The Best of Wanderlust (A GeoEx eBook)

The Best of Wanderlust

On Dream Mountain

“Yes. But…” “But your head feels like a hammer has struck it.” “How did you know?” Rubbing his watery eyes with his thumbs, Mustapha Benn let out a chuckle. “There is a reason for everything,” he said. “And what is the reason for my headache?” “A story.” “I don’t understand.” Leaning back in the chair, Mustapha Benn slowly recounted a tale—a tale as outlandish as it was familiar. It was the story of a princess called Yasmine, whose veins ran with music, and who was terrified of the ocean and its waves. She was protected from drowning by an amulet made from amber, sold into slavery by a blind magician, then transformed into a lizard and back again, by a Jinn. A herd of donkeys befriended her, taught her the language of the peacocks, and were slain in a battle with albino dwarfs. She was married to a hunchback king, tricked into slavery once again, before escaping into an enchanted forest—carpeted in the softest emerald moss. At the end of a long life, Princess Yasmine drank from a goblet of silver water and floated up into the heavens, where she glints each night as a star. At the end of the tale, I applauded. “I don’t know how you did it,” I said, “but your story is as magical as the black and red seed.” My host rubbed his eyes again. “It’s not my story,” he said cryptically. “It’s yours.” Slipping me a smile, an uneven chequerboard of black and faded white, Mustapha Benn put a log on the fire, and brewed a pot of tea. As he stirred the water, I took out the seed and looked at it hard. “What should I do with this now?” I asked.

My host let out a grunt. “Take it home,” he said. “Put it in a box and let it wait.” “Wait for what?” “Wait for the day when you are ready for an adventure once again.”

* * * * *

Tahir Shah is the author of more than sixty books, embracing fiction, non-fiction, fantasy, travel, belles lettres, and journalism; his books include In Arabian Nights , The Caliph’s House , and Travels with Nasrudin . For the last twenty years he has made his home in Morocco, and has strived to, as he puts it, “show the West to the East and the East to the West.” He is the founder and CEO of The Scheherazade Foundation, which strives to empower young women, to bridge cultures, and to harness the knowledge locked in ancient folklore.

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