Children of Gebelaawi (67 page)

Read Children of Gebelaawi Online

Authors: Naguib Mahfouz

Tags: #Fiction

wants to attack us, but because the whole Alley is at the mercy

of the strongmen. If we defeat Harpstrings, who can say that

Fisticuff won ' t start a quarrel with us tomorrow, or Yoosuf the

day after? Either everybody's safe or nobody is.

She smiled faintly.

- Do you wan t to be like Gebel or Rifaa or Qaasim?

He kissed her hair, savoring its scent of cloves, and made no

answer. She spoke again:

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A raja

- They were given their task by our Ancestor the Founder.

- Our Ancestor the Founder ! Everybody who's i n trouble

shouts 'Gebelaawi ! ' just as your poor father did. But did you

ever hear of a people like us, never seeing their ancestor

although they live round his locked house? And have you ever

heard of the founder of a trust letting men play havoc with i t

a n d not making any move a t all?

She said candidly:

- It's old age.

- I've never heard of anybody living as long as this.

- They say there's a man over a hundred and fifty i n

Muqattam Bazaar. God is all-powerful!

After a silence, he murmured:

- It's the same with magic; i t's all-powerful.

She laughed at his delusion, pressing her fi ngers into his

chest.

- Your magic is powerful enough to cure an eye.

- And to do counlless other things.

She sighed.

- We're behaving like dope-heads, talking as though nothing threatened us.

He took no notice of her interruption but went on:

- Magic may one day be able to put an end to the strongmen

and build houses and feed all the chi ldren of our Alley.

- Can that happen before the Last judgement?

A dreamy look softened his sharp eyes.

- If only we were all magicians!

- If only! It didn't take Qaasim long to achieve justice

without your magic.

-And how quickly itwas undone! But with magic, the effect

will last. Don 't look down on magic, my darling, it's no less

important than our love; li ke love it can create a new life. But

i t can only work properly if more of us are magicians.

She asked playfully:

- And how will that come about?

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Children of Gebelaawi

He thought for a long time before answering:

- When justice is achieved, when the Founder's Clauses are

put i n to effect, and when most of us are freed from toil and rely

on magic.

- Do you want it to be an Alley of magicians? (She laughed

sweetly, and went on:) How can the Ten Clauses be put i nto

effect when our Ancestor is bedridden and seems no longer

able to give the job to one of his children?

He looked at her strangely.

- Why don't we go to him?

She laughed again.

- Could you get into Trustee's House?

- No! But perhaps I can get into the Great House.

She slapped his hand and said:

- That's enough joking till we're sure of our lives.

He smiled mysteriously.

- If I was a joker I wouldn't have come back to the Alley.

Something i n his tone alarmed her. She stared at him in

amazement and exclaimed:

- You mean what you say!

He gazed at her without a word. She went on:

- Imagine if they caught you in the Great House !

- What's so strange about a man bei ng i n his grandfather's

house?

- Say you'rejoking. God ! Why are you looking so serious?

Unbelievable ! Why do you want to go to him?

- Isn't a meeti ng with him worth the risk?

- Those were only words that slipped off your tongue; how

have they become so terribly real?

He stroked her hand soothingly.

- Since I came back to the Alley I've been thi nking to

myself about things that haven't occurred to anybody.

- Why can 't we live as we are?

- If only we could! They won't let us live as we are; and

everybody needs security in life.

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A raJa

- Then let's run away.

- I shan't run away while I have my magic.

He drew her gently to him and began stroking her shoulder,

whispering in her ear:

- We'll find plenty of time to talk, but now just let your

heart be at peace.

1 0 0 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Was the man crazy or deluded, wondered Awaatif as she

watched Arafa worki ng and thin ki ng. From her poi nt of view

the only thing that marred those happy days was her desire for

revenge on Harpstrings, her father's murderer. Revenge is a

time-honored tradition i n the Alley, but she could have forgotten even this sacred tradition - though reluctan tly - for the sake of the happiness marriage had given her. However, Arafa

believed revenge on Harpstrings was only part of a great task

that he had sworn to perform, or so she imagined. She did not

understand him. Did he think he was one of the men of whom

the rebec sings? But Gebelaawi had not charged him to do

anything, and he clearly did not have much fai th in Gebelaawi

or i n the rebec's tales. One thi ng was certai n; that he gave far,

far more of his ti me and energy to magic than was needed for

a living. When he thought, his ideas went beyond hi mself and

his household to general problems that no one was interested

in, such as the Alley, the strongmen and the trusteeship, the

Trust and its revenue and magic. He dreamed vast dreams of

a magical future, though he was the one man in the Alley who

did not take hashish because his work in the back room

needed wakefulness and attention. But all this was nothing

beside his crazy desire to get into the Great House.

- Why, my husband?

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Children of Gebelaawi

- To ask his advice about the way things should go i n the

Alley.

- But you know the way things should be, we all know; so

what need is there to risk death?

- I want to know the Ten Clauses governing the Trust.

- The important thing is not knowledge but action; and

what can you do?

- The truth is I want to look at the book that caused Adham

to be thrown out, if the stories are true.

- What i nterests you in that book?

- I don't know what makes me sure it's a book of magic.

Gebelaawi's exploits i n the desert can only be explained if he

used magic, not muscle and a cudgel as people imagine.

- What need is there for these risks when you 're happy and

you're earni ng plenty?

