Speak Bird, Speak Again Part 18

"No!" said the mother. "This one's not your size. Don't marry him."

Back to the camel the cricket went, and said, "I don't want to marry you."

She wandered around some more, and met a bull.

"Ba! Ba!" said he. "Will you marry me?"

She answered: "Cricket, cricket, your mother!

And you are cousin to the wh.o.r.e.

I'll put the gold in my sleeve, And talk to my mother some more."

She went to her mother and said, "O mama! His eyes are large, his head is large, and his ears are large. All of him is large."

"Better not marry him," said the mother.

Back to the bull went the cricket. "I don't want to marry you," she said.

She went away, and walked and walked until a little mouse found her wandering about and chirping, "Tzee, tzee, tzee."

"What're you looking for?" he asked.

"I'm wandering around looking for a bridegroom."

"Will you marry me?" he proposed.

She answered: "Cricket, cricket, your mother!

And you are cousin to the wh.o.r.e.

I'll put the gold in my sleeve, And talk to my mother some more."

"O mama!" she said to her mother. "His eyes are wee, his head is wee, and his ears are wee. All of him is very small."

"Yes," said the mother, "this one's your size. Marry him."

So back to the mouse the cricket went. "Yes," she said, "I'll marry you." And she went to live with him in his house.

One day (it is said) their clothes became dirty, and they wanted to go somewhere to wash them. "Well," they said, "let's go look for water. Where shall we go?" They wandered about, with her walking behind him, and both of them going "Tzee, tzee, tzee," until you might say they reached the Sea of Acre. Looking over this sea, they said, "Well, how is this going to be enough? There's barely enough water here to get our clothes wet." They turned around and went down to the Sea of Tiberias. They searched everywhere, up and down, but found no water. "There isn't enough water for us anywhere!" they exclaimed.

As they wandered, they saw a donkey's hoofprint with a little water in it. Calling her husband over, she said, "These waters will be enough for us to wash ourselves and our clothes, with some left over."

"Fine," he answered. "Let me go and get some soap."

He went over to Acre to bring the soap, and she sat at the edge of the hole.

"By Allah," she said to herself as she sat waiting, "I might as well wash myself until he gets back." Down into the water she went, and washed herself, but she could not climb back out. She tried and tried, but she failed.

As it happened, a man on a horse pa.s.sed by. Hearing the pounding of his horse's hooves, she called out to him: "O uncle, riding your horse And jingling your bell!

Say to the mouse, 'The Flower of the House In the treacherous water fell.'"

The horseman c.o.c.ked his ear to listen. "Eh!" he thought, "Who is this talking?" Meanwhile, she was saying: "O uncle, riding your horse And jingling your bell!

Say to the mouse, 'The Flower of the House In the treacherous water fell.'"

"And if you don't tell him," she added, "may your bottom get stuck to your horse?

The rider went his way, and by the time he reached Acre he had forgotten what the cricket had said to him. When he had finished his business in the city, he went home and tried to get down from his horse, but he could not. Again and again he tried, without success. He called his wife and children to help him, and they pushed and pulled, but they failed. Then he remembered what the cricket had bid him do. "Eh!" he exclaimed, "It seems as if Allah has heard the call of the one who put this spell on me. I might as well go look for the mouse. But how am I ever going to find him?"

He went back to Acre and searched around the shops, asking their owners, "O uncle, did the mouse come in here? O uncle, did the mouse come in here?" The people in the marketplace looked at him in wonder. "What's this?" they asked among themselves, laughing. "Who is this man, riding around looking for a mouse? What's the matter with him? Is he crazy?"

As he was asking about, however, the mouse heard him. The rider, having searched and searched without success, went back home and dismounted easily. He was no longer stuck to his horse.

