Stories from Home Series - Egyptian Folklore
Updated: Jan 8
Go to Bed Early Or .... by Rofaida Ashour (ESOL L1)
Once upon a time, there was a man with sloughed leg called Aboregl Maslokha. Although he had some magic powers, he couldn't go outside his hut except after 10 pm, or he would start vanishing from his sloughed leg. His magical power supply was coming from eating part of the legs of waking children and transforming their legs into goat legs. The cruel act was preventing him from vanishing and keeping him alive.
Far from where he lived, there was a city where children used to sleep late. One day, Aboregl Maslokha heard about that city and decided to go there to charge his magical power. Once he reached the city after 10 pm, he found many children still out and about and not in their beds. He was pleased about that. He started to eat their legs one by one moving from house to house. The entire city heard about that, and all children became scared.
Fortunately, they had a hero called Elshater Hassan, who started collecting information about this scary man and devised a plan to face and overcome him. He noted that the sloughed-legged man didn't appear except after 10 pm, so he made an announcement along the city to all children to sleep early for their health and avoid Aboregl Maslokha attacks. He secretly started following the scary man to his hidden place until he found his treacherous abode. Just before sunrise, he went into his hut and forced him to come outside in the bright daylight. When the sun's rays hit his body, he screamed so loud that the birds trembled in fear in their nests, and the children hid their heads under the pillows. He started vanishing from his normal leg slowly. He tried to run, but his leg disappeared in thin air. He tried to crawl, but his arms vanished as if they were never there. He attempted to slither, but the middle part of his body became non-existent. When he disappeared to his neck and was about to disappear forever, he shouted, "I will come back. The children who will not sleep early will help me come back. I will come back and eat these delicious children to live forever." Then all his body disappeared except his sloughed leg.
When the children woke up the following day, their legs returned to their natural shape. So, Elshater Hassan became a hero by saving the children and the city. The children started sleeping early and waking up early to the great happiness of their parents. Even now, if children refuse to sleep early, parents tell them the story of the Aboregl Maslokha, and they hide under their pillows.