Speak Bird Speak Again (47 page)

Throwing
him the rope, the woman started to pull him out but when he almost
reached the mouth of the well her strength failed her. His weight
grew too heavy for her, and she fell into the well with him.

"There
is no power and no strength except in Allah!" exclaimed the man.
"But don't worry, sister. By Allah's book, you're my sister!"
And they sat together for a while.

Now,
her brothers were seven, and with their plowman they were eight, and
they were all out plowing the fields. In a while the plowman showed
up.

"Hey,
So-and-So!" he called out. "Hey, So-and-So!" But she
did not answer.

After
a while, she called out from the well, "Pull me out!"

When
he had pulled her and the man out, she said, "Such and such is
the story, and please protect my reputation. By Allah, this man is
like my brother. Protect me, and don't tell my brothers. They'll kill
me. And come harvest time, when my brothers pay your wages, I'll add
two measures to your share. Just don't tell on me!"

"Fine,"
said the plowman.

A day
went and a day came, and they harvested the grain and threshed it. He
took his wages, and the sister gave him extra.

"What
did you do this year," asked his wife, "that So-and-So's
household gave you extra?"

"By
Allah," replied the man, "he who protects another's
reputation, Allah will protect his reputation in turn."

"Impossible!"
she insisted. "You must tell me what happened, or else you'll
worship one God and I another!"

"By
Allah," he said, "there was a girl who had fallen into a
well with a man, and I pulled her out."

Now
the wife, when she sat together with the other women, used to say,
"Did you know? So-and-So - my husband pulled her out of the
well, and she had a man with her!"

This
woman told that one, and so on, until her brothers got hold of the
news.

"We
must kill her," they said.

The
girl, catching on to their intentions, ran away at night. Eventually
she came to a tent, and lo! there was a young man in this tent,
living together with his mother. They let her stay with them, and the
mother would bring food in to her.

Now,
the man was a bachelor, and his mother said, "Son, by Allah,
this girl has filled my eye. She's very nice, and I'd like to
approach her for you."

"Yes,
mother," he said. "If you want me to marry her, speak with
her."

"O
So-and-So!" said the mother. "What do you think? My son –
I have no one but him. What do you say to my marrying you to him?"

"I'll
marry him," the girl replied.

She
married him. After that, she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy
whom she called Maktub. Then she became pregnant again and delivered,
giving birth to a girl whom she called Kutbe. Again she became
pregnant and delivered, giving birth to a boy whom she cared Mqaddar.

Meanwhile,
her brothers were roaming the countryside looking for her. One day,
coming by where she was, they said, "By Allah, it's getting
late, and we'd like to take shelter with you for the night."
(See how destiny works!) After they came in and sat down, their host
prepared them the dinner which Allah placed within his means, and
they ate. The father kept saying, "Come here, Maktub! Go over
there, Kutbe!" The whole time it was like that, "Kutbe
this, Maktub that, and Mqaddar this!"

As
they were sitting after dinner, they said, "Let us tell of our
adventures." Then they said, "The first tale's on the
host."

"All
right," he said. "I'd like to tell you about what happened
to me in my time. Where are you folks from?"

"By
Allah," they answered, "you might say we're from the hills
around Hebron."

"By
Allah," he said, "I had an adventure when I was a young man
of twenty."

"Please
proceed!" they said.

"By
Allah," he began his tale, "we were salesmen, traveling in
your part of the country. One day we were hungry. 'So-and-So!' said
my companions, 'Stop off and beg a few loaves for us.' By Allah, I
stopped by this girl - May Allah protect her reputation! 'For the
sake of Allah, sister,' I begged, 'if you can spare us a couple of
loaves of bread! We're camel drivers, and we're traveling.' By Allah,
reaching for some loaves of bread, that noble woman handed them to me
and said, 'Brother, make sure to sidestep the trunk of that tree.
There's a dog tied to it, and it might charge you. Take care not to
fall into the well.' And by Allah, folks, she hadn't even finished
her words of warning, when the dog rushed at me. And he no sooner
attacked than I was startled and fell into the well."

Now
the plowman, who was traveling with them, said, "I must go out.
I have to peel"

"No!"
her brothers responded. "Don't go out until the host finishes
his tale."

"By
Allah," continued their host, "when I fell into the well, a
girl looked in and said, 'There is no power and no strength except in
Allah. There's no one here who can pull you out.' Her brothers were
seven and with the plowman they were eight, and they were all out in
the fields. 'For the sake of Allah, sister,' I begged her, 'lower the
rope and pull me up!' And, by Allah, that decent woman - May Allah
protect her honor! - dangled a rope down and started to pull me up,
but when I was almost to the mouth of the well my weight was too much
for her and she fell into the well with me."

The
plowman again said, "I want to go pee," but her brothers
answered, "Sit!"

"By
Allah," the host went on, "who should show up but the
plowman? 'Here I am!' she said, after he had called to her. Lowering
a rope, he pulled her out. 'Brother,' she pleaded with him, 'such and
such is the story.' "

Now
she herself was listening. Where? In the tent she sat, listening to
her husband's tale.

"I
have to go take a shit!" said the plowman.

"Sit!"
the brothers said. "Wait till the host tells his tale!"

"By
Allah, friends," continued the host, "the man pulled us
out, and I came this way."

No
sooner had he said that than she burst out with a ululation from
behind the divider in the tent, and then came in to where they were
sitting and said, "You're my brother, and you're my brother."

"You,"
exclaimed the brothers, "are here!"

