WORD LIST FOR PUZZLE

• wheat
• barley
• famine
• honey
• garlic
• onions
• peas
• beans
• cucumbers
• leeks
• figs
• dates
• pomegranates
• grapes
• couscous
• hummus
• pita bread
• tabbouleh

Sameera was grazing in the fields of tall barley and amber colored wheat. She loved munching on the grasses that grew between the strong, slender stalks of grain. She heard a noise above her, and looked up into the deep blue sky. There was a heron, flying gracefully through the puffy white clouds. Not far behind the heron were a group of ducks, flying in a v-formation, heading north, towards the Nile delta. She watched them in amazement as she stood chewing the grass.

Suddenly, to her surprise, the duck at the head of the group, fell from the sky. The other ducks, following their leader, all fell too. They landed in the field of wheat, not far from where Sameera was standing. She couldn’t believe it. She heard them hit the soft brown earth. Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop! Plop!

Sameera walked over to where the ducks had fallen and saw them all lying there, wings, bills and webbed feet sticking up everywhere. One by one each duck stood up, confused, and staring at their leader, Faisal, who was shaking the dirt out of the feathers on his wings.

Sameera let out a loud moo. "What are you doing?" she asked Faisal.

"I fell asleep," he answered. "I woke up when I hit the dirt. I was very tired. It has been a long flight from Aswan. Uh, sorry guys," he continued, looking at the flock.

The other ducks were stunned. "You fell asleep?" Azzam asked angrily. "Why didn’t you just tell us you were tired. One of us could have taken the lead. Now look at us. We’re all covered with dirt. We have wheat kernels stuck to our feathers and woody stalks coming out of our bills."

"Sorry," Faisal replied.

Sameera looked at the other ducks and suggested, "Well, since you are here, why don’t you stay for a while. There are ample grains to munch on and the river isn’t too far away."

"That’s a good idea," Faisal said. "I think we could all use a rest. How about it guys, is that all right with you?" he asked the flock.

"Sure," mumbled Azzam.

"OK," another duck answered.

Sameera urged them on and they followed her through the fields of wheat and barley until they came to a grove of trees. "Figs!" Azzam cried out with delight. "I love figs!" he exclaimed.

The other ducks waddled over to the trees and began to pick figs up from the ground. Many had fallen during the last windstorm. The ducks ate and ate and ate. The more they ate, the fatter their tummies got.

"Follow me," Sameera suggested, seeing how hungry the flock of ducks were. "There is a farm just over the hill. You can eat whatever you want, just don’t let Farmer Mahmoud find you. He’ll pluck your feathers and eat your for dinner," she warned. "MOOOOOOOO!"

The ducks waddled behind Sameera as she walked to the top of the hill. There, before them, lay fields and fields of fruits and vegetables that seemed to go on for miles. Faisal quacked loudly and ran down the hill towards the beets. He loved beet greens. Azzam ran towards the onions. His favorite thing to eat was onions, especially sweet ones. One duck headed for the radishes and turnips, another for the lettuce, another for the grape vines, heavily laden with huge, ripe, juicy, purple grapes, and yet another ran for the beans that grew long and thin among the thick leaves. They gobbled them down voraciously.

Sameera stood at the top of the hill munching on the sweet tender grass. She learned a long time ago not to go into Farmer Mahmoud’s fields.

The ducks ate and ate and ate until they were so full that they couldn’t fly. In fact they were so full they could hardly walk. They managed to gather together and waddle down to the river to get a drink. After that they found a patch of soft grass under a beautiful blooming poinciana tree and all fell asleep. Sameera wandered down to where the ducks lay and stood silently, chewing on the grasses.

The poinciana tree was in full bloom. It was aflame with massive clusters of yellowish-orange flowers. Sameera looked up at them and noticed all the bees buzzing from one flower to the other. She reached up with her mouth and tugged a few of the long leaves off and munched on them. "MOOOOOOO!" she went, enjoying the taste.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw something moving. She became very alert and sensed danger. Then she saw it. It was a huge crocodile with sharp teeth and it was heading towards the ducks. "MOOOO! MOOOOO! MOOOOOO!" she called out.

The ducks woke up and looked at Sameera. They saw the crocodile heading towards them from the river. They jumped up and stared, unable to move with fear. They tried to flap their wings and fly but they were too full from the figs and vegetables they’d eaten earlier. The crocodile moved closer. The ducks flapped and flapped and finally they were able to get a few feet off the ground, high enough to fly up to the branches of the poinciana tree. All seven of them stood on the branch, gazing down at the intruding crocodile. It moved closer and closer to the tree. It stood at the base of the tree trunk, looking up at the ducks with its jaws wide open, ready to catch one of them if they chanced to fall. They held on tightly to the leaves and twigs, not about to let go.

