World Tale: What it Takes (Arab)

​Long ago and far away there lived a young woman named Lulua who spent many hours carefully tending her garden. Afterward, she played music on her rabab. When doves appeared she scattered crumbs to feed them.

One day, Telal was hunting with his hawk. The hawk saw a dove and flew after it, catching it just as it landed near Lulua in her garden. She wept at the sight of the dying dove.

The young man ran into her garden, pursuing the hawk, and stopped at the sight of Lulua weeping. When she saw him with his hawk she said, not bothering to conceal her anger, “Take your hawk and leave my garden.”

Struck by her presence, he did not want to leave. “Please, let me stay”.

“No! Go and never return.”

Reluctantly, Telal took his hawk and left, determined to find a way to please Lulua. In time, he trapped dozens of doves. After filling many cages, he returned to Lulua’s garden. “Please accept these doves as a token of my remorse.”

“No! These doves did not come freely to my garden. How can you give them to me. They are not yours to give. Take your cages and go!”

Telal released the doves, took the cages and left. Crestfallen. He wondered what he could do to win her heart. He caught a golden hoopoe bird, put it in a cage and gave it to her. Once again she told him to leave. “A bird does not belong in a cage. It needs to fly. Free. Go!”

In his desire to be with her he brought her the finest pearls. She refused to take them. He set sail on a whaling ship and when they slaughtered a whale, he filled a large container with ambergris and brought it to Lulua. When she refused this, he returned with a beautiful gold necklace.
“Please,” he said, “take this gift and let me sit beside you.”

Lulua was not impressed. As before, she snarled, “Take your gift and leave. Now!”

Telal was bewildered. He had given Lulua the finest of gifts, all of which she had rejected with disdain. What more could he give her? What else could he do? In despair, he sought the advice of an old woman known to be wise. He told her how each time Lulua refused his gifts and ordered him to leave.

The woman listened carefully, then laughed. “Look around you. Notice the birds and animals. What they do when they love?”

Confused, Telal thanked the woman, wondering why she laughed. What did birds and animals have to do with his yearning to be with Lulua? When he saw a pair of gazelles, leaning toward each other. He stopped to watch them, smiling at their tenderness. After walking and seeing nothing that answered the woman’s question, he sat and leaned against a tall tree. When he heard a soft cooing, he looked up. A pair of doves, bodies touching, were looking at each other with what could only be love.

He thought about all the fine gifts Lulua had refused. Perhaps he had not given her the one gift she desired. Saddling his horse, he rode to her garden, dismounted and found her watering the flowers.

“Please,” he said, “let us walk together. I wish to know you. I wish you to know me.”
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She nodded. Together they walked. And talked.

Her smile filled his heart.