My second tale is all about greed.I have heard it over and over,as a child, and have always enjoyed it.This one comes from my grandfather,who as I have mentioned before,comes from a little town called yabroud,75 kilometers north form Damascus,Syria.

An old widow,and her only daughter,were so poor,that they could barely find money for food.However,as the case is with most story-heroes,they were always very content with their life,never envying others for what they have.

One day,as the daughter went out to buy some dibes(date molasses,popular product extracted from dates ,and usually eaten with tahini-sesame sauce,very nutritious),she met a very old man in the streets.The old man said:My daughter,I am very tired:(kubbi el dibes w e7mileeni)meaning throw away the molasses and carry me.The daughter knew that this was the only food they had and was not tempted to follow his orders,but he insisted that he was very tired,and asked her to carry him to her home.The poor girl agrees and takes him to her mother,as heavy as he was for her little body to carry.When they reach her house,he asks the girl and the mother to wrap him in a big mat called 7aseereh,which is a carpet made of woven hay,and to hit him very hard with wooden sticks.They insist that they could not possibly do such a cruel thing to an old man like him,but he begs them to fulfill his wish.And so they do.They hit him with the sticks and leave him overnight to sleep.In the morning when they check on him,they do not find the old man,but instead they find lots and lots of money and gold.Money that they have never been able to dream of earlier.They know that this is a reward for their compassion,and for the girl's sacrifice in throwing away her food to help him out.So the mother decides they need to weigh all this money ,and asks the daughter to go to the neighbors and borrow their scale.The greedy neighbor is cofused.What could this poor family possibly have to weigh?so she butters up the scales plates and gives it to them .Somehow,a piece of gold or a coin sticks to the scale(don't ask me how)and the neigbour finds out that they've been weighing gold.She interrogates the old widow ,till she tells her the whole story of the old man and the plate of dibes.So the neighbor sends her daughter off to buy some dibes,and orders her to throw it away as soon as she sees a tired old man in the street,and to carry him home immediately.The daughter does just that and as soon as she sees an old man ,she tells him:biddi akob el dibes w a7milak,meaning I will throw the molasses away and carry you.When he refuses ,she does not listen to his protest and carries him home to her mother,where they wrap him around with their mat, and beat him endlessly with the biggest sticks they could find.Next morning they wake up anxiously to collect their gold,open up the mat to find it filled with dirt and trash!And of course,that's when they learn not to be greedy,and and never to envy others for the things they have.

Ever heard of this one before?

Again,I ask,if you have an authentic arab tale to share,please do!