The Tale of The Bushari

No, No, No

It was related that an Omani from Bushar ⁽¹⁾ went to see a close friend of his in Muscat to ask him to betroth his daughter to his son, but he did not find him at home. He was told that his friend was in his farm, so he went there to see him. The Muscati ⁽²⁾ warmly welcomed him, and they chatted

and chewed the fat, and then the Bushari ⁽³⁾ said to his friend, “Look, I’ve come to see you and to ask the hand of your daughter for my son. Hmm, what do you say?”

“You know that my daughter is still very young, and she’s not nubile, so, it’s better if you wait for a while, and then you can come, “answered the Muscati.

“Why don’t you want to many her at this age? You know very well that girls think only of one thing and that is marriage. My friend, he gives twice who gives quickly. There’s no need to keep me waiting for a long space of time. You know that we’ve been very close friends for a long time,” said the Bushari.

“My, friend, come after two years, and everything will be alright. You know that I’ve to take counsel with my wife, my brothers and my friends. I’ll send you the response in two or three days with a friend or anyone who will go to your suq,” said the Muscati.

“Thank you. God grant you a long life. I’ll be on tenterhooks waiting for your answer,” said the Bushari.

The Bushari received a letter from his Muscati friend in three days. The Bushari opened the letter to read it. The letter read:

“Dear friend,

          You proposed that my daughter many your son, and I requested you to come for the answer in two years. I ’ll be waiting for you at that time, and as an expression of our cordial friendship, I send you this riddle to solve. If you can’t solve it, I’ll give you the solution when you come. The riddle is No, No, No.”

The Bushari read the letter, but understood nothing. Then he sought the opinion of a learned person who told him that: “Your friend wants to marry his daughter to his nephew, and he doesn’t want to marry her to your son because he says to you, “In this life, there are three ‘Nos’ which are ‘Your grandson is your son, but your daughter’s is? ‘No’.” Hair grows in every part of man’s body but the palm? ‘No’.” Every human being is content with his mind, but with money? ‘No’.” ⁽⁴⁾

“What does he mean?” asked the Bushari.

“Your Muscati friend wants to tell you that he’11 see that if he finds that one of his nephews is an adult, he’ll marry his daughter to him because he can have power over his grandson, but not over his daughter’s son. Nevertheless, if he doesn’t find anyone of his brothers’ sons at a marriageable age, he’ll marry his daughter to your son, and don’t ask him about it before two years,” the learned person said.

The Bushari waited for two years and then he went to see his Muscati friend. He found him in his garden walking and carrying a baby on his shoulder. They exchanged greetings and began to talk.

“I have come to ask you about the matter which we talked about two years ago. You told me to come back in two years because your daughter was not marriageable at that time. What about it now?” the Bushari said.

“Didn’t you receive my letter, in which I wrote you: ‘No. No. No.”’ asked the Muscati.

“Yes, I did,” replied the Bushari.

“Immediately, after you left me two years ago, I engaged my daughter to my brother’s son, and then they got married, and the baby on my shoulder is her son,” said the Muscati.

The Bushari felt that his Muscati friend was unwilling to marry his daughter to his son, so he took leave and went back home.

 

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⁽¹⁾     Bushar was a village at a distance of 18 km from Muscat centre at that time. Now it is a district in Muscat. Translator

⁽²⁾    The man from Muscat. Translator

⁽³⁾    The man from Bushar. Translator

⁽⁴⁾    Since then these three “Nos” have become a proverb in Oman. They mean that there are three impossible things in this life: the first one is that it is impossible to regard your daughter’s son as your son, unless she gets married to her cousin because you can order your grandson as you like, but you cannot order your daughter’s son, especially if she gets married to from- a- different- tribe person.  Hence, her children belong to another tribe. The second thing is that it is impossible for hair to grow in man’s palm. Finally, the third thing is that every man is satisfied with his mind even the mad person, but it is impossible that man, even the wealthiest one, is contented with what he possesses. Rather. He always asks for more and more. However, people have dropped using the second, but they still use the other two.

 

 

Reference:

Tales from Oman, translated by D. Abdulsalam Ali Hamad, pg: 47-50.