+ “They’re not my sheep anymore,” he said to himself, without +nostalgia. “They must be used to their new shepherd, and have +probably already forgotten me. That’s good. Creatures like the +sheep, that are used to traveling, know about moving on.” +He thought of the merchant’s daughter, and was sure that she +had probably married. Perhaps to a baker, or to another shepherd +who could read and could tell her exciting stories—after all, he +probably wasn’t the only one. But he was excited at his intuitive +understanding of the camel driver’s comment: maybe he was also +learning the universal language that deals with the past and the +present of all people. “Hunches,” his mother used to call them. The +boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really a sudden +immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the +histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know +everything, because it’s all written there. +“Maktub,” the boy said, remembering the crystal merchant. +The desert was all sand in some stretches, and rocky in others. +When the caravan was blocked by a boulder, it had to go around it; +if there was a large rocky area, they had to make a major detour. If +the sand was too fine for the animals’ hooves, they sought a way +where the sand was more substantial. In some places, the ground +was covered with the salt of dried-up lakes. The animals balked at +such places, and the camel drivers were forced to dismount and +unburden their charges. The drivers carried the freight themselves +over such treacherous footing, and then reloaded the camels. If a +guide were to fall ill or die, the camel drivers would draw lots and +appoint a new one. +But all this happened for one basic reason: no matter how many +detours and adjustments it made, the caravan moved toward the +same compass point. Once obstacles were overcome, it returned to +its course, sighting on a star that indicated the location of the oasis. +When the people saw that star shining in the morning sky, they +knew they were on the right course toward water, palm trees, +shelter, and other people. It was only the Englishman who was +unaware of all this; he was, for the most part, immersed in reading +his books. +The boy, too, had his book, and he had tried to read it during the +first few days of the journey. But he found it much more interesting +to observe the caravan and listen to the wind. As soon as he had +learned to know his camel better, and to establish a relationship +with him, he threw the book away. Although the boy had developed +a superstition that each time he opened the book he would learn +something important, he decided it was an unnecessary burden. +He became friendly with the camel driver who traveled +alongside him. At night, as they sat around the fire, the boy related +to the driver his adventures as a shepherd. +During one of these conversations, the driver told of his own life. +“I used to live near El Cairum,” he said. “I had my orchard, my +children, and a life that would change not at all until I died. One +year, when the crop was the best ever, we all went to Mecca, and I +satisfied the only unmet obligation in my life. I could die happily, +and that made me feel good. +“One day, the earth began to tremble, and the Nile overflowed its +banks. It was something that I thought could happen only to others, +never to me. My neighbors feared they would lose all their olive +trees in the flood, and my wife was afraid that we would lose our +children. I thought that everything I owned would be destroyed. +“The land was ruined, and I had to find some other way to earn a +living. So now I’m a camel driver. But that disaster taught me to +understand the word of Allah: people need not fear the unknown if +they are capable of achieving what they need and want. +“We are afraid of losing what we have, whether it’s our life or +our possessions and property. But this fear evaporates when we +understand that our life stories and the history of the world were +written by the same hand.” +Sometimes, their caravan met with another. One always had +something that the other needed—as if everything were indeed +written by one hand. As they sat around the fire, the camel drivers +exchanged information about windstorms, and told stories about +the desert. +
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