Kharareef – ‘folktales’ in the Emirati dialect – have survived for centuries in this part of the world. Take a seat around the fire as Abu Dhabi Week paints a picture of how Emiratis have kept their oral tradition alive for centuries

The sun at last has set, another furious afternoon softened into the cool of evening. Dinner has been eaten and in the light of this fire in the desert of Abu Dhabi, Fatima’s fingers continue to braid the narrow band of palm leaves into a long strip.

In a growing moment of silence, the old woman begins to speak – a poem of her own composition, one she will have been crafting in her mind all afternoon – signalling that she will soon embark on the telling of a tale that is as many centuries old as the Sadu method of weaving she practices every day. At last she begins.

“Let us give greetings to the Prophet.Peace Be Upon Him.” The age-old response from all the women and girls sitting in the light completes the ritual – the story can now begin.

“Once long ago in a village far away lived a young shepherd named Khalid,” she says. “Khalid often stopped on a small hill and from the hill he could see the house of Fahim the farmer. Now, Fahim had two daughters – Afra the elder daughter had a beautiful face, long thick hair and huge shiny eyes but she was lazy and conceited. The younger daughter Maitha was so ugly that no one wanted to look at her but she was so patient and hard working that everyone loved her.”

The wizened old Fatima – her face is lined with wrinkles, her hands crabbed but industrious – doesn’t look up from her weaving as she speaks but she doesn’t need to. She knows everyone is listening.

“After many days of watching from the hilltop, seeing Maitha work hard while Afra sat in the shade doing nothing, Khalid determined that Maitha would make a wonderful wife regardless of her ugliness. Her father knew that someone would eventually want to marry the beautiful Afra, so he granted his permission.”

In a culture that values marriage and family so much, it’s little wonder that a story that praises working hard over beauty would survive so many generations of retelling. Like many folktales in the UAE and around the world, this particular kharufa is an imaginary story meant to teach a lesson.

“When Afra heard that her ugly younger sister was to marry first, she was furious,” Fatima continues with a glimmer of humour in her gravelled voice. “Seeking revenge, Afra went to consult Umm Al Mashakel, a woman she’d heard knew about charms and spells. Umm Al Mashakel told Afra that the only way to earn Khalid’s love was to give her beauty to her sister.”

Fatima tells how the sorceress blends a potion for Afra to give to the unsuspecting Maitha – saying that Afra will get her beauty back after she is married – how Afra tricks her sister into drinking the potion, how grateful and gracious Maitha is when she discovers her unexpected new beauty.

“But the next day, when Khalid went walking on the hill, he saw the beautiful sister working hard while the ugly one sat in the shade doing nothing. Khalid didn’t want a lazy wife, so after a few days, he went to Fahim the farmer and told him that he wanted to marry the beautiful sister after all.”

Fatima actually cackles now as she tells how Afra runs to Umm Al Mashakel hoping to get her beauty back only to find the wise old witch has died.

“Afra remained ugly while Maitha remained beautiful and married the young Khalid – the two lived happily and had many beautiful children. Afra learned that while people can sometimes change their looks, it is not so easy to change their character. She began to work on herself and in time her heart changed. She too became kind and hard working and soon a young farmer named Jamil asked to marry her.”

All the women sitting around the fire murmur their praise for the gracious Maitha, commenting how much better it is to have a kind heart than a pretty face.

As Fatima falls silent, packing away her weaving project, another family matron – her sister Mariam – starts in on another story, this one about an orphaned girl named Hind and a rooster that gives her gifts. The benevolent Hind gives the gifts to the aunt who has taken her in, an aunt who makes her work harder than all the other children and takes advantage of Hind’s generosity.

In the end, Mariam recounts, the aunt understood that she had been a bad guardian and changes her ways. The story of a poorly treated orphan rings especially true in this place where, as recently as the 1960s before the Oasis Hospital was opened, the infant mortality rate in Al Ain was 50 percent.

The desert sand, so hot this afternoon, has cooled – it feels refreshing as the silver pot filled with cardamom flavoured coffee is passed around the circle. Fatima tilts her tiny porcelain cup from side to side, indicating she’s had her fill, and launches into one last story.

“The mountains were home to a herd of goats, and in this herd lived a young billy named Tahr. Now this goat had strong horns, wide sharp eyes and large sensitive ears, so when he became an adult the elders appointed him the guardian of the herd so that he could warn them of any danger.”

Fatima looks into the distance rather than directly at any of the women sitting around her. Her voice rises and falls as she tells of Tahr’s laziness and how he leaves the herd unprotected time and again.

“The herd was very disappointed with Tahr and gave him many warnings but he did not change. At last they had no choice but to cast him out of the herd. Tahr was very upset and wept – he did not know what he would do because on his own he would be an easy target for predators.”

It’s easy to see certain themes shaping up in this story, lessons that have been important to this culture since the dawn of man’s presence in the Arabian Peninsula – the elders of the tribe know the way, the tribe plays a paramount role in the lives of every member and protecting the tribe is everyone’s responsibility.

“Though he had been banished, Tahr followed his herd, hoping that someday he would be able to prove to them that he had changed his ways. One day, as he grazed on his own, Tahr saw something moving in the brush – a large animal with golden eyes and spotted fur, a leopard getting ready to attack the herd’s leader.”

With the practice of a thousand recitations, Fatima’s resonate voice captures her audience, the little girls leaning close to hear what happens next.

“The moment the leopard tensed for his leap, Tahr darted directly ahead and struck the evil leopard with his horns, stabbing with all his might. When the leopard fell to the ground, Tahr stabbed him again. Without hesitation, the herd accepted Tahr back into the fold and when the leader became too old to guide the herd, he chose the brave Tahr as his successor – everyone approved his choice without disagreement.”

As the children breathe a sigh of relief, Fatima finishes her fable with all the flare of an expert story teller. Taking in the flood of stars in the wide desert sky, there’s no denying these stories must be preserved and remembered.

Laura Fulton

Who is Fatima?
For the purpose of this article we created the character of Fatima, her sister Mariam and the women of her family based on A Key to Another World, a collection of traditional fairytales compiled by Iwona Taida Dròzd and illustrated by Ufuk Kobas Smink, and published by ADACH’s National Library in 2008. If you’d like to read the entire collection, you can pick up your own copy for AED 100 at Abu Dhabi locations of Magrudy’s, Jashanmal, All Prints and Book Corner.

The ongoing preservation of the UAE’s intangible heritage

The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) has been working hard towards achieving their goal of registering several pillars of UAE heritage in UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage. These pillars include:

• Traditional styles of weaving in the UAE such as Sadu and Khous
• Popular traditional children’s games including saqla, tilah and dasis
• Al Ilyalah, a style of traditional folk dance
• Al Taghruda, a traditional form of poetry
• Falconry
• Traditional music played with instruments such as the oud