Once upon a time, a strong and great man named Nebhar lived on the island of Socotra. He was married and had children. He had a range of livestock that were his children and his only source of living until there was a drought followed by rains failing and the land dry in which they lived. Nebhar decided to move with his wife and children to another place where they could see green land, graze livestock, and have high rainfall.
He took his wife and children and began the journey of searching for a favorable place to live and settle. They could finally find a green land with many graces and blessings after many days of searching and navigating.
After they had stayed in a new place, that man decided to go on a short business trip to the neighboring villages to sell the livestock leather that he had collected.
His wife tried to stop him from going on the short business trip because the place they moved to was merely a wasteland, and she did not want to be left alone with her children. But he reassured her that there would be nothing to worry about, and he went on his business trip.
The wife and her children stayed in the wasteland, wracked with anxiety and plagued by fear every night. On the third day of the husband’s near total absence, when it was sunset and darkness had come, she heard the sound of incoming footsteps towards them. Thus, she ran outside the house to check it out. But she did not find anyone except the sound of footsteps still incoming towards them. It was only a few moments before she could see someone who looked like a ghostly figure heading towards her, making her legs tremble with fear.
A few moments later, the features of the ghostly figure became clearer, and looking up, she would see a dark-skinned, tall, and pale-faced woman with eyeliner in her eye.
“How was your evening, woman?” She came closer to her and asked her.
The woman made no answer.
“Didn’t you know that this place belonged to me? How dare you stay here?” she asked her again.
The woman could not answer.
“By tomorrow, before sunset, you must leave this place; otherwise, you shall see something horrible you have never ever seen in your life.” The woman told her in a high-threat tone.
Once the strange woman finished her words, she quickly vanished into the darkness. The wife was petrified in her place by the terrifying scene she had seen. A voice in her head told her that that woman was really nothing but a fairy who came to seize their house and land, taking advantage of Nebhar’s absence, and would harm her and her children.
Between concerns, she could scarcely move her legs back into the house. The wife could not sleep until sunrise. Throughout the day, she recited a prayer to the Lord for her husband’s coming, hoping that he would return home before sunset.
The sun went down, but her husband had not come back yet. She wept at his misfortune, and with fear filling her heart, she asked herself what would happen to her and what she would do if that woman returned.
When night fell, the fairy returned to her and threatened her, as she had done the first time.
The next morning, Nebhar returned home. When his wife saw him, she cried for joy that he had returned to them. In detail, she told him what happened to that strange woman while he was absent.
He was astonished and amazed by what his wife had told him. He thought of a plan to find out the reality of what happened in his absence. When night fell, it was time for the fairy to come. He hid inside the room and asked his wife to cover his body with blankets so the fairy would not see him.
The wife started whispering to Nebhar that she heard the sound of the footsteps of the fairy coming to them. She approached the door a little. Suddenly, she opened it wide and kept silent for a while.
“Yes, it is the smell of Nebhar. My husband had returned to us,” she started screaming and continued saying, “You cannot harm us.”
She kept shouting and threatening that her husband’s strength and power could save them.
Nebhar got up from his place and stood beside his wife.
“Yes, here I am. Do not ever approach my house, my wife, or my children. Never come back here again,” he shouted at the fairy.
The wife calmed down after hearing Nebhar’s words. She told him that the woman was afraid of him and that she ran away. Since that day, that woman had never come back to his wife again.
Whenever Nebhar decided to travel, he told his wife to hang his clothes outside the house and put his shoes in front of the door in order to let the fairy smell Nebhar and think that he was still staying at home and never ever approached them at all. Indeed, by following that plan, he has succeeded in reassuring his wife. He had succeeded in finishing the fairy, who never existed but only existed in his wife’s mind.
