30 292
30
ibrahim al-koni
The enemy did not merely
vanish;peoplewereastounded
to find a rascal ’s corpse
stretched out beside the corral
a few days later. On the slain
man’s neck they found blue
marks that clearly showed the
wretch had been strangled.
Then they spread a rumor
that this scarecrow differed
from all the others, because
it had a real creature hidden
inside it. Some went even
further and contended that
this august body contained
the person of the sorcerer
himself, who had constructed
this fearsome puppet with
wooden poles that he clad
with camel skin. Finally he
stretched strips of fabric and
scraps of linen over the hollow
body. Then, as darkness fell,
the despicable man glided
through the twilight gloom to
enter his vile hideout, where
he spent the night, to emerge
at dawn and slip back to his
workshop. Others said that
slaughtering the entire herd
was merely a sorcerer’s trick
the astute artisan had used to
conquer the poor widow, with
whom he had fallen in love the
first day. Her livestock corral
had seemed the best way to
win her, because sorcerers
know better than anyone
else that a person’s heart
is a pawn of his wealth and
that a creature’s weak point
is what he possesses. When
spiteful people pointed out
the scarecrow’s true nature
in hopes of smoking out the
cunning strategist, they were
surprised to hear him say,
“The scarecrow is twofold.
One scarecrow frightens away
the wasteland’s beasts and
predatory birds. The second
terrifies human jackals, who
would not be scared if it
weren’t the real thing.” Then
he released an evil laugh,
which was muffled and as