Sumac! You Son of a Whore, Sumac!

TELLER: Testify that God is One!

AUDIENCE: There is no other god but God.

Once there was a man and his wife, and they had three sons. They also had a flock of sheep. The wife had not given birth to any daughters, and the whole family yearned for a little girl. One day the woman cried out, "O Lord, would you give me a little girl, even if she turns out to be a ghouleh!" Allah fulfilled her wish, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. The whole family loved her very, very much.

Soon after the birth of the girl, when they made their daily check of their herd, they would find that one sheep was missing. "By Allah," said the boys among themselves, "we're going to keep watch and find out who comes and steals a sheep every night." Taking the watch the first night, the eldest brother stayed awake till midnight, then fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning, he found one sheep missing. The following night the middle brother said he would keep watch. He stayed awake till dawn, then he too fell asleep. When he woke up in the morning, he counted the sheep and found one missing.

"I want to keep watch tonight," said the youngest.

"You're still young and can't stay up all night," his father and brothers said.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked. "Why won't you let me give it a try?" He insisted so much that his father and brothers finally said, "All right, if you want to keep watch, you can stay up late."

In the evening he went and filled his pockets with roasted fava beans. He also placed a thorn bush on either side of him; and, having got hold of a leather bottle, he made a small hole in it, filled it with water, and hung it above his head. Then he sat up to keep watch, munching on the fava beans. If he moved this way or that, a thorn pricked him. And if he started to doze off, the water dripping on his head kept him awake. This way he was able to stay up the whole night. Toward morning he was surprised to see his sister opening the door of the sheep pen. Taking hold of a sheep, she devoured it and wiped her mouth. Then she went back to sleep in her bed.

"Ha! What did you see?" they asked him in the morning.

"Listen," he answered. "Our sister is a ghouleh, and we must kill her." Not believing him, they all started to shout at him.

"All right," he retorted. "If you're not going to kill her, I'm going to run away and leave this town to you."

"If you want to run away, that's your business," they answered.

He started on his way out of town, traveling for Allah knows how long, until he came on an old woman living in a shack. She had a small flock of sheep.

"Mother," he asked her, "would you mind letting me stay here with you? I'll take your sheep out to graze, and you'll cook for me, wash my clothes, and take care of me?"

"Why not?" she answered. "I don't have any children of my own, and you'll be like a son to me."

"That will be just fine," he said.

From that day on he took the old woman's sheep out to pasture, coming home in tile evening to eat and spend the night. One day, while roaming with the sheep in the rocky countryside, he came upon a lioness giving birth and having a difficult time of it.

"Please help me," she begged him, "and I'll give you two of my cubs."

He came to her aid, and when she gave birth she gave him two of her cubs. He took very good care of them, feeding them milk till they grew big, and he called one Swah and the other Lwah.

One day the man thought to himself, "It's been ten or fifteen years since I've seen my brothers and my parents. I wonder what's become of them." He went to the old woman. "Mother," he said, "I've been away from my country and my family for a long time, and I'd like to go see what's become of them."

"May Allah make your path easy!" the old woman said.

He mounted his mare and set out. When he arrived at the edge of town, he discovered it was in ruins. His sister had emptied it of people.

She had devoured her father, her mother, and everyone else. Nothing was left save a one-eyed rooster, and she was chasing it around town. When she saw her brother, she pretended she did not know what was happening.

"Welcome, brother!" she greeted him. "Welcome!"

What was he going to do? She had already spotted him. She spread something for him to sit on, and he came in and sat down. After he had sat down, she went outside where the mare was tethered. Moving this way and that, she gobbled up one of its legs and came back inside.

"Brother!"

"What is it, sister?"

"Your mare," she asked, "is it on four legs or on three?"

Understanding what had happened, he replied, "No, sister [it's not on four]. It's on three."

Going back outside, she moved this way and that, gobbled up the second leg, and came back in.

"Brother," she asked, "is your mare on three or on two legs?"

"It's on two," he answered. "That's the way it is in our country."

She kept going in and out until she had devoured the whole mare. Then she came back in and said, "Brother, did you come riding or walking?"

"No, by Allah, sister," he answered, "I came walking."

"Well, you son of a whore!" she roared.s "You're trapped now. What shall I do with you?"

"Please!" he begged her.

"Not a chance!" she answered, and she fell on him, preparing to eat him.

"Just let me do my ablutions and pray before you eat me," he begged.

"But you might run away," she said.

"No," he replied. "I won't. You can fill this pitcher with water and let me go up to the roof to cleanse myself. Tie one end of the rope to my hand, and you keep hold of the other end while I'm washing myself."

She tied his wrist, and he took the pitcher and went up to the roof. Finding a large stone there, he untied the rope from his wrist and tied it to the stone. Then, setting the pitcher against the stone so that the water dribbled out of it slowly, he climbed down from the roof and ran away.

Every once in a while she pulled on the rope and, finding it still tied and the water dribbling, put her mind at ease. Eventually, however, she thought he was taking a rather long time, so she called out, but no one answered. Rushing to the roof to find out what he was up to, she found he had escaped. She looked, and behold! Where was he? He was already on the outskirts of town. She came running after him, and almost caught up with him. What was he to do? Looking about, he saw a palm tree and climbed to the top. She ran after him.

"Where're you going to go now?" she asked.

Transforming her hand into a scythe, she said, "Sharpen, O my scythe, sharpen!" and started to chop the tree down. When it was about to fall, the brother suddenly remembered his lions. "O Swah! O Lwah!" he cried out. "Your dear brother's gone!" And, behold! like the blowing of the wind the two lions came. No sooner did his sister see them than she started to run away, but they followed her, tore her to pieces, and devoured her. The brother could now come down from the tree safely.

As he was resting with the lions beside him, two merchants approached, leading a loaded caravan. When they saw the lions, they admired them and wanted them for themselves.

"Young man!" they called out.

"Yes," he answered, "what can I do for you?"

"How would you like to make a bet with us?" they asked. "If you can guess what merchandise we're carrying, you can take the caravan and itsload. But if you can't guess, we'll take these two lions."

"All right," he agreed, "I'm willing."

He started guessing: "nuts, lava beans, lentils, wheat, rice, sugar ..." It was no use; he could not guess. When he was stumped, with no chance of guessing, the merchants took the lions with them and moved on.

By Allah, they had not led those lions very far away when a drop of blood, which had fallen from his sister to the ground when the lions ate her, shouted out, "Sumac! You son of a whore, sumac!""

After the merchants the brother ran. "Wait! Uncles, wait!" he exclaimed. "I can guess what your load is. It's sumac!"

Having guessed, he took his lions back and got the caravan with its load.

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

9.