A girl named Namaki lived with her big family in a big house. Everyone in the family had 1 chore, and Namaki's was to close all 7 doors of the house each night. One night, she forgot to close the 7th door and a Giant came inside, putting the entire family in danger...
Namaki's mother softly wakes her up and sings this song bobbing her head side to side:
Ay Namaki Ay Namaki,
Yek dar ra basti Namaki (1st door you closed, Namaki)
Doh dar ra basti Namaki (2nd door you closed Namaki)
Seh dar ra basti Namaki (3rd door...
Char dar ra basti Namaki (4th...
Panj dar ra basti Namaki (5th...
Shish dar ra basti Namaki (6th...
Haft dar ra Nabastiiii Namakiiii (7th door, you didn't close, Namaki!)
Namaki must pay the consequences of her mistake. Giant is tired and hungry. Namaki searches the house for the biggest pot, and cooks all the rice she manages to find, perfuming it with her salty tears. Giant eats with delight. Then he says he would like some tea. Every time Namaki becomes weary of the job, her Mother sings the song once again, in a disapproving but gentle tone...So she finds the biggest glass and hugest sugar cubes, and serves a giant steamed tea with 2 giant cubes of sugar. Then, she finds the largest mattress and the biggest fluffiest pillow, drags them out. Giant sleeps like a giant baby.
In the morning, Giant is so happy and touched by Namaki's caring for him, he realizes he is in love with her and demands her hand in marriage. Namaki cries in despair, but her mother sings the song once more...oh the cursed 7th door has determined Namaki's fate, and she must go with him.
Giant lives in a beautiful castle in the mountains, full of streams and frolicking creatures. He cares for Namaki, truly loves her. Eventually Namaki sees beauty in Giant, and loves him too...
One day, as they take tea on their grand balcony, birds chirp around them, the sun twinkles between the trees and the mountain streams gurgle beneath their feet...Namaki sighs. Giant sees that Namaki is unhappy about something and, determined to make her happy, asks her what is wrong. Namaki says everything is perfect, except she misses her family. In an instant Giant decides to fulfill her wish, and orders Namaki's family to join them in their new home. They live happily ever after.
...The other day, I sighed. And this story popped in my head. It's one of those I'll never forget, perhaps because of the eerie song. I am with my Giant I thought. Giant is ugly, hideous at times. But I can't help but love it for some beautiful things it also has...and now I'm waiting for my love, so we can live happily ever after! :P
Why must we make things so complicated, I wonder. Why do we need ugly Giants...because of stories like this? What is your Giant?
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6 comments:
Ohhh.. my god..... this brings back so much memories of my childhood as well. My grandma, Begom Agha, used to recite this story to me relentlessly, line by line without skipping a word almost everynight. And she recited the entire song after each of the giant's demand. I soooo wanted her to go on and get to the next event but No... she had to do it her way. Thank you for remembering. Her stories and her quilts.....and stubborn attitude lives forever.
In the version I heard as a child Namaki never loved the ugly and maltempered giant (deev). She was forced to marry him and to bear his children. One day Namaki had enough (she missed her family and old life) so she killed her little deev children, set fire to the deev castle and escaped back to her home.
Moral of the story: all this could have been prevented had Namaki been more thoughtful and cautious….. that damn 7th door man :P
Wow Sarvi, there is clearly some gangsta west coast influence on your story teller! Kill the kids, burn the house down! Wicked!
Oh yes, word deev (div) exists in Serbian too, meaning giant, but in positive context.
By the way, Goli said to tell you, after yeki bood yeki nabood, comes gheyr az khoda hichkas nabood, meaning "but god was noone...."
Once upon a time when there was no one but god.....
she is reading and enjoying this.
By the way, I don't about burning the house and all that, but I think the ending was different originally. This is how I wanted it to be...! I guess.. got to check with Homa.
hahaha!
now we know why you are so dark sarv...but still complicated :) sounds more like mean streets of 80s Tehran influence...and mine was altered in the distant comforts of suburbia...(deev yeyyy!)
I will recomend you read this story onec again! YOu can find it in your own language in internet. Just search after Iranien children stories. I red it and that is complitly defferent!
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