The tale of Big Bird Ziz
Marc Eliany © All Rights reserved

Grandpa Yacov was named after Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. The three were the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel and we were their direct descendents. Jacob the patriarch was grandpa’s best friend and by extension, the greatest of my pals. In Jacob’s tales, grandpa Yacov made trees sing, mountains dance and the hardest of stones soften to be a pillow under Jacob’s head. Those were the days when nature had conscience, knowing exactly how to satisfy our patriarchs’ desires. It was a time when our predecessors were mightier than Greek Gods and Jacob, alone, had the power to tame rebellious angels, causing trouble to our Eternal in heaven.

Rebellious angels were responsible for every ill in grandpa’s tales. When terrorists knocked on our doors on Yehuda Halevi Street in Kiriat Shemona, grandpa Yacov blamed them, ‘because in the beginning, when human beings assisted God in bringing about Creation, devious angels taught men war. And although many years passed, the children of men did not learn how to overcome the angels evil design and till our days we remain subject to spilled blood and violent deeds.’ Grandpa’s tales stimulated my imagination. They recalled a time when even God had to reckon with the evil that threatened the best of Its intentions. God in grandpa’s tales was infinite wisdom and we had to walk in Its footsteps and if we did, Heaven would inhabit earth and we would live in peace forever after.

‘In the beginning,’ grandpa Yacov told me ‘before heaven and earth were created, God wrote the Torah with black on white fire and when the Torah came into being, it said: ‘Oh, Lord, what use is there for me without men and how glorious can the Lord be without Creation?’ And God saw that the Torah was wise and created the world again.

‘God created many worlds before’ grandpa said ‘but all prior creations were destroyed because humans sinned. And God realized that the world could not exist on justice alone, and created mercy to rule at its side and repentance for men to mend their ways and Paradise and Hell for rewards and punishment and a Messiah to bring salvation at the end of days. All this happened on New Year’s Day, which is a time of judgment and absolution.’

‘Ever since, Heaven watches earth from above and from time to time, the Divine shows Its presence on earth, to restrain the appetite of the powerful for the weak escape the strong. And since an ancient time, God appears on earth every fall in the form of the Great Bird Ziz, flapping wings and sounding cries, making birds of prey know that if they annihilate smaller birds, Ziz would bring an end to them. And so goodness rule on earth and the angel of Mercy encircles it and till this day, the river Ziz flows in the Dra’ Valley and Great Bird dips Its ankles in it and Its head reaches high into the heavens.

Magic Cures and National Fame
El Hi Ani © All Rights Reserved

Before French doctors brought us modern medicine, men and women had ancient cures for every ill in Morocco. It was a time when Seha was not a doctor but a very poor man in a very remote village in the Atlas Mountains. Poverty was not a problem because people knew how to live a simple life then. Yet Seha had a major problem. He had many daughters and the village became too small to find them all the right husbands.

Seha invested his savings in fancy cloths, moved to Marrakech and told everyone he met he was a doctor of great fame. Soon people called upon him to cure every ill. He treated all his patients with great respect but gave them all the same medicine: sugar pills and enema. His basic assumption was that if his treatment does not help, it would not cause any harm either.

One day Seha was called upon to cure an aging sheik. But as soon as Seha prescribed sugar pills and enema, the sheik burst laughing. He remembered the formula for success he gave Seha years before and felt better.

Love and Compassion
El Hi Ani © All Rights Reserved

It was a time of great instability in Land of Maghreb. The king ruled in the city while the opposition’s control over the outskirts increased day by day. And rumors spread that Seha, the prime minister, conspired with his father-in-law, the head of treasury, to get rid of the king and re-establish order in the country.

As usual in such cases, arrests followed rumors and death penalty was certain to come thereafter. But Seha had a loving wife and as soon as the arrests took place, she rushed to the king to plead on behalf of her father and husband.

‘My husband and father are innocent,’ Seha’s wife said. ‘Rest assured, compassionate king, my husband and father remain your loyal servants. The plot is for sure a fabrication to undermine your government.’
‘There must be some truth to the rumors,’ replied the king. ‘At least one man must be guilty, your father or your husband. Who shall I spare?’
‘Spare my father, O compassionate king, a father cannot be replaced. As to my husband, though I love him dearly and he remains innocent, I could always wed a new one!’

Convinced the king said: ‘your love for your father equals your husband’s innocence; their lives shall be spared for your sake.’ Ever since it has been known in Land of Maghreb that love breeds compassion, and royal misjudgment brings their downfall.

Amulets and Good Fortune
El Hi Ani © All Rights Reserved

In the beginning angels disagreed about the creation of Adam and Eve. Some angels loved them – others envied them. The angels of envy did everything in their power to undermine the first man and woman ever created and tempted them to eat from the Fruit of Knowledge. But eating the Fruit of Knowledge was forbidden and as a consequence, humankind nowadays must work to make a living. Some do well but many don’t.

Angels of envy watch from above and say:
‘See, Adam and Eve lost Paradise. Now they will lose Justice too!’

But the angels who love mankind know the angels of envy well and from time to time they descend to earth to correct every wrongdoing.

One day Raphael, one of the loving angels, watched Seha working day and night yet hardly making a living. Raphael gave Seha wealth to make his life easier. Angels of envy appeared as crooks, swindled Seha and made his life miserable again. Raphael came back to earth and gave Seha an amulet. The amulet contained nothing, but it made Seha’s life on earth much easier!

Seha the Rain Maker
El Hi Ani © All Rights Reserved

Everyone knows that saints in Morocco were capable to bring rain after long droughts. But few ever guessed Seha was able to make rain too.

One day Seha traveled to a far away village behind the Atlas Mountains. Upon arrival, not only that he could not sell any of his merchandise, he also had to perform a miracle to save the poor villagers from thirst, as a drought of long duration dried every well and people had no water left to drink.

As people were desperate, they asked Seha to help them. Seha asked the villagers to bring him a bucket of water, two sticks and a rope. The villagers did as requested. Seha washed his cloths and hang them on the rope between the two sticks.

‘What have you done?’ Cried the villagers. ‘The bucket of water we gave you was our last and you wasted it to wash your cloths?’

‘Don’t despair’ replied Seha. ‘Whenever I hang my cloths to dry, rain falls.’ And as Seha finished his sentence, clouds appeared above the village in distress and rain fill up wells again!

Swimming Amid Stars

One warm night Seha went for a walk with his mother along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The sea stood still and the moon and the stars reflected upon its face bright and clear.

‘What is that?’ Asked Seha of his mother.
‘That is the reflection of the moon and the stars upon the water,’ replied Seha’s mother.
‘No’ said Seha. ‘It cannot be. The moon and the stars must have gone for a swim.’ And hardly finished to express his point of view, Seha jumped into the water to swim amongst the moon and the stars he liked.