..A. CREATION
...B. CREATION AND THE FLOOD
...C. THE CREATION OF MAN
...D. AND E. THE FLOOD
...F. THE MANDAEAN NATION
...G. ANOTHER VERSION OF THE RED SEA STORY
#2--OF ABRAHAM AND YURBA
#3--HOW HIBIL ZIWA FETCHED RUHA FROM THE DARKNESS
#4--THE STORY OF QIQEL AND THE DEATH OF YAHYA
#5-- NEBUCHADNEZZAR`S DAUGHTER
#6--SUN STORIES
#7-- THE BRIDGE AT SHUSTER
#8-- THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER AND ADAM BUL FARAJ
#9-- HOW DANA NUK VISITED THE SEVENTH HEAVEN
#10-- THE MILLENNIUM
#11-- CONCERNING THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MADDAI AND HOW THE TURKS CAME TO TAKE IT
#12-- HOW THE MANDAI AND THEIR GANZIBRA LEFT THE MOUNTAIN FOR A BETTER COUNTRY
#13-- THE CHILD CONCEIVED ON THE 29th NIGHT OF THE MOON
#14-- THE KANSHI UZAHLA
#15-- THE HAUNTINGS
#16-- THE PLAGUE IN SHUSTER
#17-- THE STONE-THROWING
#18-- THE KAFTAR
#19-- BIBI`S SONS AND THEIR STRANGE ADVENTURE
#20-- SHAIKH ZIBID
#21-- OF BEHOLDING EVENTS IN TRANCE
#22-- HOW EVIL SPIRITS ABUSE THE DEAD, ETC.
#23-- MEN WHO HAVE RETURNED FROM DEATH, ETC.
#24-- OF THE POWER T0 SEE SPIRITS
#25-- THE SIMURGH: THE TRUE HISTORY OF RUSTAM AND HIS SON
#26-- HIRMIZ SHAH
#27--THE MAN WHO SOUGHT TO SEE SIN THE MOON
#28-- THE SIMURGH AND HIRMIZ SHAH
AND THEIR STRANGE ADVENTURE
One day she went into the sirdab and in it she saw a female spirit, a melka. It called to her, "Do not cry out! Fear not, I will not harm you!" But her heart was afraid and she ran out and went to the ganzowra and said. "Thus it is!" and told him that she had seen a melka in her sirdab. He said to her, 'There is no harm in her, let her be! Speak with her and do not be afraid!"
So Bibi returned to her house and went down into the sirdab, and there was the melka, the jinniyah. Bibi began to speak with her and asked her, "Who are you, and what is your business?"
Asked Bibi, "Where is your abode?"
The melka replied, "We live down the river, in a hill. When your sons go fishing, let them come to us one night and visit us: we will do them no harm."
Now Bibi's lads used to go fishing in the river on summer nights, and when they heard what the melka had said, they exclaimed, "Come, let us go to the jann and see what they are like!"
They took four boys, their relatives, with them, and their fishing-net (selliysh) and set off in the night. They went far down the river and came to a hill, where they heard a noise and saw a light. They went nearer and they saw creatures who were just like the children of Adam except that they were little. Yes, they were of all kinds, men, women, and children, white and black, like the children of Adam. They sat beside them and amused themselves and talked with them. Then the jann asked, "Shall we make you food?" They replied, "We do not eat your food and presently we shall return to our own supper, which is in a basket at home, waiting for us."
These people said, "Nay! eat with us! We will bring your food hither!" They answered, "Aye, bring it hither, that will be better."
Some of the jann went away and a moment afterwards, there was their own food, on their own plates, set before them! They ate, and the jann bade them put the plates into their bosoms when they had finished, and this they did. Then they departed, intending to fish in the river and to return to their houses. They began to fish, but after a little, they saw a man standing on the bank. They asked him, "Who are you?" He replied, "l am a fisherman." They looked at him, and thought he did not look entirely like a human being. He said to them, "Come! fish with me and we will be partners, for there are plenty of fish here!"
They said to him, "You have no net--how can you fish?" He answered, "There is no need of a net--I will seize them!"
They threw their net and gazed at him, for he was becoming larger. He became very tall, and in one moment he had become so big that he stood with one foot on the bank and the other in the middle of the river. Then he bent and gathered the fish into his two hands; biz, kosaj (shark), gatan, jarag, ragga (turtle), bunni, shabbut, jirriy, every kind of fish. He caught them in his two hands and threw them on the shore. The lads cried, "Why should we cast our nets! This one catches fish in abundance without a net!" And they cried to him, "Catch us fishl!" And the man dredged up the fish with his hands and made the into heaps, each fish according to its species, but the good fish he caused to look very small, while the poor fish and uneatable he caused to look very big. Then he called to them, "Tafaddalu! Be pleased to choose--here are heaps of fish, let us make a division."
