Read an Excerpt
A Secret Love
Traditionally, young Arab women were expected to keep their faces hidden behind a veil and to have no boyfriends before they married.
It happened, however, that one young woman had a secret boyfriend. When her parents became suspicious, they decided to take her to the Hill of Truth. At the top of the hill a chain hung down from the sky. Anyone who lied as he or she held the chain would be turned to ashes.
"Tomorrow we will hire donkeys," announced her father. "You, your mother, and I will visit the hill. If you've been meeting a secret boyfriend, you won't be able to lie any longer!"
The father was pleased to find a stable that charged a very low price for its donkeys and even included a servant to ride along and tend the donkeys.
The four travelers had just reached the base of the hill when the young woman slipped and fell off her donkey. As she fell, her veil got caught on the saddle, exposing her face. Even though the servant quickly helped her back up, she wept with embarrassment.
When they reached the hilltop, the father told her to grab the chain and demanded to know if she had a secret boyfriend.
"You, dear father, and the servant who helped me today when I fell are the only men who have seen my face or touched me."
The chain of truth left the young woman alive because she was telling the truth as well as a lie.
What's the truth, the whole truth?And where's the lie?
The Whole Truth
Knowing her father was thrifty, she had told her boyfriend to rent him his donkeys at a very low price and to offer to ride with them. She had fallen on purpose so he would have to touch heras he helped her up.
