Anon E. Mouse 
THE STORY OF THE FIRST ROYAL MENDICANT – A Tale from the Arabian Nights 
Baba Indaba Children’s Stories – Issue 254

ISSN: 2397-9607 Issue 254In this 253th issue of the Baba Indaba’s Children’s Stories series, Baba Indaba narrated the story of “THE STORY OF THE FIRST ROYAL MENDICANT” from which this story follows on.In Issue 254, “THE STORY OF THE PORTER THE LADIES OF BAGHDAD”, three visitors knock on the door of the house of the three beautiful women. They claim to be mendicants and visitors to the city and have become disoriented and lost on their way back to their lodgings. In reality they were the Kaleefeh (King), his Vizier, or Jafar, and They are invited in and given refreshments the porter during this time they hear the stories of the porter and of two of the ladies.After this the lady of the house invites the three mendicants to relate their stories. This they do, this is the story of the first of the three mendicants.The mendicant said his father was a King, and he had a brother who was also a King, in a neighbouring state. It so happened that his mother gave birth to him on the same day on which the son of my uncle was born. Several years passed until they attained manhood. It was custom for the mendicant to visit his uncle, and because of the length of the journey, he remained for several months. On one of these occasions the cousin paid him a great honour, slaughtering sheep and straining the wine for him. They sat down to drink; and when the wine had affected us, he said to me, O son of my uncle, I have need of your assistance in an affair of interest to me, and I ask you to hear me out in that which I desire to do. I replied, I was at his service:—and I was sworn to secrecy. He then rose and left the room for a little while before returning, followed by a perfumed woman decked with ornaments, and wearing a dress of extraordinary value. He looked at me and said, Take this woman, and go to the burial-ground:—and gave directions on how to get there. He also said to enter the burial-ground, and wait for hi, This I did said the mendicant.A short while later the cousin arrived with a basin of water and a small hammer. He went to a tombstone and chiselled away at it. Once the headstone had been removed it revealed a set of stairs leading into the earth.The cousin then asked him to seal the tomb after the woman and he had descended into the earth. Shocked at the request the cousin reminded the mendicant of his sworn oaths and tells him that he and his lover have been planning this for over a year.Reluctantly agreeing, the cousin and his lover descend into the underground chamber and are sealed in forever.What happened next you may well ask? Did he keep his word? Also, just how did he lose his eye and why didn’t he return to his father’s kingdom and resume his royal duties? Surely he would have been a king by now instead of a travelling mendicant? And there are so many other questions to be answered?Well the only way to find out is to download and read this story for yourself, or, read it to some of the “little people” in your family.Baba Indaba is a fictitious Zulu storyteller who narrates children’s stories from around the world. Baba Indaba translates as ‘Father of Stories’.Each issue also has a ‘WHERE IN THE WORLD – LOOK IT UP’ section, where young readers are challenged to look up a place on a map somewhere in the world. The place, town or city is relevant to the story. HINT – use Google maps.33% of the profit from the sale of this book will be donated to charities.INCLUDES LINKS TO DOWNLOAD 8 FREE STORIES