After a while the crocodile tired of waiting and headed back to the river. It slipped into the murky water and swam away. Sameera, who had wandered away to safety, came back. "Maybe you guys had better keep flying in the direction you were headed. I don’t think it’s safe for ducks here. There are too many crocodiles just waiting to eat you, and lets not forget Farmer Mahmoud. He’d like to have you for dinner too," she mooed.

Faisal said, "She’s right. Let’s go. We’ve had enough beets, onions, radishes, turnips, lettuce, beans, figs and grapes to last us for a long time."

Azzam replied, "Yeah, and enough crocodiles too."

The other ducks began to quack. Faisal flapped his wings and flew off into the sky. The other six ducks followed behind him, once more in v-formation. They waved their wings at Sameera. "Don’t fall asleep again," she mooed, then went back to nibbling on the tender blades of grass sprouting up under the poinciana tree.

YOU CLUMSY GRAY LIZARD!

Abdel, the Nile monitor, lived under a rocky ledge, in a small cave that went deep into the earth. It provided shade and kept him hidden from the hot desert sun and from wild animals that might stroll by looking for something to eat. Every morning, Abdel would come out of his cave and run on the trail he’d made for himself. It meandered through the desert, went down near the Nile river, through reeds, tall grasses, flowers and beautiful blossoming trees until it took him back to his cave.

Abdel had thick, scaly skin, as most lizards do. He was grayish-brown, had four strong, sturdy legs and a long tail that dragged behind him when he walked or ran. One morning as usual, he woke up, stretched, then crawled out from under the rock. He looked up at the sun. He felt very happy as he began to run, as fast as a nile monitor can run, down the trail that he ran every morning. The sun was just beginning to rise from behind the pyramids, castings its rays on the surrounding land. He started out slowly, but picked up speed as he moved down the trail. At first he passed by a variety of flowers and plants, infact he was so much admiring the white daisies with lemon yellow centers, that he wasn’t paying any attention to where he was going and crashed right into a tamarisk tree. He heard a scream and a big thud. He looked over to see Khalid, the baboon, laying on his head, with his arms and legs sticking out to the side. He stood still and watched. Khalid got up, brushed the dirt off of his fur and started yelling at Abdel, calling him, "You clumsy gray lizard!"

Abdel apologized and ran down the trail as Khalid brushed more dirt off himself, then climbed back into the tree. He’d been eating a banana and it was mashed all over his fur. He sat on a branch and tried to clean himself, feeling very angry with Abdel.

Abdel ran quickly. He passed near the Nile River and slowed down to watch the cattails swaying in the gentle breeze. He was not watching where he was going. He saw what he thought was a long brown vine hanging down and feeling rather enthused about life, grabbed it to swing over a puddle. Unfortunately, the vine happened to be Moly, the donkey’s tail. Moly was very angry. It hurt her when Abdel swung on it.

Abdel landed in the dirt on the other side of the puddle. Moly started to yell at him, calling him, "You clumsy gray lizard!" Abdel felt bad, apologized and went on his way. He knew he had to be more careful.

He ran up onto the hot desert sand. He saw some scorpions and a coppery colored snake. He was admiring the way the snake slithered across the hot sand, wasn’t watching where he was going, and ran right on top of Kuchuk, the gecko’s tail. He felt the thud as he did so. He stopped and saw Kuchuk standing there holding her tail. She was angry with Abdel and yelled, "You clumsy gray lizard!" Her long beautiful green-blue tail was bent in half.

Abdel began to feel very bad. Two pigeons perched in the tree started cooing and telling him that he should go back to his hole, that nobody wanted him around and that he was a pest and a bother. Abdel hung his head down low and slinked off to his cave under the rock. He hid there for a while and didn’t come out, which pleased all the other animals. Nobody missed him.

After a few days he decided that he felt better and went out to run his trail. He decided to go the other direction this time, so he started running. The desert sand glimmered in the morning sun, its rays catching a grain or two and reflecting. One of the reflection rays shone right into Abdel’s eyes and he couldn’t see Maya, the cat, until he’d knocked her flying about ten feet into the air. She landed with a boom on the sand. Sand got into her eyes, her fur, everywhere. Maya was angry with Abdel. She called him, "You clumsy gray lizard!" and told him to be careful.

