Cleverness

Once upon a time, there was a smart child who loved helping others, named Alaa. While he was walking with his friends one day, he met his stingy neighbor who called out to him. But his friends advised him not to pay attention to that stingy man’s call. Alaa knew the faults of the stingy man, but he stood thinking about what he would do with him. One of his friends said: Don’t pay attention to this man’s matter, Alaa. Have you forgotten what he did to our friend Ahmed when he tricked him and took his money until he completed his purchases? ...

There was a large forest in which lived elephants, monkeys, camels, rabbits, a turtle, a tiger, and a fox, and the king of the forest was also accustomed to living there, but the king became very old in age now and cannot prey on animals to eat them. One day he held a meeting for all the animals of the forest and said to them listen all, I have become very old and cannot hunt animals, therefore we must give you numbers, and accordingly you must come to me so that I can eat you, and do not deceive me, for I still possess the strength to come and fight you. ...

Once there was a large forest dense with trees and dark, the dense trees blocked the sun from reaching the earth in the midday period and this made it always dark. There were many animals in the forest and people were afraid to enter it. At the end of that forest there is a large lake and on the other side there is a small village, and the inhabitants of that village were afraid of the animals present in that forest. ...

There was a blind man named Mamoun living in a distant village at the outskirts of Morocco. He was alone in his small, beautiful house, as he was used to living alone without a wife or children. He had a beautiful garden behind his house that he tended to and cared for the beautiful trees growing in it. He planted it with delicious fruits and vegetables that he ate from. ...

Once upon a time, there was an old, tired lion. He remained sick in his cave, feeling tired. All the animals went to visit him and check on his health. However, the fox was the only animal that didn’t go to check on the lion. The wolf took advantage of his visit to the lion to accuse the fox, saying: The fox has no respect for your majesty, oh king. That is why he didn’t come to greet your majesty or even ask about your health. ...

A wonderful story about my grandfather who lived in a far village. He was a good, kind man, and although he was a poor farmer, his land had never prospered. The farmers were吵ing and complaining while he was cultivating and cultivating and his land was white and telling the foxes, “Every day you cultivate the land, it becomes white and has not produced for years on top of you that I would sell it and buy a better land.” So my grandfather would say, “This is my ancestral land, and they were cultivating it constantly thinking I am sick that I do not make an effort with my own mind.” ...

The rooster went out with its chicks to search for food. The chicks were吵ing a lot because they were hungry and thirsty. The rooster stood among its chicks and said, “O my children, do not go far away from me, lest you be exposed to danger. For the fox may be stranger here, or may be hunting us.” So the fox was following the rooster and its chicks. The cunning fox was hiding under a tall tree, watching and not moving. But he was not able to deceive the chicks because of the rooster’s crowing that was warning its chicks from time to time. ...

Our Arab folk heritage abounds with many grandmothers’ stories that they used to tell us when we were small children. Among those folk stories is the story of the Locust and the Bird from our brotherly Tunisian heritage. Zahra was staying at her grandmother’s house for several consecutive days. During the period she stayed, she would go out every day to water the flowers in the backyard garden. One day, she saw a shiny green locust standing on one of the flowers. She kept contemplating it until her grandmother came, grabbed the locust with her hands, and said to the children, “Here is the bird’s wife, oh children.” The boys cheered a lot, but Zahra asked her grandmother to tell her the story. ...

In ancient times, in a distant country between countries, one of the princesses lived with her mother the queen in a high castle. The princess was still a small child when her father the king died, so she grew up in the care of her mother the queen. The princess grew up and became a charming girl. Once, the queen said to her daughter, “You are now a girl, my daughter, and it is time for you to marry. A young prince from a neighboring kingdom has asked for your hand.” ...

One day, a huge caravan set out from Iraq, containing more than one hundred and fifty camels carrying on their backs many goods of different shapes and types, strange and unique as well. It also included dozens of travelers from merchants, sellers, and others who went with the caravan in search of livelihood. After that huge caravan reached a place with some shade, the merchants and everyone in the caravan went to take some rest, for fatigue had reached its utmost extent. Indeed, everyone went to the shade and slept until they woke up again after a period of time to the sound of one of the merchants shouting that his money had been stolen. ...