- Don't imagine Harpstrings has forgotten us. Whenever

I go out I ' m almost knocked down by the hateful looks of his

men.

- Your magic is quite enough; leave the Great House alone.

- There is the book, the greatest book of magic, the secret

of Gebelaawi 's power, which he kept even from his son.

- Perhaps i t isn't anything like what you imagine.

- And perhaps it is, and the risks are worthwhile.

Then one time he took the final step in his explanation and

said to her:

- That's how I am, Awaatif, my passion-flower; what's to be

done? I ' m just the lowly son of a wretched woman and an

unknown father; everybody knows that and jokes about it. But

the one thing in the world that still i nterests me is the Great

House. It's not strange for a fatherless child to long with all his

strength for his Ancestor. My back room has taught me not to

believe i n anything till I 've seen it with my own eyes and tested

it with my own hands. There's no avoidi ng it: I must get into the

Great House. I may find the power I am seeking for and I may

find nothing at all, but I'll reach some certainty, which will be

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A raja

better than my present confusion. I'm not the first man i n our

Alley to choose difficulty. Gebel could have stayed in his job

with the Trustee; Rifaa could have become the Alley's carpenter; Qaasim could have been content with Qamar and her property and could have lived as an important man. But they

chose the other path.

Hanash said sadly:

- What a lot of people in our Alley hurry to destruction !

Arafa said:

- And what a small number of them have good reasons!

Hanash did not give up helping his brother though. Late

one night they set off together for the desert. When Awaatif

had given up opposing Arafa, she had raised her hands i n

prayer for him. I t was a dark night; the new moon had set a n

hour after the sun. The two brothers followed the wall of the

Great House round to the back where it met the desert.

Hanash whispered:

- Rifaa was standing in this very place when he heard

Gebelaawi's voice.

Peering around attentively, Arafa said:

- That's what is told to the music of the rebec. I'm going to

know the truth about everything.

Hanash pointed towards the desert and said with awe:

- And i n this desert he himself spoke to Gebel, and here he

sent his servant to Qaasim.

- And here too Rifaa was killed, and our mother was raped

and beaten, and our Ancestor didn't move an i nch.

Hanash put down a basket of tools on the ground, and the

two began to dig at the foot of the wall, lifting the soil out in the

basket. They worked hard and steadily ti ll they were permeated by the smell of earth. Hanash seemed no less keen than Arafa, as if driven on by the same longing, though he was very

frightened. Arafa's head was only a little above ground level

when he said:

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Children of Gebelaawi

- That'll do for tonight. (Then, after hoisting himself up

on to the surface: ) We must cover the mouth of the hole with

planks and put earth over them to preven t it being discovered.

Then they hurried back, pursued by the dawn. He was

thinki ng of tomorrow, that wonderful day when he would walk

in the unknown Great House. Who could tell? He might meet

Gebelaawi, might talk to him, might ask him to explain events

past and present, and the Clauses governing the Trust and the

secret of the book. That was the dream that came true only

amid clouds of hashish smoke. Who could tell? He might find

that he had gone senile and lost his memory, or that he had

died long ago, unknown to anyone but the Trustee. Only their

h azardous u ndertaking would answer these questions.

In the basement he found Awaatif still awake, waiting for

him. She gave him a tired look of reproach and muttered:

- You look as though you've been in a tomb.

He hid his anxiety, saying cheerfully:

- How sweet you are!

He threw himself down beside her. She said:

- If I was anything to you, you wouldn't ignore my views.

He spoke playfully:

- You 'II change your views when you see what happens

tomorrow.

- It's a thousand to one against my finding happi ness

i nstead of destruction.

Arafa laughed.

- If you 'd seen the looks I get, you 'd realize that the peace

we're enjoying is an illusion.

The early morning silence was shattered by a piercing cry

followed by wailing. Awaatif frowned and murmured:

- A bad omen !

He shrugged his shoulders.

- Don't blame me, Awaatif, when you 're partly responsible

for my position.

- Me?

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A raja

- I came back to the Alley driven by a secret longing to

avenge my mother. When your father was attacked I began to

want to take this revenge on the strongmen, but my love for

you has added a new i dea, which has almost destroyed the old

one: I want to put an end to them not for revenge bu t for

people to enjoy life. I 've only decided to go to our Ancestor's

house to find out the secret of his power.

She gave h i m a long look, i n which by the light of the candle

he could clearly read her fear of losing him as she had lost her

father. He smiled at her affectionately. Outside, the wailing

was becoming unbearable.

1 0 1 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hanash gave a farewell squeeze to the hand of Arafa who

stood at the bottom of the hole. Then Arafa bent forward and

crawled through the tunnel, which was heavy with the smell of

earth, not stopping till his head emerged in the garden of the

Great House. A wonderful fragrance fi lled his nose, like the

very essence of roses and jasmine and henna distilled in the

moist nigh t air. The scent intoxicated him, in spite of his deep

feeling of danger. Here he was, smelling the garden for which

Adham had died of grief. Nothing could be seen of i t, only a

dreadful darkness under the unsleepi ng stars. Over it lay a

terrible silence, disturbed now and then by the whisper of

leaves in the breeze. He found the ground was soft and damp,

and he decided he must take his shoes off when he reached the

house, so as not to leave tracks on the floor. Now, where cou ld

the gatekeeper and the gardener and the other servants be

sleeping?

He crept along on all fours, taki ng great care not to make

any noise, heading for the house, whose huge square form

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