The Vegan Vampire and Other Fantastic Fiction--An Anthology for the Primary School by Compiled by Marieta Nel

Author:Compiled by Marieta Nel
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Published: 2022-04-29T11:11:08+00:00

Ikram and the Stone

- Wendy Maartens

One day, long ago, when the waves still lapped against the Castle walls in Cape Town, there were two brothers: Ashraf and Ikram. Ashraf was very wealthy. His house was as big as a castle and he had many servants. Ikram, on the other hand, was very poor. He and his wife, Iman, lived in a small crooked house with their son.

After Ikram and his family had gone to bed yet again without having eaten all day, he said to his wife: “It’s unfair that our child should go to bed hungry. I’m going to ask Ashraf to lend me a hundred pounds.”

And so he set out to his brother.

Ashraf listened patiently. “Well,” he said, “I’ll lend you the money, but I don’t want to see you waste it.”

“Of course,” said Ikram and smiled broadly.

Ikram couldn’t wait to tell Iman the good news, but decided to wait a day or two. He didn’t want her to worry about the large amount of money in the house. He placed the money in a tin, covered it with bran and hid it under the bed.

The next morning, Ikram took one pound from the tin to buy food and clothes for the child.

While he was away, the baker’s son knocked at the door. “Cookies! Cookies for sale! Cookies for saaale!” he called.

“They look very good,” said Iman, “but we don’t have a penny to our name.”

“Don’t you have something to exchange for a few cookies?” asked the boy. Iman searched high and low and eventually found the tin of bran under the bed.

“I have something!” she called and ran to the front door.

The boy scratched his head. “I’ll give you one cookie for the tin of bran,” he offered.

Iman was happy with the deal. Now the child at least had something to eat.

After a while, Ikram walked in through the door. He couldn’t believe it when he saw his son nibbling on a cookie.

“Where did you get that cookie?” he asked immediately.

Iman told him the story of the baker’s son and the tin she found under the bed. But she hadn’t even finished when Ikram broke out in tears.

“There was ninety-nine pounds in that tin!” he sobbed. Iman ran down the street looking for the baker’s boy, but it was too late. The boy had thrown out the bran, discovered the money and taken to his heels. So she returned to her husband, sat down next to him and also wept.

Not long after, Ashraf arrived. He had come to check that his brother was not wasting the money he had lent him. With a heavy heart, Ikram told him what had happened.

“What’s done is done,” sighed Ashraf. “I shall lend you another hundred pounds, but be sure you look after it better this time.”

When Ashraf left, Ikram took his wife’s hand. “This time, you and I will look after the money like gold,” he said.

Later that day, Ikram took money from the tin to go to the butcher.

“Rather take the whole tin along,” says Iman.

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