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 deer 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. When 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. 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 member 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. A 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 jewelry box, so they raided the house and took the jewelry 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 jewels 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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