Now the mouse ran about his business. He stole a piece of meat from the butcher and a bar of soap from the grocer, and he ran back - "tzee, tzee, tzee" - until he arrived. When he discovered his wife had fallen in the water, he went crazy with fear for her. Putting the things he was carrying down on the edge of the hole, he lowered his head into the hole, but he could not reach her. He put his ear in the hole, his paw, then all parts of his body, and still he could not reach her. What was he going to do? He turned his back and dangled his tail in the water. Taking hold of it, she was able to climb out.

"See what you've done!" she started blaming him. "You went away and left me, and I fell into the sea."

"How could I have helped it?" he answered. "Come, make us some kubbe and let's have lunch."

She set to it, my little darlings, and prepared the food. They ate lunch, washed themselves and their clothes, and hung them out on the bushes till they were dry. Then they folded their clothes, and - "tzee, tzee, tzee - went home to the mouse's hole.

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

Afterword.

This group of tales deals with the marriage relations.h.i.+p, focusing on the newlyweds themselves and the pressures they experience regarding their choice of mate and their s.e.xuality. Because (despite the emphasis on endogamy) none of the couples are cousins but rather are strangers to each other, they must learn to establish patterns of communication and to adapt to each other's needs and observe each other's limits. The tales explore ways in which success may be achieved in marriage, especially in the initial phases of the relations.h.i.+p, immediately following the wedding.

"The Old Woman Ghouleh" shows us some of the confusion a young bride must feel in her new environment. She has had little choice in the matter of her marriage, her role having been pa.s.sive throughout the whole process, and everyone, including her husband, is a stranger to her. She does not know who is a friend and who is an enemy. In this situation the bride is quite vulnerable, and the tale shows that a marriage can get off to a bad start when she does not immediately place her trust in her husband to protect her from the potential evil around her. When, however, as in the case of the third bride, this trust and the communication that automatically goes with it are present from the beginning of the relations.h.i.+p, the couple can cooperate to overcome obstacles.

In "Lady Tatar," in contrast, the burden of communication is thrown on the husband rather than the wife. Here the husband learns that if he communicates with his wife by treating her as she desires, she is more than willing to cooperate with him and share his life. At the beginning of the tale the lack of communication leads to frustration and multiple marriages; at the end, however, mutual understanding and harmony prevail. This tale also focuses on the bride, who, having been mistreated at home and then adopted by a stranger, is shown to need a good marriage relations.h.i.+p.

Whereas the first two tales in the group focus on the problems facing the women in a marriage relations.h.i.+p, the second two, "Clever Hasan" and "Soqak Boqak!" shed light on the pressures faced by the men. "Clever Hasan" is a composite of two tales that are rarely brought together as here. The first half, the story of Hasan and his mother, could have been cla.s.sified under Group I, "Children and Parents," for, like Swes, Swes!" it depicts a conflict between mother and son that centers on the mother's s.e.xuality. The second half is usually narrated separately as the adventure story of a young hero who defeats the enemies of his potential father-in-law. By juxtaposing these two disparate tales, using the figure of Clever Hasan as a unifying device, the teller spotlights one of the major conflicts a young man faces upon marriage: being caught between his mother and his wife. No less important, the tale also shows a corresponding conflict for the bride: being caught between husband and father. The juxtaposition of the two tales, then, demonstrates that husband and wife can achieve a harmonious relations.h.i.+p only when, through cooperation and by having sufficient strength of character to be independent, they have been able to overcome the negative influence of their parents. In "Soqak Boqak!" parental pressure is felt in yet another way. Anxious for their only son to have offspring, the parents urge him to marry before he is ready. His fears about his manhood and what his bride might look like drive him from home, and it then becomes the task of his s.e.xually more mature wife to bring him back.

