Persian Tales (Translated by D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, Editing by Farshad Torkashvand)

 

THE STORY OF THE WOLF AND THE GOAT

Once upon a time, there was a time

when there was no one but

GOD. 1

THERE was a goat who had four children, one was Alil, one

was Balil, one was Ginger Stick, and the fourth was Black

Eyes.

One day she said :

"Sit quietly here, children; I'm

going off to bring grass for you. If the wolf should come

and knock, don't open the door for him. And if he says :

'I am your mother,' say :

' Put your hand in at the crack

of the door,' and if you see that the hand is black, don't

open the door, but if you see a red hand, you'll know that

it's your mother back again."

Now the wolf had all the time been listening, and as

soon as the goat was gone, he dyed his hand with henna to

make it red, and came and knocked at the door. They

called out :

" Who's that ?"

"Open the door; I've brought grass for you," said he.

" Show us your hand." The wolf shoved his hand in at

the crack of the door, and when they saw that it was red, they

opened the door and let him in. So he carried off Alil and

Balil and Ginger Stick, but Black Eyes ran away and hid.

When the mother goat came back, she saw no

one in the house and began to call. Then Black Eyes

came out of his hiding place and told his mother how the

wolf had carried off his brothers. So they went together

and climbed onto the roof of the wolf's house. They saw

that he was just cooking some ash, and they threw down a

handful of earth into it.

The wolf cried :

" Who are you on my roof up there?

You dare to throw earth in my ash, you dare?

My ash all salty and bad you've made,

My eyes all blind and sad you've made."

Then answered the goat :

" The goat, the goat so fleet am I,

The goat with bells on her feet am I.

I can dance with my feet so fleet,

Leaping about on my hinder-feet.

You have stolen Alil of mine,

You have stolen Balil of mine,

You have stolen my Ginger Stick."

And the wolf said :

"Yes, I've stolen them, "; and the goat said :

"Come, let's go and fight."

The goat went and got a skin and filled it full of curds

and butter to make a lovely present and carried it off to the

knife-grinder and said :

" Come along and sharpen my

horns."

The wolf went and got a skin too, but he was too stingy

to put in butter or anything nice, so he blew it up with wind

till it looked very full indeed and took it for a gift to a man

who was a tooth-puller, and he said :

" Come along and sharpen my teeth." The dentist wondered what his present

was, and opened the top of the skin a little to peep in and see,

but behold, there was only wind inside! And the air ran

out puff, puff, puff.

He said nothing at all, but instead of sharpening the

wolf's teeth, he pulled them all out, and in the holes, he put

little pointed twists of cotton wool that looked like nice

sharp, white teeth.

Then up came the goat, and they went off to fight.

First, they came to a little stream of water. The goat said :

" Come, let's first drink our fill," and she put her head down

over the water, but she took care to drink none herself.

The wolf drank and drank till he could drink no more.

Then the goat said :

" Come along, let's jump across the

stream," and with that, she leaped over neatly. The wolf

went to jump over 'too, but he was so swollen up with water

that he fell in. Then the goat smote him in the stomach

with one of her sharp horns and tore it right open, so

he died.

And off she carried Alil and Balil and Ginger Stick,

and brought them home again to Black Eyes.

And now my story has come to an end,

but the sparrow never got

home.

1. (Notes from Farshad: In Persian Language's storytelling, folklore, and such, they always start with a rhythmic beginning and a rhythmic ending. I use the phonetic spelling of that Persian rhyme here so you can enjoy it.

They all starts with: 

Yeki bood, Yeki nabood.

Gheir az Khoda, Hichki nabood.

And end the story with:

Gheseye ma be sar resyd,

Ama kalaghe be khonash narasyd.