Arabian Children (1954)

[Music] this is an old land in an old town Sahab and Jordan it lies in Arab lands with a September water shortage worries farmers like amazeen Salameh Ahmad has worked hard all his life it's son Yasin is 10 years old Tice ears only 9 hamed's family also includes his wife Lila and daughter Aisha I sure and mother spread out the family's bedding to air on the roof during the coming day Yasin sees a dust cloud and is trying to make out what is coming down the road leading past his home is something unusual we're traveling too fast to be a caravan or horseback rider and it's much too early for the bus Yasin makes out that it's a truck from the bigger village nearby but there's work to do fields to plow food to cook sheep to look after a high wall surrounds not only the house but shelters for the animals and the tools and a small courtyard as well everyone and the family has a job to do [Music] ty CEA's job is to take the families to sheet to the village Shepard Aisha's first duty each morning is to sweep the hard-packed earth floor of the courtyard Yasin helps father they load the tools needed for today's farming on the back of the family camel and father lets Yasin ride for a little way on the way they passed the truck it is most unusual via trucks in the streets of saab their job this morning is to get water to the plants they are trying to grow although there's scarcely a living thing to be seen here this is their new fruit orchard under the pile of rocks that Yasin takes carefully apart is a young fig tree the rock cover protects the small tree from the sheep and goats it also helps to prevent the small amount of water they can spare for it from evaporating too fast in the hot dry air father has sent Yasin to the family's well water is so precious here a well is always carefully locked [Music] the wells of the village supply enough water for people and animals but there is only a little left to grow a few vegetables and fruits in very dry years there is no water to spare for the trees but now it is time for Yasin to go to school meanwhile Thai seer has reached to hurt he turns the sheep over to a higher Shepherd food for the animals is scarce on the desert they must wander during the cool hours to find the scant growth today there is a government supported school in Sahab father is one of the few men in Sahab who learned to read and write in Arabic he learned from a religious leader but now every boy has a chance to learn [Music] Yassin takes off his keffiyeh so does taisiya schooling is very important to many of the grown-ups in Sahab cannot read or write at all the boys of Sahab know the value of learning the boys learn to read and write two languages English and their own language Arabic of course they learn other things too like arithmetic and geography and history but right now the class is learning English it is hard to learn a strange language especially when it looks so different and reads from left to right Arabic is easier for Yasin for him it reads in the correct direction while her brothers are in school I sure goes to the well to get water for cooking and drinking she carries the earthen jar easily on her head there's no school for girls in the village so Isis stays at home and helps mother mother is making bread as she does each morning the water that I should have brought is needed to finish the dough for bread I should churns camel milk and an animal skin bag mother takes the bread to a warm place where it will rise before it is baked while I should finished with her churning was out the butter and milk [Music] after the bread has risen mother takes it to the oven in the family's courtyard inside mother brushes away the hot ashes on top of the metal pan in which she bakes the bread the fire was lighted some time ago but has now burned down mother shapes the bread into round loads and puts it into the hot pan where it will bake in a few minutes with a house tidy and food for the day prepared I share and mother find quiet work to do as the day gets warmer i share embroiders as the most Arab Lambs the patterns are set by local customs and traditions out of wheat straw she has died mother makes a map maybe for decoration maybe for a table covering maybe to cover a dish there are no living things a mother's design a religion forbidden the tools mother and I she used for their work is simple but both are skilled in the use of these tools meanwhile father is busy ploughing each year he shows a large field with wheat and if there are three or four rains during the winter his crop will get enough water to grow the family's camel pulls the old-fashioned plough its broad feet help it in the sandy soil transportation milk and hair for making cloth all come from the family camel the ploughing goes on hot hard heavy work the Sun grows hotter and hotter and finally it's too hot to work in the open anymore father finds a shady spot and rest until the worst heat of the day is over the sheep are too hot to graze there's no shelter on the hot plain beyond the village so they huddled together seeking the shade of each other's bodies the village is very quiet everyone who can has gone inside to escape the fierce heat of the noonday Sun it is late afternoon and school is over for the day Yasin Tai seer on the way through the village streets the boys stopped for a moment to say hello to their uncle who runs the cloth shop one of the few such shops in the village between them the boys have one small coin so they stopped at a candy store the shopkeeper wonders if they're ever going to make up their minds they finally do and the deal is made the hard sugar candy is made in Damascus [Music] the boys often stop at the mill on the edge of town to see the Miller and his helpers grinding wheat into flour a few years ago the village women ground their grain between two stones to make flour but now everyone takes the wheat to the mill the flour mill is powered by a big engine the boys always like to watch it work because it's the only thing of its kind in the village but now two friends of Yasin and theis here call them to play one of their favorite games it's a game very much like hopscotch you toss a stone into a square and then pick it up hopping on one foot without touching the lines with either your foot or the stone if you miss you lose your turn and give the stone to the next boy in line this is a very popular game for Arabian boys who often spend the hours playing it but well before dark the boys must leave the game and do their evening chores Thai sea air gets the family sheep and takes them home Yassin goes to the field where father has been plowing and helps gather up the tools to take them home for the night at the end of a hard day the field seems to be a long way from town Yassin is glad to ride home [Music] as Yasin and his father entered the village to bed ones who live on the desert stopped to say hello Yasin sees the beautiful Arab horses and admires the bed ones for their fine animals and free life but when he stops to think he is glad to have the camel Yasin can see that the horses are fast and beautiful but the tired old camel is much more important to Yasin and his family than any horse could be [Music] the Setting Sun catches them still not quite home father and the boys are all tired and hungry but before the family can enjoy its evening meal they must clean up [Music] father must be especially careful for once again it is time to pray to Allah father is the religious leader of the family like most other Arabs is a each day he prays five times following a pattern said in the Quran the Muslim holy book [Music] you and then it is time for the evening meal I should serve the meal as most daughters and Arab lands do mother makes the coffee which is so important in the home life of Arab families a meal is more than merely the satisfaction of hunger it is a ritual of friendship tonight is a special treat father tells stories stories about the ancient glories of Arabia about Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves about Sinbad the sailor or Aladdin and his lamp or maybe about the kings and princes of the olden times [Music]