The Little Girl Who Went to Market

A long time ago, in a country far away, there lived a little girl named Anna. One day, Anna’s mother sent her to the market to buy some meat for their dinner. “On the way back, stop and wash the meat in the stream, so that it will be all ready to cook,” her mother told her.

Anna did as she was told. She bought the meat, and on her way back, she stopped at the stream. However, as she bent down to wash the meat, a stork flew down and snatched it out of her hand.

Anna wept loudly and called to the stork to give the meat back to her, for she had no money to buy any more, and she knew her mother would scold her if she returned without any at all.

“Very well,” said the stork at last. “I will give you your meat back, but only on the condition that you bring me an ear of barley in exchange.”

Anna ran at once to the field to look for an ear of barley, but she found none. There were only straw stalks, so she asked a straw stalk for an ear of barley that she could give to the bird.

“There are no ears of barley because there is no rain,” the straw stalk sighed. “But if you will pray to Allah for rain, I will gladly give you an ear of barley.”

The little girl wanted an ear of barley very badly, so she prayed at once to Allah to send the rain, but no rain came.

After a time, a man came past. He saw little Anna kneeling in the dusty road and asked her what she was doing there.

“I am praying to Allah for rain,” she replied. “If Allah sends the rain, the straw stalk will give me an ear of barley. I can give the barley to the stork, and he will give me back the meat he has stolen. I can take it home for my mother to cook, and then she will not scold me, but first, I need rain and Allah has not sent it.”

“If you want your prayer to reach right up to Allah, you must burn some incense,” the stranger told her and went on his way.

At this, Anna hurried off to the bazaar-keeper, whom she knew sold incense. She told him that she wanted incense to burn to Allah, so that He would hear her prayer and send rain. Then she could get barley to give to the stork, who would give her back her meat. When he had heard her story, the bazaar-keeper agreed to give her the incense if she would first go to the cobbler’s and fetch his boots which were being repaired.

Anna went at once to the cobbler and asked him to give her the bazaar-keeper’s boots, for this was the only way she could get the incense to burn, so that Allah would hear her prayer and send rain.

The cobbler agreed to give Anna the boots if she would first go to the tanner and fetch some leather which he wanted, so Anna went to the tanner and asked for the leather, telling her whole story once more.

“Before I can let you have leather for the cobbler, you must get me an ox-hide,” said the tanner. “To make leather, I must have an ox-hide, but you can get one from the farm.”

Anna ran all the way to the farm and went to find an ox. There he stood, swishing his tail and grunting as she came up to him, panting hard after her long run.

“Please will you give me some hide for the tanner?” begged Anna. “He must have hide to make leather, and if he makes leather, I can take it to the cobbler, who will then give me the bazaar-keeper’s boots. The bazaar-keeper will then let me have incense to burn to Allah, who will hear my prayer and send rain. Then I shall have an ear of barley to give to the stork who has stolen my meat.”

The ox listened to all this and swished his tail thoughtfully. Then he said, “Yes, I can let you have some hide for the tanner, but I am hungry. First, you must go to the farmhouse over there and ask the farmer to give me a big bundle of straw to eat.”

Anna was getting quite tired, but she managed to run all the way up the path to the farmhouse door. When she arrived, she was quite out of breath.

The kindly farmer stood there waiting while she got her breath back, and once more she poured out her story.

“The ox is hungry,” said poor Anna. “Please will you give me a nice big bundle of straw for him to eat? If you do, he will give me some hide. I shall take the hide to the tanner, and the tanner will give me in exchange some leather, which I shall take to the cobbler. The cobbler will then give me the bazaar-keeper’s boots which he has repaired, and I shall give them to the bazaar-keeper in return for incense. When I burn the incense, Allah will hear my prayer and send rain. Then the straw stalk will be able to give me an ear of barley, and I shall give it to the stork who has stolen my meat. He will give me back my meat, and I will take it home to mother to cook, so that she will not scold me.”

The farmer beamed. “Certainly,” he said. Anna waited breathlessly, for she felt that she really could not go any farther when the farmer suddenly added, “But first, give me one kiss.”

Anna flung her arms around the kind farmer’s neck and kissed him at once. Then she took the straw for the ox and he gave her the hide. She ran with the hide to the tanner and in return, he gave her leather for the cobbler.

When she reached the cobbler’s with the leather, he took it and gave her the bazaar-keeper’s boots in return.

As soon as he saw that she had brought his boots, the bazaar-keeper gave Anna the incense she had asked for, and Anna burned it at once so that her prayer reached Allah and He sent the rain.

Then Anna went back to the straw stalk, and he was so pleased about the rain that he gave her an ear of barley at once. Anna gave the barley to the stork and he gave her the meat.

At long last, Anna was able to run home to her mother, who cooked the meat, and they had a delicious dinner.