A Tale Told By A Djinn

                              

                                         A Tale Told By A Djinn

I am Salah the thief.  Sit brothers and sisters and listen to a tale I have kept to my bosom all these years for verily I am feeling all those years and I would be heard my children. This is a tale told to me by the king of all the Djinn, the might Effrite ........Forsooth, by the beard of the Prophet; on whom may many blessings descend, may this tale be a true one!

It came to pass in Basra that a son was born to Abdullah Ahmed Ibn, Son Farouk,  who would surpass in valor honor and even deeds the exploits of his honorable father.  He seemed to pass quickly from the boy to the man, more quickly in fact than I can ever recall in these fifty and twenty years. Now I have said I have a tale to tell and tell it I shall.

It was a beautiful day in Basra, the sky was clear and blue, a magic carpet fit for the Prophet himself. The sun was shining overhead as Abdullah stroke through the Suk, the ancient marketplace that has pervaded our cities and towns since time immemorial. His sandaled feet kicked up pebbles that splattered the urns and jugs the merchants had painstakingly laid out in anticipation of sales that day. Their morning chatter filled the marketplace like the voices of so many mockingbirds.

The Holy men had gathered together to ponder aloud the Mysteries of the Quran, as they have always done. The pungent smell of hashish wafted through the marketplace, furrowing the brows of the Muslim clerics. The Caliph, who was rumored himself to take a pipe now and then, had hitherto turned a blind eye to the proceedings, but now felt compelled to police the Suk periodically, lest he otherwise incur the wrath of the powerful Mullahs.

It was in the Wazzerine, the most dangerous part of the Suk that the Palace guards had to patrol most carefully. In that part of the Wazzerine, anything could happen. All manner of thuggery skullduggery, thievery and yes my children, even murder, could and WOULD eventually occur.

Malik, the money lender was purported to be the overseer of most of this infamy. A tall and ebony giant whose quick and violent temper were well known throughout  the city, he ruled this quarter with an iron hand; his trusted advisor and bodyguard, Selim the Perisan ever at his side, his skill with sword and dagger as legendary as his Masters temper.

copyright by K.C. Murphy 2016