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Children and Parents i. Tunjur, Tunjur1 TELLER: Testify that God is One! AUDIENCE: There is no god but God.2 There was once a woman who could not get pregnant and have children. Once upon a day she had an urge; she wanted babies. "O Lord!" she cried out, "Why of all women am I like this? Would that I could get pregnant and have a baby, and may Allah grant me a girl even if she is only a cooking pot!"3 One day she became pregnant. A day came and a day went, and behold!4 she was ready to deliver. She went into labor and delivered, giving birth to a cooking pot. What was the poor woman to do? She washed it, cleaning it well, put the lid on it, and placed it on the shelf. One day the pot started to talk. "Mother," she said, "take me down from this shelf!" "Alas, daughter!" replied the mother, "Where am I going to put you?" 1. The name of the tale is an onomatopoeic derivation for the sound of a rolling cooking pot (tunjara). The feminine ending of this word helps to establish the equation of "pot" with "girl." In the translation the neuter "it" is used when the pot is perceived as an object. 2. This opening formula, —wahdu l-ldhl —Id ^ildha *illd l-ldh! is the most common way of beginning a folktale in the Palestinian tradition. 3. "Why of all women am I like this?" is a common way for a woman to express selfpity . Considering the value placed on children in Palestinian society, it is understandable why the woman should feel as if her inability to bear children is a punishment from Allah. Cf. Tale 8, n. i; Tale 40, n. 2. "May Allah-grant me a girl . . ." The Arabic for "grant" is yifam (literally, "feed"). Palestinian village folk believe that divine will, through the agency of the angel Gabriel, causes conception. Granqvist (Birth: 34) quotes the saying, "If He will feed me with sons, He does not mistake where my mouth is, and if He shuts me out He does not trouble Himself about me." 4. "Behold!" is the closest English equivalent to willd, which is one of several devices used by our tellers for interrupting the flow of narrative to express surprise or to alert the listeners that something out of the ordinary is about to occur. Some narrators use the term more frequently than others, and we have not translated it in every instance, sometimes relying instead on the context to carry the emotion. Cf. Tale 5, n. 8; also see n. 9, below. 55 56 The Tales: Individuals "What do you care?" said the daughter. "Just bring me down, and I will make you rich for generations to come." The mother brought her down. "Now put my lid on," said the pot, "and leave me outside the door." Putting the lid on, the mother took her outside the door. The pot started to roll, singing as she went, "Tunjur, funjur, clink, clink, O my mama!" She rolled until she came to a place where people usually gather. In a while people were passing by. A man came and found the pot all settled in its place. "Eh!" he exclaimed, "who has put this pot in the middle of the path? I'll be damned! What a beautiful pot! It's probably made of silver." He looked it over well. "Hey, people!" he called, "Whose pot is this? Who put it here?" No one claimed it. "By Allah," he said, "I'm going to take it home with me." On his way home he went by the honey vendor. He had the pot filled with honey and brought it home to his wife. "Look, wife," he said, "how beautiful is this pot!" The whole family was greatly pleased with it. In two or three days they had guests, and they wanted to offer them some honey.5 The woman of the house brought the pot down from the shelf Push and pull on the lid, but the pot would not open! She called her husband over. Pull and push, but open it he could not. His guests pitched in. Lifting the pot and dropping it, the man tried to break it open with hammer and chisel. He tried everything, but it was no use. They sent for the blacksmith, and he tried and tried, to no avail. What was the...

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