With different cultures come different parenting techniques. In some cultures, parents would use wooden spoons to discipline their kids, while in others parents don’t believe in physical punishment is the solution. In Egypt, parents use “El Ragel Abu Regl Maslokha” as their solution whenever their kids are being disobedient.
“El Ragel Abu Regl Mslokha” is a myth that Egyptians used for decades, even centuries to scare their kids into doing their chores. The parents tell their kids that if they didn’t do their work, Abu Regl Maslokha is going to come and get them.
The infamous story goes, that one night at midnight, with a heart full of fear and exhaustion Amina was running for her dear life. Her ears were going to burst from the noise of her heart’s rapid beating, her legs were freezing and as hard as stone, and her lungs were burning from exhaustion and screaming. She felt like she was going to faint any second now and yet she pushed her legs to keep running, and with each step she took breathing became a harder task than ever.
She looked behind her now and then to make sure that she is far from the beasts that were following her. And yet this time when she tried to look behind her, she missed her footing and fell face-first to the ground. She was about to give in to her fate of being eaten alive, but then she saw a small cabin from the corner of her eye. And that’s when she pushed herself up ignoring her body’s screams of pain and exhaustion. She pushed herself to run yet again but this time she had a hope of survival.
She ran and ran ignoring the field of corpses, dreading to look back again. Fear of the next minutes drowned all her surroundings but the hope of finding someone to save her was what kept her going. When she reached the cabin, she saw an old man wearing a black jalabia and amma she went to him hoping to find help.
Worry was evident on the man’s face when he saw her “Ya benty are you ok? Why do you look like that?” asked the man, implying the fear on her face and the blood on her clothes.
“There are three men with goat legs trying to kill me like they did my siblings” replied Amina breathless, yet relieved and thankful that she has found a human around.
Yet her relief did not last for long when she saw a smirk forming on the elder’s face. “Oh, you mean a leg like those.” Said the man while showing her his leg.
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