Of course, the mutual suitability of the partners is essential for a harmonious marriage relations.h.i.+p, and, given the dynamics of the Palestinian social system, the question of mate choice is of utmost importance in the lives of the newlyweds (see also afterword to Group I, "The Quest for the Spouse"). Naturally, both bride and groom have much to worry about when their families choose their mates. Conversely, the family becomes anxious when the children make their own choices. The ideal balance is achieved when the mate selected is suitable to both parties. In this light, the last three tales in the group reveal an interesting pattern. In "Soqak Boqak!" the son discovers that the mate chosen by his family is the one he would have chosen for himself, and in "Clever Hasan" the father realizes that his daughter's choice of husband is the one he would have made for her. A perfect compromise between individual desire and family requirements is struck in "Cricket," which explores the very dynamics of mate choice. Although the tale does not outwardly conform to the norms of the culture (young maidens simply do not go out looking for husbands, nor would their mothers allow them to), it nevertheless does present the criteria essential for the ideal mate. The daughter's anxiety about finding a husband is moderated by her mother's concern that he be a proper match for her physically, economically, and socially. Thus the daughter chooses the ideal mate, but only on the advice and approval of the mother. Under these conditions, husband and wife solve the problems they encounter in daily life through a combination of mutual affection, cooperation, and proper behavior based on each mate fulfilling her or his culturally prescribed role.

HUSBANDS AND WIVES.

The Seven Leavenings

TELLER: Testify that G.o.d is One!

AUDIENCE: There is no G.o.d but G.o.d.

There was once in times past an old woman who lived in a hut all by herself. She had no one at all. One day when the weather was beautiful she said, "Ah, yes! By Allah, today it's sunny and beautiful, and I'm going to take the air by the seash.o.r.e. But let me first knead this dough."

When she had finished kneading the dough, having added the yeast, she put on her best clothes, saying, "By Allah, I just have to go take the air by the seash.o.r.e." Arriving at the seash.o.r.e, she sat down to rest, and lo! there was a boat, and it was already filling with people.

"Hey, uncle!" she said to the man, the owner of the boat. "Where in Allah's safekeeping might you be going?"

"By Allah, we're heading for Beirut."

"All right, brother. Take me with you."

"Leave me alone, old woman," he said. "The boat's already full, and there's no place for you."

"Fine," she said. "Go. But if you don't take me with you, may your boat get stuck and sink!"

No one paid her any attention, and they set off. But their boat had not gone twenty meters when it started to sink. "Eh!" they exclaimed, "It looks as if that old woman's curse has been heard." Turning back, they called the old woman over and took her with them.

In Beirut, she did not know anybody or anything. It was just before sunset.' The pa.s.sengers went ash.o.r.e, and she too came down and sat awhile, leaning against a wall. What else could she have done? People were pa.s.sing by, coming and going, and it was getting very late. In a while a man pa.s.sed by. Everyone was already at home, and here was this woman sitting against the wall.

"What are you doing here, sister?" he asked.

"By Allah, brother," she answered, "I'm not doing anything. I'm a stranger in town, with no one to turn to. I kneaded my dough and leavened it, and came out for pleasure until it rises, when I'll have to go back."

"Fine," he said. "Come home with me then."

He took her home with him. There was no one there except him and his wife. They brought food, laughed, and played - you should have seen them enjoying themselves. After they had finished, lo! the man brought a bundle of sticks this big and set to it - Where's the side that hurts most? - until he had broken them on his wife's sides.

"Why are you doing this, grandson?" the old woman asked, approaching in order to block his way.

"Get back!" he said. "You don't know what her sin is. Better stay out of the way? He kept beating his wife until he had broken the whole bundle.

"You poor woman!" exclaimed the old lady when the man had stopped. "What's your sin, you sad one?"

"By Allah," replied the wife, "I've done nothing, and it hadn't even occurred to me. He says it's because I can't get pregnant and have children."

"Is that all?" asked the old woman. "This one's easy. Listen, and let me tell you. Tomorrow, when he comes to beat you, tell him you're pregnant."

The next day, as usual, the husband came home, bringing with him the needed household goods and a bundle of sticks. After dinner, he came to beat his wife, but he had not hit her with the first stick when she cried out, "Hold your hand! I'm pregnant!"

