In olden times, a great leader lived in a village close to the seashore, and in it he owned beautiful wide farms. This great leader had a handsome son, black-haired, tall in stature, and strong in build named Anwar. But the villagers nicknamed him Anwar the Brave, because they saw him one day wrestling with a wolf while he was twelve years old. The wolf had attacked his father’s pastures, so the boy killed it with an axe in his hand.
One day Anwar put on travel clothes and said to his father: O my father, I have reached the age of sixteen, and I wish to try my luck in life. So permit me to travel, and grant me your blessing.
His words affected his father’s soul, but he could not prevent his son’s desire, so the father agreed and prayed for his salvation and safety from all evil. Anwar’s face lit up, he bid his family farewell, and set out.
Anwar continued to walk on his feet from country to country for three years. He learned their conditions, witnessed their arts, and met both evil and good people among them. One day it was proposed to him to participate in a naval campaign aimed at punishing sea pirates, so he accepted willingly, for he was brave and did not fear danger.
The ship sailed for days and nights on the water, in a calm wind and still waves, and a sky filled with the most beautiful stars in its midst. But suddenly the weather darkened, the winds blew, and the ship struck a large rock that smashed its planks, so it sank and all in it drowned.
As for Anwar, he was knowledgeable about swimming matters, so he kept swimming without guidance until a black spot appeared near him, and it was one of the islands. So he gathered his strength and swam until he reached it, and threw himself upon its soft sand from extreme exhaustion.
Anwar woke up in the morning and began looking around the island for a place to stay. He saw a large house with high windows, each window no less than fifteen meters high. He walked to it and knocked on the door, and he heard a sound like the mooing of a bull saying (Enter).
When he opened the door, he found himself before a giant ten meters tall!
He heard him say: Who are you? And what have you come here to do?
Anwar looked at him with defiance and said: I am Anwar the Brave. I love travel and roaming countries so that I can obtain knowledge and wealth.
The giant said to him: I am in need of a servant, and from today you are my servant, and you will not be able to escape from me. I will go out to graze my sheep, and you must clean the stable until I return. Beware of entering the rooms of the house, for if you do, in that is your destruction.
Anwar thought after the giant left and said to himself: What if I visit the rooms of the house? Nothing will happen and the giant will not know. He entered the first room and found in it a large stove with a pot boiling on it but no fire in the stove.
He was very amazed and pulled a hair from his head and put it in the pot, and it turned to the color of copper. Then he entered the second room and found in it a larger pot, so he dipped another hair from his head in the liquid in the pot, and it turned to the color of silver. No sooner had he entered the third room than he did what he did in the two rooms, and the hair turned to the golden color.
When he entered the fourth room, he stood at the doorstep dumbfounded, for he saw a girl of wonderful beauty looking at him with pity and sorrow. She said to him: What brought you here, you poor one? The giant is an evil and vile man, and he will surely kill you. He said to her: He has assigned me to his service, and asked me to clean the stable, and that is not a difficult matter.
The beautiful girl sighed and said to him: It is a difficult matter, for the giant has cast a spell that makes whatever you clean dirty again. But there is a solution: sweep the floor of the stable with the broom handle, and the bound magic will be undone. He thanked her for the advice, and they conversed, and he learned from her that her name is Karima, and she is the daughter of a good jinn that the giant was able to capture.
Anwar comforted her and promised her that he would travel and take her with him to marry. After that Anwar went to clean the stable, and when the giant returned, he found him sitting at the door of the house, and the stable in the utmost cleanliness and beauty. Sparks flew from his eyes, and he said addressing Anwar: You must have seen Karima.
Anwar pretended to be foolish and ignorant and said to him: Who is this Karima? The giant was silent and did not answer. On the next day, the giant asked him to go to the mountain and bring his horse from there. When the giant left, Anwar ran to Karima and told her of the task he had given him. She said: This horse is fierce, but if you take the bridle hanging in the stable and throw it between its jaws, it will calm down and go with you wherever you go.
Indeed, Anwar executed everything Karima told him. When the giant returned and found Anwar with the horse, he became angry and enraged and asked him: Did you see Karima? Anwar pretended to be ignorant again and said to him: Just tell me, who is this Karima? Is she a beast or what?
On the third day, the giant went out and did not ask Anwar for any work to do. He returned at midday and said to Karima at the door: There is a young man there, slaughter him and cook him for us so I can rest a little. He entered his room and sleep overcame him. Karima then took a sharp knife and wounded Anwar with a small wound on his finger, and dropped three drops of his blood in the pot and filled it with water. Then she went to the three rooms and took from the first a copper ball, from the second a silver ball, and from the third three golden balls. She and Anwar fled heading toward the sea.
The giant woke up after an hour and shouted: Is the food cooked?
The first drop of blood answered him and said: It has started to cook. He indulged in sleep for another hour, then shouted after it: Tell me, O Karima, is the food cooked?
The second drop of blood answered him: It is about to cook. He surrendered to death again.
He woke up after about an hour saying: Woe to you, O Karima, where is the food? The third drop answered him: It is fully cooked.
When the giant went out, he found nothing in the pot except water. He became enraged and began searching for them. When he saw them speeding toward the shore, he pursued them. But Karima threw the copper ball, and the path split, preventing the giant from reaching them.
But there was no ship on the shore at that time, so Karima threw the silver ball, and a beautiful ship appeared in the sea. They boarded it, and it took them far away from the giant’s land.
Anwar rejoiced greatly and said to her: Praise be to Allah, we have been saved. But Karima was afraid, for the giant had an evil witch who helps and assists him. She feared that harm would befall them, so she asked him not to leave her no matter what happened so that the evil witch would not be able to get them.
After a few days, the ship arrived at the land of the young man Anwar. He rejoiced at this greatly, and his soul calmed down. But Karima’s clothes had been torn and dirtied during the journey. He feared that if his family saw her in that state, they would refuse his marriage to her. So he asked her to wait until he brought her new clothes and returned. But she warned him not to delay or eat any food presented to him, so that he would not forget Karima and Karima’s love.
Indeed, Anwar went quickly to his house. They rejoiced greatly at his arrival and invited him to eat, but he apologized and left. At the door he was about to mount his horse when a beautiful blonde woman with beautiful eyes stopped him and gave him an apple to eat. She said to him: Out of politeness and propriety, it is not appropriate to refuse a gift from anyone. When he took it from her and bit a piece, he forgot everything about Karima and thought that this woman was his beloved. He introduced her to his family, and they set a date for the marriage.
Karima was extremely sad when she heard this. She kept walking until she found a nearby cabin, so she stayed in it and turned one of the golden balls into a beautiful house of gold in which she lived. When people saw her, they coveted marrying Karima, who turned everything to gold, but she refused.
One day, a wedding procession passed in front of the cabin. It was Anwar’s wedding to the blonde woman, but an accident occurred that broke their carriage. They came out safely, so they asked the owner of the nearby cabin for help. She was Karima, and she helped them with her fourth golden ball, and the carriage returned intact.
Anwar’s father wanted to thank her, so he invited her to attend the wedding. Karima went, and she was extremely sad about that. But there, before writing the marriage contract, Karima threw her last ball, and it turned into a cup with a drink. She presented it to the prince. When he drank it, he remembered everything that happened in his life and remembered Karima. Suddenly, the blonde woman disappeared, for she was the evil witch herself.
Karima rejoiced greatly, and Anwar married her. She lived with him in peace, and helped all the people of the city, and offered them much goodness. So they made for her a statue with which they thanked her, and a woman was holding three balls in her hand.