They looked and said "This is no fair division" but they were now afraid of him, because he looked like a tantal. They said, "It cannot be thus." and stooped to alter the heaps of fish. Then he seized their testicles and wrought them harm and shame. They cried, "Take all the fish and let us go!" but he answered, "It cannot be, you must take your fair share!" They remained so till morning; he forcing them to divide the fish and treating them shamefully.
Bibi in her house said, "I must go to see what is keeping the lads so long. Perhaps mischief is afoot!"
She took a large needle and stuck it into her futah (head-kerchief), and, taking a chamagh (stick) she began to walk down the river, calling them by their names. Haddah, her eldest son, called to her when she was near them, "We are here! the tantal has us!"
Bibi answered, "I know what to do--wait for me!"
The tantal heard her and looked in the direction of her voice. Bibi cried to the tantal "I will run this needle into your testicles!"
He was afraid, and when he saw that she was near, he plunged into the river and disappeared.
The lads told their mother, "From four hours of the night until ten hours of the night he afflicted us and wrought us harm!"
Then they took the good fish and went home, leaving the uneatable fish on the riverbank. When they entered the house, they threw down the fish and said to their mother, "Give us food, we are very hungry".
She went to the basket where the food for their supper had been, but it was empty, and their plates were not there.
She war astonished and cried, "The food and plates are gone and yet no robber could have been here!" They said to her, "'Do not be afraid! Our food was brought to us by the jann and they drew their plates out from their bosoms and told her what had happened.
The next day Bibi went to the ganzowra and told him. He was very much amused and said to her "If that melka comes again to the sirdab ask her for something of theirs so that when a woman is in childbirth the gift may protect her from harm."
Bibi returned home and one day she entered the sirdab and saw the melka there she said to her "Give me something of yours". The melka answered "I will give you my ladle." and she gave it saying "Put this beside a woman in childbirth and evil spirits will not harm her for they will know that it is my token".
Bibi preserved the ladle for the use of her family and friends and my daughter has it today.
..A. CREATION
...B. CREATION AND THE FLOOD
...C. THE CREATION OF MAN
...D. AND E. THE FLOOD
...F. THE MANDAEAN NATION
...G. ANOTHER VERSION OF THE RED SEA STORY
#2--OF ABRAHAM AND YURBA
#3--HOW HIBIL ZIWA FETCHED RUHA FROM THE DARKNESS
#4--THE STORY OF QIQEL AND THE DEATH OF YAHYA
#5-- NEBUCHADNEZZAR`S DAUGHTER
#6--SUN STORIES
#7-- THE BRIDGE AT SHUSTER
#8-- THE FIRE-WORSHIPPER AND ADAM BUL FARAJ
#9-- HOW DANA NUK VISITED THE SEVENTH HEAVEN
#10-- THE MILLENNIUM
#11-- CONCERNING THE MOUNTAIN OF THE MADDAI AND HOW THE TURKS CAME TO TAKE IT
#12-- HOW THE MANDAI AND THEIR GANZIBRA LEFT THE MOUNTAIN FOR A BETTER COUNTRY
#13-- THE CHILD CONCEIVED ON THE 29th NIGHT OF THE MOON
#14-- THE KANSHI UZAHLA
#15-- THE HAUNTINGS
#16-- THE PLAGUE IN SHUSTER
#17-- THE STONE-THROWING
#18-- THE KAFTAR
#19-- BIBI`S SONS AND THEIR STRANGE ADVENTURE
#20-- SHAIKH ZIBID
#21-- OF BEHOLDING EVENTS IN TRANCE
#22-- HOW EVIL SPIRITS ABUSE THE DEAD, ETC.
#23-- MEN WHO HAVE RETURNED FROM DEATH, ETC.
#24-- OF THE POWER T0 SEE SPIRITS
#25-- THE SIMURGH: THE TRUE HISTORY OF RUSTAM AND HIS SON
#26-- HIRMIZ SHAH
#27--THE MAN WHO SOUGHT TO SEE SIN THE MOON
#28-- THE SIMURGH AND HIRMIZ SHAH
Narrator: Hirmiz bar Anhar
