Once upon a time, on the shore of a beautiful lake lived some poor and simple people next to a big hill that towered 300 metres into the sky. One day, a curious sailor named Rashed sailed near the hill and heard music and a song coming from behind the gates. He tried to see what caused it, but didn’t find anything.
When Rashed returned home, he told his daughter Gbahsaa about the sounds. She was very intelligent and told her father he should tell everyone in the village. The next day, he did just that. Rashed returned to the hill that morning and decided he would open the gate to find the source of the song. As he did this, Rashed saw a huge giant with big, red eyes, a long nose and hair that looked like the devil.
Rashed returned to the village to tell the people what he had seen but no one believed him. They all laughed and said it was impossible that a giant jinni lived on the hill. They followed him to the hill to put an end to the matter.
When they arrived, the villagers broke down the gate and were shocked to find the jinni Shanaq bin Anaq. He was so tall that he could not see anything below him. As he walked, he destroyed everything around him, but after a few minutes he disappeared.
Several days passed and the villagers had another visit from Shanaq bin Anaq. Everyone was very worried because the gentle jinni was flattening their houses. Rashed’s daughter had an idea; “Get all the people to sing loudly when he comes,” she said. When Shanaq bin Anaq returned, he stopped walking and listened to their song. The giant felt happy as he listened to the beautiful voices of the villagers and disappeared into the sea. Years later, the villagers heard about a big giant that was found dead on a beach in India.
The village returned to safety but to this day, everyone remembers the giant jinni, Shanaq bin Anaq.
by Amal Abdulla Al Abed Abboud Al Jaberi
Illustration by: Mariam Fahad Yousif Obaid Al Zaabi
