The Story of the Feast

Uncle Abu Fouad stood one morning, took up his pickaxe and his mattock, gathered his provisions, and made to leave the house. His wife said: "Do not forget that tomorrow is the feast, and the children are expecting something from us. In the old days we used to tell them: tomorrow, when the war is over. Well, the war is over, praise God. Can we not buy them a few small presents?.."

He answered, sighing, "Yes, the war is over, but the high prices are not over; I can scarcely get them the necessities of life they need. And you know how things stand. I do not gamble, I do not smoke, I do not drink. Perhaps I can buy them a few presents when I draw my wages." Then he said: "Could you not make them some simple sweets at home, as we used to do before the war?"

She said, thinking it over: "Perhaps I can, if the rationing deals us out some sugar; then I could make five sweet ma'mouls." He said to her: "That is all to the good — five ma'moul cakes and five plates of soup; good, a thousand times good: it means not one of us will go without food. Teach them, my dear, that giving is better than taking." She said, laughing, "And how shall I teach them giving, when they have nothing to give?" He said: "They must thank God that we are not in need of taking, and that we can share with others out of the provisions we have." So saying, he shouldered his pickaxe, bade his wife farewell, and went. And the children set about helping their mother clean the house and make ready for the feast.

The father reached the field and set to work in it. Then he heard the voice of a child moaning and crying for help. He listened at first but could not make out where the voice came from, and went back to his work. The moaning grew louder and the voice came nearer, and he turned — and there was a small boy weeping and saying, "Hungry — cold." Abu Fouad left his pickaxe, went up to him and said: "What are you doing here in this wilderness, boy? Have you no family?" He answered: "I am an orphan, and the people who are bringing me up ill-treat me and deal harshly with me. They bought presents for their own children, and new clothes for the feast, and bought me nothing; I have been denied everything: denied a parent's tenderness, and toys, and feast clothes — so I ran off, wandering wherever my feet took me." Abu Fouad opened his provision bag and handed him a share of it, and the boy thanked him. Then he said, "And I am cold." So he laid his cloak over him. And he went on digging the earth, thinking. When the sun leaned toward setting, Abu Fouad shouldered his pickaxe and made to go home. He came near the boy to take his cloak, and the boy said: "Leave me here alone; I am dying of cold." He thought for a moment, then said: "How can I leave you alone, little one? I shall take you with me." So saying, he set him on his back, covered him with the cloak, and turned homeward, walking slowly, his head bowed in thought. The children came running when they saw their father approaching with a covered load on his back, thinking it full of feast presents. When he drew near them they shouted all together: Have you brought us feast presents, Papa?

He said, smiling, Yes, I have brought you a beautiful present — and he set down the load and drew back the cloak. The children cried out: Is this our present? And their sister said, "What a beautiful present! He is a beautiful boy — is he ours, Papa?" He answered: He is all yours. And in came Umm Fouad, looking at her husband in astonishment and with some anger: Is this the present you have brought the children? Do I need a fourth child to raise, at a time like this? Abu Fouad said in a pleading tone: I found him lost and wandering. Shall we leave him out on such a cold night? God will provide, wife. She said, looking at him: "How am I to provide food for him, when I have only enough for five?" Then the girl stepped forward and said, "Mother, give him my share of the food; it will do me no harm to go once without a meal." And the mother said, "And where shall I put him to sleep? I have no bedding, and the night is bitterly cold." Then the little one stepped forward and said: "Mother, I will give him my bed and sleep tonight by the hearth; it will not hurt me to sleep once on the mat."

The family slept, and Fouad slept by the hearth, thinking of the little boy.

He woke in the middle of the night to see whether the boy was covered, and did not find him in his place. He woke his brothers and his parents, and they all began searching for him; they opened the door to see where he had gone, and they beheld a light shining amid the near clouds, and a voice borne on the air, saying: "I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came unto me. Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done this unto my little brethren, you have done it unto me." Then the voice came again, more clearly: "And as for the orphan, oppress him not......" "You are all God's dependents, and the most beloved of them to Him is the most helpful to His dependents."