A cat was warming himself near a clay brazier which had been left out in the yard to be fanned by the breeze. Above his head a cat suddenly hurried along the edge of the roof. The cat looked up at the sound and exclaimed, "Ya Hafeedh! O Allah our Protector, preserve him!" "May Allah preserve nobody!" snapped the rat, somewhat testily. "Why this interest in my affairs? Am I dear to you, all at once? Best to leave me alone!"
Just then the rat tripped over a waterspout and fell to the ground, where the cat caught him firmly in his claws. "When I said Ya Hafeedh! you became angry and said May Allah protect nobody! Now you see what has come of your blasphemy!" "How right you are, my uncle cat!" said the rat. "I beg you, give me a chance to atone; let me recite the 'Fatiha' (from the Quran) one last time before I die! Better still, why don't you pray with me, and let us both say, 'May God bring this affair to a just conclusion!"
The cat raised his paws in the attitude of prayer, and the rat scampered to the safety of his hole. So the cat was left to scratch his face in remorse. And now whenever you see a cat rubbing his face, you will know that he is remembering the smell of that rat.
Who Lied? (from Saudi Arabia)
Long ago in the beginning, a Beduin tribe - some say it was the Beni Zeid - was looking for new pasture, having used up all its water and grazing land. To scout the countryside around them they released the crow, the partridge, and the dove. The three birds flew off together. But in a short time the crow was with the sad news that as far as he could fly, there was only more desert with not a stalk or blade of grass for the cattle to feed on. Later the other two birds returned, and what they had seen was the opposite: lush grazing grounds with plenty of water. "So soft is the grass there," they said, "that a newborn babe treading on it would hurt the blades."
Not knowing which of the two reports was true, the tribe moved to the place the partridge and the dove had described. They found that the crow was the false one, and for that they painted him black as his lie. The dove and partridge they rewarded, staining the feet of one festive red with henna and lining the eyes of the other with kohl. To this day the dove walks on pink feet and the partridge's eye is ringed with black.
