The Hands of Fate!

Story of the Month

Between them lies the hand of fate: one of them is an only child, and the other has brothers..

Wadad sat on the balcony of her house, absorbed in embroidering the dress she would wear on the day of her friend Asma's wedding. She was alone in the house now, for her mother had gone to visit Asma's mother and find out the news of the coming bridegroom, true to her habit of abundant curiosity. It was as if advancing age had only made her more curious and fonder of visits, in which she found an outlet for her feelings and a means of quenching her thirst for news of other people.

Wadad cast a glance at Asma's house, which stood only a little way from her own. Asma — her kinswoman and her friend since childhood, her companion at school and outside it, with whom she had spent most of her hours and to whom she had confided her joys and her sorrows. Before long Asma would leave her to marry her fiancé Wafiq, after an engagement that had lasted several years.

Wadad sat diligently embroidering the gown, picturing the wedding day to herself: Asma would look beautiful that day — perhaps for the first time in her life, for joy makes the face more radiant, and the lovely dress sewn in Beirut was bound to have its effect. And yet... who could doubt that Wadad, standing beside her, would be more beautiful beyond all measure. She knew this and assured herself of it, for people never once spoke of Wadad without calling her the beautiful one, and she never once walked beside Asma without the difference between the two girls showing: she was tall, fair, and fine-featured, while her companion was short, dark-complexioned, and thick-lipped. But no wonder that Asma should marry before her, for her friend was two years or more her senior. And besides, she had a fortune to inherit from her father — unlike Wadad...

Chance had willed that Asma be her parents' only child and their heiress, whereas Wadad had brothers on whom her parents spent all their income, so that no hope remained for the girl of a dowry or a trousseau or money to attract suitors... Perhaps some poor young men had thought of asking for her hand, but she had a stubborn mother who would not marry her to a poor man; and so she had resolved to be patient, to go along with her mother, and to wait for deliverance to come to her in the form of a rich suitor who would satisfy her parents' pride and fulfill her own desire for a life of luxury.

How strange... how fortunes differ between two companions close in age, alike in so many ways, for one slight difference it had traced.

Yet Asma — despite the singular position she occupied, and despite the young men racing to seek her hand — had not attained her wish easily. Had Wadad been in her place, she would have married long ago. Asma's father had died young, and the girl had lived in the shadow of a difficult mother who never ceased complaining and grumbling. Her suitors had multiplied from the time she turned sixteen, but whoever pleased Asma did not please her mother, and the other way around. The mother wanted a son-in-law of distinguished social position and — beyond that — pleasant in company and easy to live with, one with whom she could dwell under a single roof. Asma, for her part, was a romantic girl who wanted an ideal young man resembling the heroes of novels in his manliness and the nobility of his character; whether he was rich or poor did not matter to her.

It happened once that a rich young man of little learning named Ramez sought Asma's hand. Asma did not care for him, but he pleased the mother with his fine looks, his cheerful face, and his gentle manner, and she resolved to make him her son-in-law. After much give-and-take, and quarrels that broke out between her and her daughter, the mother's will prevailed, and Asma consented to marry the rich man in deference to her mother's wish. But then something happened that no one had reckoned with. A relative of the fiancé came to the village and pointed him toward a girl in a neighboring village who surpassed Asma in wealth; whereupon Ramez went off in haste to the neighboring village, and once satisfied that his kinsman's word was true, contracted marriage with the new girl between one night and the next morning, heedless of the fury and indignation he stirred up in Asma's mother, and the aversion and disgust in her daughter.

After this incident Asma's mother resolved not to interfere in her daughter's marriage and to let her choose whom she wished. And because of her revulsion at her first fiancé, Asma resolved to marry a young man of poor circumstances, seasoned by hard times, on whose faithfulness she could rely and in whom she could place her trust. Her choice fell on a young man named Wafiq al-Mu'addab, whose father had gone bankrupt in trade, so that the boy had not been able to finish his studies at the university. Asma urged him on to continue his studies and gave him money enough to enable him to meet his expenses. When he obtained his degree he began taking on important cases; he was in complete accord with his bride, and their marriage would soon be contracted.

