The Devil vs. The Old Lady

Today over lunch at my father’s house, we discussed the tragedy that happened in Jahra last Saturday evening. I simply love talking to my dad when it comes to events and the ‘religious fables’ he seamlessly ties into each and every incident.

At one point during the conversation, I interested him with a quote by William Congreave and it goes as, “Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned | Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.”

He delighted in that quote and went on to tell me this following story:

Once upon a time, there was a small town in Arabia. This town is known not to have any police, simply the town is run by its own people and its Mayor. So one day Satan came upon a hill overlooking the town and he saw an old lady sitting on the same hill. Satan tells the old lady, “Woman, I will go down to the town and cause strife and sorrow! Watch me!”

The old lady replies blandly, “Sure, go on ahead.” Satan was amused by the old lady’s lack of interest and asked her, “Do you know who I am? I am The Devil himself! I am Satan! I can cause strife and sorrow wherever I go!”

Yet, the old lady responds to Satan, “Fine, go on ahead I’ll watch.”

Disgruntled, Satan goes down to the town and try as he might he couldn’t pit brother against brother. Nor could he pit friends against friends, fathers against sons. And so on, frustrated he goes back up to the hill and told the old lady, “What is this town? I am THE Devil! I cannot believe this!”

Slowly the old lady gets herself up off the ground and tells Satan, “I will go down there and cause strife and ruin. You just stay put and watch me.” The old lady goes down to the Mayor’s house and knocks on the door. Moments later the Mayor’s wife opened the door and puzzled asked the old lady, “Who are you?”

Old lady exclaims, “I am the Mayor’s aunt! He didn’t tell you I’m arriving?!”

Mayor’s wife even more perplexed, “But my husband never mentioned having an aunt! I’m sorry but he is not home so I cannot let you in!”

The old lady wouldn’t have any of that she pushed her way into the house and exclaimed, “I came many miles across the desert and this is the treatment I deserve from my nephew’s wife? Where is the lunch, woman? I am hungry!”

Mayor’s wife lowers her head sadly and mutters, “But I cannot serve lunch, my husband isn’t home yet! I’m not used to having lunch without him!”

“Gah! Run along and serve lunch now, woman!” The old lady says, “When he sees us he may join us! Let’s eat!”

So the Mayor’s wife serves lunch in the customary single large round tray and the women sit down to eat. The old lady carefully scoops a bite with her hand from directly in front of her and scoops another bite from directly to the right of her, while the Mayor’s wife scoops her bite out from across the old lady in the tray.

The Mayor arrives and irritated at the scene he sees, asks his wife, “Why are you having lunch without me?! And who is this old woman?”

So his wife responds, “She is your aunt!”

Old lady eyes the mayor and asks, “Who are you? If you are her husband then who was the man that was sitting here with us?!” And she points at the part where a third scoop of food has gone missing from the tray (remember she did that?).

The Mayor in a rage kills his wife for cheating on him. As events unfolded, the Mayor’s wife’s family ask for revenge and eventually the entire town turned into a tribal bloodbath.

The old lady seeing that she has successfully pitted everyone against one another, she sneaked back up the hill and smirked at the baffled Devil. And she says, “It takes a woman to teach you a trick or two ‘O Satan!”

The fable as my father mentioned is one of many fables he loves to tell us at every occasion.

So what is the moral of the story? Let’s see what you may have to say.

~ by Я on August 17, 2009.