Speak Bird, Speak Again Part 23

"By Allah, brother," she answered, "I didn't eat her."

The young man did not say anything. He just waited.

The following year, his wife gave birth to a boy, and she got up in the middle of the night and ate him, again smearing her sister-in-law's lips with blood. Becoming suspicious of his sister, the brother did not say anything to her. "I must kill her," he said in his mind.

In a few days he said to her, "Come, let's you and I go into the countryside." When they had gone some distance, he sat her down under a tree by a well and said, "So, this is how you treat me, eating my children!"

"By Allah, brother," she answered, "I didn't eat them."

Drawing his sword, he cut off her hands and her feet, and she called down a curse upon him: "Brother, may a thorn get stuck in your foot that no one can pull out." Allah heard her prayer, and a thorn got stuck in his foot on his way home. As he approached the house, he found his wife chasing after a rooster and realized she was a ghouleh. Not daring to go in, he ran back the way he had come.

Now we go back to his sister. As she was sitting by the mouth of the well, lo! a female snake came up to her panting and puffing with fear. "Hide me," she begged, and the girl hid her under her dress. In a while a he-snake showed up puffing and asked her, "Have you seen a she-snake?"

"Yes," she answered. "There, she's fallen into the well."

The male dropped himself into the well, and the female, coming out from under the girl, called after him, "Explode! Here I am!" The male burst and died. The female, meanwhile, rubbed like this on the girl's stumps, and her hands came back as before. She then rubbed the girl's legs, and her feet came back as they had been. Then the girl went her way. She found a husband, got married, and had children.

One day her brother, who had been wandering around looking for someone to pull the thorn from his foot, but without success, came to his sister's doorstep. He did not realize it was his sister's house, but the moment she saw him she recognized him, while he had not recognized her. She had in the meantime said to her children, "When a man who limps comes by here, keep asking me, 'Mother, tell us the story of the man who cut off his sister's hands and feet.'"

"What's your problem, uncle?" she asked, calling him over.

"There's a thorn in my foot," he answered, "and n.o.body's been able to pull it out."

"Come here and let me see," she said, and doing with the pin like this, behold! the thorn jumped over there. Rising to his feet, he kissed her hands.

"Stay and have dinner with us," she said.

He sat down to eat, and the children said again and again, "Mother, tell us the story of the man who cut off the hands and feet of his sister." The mother began to tell the tale, and at the end she said to them, "I'm the one whose hands and feet were cut off, and this man here's your uncle."

The moment he heard this, they all got up and hugged each other.

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

Nayyis (Little Sleepy One)

TELLER: Once there was a king - and Allah's the only true King. Let him who has sinned say, "I beg Allah for forgiveness!"

AUDIENCE: May G.o.d grant us remission from our sins!

Once there was a king who had an only son and no other. His name was Nayyis, Little Sleepy One, and his father loved him very much and indulged him. One day the daughter of the king of the jinn fell in love with him and stole him away from his father. There was no place left in the world where the king did not ask about his son, but he could not find him.

In that country there were three girls who were spinners. They used to spin their wool, sell it, and eat from what they earned. When they grew sleepy while spinning at night, they would sing: "O Nayyis Go away from here!

To us you're no cousin Or a brother dear.

Go to the princess instead She will clothe and indulge you And keep you well fed."

Now, there were scouts in the town searching for the son of the king, and they heard the song of the spinners. To the king they rushed and said, "O Ruler of the Age, we've found your son!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, we've found him!" they answered. "We heard a gift sing: 'O Nayyis Go away from here!

To us you're no cousin Or a brother dear.

Go to the princess instead She will clothe and indulge you And keep you well fed.'"

"Ah, yes!" exclaimed the king. "This must be my son."

"Go, bring the girls!" The order was given, and the guards went and brought the first one.

"Young woman," said the king, "do you know Nayyis?"

"Yes, my lord," she answered. "He comes to me every night."

"Good," they said to her and brought her to live in the palace, where servants and attendants waited on her. She ate and drank her fill, doing no work and feeling no fatigue, and stopped feeling sleepy. When two or three nights had gone by, they asked her, "Young woman, have you seen N'ayyis?"

"No, by Allah," she answered, "I haven't seen him in a couple of nights."

The king married her to his cook and sent after the second one.

"Young woman," he asked, "do you know N'ayyis?"

"Yes, my lord. Day and night he's with us."

They bathed and clothed her and put her in the palace where she lived in bliss and comfort. When she had rested and slept enough, she stopped feeling sleepy.

"Have you seen Nayyis, young lady?" the king asked.

"No, by Allah, my Lord," she answered, "I haven't seen him in two or three days."

The king married her to the baker.

"Have you been seeing Nayyis, young woman?" the king asked the third girl when they had brought her.

"Yes, my lord. Every night I see him."

They did with her as they had done with her sisters, settling her in the palace. She turned out to be more clever than her sisters. Every time they asked her, "Did you see Nayyis, young woman?" she would answer, "Yes, my lord. Every night I see him."

For a month, two, three, four, she said she had seen him every night. Finally the king said to his wife, "Take this pair of bracelets. Give them to her, and ask her to pay for them. If she can come up with the money, then she really has been seeing Nayyis. If not, then she's a liar."

"Here, young woman," the wife said, "take this pair of bracelets and bring me their price from Nayyis."

"Yes, my lady," replied the girl.

That night, she sat up in bed, crying and calling out: "O Nayyis Go away from here!

To us you're no cousin Or a brother dear.

Your father has given me This pair of bracelets How am I to pay the treasury The price of this jewelry?"

And how she cried! When she had called out three times, lo! a voice said, "The key's in the wardrobe, and the wardrobe's full of treasure. Reach in and take what you want." Opening the wardrobe, she took out the price of the bracelets, laughing happily.