These images followed one another in Wadad's head as she bent to the embroidery of her dress. For the second time she imagined the wedding day, and Asma appeared before her with Wafiq at her side in his wedding suit. She said to herself: he is a handsome young man and exceedingly pleasant. When I visit Asma he gives himself over entirely to conversing with me, as though I were the object of his visit. Wadad has chosen well, and I wish her every success.

She said this with a sigh, but her mother's arrival cut the thread of her thoughts, so she raised her head and paused a moment from her work, wanting a little rest. But the mother came toward her, trying to hurry her steps, her heavy body swaying now to the right and now to the left. She sat down panting and launched into talk without waiting for a question from her daughter:

"The wedding preparations are finished. I went in and found the two of them arguing over the trousseau. The mother wants to display it to the lady visitors and Asma refuses. Then the girl wants the white veil shortened to end at the neck, while the mother insists that it be long, trailing behind the bride, its ends held by two little boys. And while they were at it, Wafiq arrived in great excitement with a letter in his hand. He told them that his uncle, who has been living in the Sudan for twenty years and of whom he knew nothing, had sent him a telegram asking him to come to him quickly, for he was ill and in grave condition. Then he added that he had decided to answer his uncle's summons, for a wedding can be postponed, but death cannot..."

Here Wadad's mother stopped speaking to catch her breath, then went on:
"...Just imagine — the wedding must be postponed to no fixed date. That is very hard."

"Hard, no doubt," said Wadad. "Everything is ready... and here I am toiling over the embroidery of the dress... I hope Wafiq hurries back..."

"He leaves today, without delay!" said the mother, and hurried off to the kitchen, feeling she was late in preparing the midday meal.

Wadad hung her dress in a corner of the wardrobe, and for the second time fell to thinking about the workings of chance and the turns of fortune. She thought of Asma — would her waiting drag on, and what would she feel in the face of this sudden, strange event... And indeed the waiting of Asma and her friend dragged on, until a letter came from Wafiq announcing his uncle's death: he had taken over his business affairs there and decided to stay for an indefinite period, and he therefore intended to break off his engagement and leave Asma free to marry another. He was sending her a money order for the sum she had spent on him, expressing his deep regret and begging her to accept his apology.

Wadad marveled that matters should develop in this fashion, and marveled still more when, a short time later, a letter came to her from Wafiq asking her to consent to marry him, for he had loved no one but her. He had wanted to marry Asma out of need for her fortune; but now that he had come into ample wealth through what he inherited from his uncle, nothing remained to force him into a marriage toward which he felt no inclination. He would soon return to his birthplace to wed Wadad, if he obtained her consent...

No one was surprised when Wafiq al-Mu'addab came back from the Sudan to contract marriage with his fiancée's friend. Nor did they find Wadad's consent to this marriage strange; rather they thought that had she refused, she would have appeared a fool, for her refusal would not restore him to Asma. Some of them sat one evening discussing the matter, and one of those present said:

"Wafiq did well. In his place I would not have hesitated to make the change — this one is far better than that one."

One of the women listening said: "Fate came to his aid, and God gave him ease after hardship. Plenty of money and a beautiful wife."

Another beside her answered: "For the second time the fates have taken it upon themselves to unmask intentions, to lay bare what breasts conceal, and to deliver Asma from a treacherous husband. Had Asma married this young man, do you think she would have lived happily with him? Could she live all her life happy with such a man?"

The other said: "Who knows? If he is a skilled actor, he could deceive her to the very end! How many people there are who live on illusions and find happiness in dreams! Lift the veils of illusion from their eyes, and they live wretched and crushed."

Said the one who told me the story:
"I do not know what became of Asma after this... I learned that she traveled to distant lands, leaving her mother alone and miserable. And I do not know whether she found a husband who does not count marriage a business deal, or whether she is still deep in her waiting!..."