journey... He does not speak to me, and when he speaks to our two sisters his eyes weep fire... What shall I do, Lord, to bring life back to his heart? I will confess what I did! I will confess what I did! I will confess — so help me, my Lord...
April 12
Today I stood before my father and my mother and Dalal and told them everything... He stood at the window, looking far away... gazing into emptiness... And they froze in their places, looking on and not understanding, so I cried: "Don't you hear? I broke the oath and betrayed the secret we vowed together to keep... I told him that he is not one of us, that his origin is as unknown as his mother... You named him 'Sabah' because you found him one summer morning at the trunk of a tree, a weeping, hungry infant... Mother, don't look at me like that... Father, please, say something..." He came toward me, white-lipped, pale-faced, and said in a voice like ice: "Why did you do this? Why?" I answered, trembling: "For the sake of a girl we both loved... I wanted to belittle him in her eyes and dissolve his very person, and so I committed a crime I never intended... I don't want him to go, Father! I love him and I don't want him to go"...
Then Dalal slapped me; I felt my cheek and turned my gaze away from her... "I will never forgive you this as long as I live. I loathe you." And I fled... fled without looking at his blazing eyes weeping fire...
April 16
They plead with him and he does not listen to what they say! They shout and threaten, and he bows his head and bites his lips... He has resolved to go, and made up his mind... His life among us is over... I ended it — with feverish, mad
words, for the sake of a girl! How strange! I do not think of her now; I have come to hate her... I think of him — the creature I have known as a brother, sharing name and father and mother and sisters, ever since I first knew life... What have I done to your heart, my brother?! Into what hell did I hurl it, burning it without mercy?
April 26
The day of his departure draws near, and the day of my punishment advances upon me little by little, like the steps of an executioner... He is like one who stands at a border, afraid to go forward and dreading to turn back... Turn back, my brother, for beyond the border lurks the fearful unknown in which there is no mercy; come back to us, and we will help you to forget...
May 5.
Yesterday there came a sudden knock at the door of my room, and he entered... I sprang to my feet, not knowing what to say... He laid his hand on my arm and said with feeling: "Forgive me my harshness. In truth it was not you who hurt me. The culprit is fate"... I nearly leapt for joy and clapped with delight. But I mastered myself and said, gripping my golden joy with strength and resolve: "Then pardon fate — and us, Sabah. Stay with us, and do not be a harsh judge of the mistakes that fate commits"...
He remained silent, and my heart pounded in dread... "Sabah, do you remember when we were small and climbed the mountain? Together, helping each other up? The day we saw a big worm, and I jumped in terror and tumbled down? You knelt on the ground beside me and spoke slowly, so that I would understand every letter you said, as if you were the elder and I
the younger:
'If I were in your place I would have trodden on it with my foot and climbed on... I do not run from annoyances or difficulties that cross my path. They are like this worm: if it tries to harm me I kill it, and if it goes its own way I leave it.'... That is what you once said to me — so why do you want to run from a difficulty that has risen before you today? You taught me courage, and I hate to see you a coward today... My father knew nothing about you when he lifted you from the ground as an infant, but today he knows that you are the maker of his hopes and his wishes, that your life is part of his life and your
Dunya al-Ahdath
The children's magazine in color
Have you seen it?
Have you leafed through it?
Have you read its tales?
Did you like its picture-story?
And what do you think of its story "The Language of Pictures"?
All its subjects are entertaining and instructive.
Read it once, and you will read it always.
Price: 25 piasters
Ask for it at your school, at the bookshops, and from the vendors—
and from Dar Rijani for Printing and Publishing
Bab Idriss — Beirut
Telephone 28757