As he sulked and walked away from Maya, he noticed a field of grain up ahead. It was golden brown, swayed gently in the desert breeze and he knew he wouldn’t get into any trouble there. What he didn’t realize was that every stalk of wheat he brushed by as he walked, he knocked down several locusts. One, Semil, fell right onto Abdel’s head. He was very angry with Abdel. Semil yelled into his ear, "You clumsy gray lizard!" He told Abdel to get out of the grain fields.

So Abdel moved on, running down to the riverbank. No sooner had he reached it, when he slipped in the black mud and rolled down into the water. He landed right on Saladin, the catfish’s fin, trapping him in the mud. The catfish pulled and tugged until his fin was free, then blew bubbles and yelled at Abdel, "You clumsy gray lizard!"

Abdel stood up, all muddy, and ran off down the trail. He felt so bad. He didn’t mean to hit the other animals or bump into them. He had tried to be so careful.

As he was running along, he spotted a beautiful Egyptian yellow wagtail perched in a jacaranda tree. He looked up at it and didn’t see Bahri, the hyena, until he’d run over his paws. Bahri was furious. He didn’t laugh like hyenas usually do. He growled at Abdel, who became very frightened. He knew hyenas sometimes age Nile monitors. Bahri held his paws up[and yelled at Abdel, "You clumsy gray lizard!" as he slinked off towards his rock.

Abdel stayed in his cave and didn’t come out, not for days. Nobody missed him, at least not for a long time. A few days later, down at the river, all the animals had gathered to have a drink at the same time. They started talking to each other. Someone mentioned they hadn’t seen Abdel. The others said they hadn’t either and they were glad. Maya wondered if something was wrong with Abdel "What if he is hurt?" she meowed. "We’d better go and find him," she urged.

So they searched in a deep dark cave, they searched in the bushes, they even searched around the pyramids, but nobody could find Abdel. Finally, the gecko heard some noises coming out from under the big rock. She crawled inside and saw Abdel in there, sad looking. She told him to come out. Abdel refused.

Kuchuk went and got the other animals, who were now feeling bad about all the things they’d said to Abdel. Bahri gathered some daisies because the pigeons told him that Abdel had liked those. He took them to his rock. The others were standing around, coaxing him out. When Abdel showed his long, red, flickering tongue, the others were happy and urged him to come out of the hole. When he did, they all apologized.

Abdel promised to be more careful when he ran around the trail and the others said they would be more watchful. From that day on, when they heard Abdel coming, they moved out of the way!

Egyptian Recipes

These recipes might be a little bit harder for kids to do, so be sure and have some adult supervision.

• 3 c. rice
• 2 medium potatoes
• 1 t. tumeric
• 2 T. tomato paste
• 1 ½ lb. ground beef or lamb
• 3 onions

Rinse the rice. Peel and cut potatoes into 3 pieces per potato. Add to rice, put into a saucepan and cook. Add tumeric and salt to taste. Cook, then drain. Mix in tomato paste. Mash the mixture.

Chop onions and fry in oil. Add ground beef or lamb, your choice of spices. Stir till cooked. Cool.

Make balls from cooled rice and potato mixture. Push your finger into the center to make a well. Fill the hole with onion and meat mixture. Seal over. Fry in oil, serve hot.

• 1 c. couscous
• 2 c. fruit juice
• 2 T. rose water

Steam the couscous as directed on package. When done, rub in 3 T. butter. Steam it again. When done rub in 4 T. melted butter, ¼ c. ground almonds, ¼ c. ground pistachio nuts. Mound it onto a platter and sprinkle with powdered sugar and cinnamon combined. Surround the couscous with candy coated almonds and/or pomegranate seeds.

• 3 c. honey
• 2 c. sesame seeds
• peanut oil

In a pan heat the honey to a hard crack stage, stirring, for about 45 minutes. Stir in sesame seeds. Set aside and cool slightly. Grease a 9x13" pan with peanut oil. Pour the mixture on it. Cool completely. Break into pieces. Be very careful as the syrup can burn you easily.

Soak 1 lb. chickpeas in water, then drain. Mash one clove of garlic into the chickpeas. Put into a food processor. Mix. Add 10 oz. Sesame oil. Mix again. Add 7 oz. Juice, which is equal to 4 lemons squeezed. Mix again. Serve on toast or with crackers.

• 2 t. dry yeast
• 1 c. warm water
• 3 c. flour
• 1 t. salt

Dissolve yeast in water. Sift flour, salt and mix with yeast water. Knead. Cover. Let rise 3 hours. Heat oven to 350’. Divide dough into six pieces. Roll each into a ball. Pat each ball into a 5" circle about ½" thick. Place on ungreased baking sheet for ten minutes. When cool, fill with favorite filling.