Juha is a well-known and beloved character whose wit and wisdom can lift up the ordinary and cut the mighty down to size.
Host and narrator: Alice Qin.
Story consultant: Ala'a al-Tamimi.
Story editor: Marcel Dorney
Voices: Ala'a al-Tamimi.
Executive producer, sound design and music: Kieran Ruffles.
LISTEN TO
Juha: A story of justice
SBS Audio
25/10/202415:15
TRANSCRIPT
Not so long ago, there was a man called Juha, who lived in a small town with his wife and his young son.
Juha was not well educated, but he was well respected, as he had a reputation for honesty, and he saw clearly what was simple, when others became distracted by their own cleverness.
Sadly, when his son was still very young, Juha’s wife passed away, and father and son were very sad.
After some weeks, a large and well-dressed man came to talk to Juha, who told his son to play outside while they spoke. After a while, the large man left, and Juha called his son back inside.
“Do you know who that man is?” the father asked.
The young boy shook his head.
“He works for the Caliph,” said Juha, “and he has asked that we go on a journey, you and I.”
“Will we be coming back?” asked the boy.
“That’s a good question,” his father said. “No, we won’t. We’re going to live in a much larger town. And I will do a new kind of work.”
The man from the city had given Juha a donkey to carry the few things they owned.
So early the next day, father and son tied up their belongings. His father lifted his son onto the donkey’s back and set out on their journey.
They had been on the road for some hours when they passed on a small village.
From where he rode on the donkey’s back, the young boy noticed that people looked at them strangely, and although the sun was already hot, he felt his face grow even warmer with embarrassment.
As they passed some workmen outside a shop drinking tea, the boy overheard one of them mutter, "Look at this! What an spoiled child.”
“That’s right,” said another man, “riding on a donkey while his father walks. He should be ashamed.”
The boy pretended he didn’t hear, but his father noticed his discomfort.
“Would you like to walk?” he asked his son quietly.
His son nodded, and Juha helped him down from the donkey’s back.
They soon left the village behind and walked on in the hot sun.
Soon they came to another village, where they passed two young men lounging with a hookah on a patio.
“HA!” snickered one young man to his friend, exhaling a cloud of shisha smoke.
“Look at these idiots, walking in the sun.”
“YOU. HAVE. A. DONKEY.” the other one called. Juha smiled a little and kept on walking, but he noticed his son staring at the ground and his chin trembling.
“I tell you what,” said Juha to his son, “how about I ride on the donkey for a little while, and we see what happens then?”
The boy nodded, and Juha climbed onto the donkey’s back while the idle young men clapped and hooted in mockery.
They passed that village and travelled farther, stopping for lunch under a tree.
When they went on, they soon came to a third village by a river, where they passed two women carrying baskets.
As they went by, the young boy heard one whisper to the other, “God is great, and I hope he punishes this father for his cruelty.”
“I know,” whispered the other woman. “Making his little boy walk while he rides his donkey like a Caliph!”
Juha saw his son wipe his eyes.
“Here,” he said, “come up here with me.” And he lifted the boy up into the donkey’s saddle.
They soon came into the centre of the village, where there was a small open square.
The young boy looked around and thought for a moment that they would ride through without anyone making comments.
He was about to breathe a sigh of relief when an old man walked up and spat directly beside them.
“You don’t deserve that animal,” he snarled, “making it carry you both. God will take it from you soon enough.”
The young boy stared after the old man as he limped away.
“Well,” said Juha. “I suppose there’s only one thing for it.”
With that, he dismounted from the donkey and helped his son down after him.
Then, in the middle of the square, he removed the donkey’s saddle and gave it to his son to carry.
Then Juha stroked the donkey’s muzzle, crouched under his belly, took the donkey’s front legs under his left arm and his hind legs under the right, and lifted the donkey onto his back.
Father, son and donkey then walked slowly out of the square. As they left the village, the young boy could still hear the jeers and the laughter of the villagers behind them.
“Great God,” cried one, “what idiots there are in the world!”
When they had left the village, Juha knelt by the road and put the donkey down.
He stroked its muzzle again and was taking up the rope to lead it onwards when his son burst out:
“Father, why did you do that?”
The young boy immediately regretted his disrespect, but Juha only smiled at his son.
“This donkey has always been perfectly happy to carry you, and everything we own.” he said.
“I was, and am, very happy to walk. But we made a mistake earlier today. Can you tell me what it was?”
The young boy shook his head.
“We stopped doing what we knew was right,” said his father, “and instead, we tried to please everyone.”
The young boy nodded.
“Now,” his father said, “let’s get this saddle back on the donkey, and you back in the saddle.”
They went on down the road for a while in silence.
“Father,” said the boy, “in the new town, what work will you do?”
His father laughed. “Well,” he said, “they’ve asked me to be a judge.”
The town where they went to live was large and filled with many dozens of neighbourhoods.
Their new house was in a neighbourhood with many shops and stalls, and Juha was put in charge of settling local disputes.
On his first day, Juha waited all morning in his office with the bailiff, but no-one came to see them.
“Do people not have disputes here?” Juha asked the bailiff.
“They miss the old judge,” the bailiff said. “But they’ll come when they really need you.”
“What do they call me?” Juha asked him.
The bailiff hesitated.
“Go on,” said Juha. “Tell me what they’re calling me.”
“Justice Bumpkin,” mumbled the bailiff.
“Alright, then,” said Juha, and smiled.
Just then, a big, strong man appeared outside, dragging another man with him. A number of people followed them, shouting.
“Magistrate!” the big man shouted. “This man has robbed me!”
“Magistrate!” the smaller man shouted. “This man is robbing me!”
Eventually, Juha and the bailiff calmed everyone down, and both men told their side of the story.
The bigger man was a butcher and claimed that the smaller man had asked for meat, then waited until the butcher’s back was turned and stolen silver coins from the butcher’s drawer.
“When I turned around,” he said, “he was stuffing them into his purse.”
The smaller man insisted the coins were his, and the butcher had tried to steal from his purse.
“But did the butcher touch those coins?” said Juha.
“No!” said the smaller man.
“I had opened my purse to pay, and he tried to reach inside, so I closed it. Then he grabbed me by the neck and dragged me here.”
“I see,” said Juha. “And you still have those coins?”
“They’re right here,” said the smaller man, “in my purse.”
“Are you a butcher, also?” said Juha.
“No!” said the smaller man. “I’m a tour guide.”
“I see,” Juha nodded and turned to the bailiff.
“Can we get a bowl of water, please?” he said.
By now, the court was quite full, and Juha’s son had snuck in to watch.
When his father called for a bowl of water, people started to whisper doubtfully, and the young boy felt his neck prickle with embarrassment. But then he remembered what his father had said.
“Put the coins from your purse straight into this bowl,” said Juha, and the smaller man did so. The young boy, like the rest of the crowd, craned his neck to look.
For a few moments, nothing happened. But then, the water began to grow cloudy, and before too long, there was a white film shivering on its surface.
Juha touched the film lightly with his finger and tasted it.
“That,” he said, “is lamb fat. I would say that these coins were last handled.... by a butcher.”
The court burst into chatter. The bailiff shouted for quiet, and Juha gave his instructions: the coins to be returned to the butcher, and the thief taken to prison.
“Does anyone else,” he called to the crowd, “have business before Justice [Bumpkin]?”
Story ends
