The poor boy's magic carpet



There was a poor boy named Shaid. He lived in a big city in India and ate what he found in the garbage cans. At night he pushed a manhole and climbed down the iron stairs under the ground. That's where he kept his carpet. He wrapped it around him to keep warm at night. When he woke in the morning he would cuddle the soft carpet whispering: "You are so soft, I sleep so well and feel so secure when I'm with you."

But soon he felt so hungry that he had to find something to eat. That weren't easy, because there were so many people looking for food in the garbage cans. There were times when Shaid didn't find anything, leaving him terribly hungry. One morning he was so starved that he almost died. He said to the carpet: "Dear carpet. You are the only thing I own in the whole world and my only friend. But now I'm so hungry that I have to sell you."

Shaid went to the market and sold his carpet. He bought food for the money. But when the evening came he missed his carpet so much that he couldn't sleep under the manhole. He found a spot under some newspapers behind a garbage can and slept there instead. Oh, if I only had my carpet, Shaid thought. But then he smiled, because the carpet had saved his life with the money he got for it.

In the meantime a rich man bought the carpet. He carried it home to his big, nice house and lay it by a child's bed. That was Naomi's bed. She was about the same age as Shaid. But they didn't know each other, because Naomi lived with the rich and Shaid with the poor.

When Naomi went to bed she pushed her toes down into the warm carpet. "Thanks daddy. Now I won't freeze my toes when I get up in the morning." But she wasn't happy, and neither was her daddy. He sat on her bed and lifted her onto his lap. "I know that a carpet is of little importance when on has lost one's little brother," he said. "But we can't have him back no matter how much we cry." Naomi felt one of dad's teardrops fall on her chin. That made her cry again, as she had done almost continually since her brother died.

The carpet felt comfortable on the floor in Naomi's room, but it missed the poor boy that used to wrap himself into the carpet and cuddle it in the morning. For each night that went by, it missed Shaid more and more. Until one night, while Naomi was crying in her sleep, it lifted carefully from the floor, escaped out of the open veranda doors and flew away to find his poor boy.

The carpet flew down from the rich people's hill to the poor part of town and started searching. It searched under the manhole, but Shaid wasn't there. It searched by the garbage cans, but Shaid wasn't there either. Sad and sorrowful it flew down to the dark riverbank. It rolled itself together as if Shaid were in the middle and dreamt about the nights under the manhole. To the happy times when they were together and the carpet gave Shaid warm and soft nights.

When the first rays of sun shone over the hilltop, the carpet woke. It lifted and flew down to the water that hurried by on its way to the ocean. What have I to live for now, it thought and dipped its fringes in the water? But at the same moment it saw something that made it shiver. On the bank, quite near, Shaid lay sleeping.

The carpet pulled its fringes out of the water and hurried towards Shaid. Then it lay itself over the cold, poor boy and gave him warmth. When Shaid woke he sat up and hugged the carpet hard. But then he pushed back: "How did you get here?" he asked. "If anybody sees me together with you they might think I have stolen you."

Shaid stood up and went away, but the carpet came after him: "Oh, can you fly?" he said astonished. The carpet nodded with its fringes and wafted friendly beside him. Shaid sat carefully on the carpet. It felt soft, but held him firmly up in the air. He pulled his legs up and held the edges tight. Then the carped flew away with him.

They flew over the rooftops, with the big, red morning sky shining. The journey went to the rich people's hill and through the French doors in Naomi's room. The carpet landed in front of her bed. Shaid got to his feet to have a peek at the girl who wept in her sleep. He speculated about what might have made her so sad, she who had both food and a house, and surely also a mother and father.

Shaid sat on the carpet again, waiting to be flown back to the riverbank. The carped lifted from the floor, but did not fly out of the French doors. In stead it flew into an open closet. There Shaid saw a lot of fine boys clothes with golden linings and red embroidery. He had never worn any other clothes than his dirty T-shirt and shorts. Curiously he put on a pair of trousers and a jacket dotted with tiny mirrors, while he wondered who owned the clothes. There wasn't any boy in the children's room.

The clothes were so beautiful that Shaid soon forgot where he was and what he was doing. But then Naomi woke. She sat up in her bed and started screaming. Loud and terrible she screamed, because she thought she saw a ghost. Shaid jumped out of the closet. "I'm not dangerous," he cried and sat on the carpet. "Dear carpet, take me back where I came from."

Naomi kept on screaming, but the carpet lay still. Shaid shook its edges. "Come on, please. Her mother and father will surely kill me if they find me here." Then Shaid heard steps outside the door and knew he was doomed. Desperately he pushed his face down in the carpet weeping: "It's not my fault, it's not my fault. Please don't kill me."

When the mother and father burst into the room, Naomi stopped screaming. All three of them watched the poor boy that tried to disappear into the carpet. "I, I thought it was my brother who had come back as a ghost," Naomi stuttered. Her dad lay a hand on Shaid's shoulder. "Don't be afraid," he said. "We won't harm you, even though you came without permission."

Shaid turned slowly to face the father. "I didn't mean to," he said. "You see, this carpet was mine once. But I had to sell it to buy food. Then it came and collected me tonight while I was sleeping on the riverbank." Shaid could see on their faces that they didn't believe him. He sighed and started to take off the fine clothes. At the same time he saw that Naomi's mother had tears in her eyes.

"Don't take them off," she begged. "With them on you resemble our lost son. He died not so long ago, and we miss him so badly." "That's too bad," Shaid said and tried to look sad. But Shaid wasn't good at looking sad, so his face turned out to be so comic that Naomi and her parents started to laugh. "I don't care how you got here," the dad said. "But if you'd like to stay with us, we'd like to have you here."

"I'd love to," Shaid said hardly believing what he heard. Naomi's eyes shone. "Oh yes," she said. "Even though you're not my real brother, I'm sure I can be as fond of you as I was of him." Shaid was quite bewildered as he stood on the carpet declaring: "I'm only a poor boy," he said. "And I've never slept in a bed. But if I may wrap myself in this carpet at night and cuddle it in the mornings, I'd love to live together with you."

"You can wrap yourself into the carpet any time you like," the mother said. "But first of all, lets have breakfast."

© Martin Nygaard - Illustration Victoria Dahr