The kack Story

A folk tale from Palestine

    Translated by: Fateh Kassab

  long time ago, a farmer named Darwish  lived in a village in Palestine. He was a poor fool man that he used to steal the feathers of the hens and left their flesh. His wife, Fahima , was very clever. But she could not control her husband's fool acts. One day she found no money to buy her house needs because no one agreed to give Darwish a job because he was idiot. So Fahima said to him:
"Take the cow, it is the only thing we have now. Go to the city and sell it in the market. Try to sell for ten or twenty liras."
Fahima gave him some bread, pulled the cow and handed it over to him and said:
"Go to the city, sell the cow and go back before the sunset."
Darwish pulled the cow and took his way to the city. On the way to the market, he felt tired and sat under a tree. He tied the cow to the tree. He opened his food package and started eating.  Suddenly Darwish heard a sound of a raven. Because of his foolishness he talked to the raven. He said to it:
"What's up Guga (raven) do you want to buy the cow?"
The raven said:
" kack… kack .... kack "
he added:
"Ok. Pay me twenty liras."
The raven said

" kack… kack .... kack "
Then he asked :
"Where is the money? Under the tree?!"
The raven said

" kack… kack .... kack "
Darwish dug under the tree. He found a large jar full of gold and Ottoman Liras. He counted twenty liras, returned the rest to the jar and buried the jar again. He looked up and said:
"God bless you and the cow. I took twenty liras and returned the rest to the jar."
The raven said:
" kack… kack .... kack "

He said good bye to the raven and returned home. His wife Fahimawas surprised because her husband returned quickly. She said to him:
"You returned very quickly, where is the cow?"
He replied:
I sold it to Guga(raven) for twenty liras."
When she saw the money, she became like the mad. She grabbed him from his shoulders and did not leave him till he told her what happened with him in details.
She ran to the tree. When she arrived she found that the cow was still tied to the tree. She dug the ground and extracted the jar. She concealed the gold in her clothes, pulled the cow and returned home.

 When Darwish saw her he started screaming ,slapped his face and said:
"God will punish you; you stole the Guga's cow"

Fahima was afraid that he might tell the Governor. She made dumpling and climbed up the roof of the house. She dropped the dumpling over his head.

 He was very happy and said:
"Oh God it is raining dumpling"
One day,  Darwish had a fight with his wife. He said

"I will go to the governor and tell him you stole the cow of the Guga and took her money."
Fahima did not pay attention to what he said.

He went to the Governor and told him the story. Fahima was summoned to the Turkish ruler .He asked her about the cow and the jar of gold. She said to him:
"Sir Governor. My husband is crazy and fool. He imagines things. Ask him when this happened"

Darwish said

"When it rained dumpling."
The governor laughed and said to Fahima:
"May God help you. Take your husband and go home."
Then Fahima collected her things and deported from Berbera to Beersheba.