Rule 1: A narrative with a moral
Arabic stories of this kind follow a pattern you have now seen several times. They open with كَانَ and an indefinite hero: كَانَ فِي قَرْيَةٍ شَابٌّ قَوِيٌّ. Time is set with فِي يَوْمٍ مِنَ الْأَيَّامِ one day. Events are chained with فَـ and so and ثُمَّ then. Speech is introduced by قَالَ and questions by هَلْ or مَا. The moral comes last, often in the mouth of a wise old man (شَيْخٌ حَكِيمٌ), and is a general statement in the present: اَلْمَوْتُ قَرِيبٌ مِنْ كُلِّ إِنْسَانٍ.
كَانَ فِي قَرْيَةٍ شَابٌّ قَوِيٌّ.
kāna fī qaryatin shābbun qawiyyun
There was in a village a strong young man.
كَانَ with the subject after the place phrase: 'there was'.
فِي يَوْمٍ مِنَ الْأَيَّامِ حَمَلَ حَجَرَيْنِ كَبِيرَيْنِ.
fī yawmin mina-l-ayyāmi ḥamala ḥajarayni kabīrayni
One day he carried two big stones.
فَقَامَ شَيْخٌ حَكِيمٌ وَقَالَ: نَعَمْ.
fa-qāma shaykhun ḥakīmun wa-qāla: naʿam
So a wise old man stood up and said: Yes.
اَلْقَوِيُّ هُوَ الَّذِي يَسْتَعِدُّ لِلْمَوْتِ بِالْعَمَلِ الصَّالِحِ.
al-qawiyyu huwa-lladhī yastaʿiddu li-l-mawti bi-l-ʿamali-ṣ-ṣāliḥi
The strong one is he who prepares for death with good deeds.
The moral: a definite subject, هُوَ, and a relative clause.