The Hunter
Once upon a time, there was a man who was a hunter and his name was
Hunter, too. One day, he went hunting when he found a deer. When he
aimed at the deer, it disappeared. He looked around and saw the deer in
another place. He aimed again and suddenly that deer turned into a man.
Hunter was shocked. The man came closer to Hunter and said, "Why do you
always hunt deers and birds? Don't you think they have an owner?" "I
have to feed my family, and this is our only source of income," replied
Hunter. "How large is your family?" asked the man. "Two boys, a girl,
my wife, and I," replied Hunter, "and this is how we make our living."
"Well," said the man, "if I give you money, will you stop this?"
"Of course," said Hunter, "as long as I have money, I will not hunt any
more." At this point, the man pulled out fifty dinars and gave them to
Hunter. "Before you go; what's your name?" the man asked. "I am Hunter,
and you?" Hunter said. "Call me Abdallah," the man replied, "and I have a
family like yours."
Hunter went home, cleaned his gun and hung it on the wall. He told his
wife that he will not hunt any more and God has provided a source of
money. However, it was not too long before the money was gone, so Hunter
picked up his gun and took off to hunt. When he reached his usual spot,
he found the deer in the same place he found it the first time. He aimed
at it, it turned into Abdallah. "Didn't we have an agreement?" asked
Abdallah. "But the money was all gone," said Hunter, "and we almost
starved to death." "Do you see that rock?" said Abdallah, "Whenever you
need me, just come to it and say, O brother Abdallah, and I will come
immediately." Then he gave hunter another fifty dinars.
Hunter was happy and went home. When he gave the money to his wife she
demanded to know where he got it from. He told her that he met this
friend who promised to help him all the time and whenever they need him;
Hunter only had to go to that rock and call him. "You are a stingy man!"
said Hunter's wife, "You should have invited him to our house so, we could
have food together and build on this friendship." So Hunter went back to
the rock and called on Abdallah. After he apologized to Abdallah for not
inviting him, Abdallah insisted that Hunter and his family were first
invited to his house. After they agreed on eight o'clock in the morning,
Hunter went home to tell his wife the latest news.
Hunter and his wife went and bought a present and took the children with
them to the rock. When they got there, they found Abdallah and his
family waiting. Each one of Abdallah's family welcomed a member of
Hunter's and they held hands. In a blink of an eye, they found
themselves in a different world. Abdallah's family prepared the feast
and invited all the neighbors who brought presents and money to Hunter
and his family. After they spent some time there, Hunter and his family
gathered the presents and the money and went home. They had enough money
to build a nice house. Few months later, it was a holiday, so Hunter
went to visit his friend. When Abdallah showed up, he held Hunter's hand
and in a blink of an eye, they were in a different place. Abdallah
gave Hunter a thousand dinars this time.
Hunter took the money and went home. His wife said that now they have
enough money to get their oldest son married. They found a nice girl
for him and set a time for the wedding. Of course Hunter invited
Abdallah and his family to the wedding. Abdallah asked Hunter to prepare
a separate room for him and another twenty people and not to let anybody
come near them. On the wedding day, everybody in town was invited and
Hunter did what Abdallah asked him to do. People would see Hunter going
into that room with full trays and getting out empty handed while they
could not see anybody inside the room. After everybody left, Abdallah
asked Hunter if they could go and give the bride her presents. They went
in one by one and the bride was happy to receive all of the nice jewelery
they gave her. Before Abdallah left, he told Hunter that they were all
invited to his place for the whole week.
A couple of thieves in town knew where the bride put her jewelery box, so
they raided the house and took the jewelery when Hunter and his family
were at Abdallah's place. When Hunter and his family returned to the
house, they discovered the robbery. All Hunter could do was seek
help from his friend Abdallah. Abdallah comforted him and told him to go
back and open the box. When Hunter went back and opened the box, he
found double the amount of jeweles in it. Abdallah came to Hunter and
said, "Next time my brother, when you come to visit us, we will protect
your home."
This story was translated form:
Barghouthi, A.: Hikayaat jaan min Bani Zeid (Stories of Jinn from Bani
Zeid), pp. 116-121, Bir Zeit University, Bir Zeit, Palestine (1979).
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