"Here, uncle," she said, "take the price of the bracelets."

"So," thought the king, "it's true, my son's still alive."

She had stayed another three, four months (Allah knows how long!) when the king brought her a ting.

"Bring me the price of this ring from Nayyis," he said.

"Right away, my lord," she answered and went back to her bed, crying and calling out: "O Nayyis Go away from here!

To us you're no cousin Or a brother dear.

Your father has given me This ring And how am I to pay the king The price of this precious thing?"

Again the voice said, "The key's in the wardrobe, and the wardrobe's full of treasure. Reach in and take what you want!" Taking out the price of the ring, she gave it to her uncle.

One day Nayyis himself came up to see her and said, "Young woman, my wife's pregnant, and you must stuff your dress with rags and pretend you're pregnant until nine months are up."

Wrapping a bandage around her head, she made a point of going to see her uncle every once in a while.

"Uncle, I'm pregnant."

"Yes, daughter. What do you want?"

She said she wanted a piece of liver, and he brought her three.

"O uncle, I want squabs. O uncle, I want this, and I want that," she kept asking. Whatever Nayyis's wife down below craved, the girl would ask the king for. Then Nayyis would come and take it to his wife below.

Her pregnancy over, the jinn wife gave birth first to a boy.

"Here, young lady," said Nayyis. "Take this baby and hide it inside your underwear. Then cry out, 'Mother, I've given birth!'"

Putting the baby in her undergarments, the girl came to the top of the stairs.

"Master!" she cried out. "I've had the baby."

"In the name of Allah, the Compa.s.sionate, the Merciful!" exclaimed the king.

Bringing the baby out, they washed and dressed him. Then they looked after her, wrapping a bandage around her head and putting her to bed.

She brought the boy up, and how handsome he was - the son of royalty! The king was crazy about him.

The jinn wife became pregnant again, and the girl did as before. The wife gave birth to a boy, and the girl took him and hid him in her underwear.

"Uncle, I've given birth!" she cried out. "Mistress, I've given birth!"

They spoiled her more and more, giving her four wet nurses to help her. What can you say? She was now a queen!

The wife became pregnant and delivered a third time, giving birth to a girl. And the same thing that had happened with the two boys also happened with the girl.

One day Nayyis came up, bringing her three candles, and said, "During the call to prayer on Thursday evening, light these candles." On Thursday evening, she did just as he had said, putting one boy on this side of her, the other on the other side, with the girl in the middle, and lit the three candles. When the jinn wife saw her, she cried out, "Alas! Alas! The human woman has done me in!" And she exploded and died.

"May you never rise again!" Nayyis cursed her, tearing down the palace over her and coming back up again.

"Master, come see Nayyis!" shouted the spinner girl. "Mistress, come see Nayyis! Hurry! Hurry!"

When they rushed down to see their son, he said, "I was married to a jinn woman, and these children of mine are from her. But if it weren't for this girl here, by Allah, I would never have come back. I want to marry her."

They had a wedding celebration that lasted seven days and seven nights. Music was playing and people were dancing. Our master married our mistress - and may every year find you in good health!

AUDIENCE : And may Allah save your tongue!

Afterword.

The general theme that unites the tales in this group is that of conflicting * loyalties. The conflict usually centers on the male and arises out of his responsibilities as the head of his own household or as a member of an extended family. In the last tale in the group, "Nayyis," the source of the conflict is not so much the responsibility a mature man must shoulder but rather the duty a young son owes his parents by remaining within the fold of the extended family.

"Chick Eggs" and "Bear-Cub of the Kitchen" demonstrate the potential for divided loyalties in a polygynous situation. In the first the man must attend both to his present wife and to his daughter, who represents her own mother in the household. In the second the aging king's loyalty is divided between his older wives, who unite to fight the beautiful new wife; she in turn protects herself by taking revenge ahead of time. In both tales the husband is emotionally manipulated by the wife, either through the children ("Chick Eggs") or by pretended sickness ("Bear-Cub"). And here again, as in all the other tales embodying a polygynous situation (Tales 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 20, and 35), the first wife, either directly or through her children, is vindicated against those who follow her.

In "The Ghouleh of Trans-Jordan" and "The Woman Whose Hands Were Cut Off" the source of the conflict is the extended family. The man in the first tale is caught between his conjugal family (his wife) and his natal family (his supposed aunt), and he chooses at his peril to align himself with the latter against the former. In "The Woman Whose Hands Were Cut Off," somewhat the reverse situation obtains, with the man choosing to believe his wife over his sister. In either case the male is in a difficult situation vis-a-vis the females for whom he is responsible. Predictably, however (cf. Tales 7, 8, 9), the sister in the latter tale is honest and kind to her brother, forgiving him even before he asks for forgiveness and welcoming him into her own family.

Despite the supernatural machinery, the conflict in "Nayyis" is also between natal and conjugal families. In this tale, as in "Lolabe" (Tale 18), the parents have an only son who is torn from them by supernatural forces, and in both cases these forces are overcome so that the son may return to his family. In "Bear-Cub," the teller presents the beautiful woman who wrests the king from his wives and his three sons in the metaphorical guise of the jinn. In "Nayyis," however, no transitional devices are provided to help mediate the connection between jinn and human in the mind of the listener; the teller endows the jinn wife with an absolute existence, separate from that of the human domain, and the listener must make the imaginative leap between the two domains unaided.

We may therefore conclude that the jinn wife in "Nayyis" is a very beautiful woman who captivated the son to such an extent that she made him renounce his parents. The implicit moral to be drawn from all three tales is that the bond between the son and his parents (particularly when he is an only child) is, or should be, so strong that it would take a supernatural power to break it.

GROUP III.