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