"Here
I am," she answered, "and I've called my children Maktub,
Kutbe, and Mqaddar."

The
bird has flown, and a good night to all!

43.

Once
upon a time there were two sisters, married to two brothers, one
very, very rich, and the other very, very poor. One day the sister
married to the poor one went to visit the wife of the rich one and
found her preparing stuffed cabbage leaves for dinner. She sat on the
doorstep, but her rich sister did not say to her, "Come in,
sister, and sit down inside." When she brought the cabbage out
of the boiling water, the rich sister gave the ribs of the leaves to
her children but did not say, "Here, sister, take some and eat
them." Putting her head in her hands, the poor one sank deep
into thought.

"What
are you doing, sister?" she asked.

"My
husband has brought me cabbage and meat," replied the sister,
"and I'm going to stuff the cabbage leaves for the children to
eat."

Now
the wife of the poor brother had recently become pregnant, and she
craved the food. When she smelled the cabbage, she sighed. "Alas!"
she thought in her heart. "Would that I had even one of those
cabbage ribs to eat!" But she was ashamed to say anything to her
sister. She sat and sat, and then prepared to leave, but the other
did not say, for example, "Stay, sister, until the cabbage
leaves are done so you can have some"; or, "Stay and have
lunch with us." She did not say anything.

The
wife of the poor man went straight home to her husband. "My
man," she said, "we must buy some cabbage and make stuffed
cabbage leaves for the children. And, by Allah, I too have a craving
for it. I was visiting my sister, and she didn't say to me, 'Take
this and eat it, even if it is only a rib of cabbage.'"

Her
husband was employed by the vizier. "Very well," he said.
"I'11 save my wages for the whole week, and we'll buy cabbage
and meat. You prepare the meal, and we'll invite the vizier to have
dinner with us."

He
saved his money for a week and bought a kilogram and a half of meat,
a kilogram and a half of rice, and some cabbages. She stuffed the
cabbage leaves and cooked them, and dinner was ready. Because they
were inviting the vizier, they borrowed a mattress from one neighbor,
a cushion from another, and plates and cutlery from others.

When
the vizier arrived in their hut, they seated him on the mattress,
while the husband sat next to him on a straw mat and she sat in front
of them, serving the stuffed cabbage leaves. Before she was aware of
what she had done, and in spite of herself, she farted. "Yee!"
she cried out, "may my reputation be ruined! And I had to do
this in front of the vizier. Earth, open up and swallow me!" The
earth, so the story goes, opened up and swallowed her.

Down
under the surface of the earth she went, and where did she find
herself but in a souk bustling with shops and people. It was a whole
world, just like the souk in Acre or even a little bigger. Now, her
husband and the vizier did not know where she had gone. They waited
and waited, but when she did not come back, they served the stuffed
cabbages and ate them. Then the vizier went home.

Meanwhile,
the wife went around the marketplace. "Has anyone seen my fart?"
she asked. "Tell me the truth, brother! Haven't you seen my
fart?"

"What
fart, sister?" people answered. "Folks must be crazy where
you come from." A group gathered around her, and she told them
what had happened, from the beginning to the end. "By Allah,
dear aunt," they said, "you are right to be looking for
it," and they all, the police and the townspeople, went
searching around with her. "Who has seen the fart?" they
cried out. "Who has seen the fart?"

"Here
I am!" he answered, surprising them. And how did they find

him
but sitting in a care with his legs crossed like an effendi, all
bathed and wearing a cashmere suit with a fez on his head. Gathering
around him, they started to blame him for what he had done. "How
could you have done what you did to this poor woman?" they said.
"You escaped against her will, and embarrassed her in front of
the vizier."

"I
was pressed tight inside her, utterly uncomfortable," he
defended himself. "Now that I've escaped, I've bathed and
dressed up, and I'm having a great time. Why not?"

"All
right," they said, "now that you've done what you did and
blackened this woman's name, how will you compensate her?"

"Her
reward," he answered, "will be that every time she opens
her mouth to say something, a piece of gold will fall from it. And
you, sister," he added, "just say, 'Let the earth open and
bring me up!' and it will happen."

"Let
the earth open and bring me up!" she said, and behold! gold fell
from her mouth, and the earth opened and brought her back up. It was
early evening, and her husband was sitting at home. "What
happened to you, dear wife? Where did you go? What did you do?"
As she was telling her story, pieces of gold were falling from her
lips.

She
went and bought a rosary and recited prayers of praise to Allah. Gold
was falling from her mouth the whole time. They became very, very
rich.

"Right
now," she said to her husband, "this very moment, you must
buy us a house like a king's, complete with servants, slaves, and
furniture!"

Before
twenty-four hours had passed, her husband had already bought her a
mansion to vie with the king's palace, all furnished and with
servants. It is said she put on clothes just like those of the king's
wife, living in her mansion with servants all around her.

When a
few days had passed, the rich brother's wife remembered her sister.
"Yee!" she said, "my poor sister was craving food and
came to visit, and I didn't offer her even one bite of the stuffed
cabbage. There are still some scrapings left at the bottom of the
pot, and, by Allah, I'm going to take them to her myself."
Scraping the bottom of the pot, she put what she found on a plate.
When she arrived at her sister's old shack, she found someone else
living there. She asked about her sister, and they said to her,
"Where have you been? You sister has bought a house fit for a
king, and now she's living in it."

Taking
the plate of scraps over to the new house, she knocked on the door. A
servant and some slaves appeared. "What do you want?" they
asked.