"Is it true?"

"Yes, by Allah!"

From that day on, he stopped beating her. She was pampered, her husband not letting her get up to do any of the housework. Whatever she desired was brought to her side.

Every day after that the wife came to the old woman and said, "What am I going to do, grandmother? What if he should find out?"

"No matter," the old woman would answer. "Sleep easy. The burning coals of evening turn to ashes in the morning." Daily the old woman stuffed the wife's belly with rags to make it look bigger and said, "Just keep on telling him you're pregnant, and leave it to me. The evening's embers are the morning's ashes."

Now, this man happened to be the sultan, and people heard what was said: "The sultan's wife is pregnant! The sultans wife is pregnant!" When her time to deliver had come, the wife went to the baker and said, "I want you to bake me a doll in the shape of a baby boy."

"All fight," he agreed, and baked her a doll which she wrapped and brought home without her husband seeing her. Then people said, "The sultan's wife is in labor, she's ready to deliver." The old woman came forth. "Back in my country, I'm a midwife," she said. "She got pregnant as a result of my efforts, and I should be the one to deliver her. I don't want anyone but me to be around."

"Fine," people agreed. In a while, word went out: "She gave birth! She gave birth!"

"And what did she give birth to?"

"She gave birth to a boy."

Wrapping the doll up, the wife placed it in the crib. People were saying, "She gave birth to a boy!" They went up to the sultan and said she had given birth to a boy. The crier made his rounds, announcing to the townspeople that it was forbidden to eat or drink except at the sultan's house for the next week.

Now, the old woman made it known that no one was permitted to see the baby until seven days had pa.s.sed. On the seventh day it was announced that the sultans wife and the baby were going to the public baths. Meanwhile, every day the wife asked the old woman, "What am I going to do, grandmother? What if my husband should find out?" And the old woman would reply, "Rest easy, my dear! The evening's coals are the morning's ashes."

On the seventh day the baths were reserved for the sultan's wife. Taking fresh clothes with them, the women went, accompanied by a servant. The sultan's wife went into the bath, and the women set the servant in front of the doll, saying to her, "Take care of the boy! Watch out that some dog doesn't stray in and s.n.a.t.c.h him away!"

In a while the servant's attention wandered, and a dog came, grabbed the doll, and ran away with it. After him ran the servant, shouting, "Shame on you! Leave the son of my master alone!" But the dog just kept running, munching on the doll.

It is said that there was a man in that city who was suffering from extreme depression. He had been that way for seven years, and no one could cure him. Now, the moment he saw a dog running with a servant fast behind him shouting, "Leave the son of my master alone!" he started to laugh. And he laughed and laughed till his heartsickness melted away and he was well again. Rus.h.i.+ng out, he asked her, "What's your story? I see you running behind a dog who has s.n.a.t.c.hed away a doll, and you're shouting at him to leave the son of your master alone. What's going on?"

"Such and such is the story," she answered.

This man had a sister who had just given birth to twin boys seven days before. Sending for her, he said, "Sister, won't you put one of your boys at my disposal?"

"Yes," she said, giving him one of her babies.

The sultans wife took him and went home. People came to congratulate her. How happy she was!

After some time the old woman said, "You know, grandchildren, I think my dough must have risen, and I want to go home and bake the bread."

"Why don't you stay?" they begged her. "You brought blessings with you." I don't know what else they said, but she answered, "No. The land is longing for its people. I want to go home."

They put her on a boat, filling it with gifts, and said, "Go in Allah's safekeeping!"

When she came home, she put her gifts away and rested for a day or two. Then she checked her dough. "Yee, by Allah!" she exclaimed. "My dough hasn't risen yet. I'm going to the seash.o.r.e for a good time." At the sh.o.r.e she sat for a while, and lo! there was a boat.

"Where are you going, uncle?"

"By Allah, we're going to Aleppo," they answered.