by Nouf Khaled Ahmed Abdulla Feqaish Al Masabi
“They swept Osha up off the ground and into a castle in the tree.”
(ILLUSTRATOR) Aysha Saif Ahmed Saif Al Hamrani
Near the equator, in a place of heat and drought, people lived in houses made of arish, a plant that protected them from the hot sun by day and the cold frost by night. There in the desert lived a lonely old widow called Osha, who spent her life helping women deliver their babies. Her charming smile hid the misery that she had suffered since her husband’s death.
One night under a full moon, she reached home feeling very tired. As she lay down on her bed, she fell into a deep sleep.
She awoke to a strange knock on the door. “Who is it?” she asked, but there was no answer. She opened her door to see two strange black women. They grabbed Osha’s arms and took her outside the village to a huge ghaf tree.
“Who are you, my dears?” Osha asked. “Our queen is distressed and you must do something,” they replied. They swept Osha up off the ground and into a castle that sat at the top of the tree.
Two soldiers took Osha to the Queen’s chamber. Outside the room, a large crowd of people were screaming and crying. As the doors opened, Osha saw the pregnant queen, exhausted and dangerously ill. She tried to save the baby but to no avail. Then, a strange voice cried, “The Queen is Dead!” The doors flew open and there stood the King. He said a few strange words and clapped his hands twice.
Suddenly, Osha landed back on the ground with a thud. For the next year, the village ignored her because whenever she tried to help women give birth, they would die. Confused and frustrated, Osha decided to see the Sage. When she told him her story, he explained that the strange people were jinn. After losing their queen and her baby, they had killed all the women that Osha had helped. Her misery multiplied until her final days. In the end, Osha died alone in the desert, with her spirit wrapped around the ghaf tree.
