Showing posts with label Om Hamar The Donkey Lady story. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Om Hamar The Donkey Lady story. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
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Sunday, July 17, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Om Hamar. The Donkey Lady
‘Om Hamar’ (Donkey Lady)
Collected, adapted and written by Abdulla Al Gosaibi, edited by Patty Paine
TIME:
The story takes place during Garangao: Garangao, celebrated on the 14th day of Ramadan (which falls on the 17 October 2005), is special to the Gulf region and is believed to have its roots in the pearl-diving tradition of the region. On the evening of the 14th day of Ramadan, children, clad in traditional clothes, will come out of their homes and knock on every door in their neighborhood, which will be ready to receive them with sweets and nuts. They collect the goodies in special cotton bags that hang loosely from their necks. Kids will be seen wandering around the streets until late into the night singing the special Garangao song.
EXTERIOR:
Doha, around 1930. Desert village, the sun is setting.
CUT TO
INTERIOR HOUSE
There are three children in a household. They vary in age from 11 to 17, and now that the sun is finally setting, they are excited to go outdoors for Garangao. Their patience has reached its end. AHMAD, 17, summons the courage to ask his mother to let them go out to play. NASSER, 15, and FATMA, 11, are standing behind AHMAD nodding their heads in agreement, and pushing AHMAD to keep begging their mother to let them go out.
AHMAD
Mother, please can we go outside? Please?
MOTHER
No, Ahmed. It’s too dangerous.
AHMAD
But it’s Garngao! All the children will be out! We promise we won’t go farther than Souq Wagif.
MOTHER
Oh, all right, Ahmad. But, be sure you watch after your brother and sister!
The children burst out of the house.
CUT TO:
EXT. SOUQ WAQIF – SUNSET
The children go from hut to hut visiting the people living inside. They arrive at a cottage with an old woman, warped by age and experience living inside. She is sitting in front of her cottage. She is knitting a black veil. The children greet her and give her a gift packet for “Garangao.” The woman receives the gift and takes the children inside the cottage to welcome them and to give them treats.
INT. COTTAGE - NIGHT
AHMAD
May we please make a request of you?
OLD WOMAN
Yes, of course my dear. What would you like?
AHMAD
Will you please tell us a story?
OLD WOMAN
I would love to tell you a story. Sip your gahwa and gather around me! I have many fascinating stories that my grandmother told me and my brothers and sisters when we were your age. This story is about a young man. He had a water pot tucked at his side as he headed to the village well.
CUT TO:
(Flash back)
EXT. WELL DISTRICT – NIGHT
As the man approached the well he saw several black dogs circling the well. As they crept off a veiled lady appeared. The lady told the man she was very thirsty and asked the man if he would kindly give her a drink The man threw the bucket with the rope into the well. Suddenly, the woman casts a spell on the man. He lost all his power. Suddenly spikes emerge from the woman’s legs and she turned into om hamar—the donkey lady! The donkey lady climbed onto the man and thrusts her spikes into him. The man was fully under the control of the woman as she rode him like a donkey. She rode the “donkey” around and around the well in dizzying never-ending circles. She exulted over her victim in a brutal frenzy. When she was done, she left the man half dead by the well, and then she disappeared.
CUT TO:
INTERIOR COTTAGE – NIGHT
The Children sit motionless, frozen by fear. NASSER gulps as he sat hiding behind his crossed knees.
CUT TO:
EXTERIOR OLD NEIGHBOURHOOD – NIGHT
(Flash back 2) The old woman continues her story:
The donkey lady is notorious for her terrible nature. Black dogs almost always accompany her. Sometimes, in the heat of the afternoon, she visits homes. Her visits are announced by mild tremors caused by her hooves as she circles the house. She bangs at the door, but the people in the house refuse to answer. Her banging becomes furious. When she is at the zenith of her anger, she crawls up the wall of the house like a lizard. She stomps on the roof wildly causing fear to all in the house.
CUT TO:
INT. OLD LADY COTTAGE – NIGHT
FATMA squeezes in between AHMAD and NASSER.
(Flash back 3)
A group of boys and girls, between the ages of 4 and 9 were playing in the courtyard. A woman approached the children. She won their trust and joined them in play. As they continued to play, before the children realized what was happening, the woman turned into the donkey lady and snatched one of the children and hid him behind the bush. Fiendish laughter is heard from behind the bush accompanied by the agonizing scream of the child. Warm blood streams onto the dry ground in jets of droplets. Soon, pieces of the child’s clothes rose into the air above the bush and are blown away by the wind. Next, the hair is blown away. There is more gulping and rib bones being thrown from behind the bush punctuate the sound of laughter. The evil laughter fades out.
CUT TO:
INT. OLD LADY COTTAGE – NIGHT
The scene shifts to the real world of the woman entertaining the children by telling the story. They become more and more curious hearing the incredible accounts of Om Hamar and want to know exactly what Om hamar looks like. AHMAD stands on his knees.
AHMAD
What does she look like?!
OLD LADY
You want to know what Om Hamar looks like?!
AHMAD
Yes! Please tell us! We want to know!
OLD LADY
Are you sure?
AHMAD
Yes! We’re positive. Please tell us!
Suddenly the old woman’s voice changes. It becomes a nether worldly shrill and acquires a freakish, weird twang. She suddenly turns into a frail creature with a longish face. She has long hands with unusually long fingers and even longer nails. She sprouts a hoof on one of her feet and the leg morphs into a donkey’s leg. As she walks, one hoof alone is heard. Soon the other leg also follows suit. Her face morphs into a donkey’s with a bizarre longish appearance. The nose on it is weirdly wide. She brays and stomps on her hooves and chases the children. The scared and panicky children run for their lives, but they have the presence of mind to lock her up in the cottage.
EXT. ALLEY – NIGHT
The screams and cries of children alert the neighbors and the children tell them about “the monster” they locked in the house. Police are alerted and they break open the door. Their search yields nothing and neighbors say that the cottage has been an abandoned for years!
CUT TO:
EXT. HIGHWAY – DAY: MODERN DOHA
A long ribbon of road that stretches to Dukhan from the outskirts of Doha reveals nothing except the shimmering mirage of the afternoon sun. There is no traffic in front or behind the family of two, a man and a wife. They are expats living in Doha. The man is at the wheel, and the lady is sitting by his side enjoying soft music and the drive. On the rack of the car roof is some equipment for water sports. They can see a black blob far ahead and the blob grows larger and larger as the car speeds toward it. It is not clear whether the figure drew near on its own, or if the car sped fast toward ‘the blob’. A veiled lady stands thumbing a ride. The family stops for the wayfarer, picks her up and speeds on. In a few minutes, a creepy silence descends in the car; the music jumps the track with driver’s attention drawn to the rear view mirror, he witnesses the face of Om Hamar! Frozen by fear, the car swerves into the field raising a cloud of dust, screeches to a halt and is enveloped in darkness!
END
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