Imagination

Look at my mother’s bag, how a hair tie for her hair and a bandage for this wound on your hand will come out of it. I ask her for anything now, she will bring it out. This is what I said to my brother Abdullah who stood amazed while my mother took out everything we asked for from her big bag. He said to her: Mom, I’m hungry. Will I find something to eat with you? The mother said to him: Of course. Just as the magician takes the rabbit out of the hat, my brother opened his mouth. When he tried to say something, my mother put a piece of biscuit in his mouth. We laughed at the scene. Now it was my turn to ask my mother for something from her wonderful bag. ...

Because I was young small girl, so I heard a strange story since long time, I tell it to you. It happened when I went to visit my aunt Nina where she was living in a house with my grandfather, who was breaking a lot of cups. And I loved to stay with my aunt Nina a lot, because I used to enjoy playing with her cups in the morning, and I was very sad whenever she would destroy them, and I was always trying to make cups from those cups and especially the big cup, and I try to make various forms from them and from the faces and personalities that I love, and in one of the Fridays happened something strange. ...

One morning, I woke up early and was not prepared that I was wise. I called with a loud voice, “Mother, Mother. My mother entered to my room while I was telling her, “Wake up, O my dear child. What is wrong with you?” I said to her, “Mother, I dreamt a strange dream last night and was frightened a lot.” My mother sat on the edge of the bed, scolded me, and asked, “What did you see in the dream? For I saw, O mother, that when I was returning from the school and did not find the way to the house and could not distinguish myself from the other voices, so I asked the mother, how is that?” The daughter said, “This, my daughter, is what happened. For everything around me was voices, trees, flowers, trees, and the wind and the clouds.” ...

Nūrā was accustomed to sitting in the lap of her beloved grandmother to listen to a story, Samr and the Moon, at the end of each week. Every time her grandmother began the story, she would embrace her to her chest and say affectionately: “There was once a beautiful girl whose name was Samr. Samr would contemplate the sky and watch the stars every night, dreaming of reaching the moon.” The grandmother would look at the sky through the window, and Nūrā would follow her with her eyes, hoping to see something in the sky. ...

Nour invited her friend the Sun to her birthday party. Nour said to her mother: We want to celebrate on the balcony so the Sun can participate in the celebration. Then friends came carrying beautiful gifts for their friends, but the Sun was very sad because she couldn’t give her friend anything on her birthday. But she sang a birthday song for her with the girls and boys from friends, neighbors, and relatives. Then Nour blew out her six candles, then cut the cake, and everyone ate from it while they were happy. Then Nour shouted: Oh no, oh no. My tooth has fallen. Nour’s mother said to her: Don’t cry, my dear, this happens to all children. Then Maha, Nour’s friend, said: Listen, take your tooth, Nour, then throw it to the Sun. Perhaps the Sun will give you a new tooth of pearl. ...

There was a girl alone in the house. The night was dark and the sky stormy. She was alone in the house and about to go to bed when she saw a scary shadow appearing from the window. She shouted in a loud voice: Who’s there? Suddenly, lightning began to illuminate the room like a light lamp that goes out quickly. I saw the face of a lion, and at the same time, I heard the terrifying sound of thunder, as if the lion was roaring from the window. The lion looked like the lion I had seen at the circus in the city. They had announced his absence on the television news. ...