A19 No Bread Today
Yulia Davudi of ⁺Hassar ⁺Baba-čanga in Sydney, Australia
One day the wife of the mullah says to her husband, she says ‘Go and bring some bread. Since I am busy with cooking, go and bring some fresh bread.’ The mullah goes to bring bread. He sees a queue, people are standing in a queue, which consists of more than one hundred people. He said ‘Before I go and arrive there, the bread will run out. Before my turn arrives, it will be dark.’ He thought and thought what he should do. He went forward and whispered to one of them, he whispered softly like this. He said ‘Do know that that man has gone on the pilgrimage, Abdul-Hassan has gone on the pilgrimage? He has come back from the pilgrimage, the pilgrimage, and went to Mecca, the pilgrimage. He has come back and now is distributing bread to everybody completely free. Have you not heard?’ He said ‘No, I have not heard.’ He said ‘I also have just now heard. I want to go there.’ The other people told (this) to each other and all went. They all went and only the mullah remained. He went forward to take bread. He took two loaves of bread. He (the seller) said ‘Fifty dinars.’ He said ‘Oh, who (do you think) you are? Such-and-such a person in such-and-such a place is giving bread away free. He has come back from the pilgrimage. You here are selling two loaves of bread for such a price!’ He said ‘Fine, go and take from there. I also shall now go and take from there, if he is giving it away.’ He runs and goes there. He looks and sees people standing there. The people who were in the queue and went there come up against the mullah in order beat him. One said ‘This man has not yet returned from the pilgrimage, from Mecca. Why did you say that the bread was finished? We are now left without bread.’ The mullah runs and goes home, and cannot buy bread.