A Sufi Story from the
Middle East
The Sack
Mula came upon a frowning man walking along the road to town.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
The man held up a tattered bag and moaned, "All that I own in this
wide world barely fills this miserable, wretched sack."
"Too bad," said Mula, and with that, he snatched the bag from
the man's hands and ran down the road with it.
Having lost everything, the man burst into tears and, more miserable
than before, continued walking. Meanwhile, Mula quickly ran around the bend and
placed the man's sack in the middle of the road where he would have to come
upon it.
When the man saw his bag sitting in the road before him, he laughed
with joy, and shouted, "My sack! I thought I'd lost you!"
Watching through the bushes, Mula chuckled. "Well, that's one way
to make someone happy!
A Tale from West Africa
One good meal Deserves Another
Anansi the Spider hated to share! When Turtle came to his house at
mealtime, he said, "I can't give you food until you've washed your dusty
feet!"
Turtle licked his lips when he saw the big plate of steaming food, but
politely walked to the stream to wash. When he returned, the plate was empty.
"Good meal," Anansi said, patting his full stomach.
"One good meal deserves another!" said Turtle. "Come to
my house for dinner tomorrow." Turtle fixed a fine dinner at the bottom of
the river. "Come on down and eat!" he said.
Anansi filled his jacket pockets with stones so that he would be
weighted down enough to stay at the river's bottom and eat. "It's impolite
to wear a jacket to dinner!" Turtle said, "Take it off!"
But when greedy Anansi took off his jacket, he floated back up to the
surface of the water and hungrily watched Turtle eat his fill!
This is a rough storyboard:
And here's the animatic:
