Trafika Europe 6 - Arabesque

ibrahim al-koni

and insanity. In her pupils was that distressing sign seen only in the eyes of people whom time has afflicted with an unexpected calamity so that they find themselves standing before the house of destruction without ever yielding to an unknown destiny or believing that death might be so easy. The sorceress stood by her longtime neighbor’s head and remarked, “What do you suppose a person in whom human liquid is retained will give if one day a person is found who can expel from the body poisoned by this pollution a single drop of the sacred liquid that purifies man from his defilements?” Theneighborwomancollapsed and howled at the top of her lungs. Wallowing in the dirt at the feet of the longtime sorceress, she begged, “A

person suffering from urine retention will give everything her hand possesses to the person who can expel from her body a single drop of the one liquid that purifies man’s body from man’s defilement.” “I am happy to hear a tongue describe man’s water as sacred today after I heard it accuse urine yesterday of all types of impurity.” “Man, my lady, is a dull-witted child who does not realize that fire burns till it scorches his fingers.” “Man won’t be wise, man won’t be happy, till he recognizes the contrary in its contrary.” “It is pointless to think the haughty fellow will learn that before the day he receives a punishing lesson.” “Isn’t it astonishing that

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