Speak Bird Speak Again (23 page)

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.

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 sleeping 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.

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."