+ +“They are men of the desert, and the men of the desert are used +to dealing with omens.” +“Well, then, they probably already know.” +“They’re not concerned with that right now. They believe that if +they have to know about something Allah wants them to know, +someone will tell them about it. It has happened many times before. +But, this time, the person is you.” +The boy thought of Fatima. And he decided he would go to see +the chiefs of the tribes. +THE BOY APPROACHED THE GUARD AT THE FRONT OF THE huge white tent at +the center of the oasis. +“I want to see the chieftains. I’ve brought omens from the +desert.” +Without responding, the guard entered the tent, where he +remained for some time. When he emerged, it was with a young +Arab, dressed in white and gold. The boy told the younger man what +he had seen, and the man asked him to wait there. He disappeared +into the tent. +Night fell, and an assortment of fighting men and merchants +entered and exited the tent. One by one, the campfires were +extinguished, and the oasis fell as quiet as the desert. Only the lights +in the great tent remained. During all this time, the boy thought +about Fatima, and he was still unable to understand his last +conversation with her. +Finally, after hours of waiting, the guard bade the boy enter. The +boy was astonished by what he saw inside. Never could he have +imagined that, there in the middle of the desert, there existed a tent +like this one. The ground was covered with the most beautiful +carpets he had ever walked upon, and from the top of the structure +hung lamps of handwrought gold, each with a lighted candle. The +tribal chieftains were seated at the back of the tent in a semicircle, +resting upon richly embroidered silk cushions. Servants came and +went with silver trays laden with spices and tea. Other servants +maintained the fires in the hookahs. The atmosphere was suffused +with the sweet scent of smoke. +There were eight chieftains, but the boy could see immediately +which of them was the most important: an Arab dressed in white +and gold, seated at the center of the semicircle. At his side was the +young Arab the boy had spoken with earlier. +“Who is this stranger who speaks of omens?” asked one of the +chieftains, eyeing the boy. +“It is I,” the boy answered. And he told what he had seen. +“Why would the desert reveal such things to a stranger, when it +knows that we have been here for generations?” said another of the +chieftains. +“Because my eyes are not yet accustomed to the desert,” the boy +said. “I can see things that eyes habituated to the desert might not +see.” +And also because I know about the Soul of the World, he thought +to himself. +“The oasis is neutral ground. No one attacks an oasis,” said a +third chieftain. +“I can only tell you what I saw. If you don’t want to believe me, +you don’t have to do anything about it.” +The men fell into an animated discussion. They spoke in an +Arabic dialect that the boy didn’t understand, but, when he made to +leave, the guard told him to stay. The boy became fearful; the omens +told him that something was wrong. He regretted having spoken to +the camel driver about what he had seen in the desert. +Suddenly, the elder at the center smiled almost imperceptibly, +and the boy felt better. The man hadn’t participated in the +discussion, and, in fact, hadn’t said a word up to that point. But the +boy was already used to the Language of the World, and he could +feel the vibrations of peace throughout the tent. Now his intuition +was that he had been right in coming. +The discussion ended. The chieftains were silent for a few +moments as they listened to what the old man was saying. Then he +turned to the boy: this time his expression was cold and distant. +“Two thousand years ago, in a distant land, a man who believed +in dreams was thrown into a dungeon and then sold as a slave,” the +old man said, now in the dialect the boy understood. “Our +merchants bought that man, and brought him to Egypt. All of us +know that whoever believes in dreams also knows how to interpret +them.” +
+ + +