
I'll replace it for you."

She
brought the two pots with her, and he filled them up and said, "Go
your way!"

Afterwards,
he went to his mother and said, "Mother, prepare food and
provisions for me. I want to go searching for Lolabe."

"O
my son, my darling! Son of worthy people! Where are you going to
search?"

"No
use," he insisted. "I'm going to search for her."

His
horse having been prepared, he took the provisions and set out with
the crowing of the cock. He traveled and traveled, moving from place
to place, until he reached a castle on a hill in the wilderness. He
must have been tired, for he lay down to rest by the wall of the
castle. Looking out, Lolabe saw him at the foot of the castle.

"Who
are you?" she asked. "Are you Clever Hasan?" (I don't
know his name.)

"Yes,"
he answered.

"My
mother's coming any moment, and she'll gobble you up. You'd better
come up?

And
(if the story is to be trusted) she let down her hair, he hung on to
it, and she pulled him up into the castle with her. Her mother
arrived.

"Lolabe!
Lolabe!" she called out. "Let your hair down for your
mother! Your sad, miserable, and tired mother, who's eaten a hundred
trees and a hundred cows and still hasn't had enough."

Lolabe
let down her hair and pulled her mother up. It is said, however, that
as soon as she heard her mother's voice she blew on Hasan and changed
him into a pin, which she stuck in her headband.

"You
reek of human, human," said the mother when she came in. "Not
for a little while, or since yesterday, but as of right now, even
before sunrise!"

"O
mother!" replied Lolabe. "It's you who goes running into
all sorts of things! It's you who leaves early. As for me, I'm here
in the castle. How could a human being possibly reach me?"

"I
don't know," said the mother. "But you do smell of human."

"There
is no human here," insisted Lolabe.

Looking
about, the mother noticed the pin in Lolabe's headband.

"Lend
me that pin so I can remove a thorn from my foot," she said.

"All
day long you're wandering around running into things and knocking
trees down under your feet," answered Lolabe. "And if there
were a thorn in your foot, it would've fallen out."

"No,
daughter," groaned the mother. "This is a big thorn. Give
me the pin so I can remove it."

Removing
the pin, Lolabe turned it into a watermelon, which she hid among
their store of watermelons, and she gave her another pin to remove
the thorn. Her mother passed it this way and that over her foot and
gave it back. (Could it be true that a ghouleh would really want to
remove a thorn?) She looked around again and said, "Give me that
watermelon to eat."

"All
day long you're running around in the wild to fill your belly,"
complained Lolabe. "And now you've come to eat what I have in
the house."

"By
Allah," said the mother. "I'm really tired" (and I
don't know what else), "go bring me a watermelon to eat."

Lolabe
went and rolled a watermelon over to her mother, who said, "Not
this one! That one!" "Not this one! That one!" and so
on, insisting so much that Lolabe took hold of the watermelon and
dashed it to the floor, spilling seeds all over. Now Lolabe (if the
teller is not lying) covered one of the seeds with her foot, while
her mother set about licking up the watermelon - seeds, find, and all
- and started on her way out.

"Let
me down," she said.

Lolabe
let her down, and the ghouleh went her way. She then took the
watermelon seed and blew on it, bringing the boy back as he had been.

"Let's
hurry out of here!" she urged. "If my mother came back now,
she'd kill us both and devour you." She then brought henna and
spread it over all the articles of everyday use in the house - the
kneading bowl, the plate, the cooking pot. She did not forget
anything, they say, except the mortar and pestle.

Taking
the comb, the mirror, and the kohl jar with her, she came down with
him. They gathered themselves together and traveled, traveled.

"O
Lolabe!" her mother called out when she came back. "Let
your hair down for your sad and tired mother."

There
was no answer. "She's kneading [the dough]," said the
kneading bowl. "She's sifting [the flour]," said the sieve.
"She's doing the laundry," said the washtub. The mortar and
pestle was left, and it rang out, "Rinn! Rinn!" The human
took her and ran away!"

She
went running after them, following in their tracks. When Lolabe
looked back, she spied the ghouleh and her bitch behind them.

"My
mother's following us," she said. "In a moment, she'll
devour us."

Taking
hold of her comb, she cast it behind her. It turned into a fence of
thorns, and they moved on, running away from there.

"Chop,
chop, my little bitch!" said the ghouleh, "and I'll chop
with you till we open a path and follow him."

They
chopped and chopped until they cleared a path and then followed in
pursuit.

When
she looked back, Lolabe saw the ghouleh still behind them.

"She's
catching up with us," said Lolabe, and she threw the kohl jar
behind her. It turned into a wall of fire.

"Pee,
pee, my little bitch!" said the ghouleh, "and I'll pee too,
till we clear a path and follow them."

They
pissed and pissed till they made a path, then followed in pursuit.

When
Lolabe looked behind her, the ghouleh was still following.

"My
mother's still on our heels," she said. "Now she'll devour
us. We have only this mirror left."