Hamarat Al Gailah

A cautionary tale from the UAE
written down in translation
by Sergeant Ahmed Ali Al Hammadi
Edited by Me

A long time a go, before they discovered oil in our country, there was a naughty child by the name of Saleh, He used to ignore everything his parents told him to do, would break everything his hands could reach, and he made too much noise all the time (except of course for when he was sleeping).

One day he went to play outside his home. His mother stopped him and told him not to go out at this time of the day because of Hamarat Al Gailah who would be out there. She usually walks about in the afternoon looking for any child who is outside alone.

Saleh asked his mother, “who is Hamarat Al Gailah?”

She answered, “ She’s a woman wearing an abayah, but she covers her face all the time because she has a very ugly and scary face.”

Saleh then asked, “If she covers her face, how do you know who she is?”

His mother said, “look down at her feet; she has donkey feet.”

But Saleh, as usual, ignored his mother and went outside to play. While he was playing he heard footsteps--but they didn’t sound like normal footsteps. When he turned around he saw a woman in a long dark abayah coming in his direction. He looked down and saw that she had donkey feet!

That day, Saleh never returned to his home. His parents searched and searched for him everywhere. Some of the neighbors said they heard him running and screaming loudly and it seemed like someone was chasing him, but they all thought, maybe it was his father.

And so, children, if you ever go outside in the afternoon, be careful, Hamarat Al Gailah may be out there looking for more children.