Mohammed Mrabet - M'Hashish

One Moslem said: That's right, and another told him: You're crazy, and they began to have an argument.

The Frenchman was frowning. He yelled at them, and they were all quiet. Now, he said, talking to me, the last time you made it, but this time you've got to pay.

The last time they just wanted to see what was in the sack inside my beach bag, I told him.

And what was it

Just pieces of bread. I use them to fish with. Sometimes I eat them myself. Because I have no work. I just sit in the café. And my friends are good to me. Each one helps me a little.

Finally, they took me to a room and shut me in. I sat there for two hours and a half. Then they came and got me and took me back to the Frenchman.

I felt sorry for you, he told me. So you can go.

Do me a favor, I said.

What's that?

Keep the kif and tobacco. Just give me the board and the knife.

Certainly not! What an idea!

But the man who gave them to me is dead. I think more of that board and that knife than I do of anything.

He was frowning at me. And in front of the Moslems standing there he said: That's enough. That's enough. Take everything.

I wrapped it all up. Kif, tobacco, board, sifter and knife. And I thanked him.

Get out of here, he told me.

I went back to the café. Everybody was sitting around looking sad. When they saw me they jumped up. What happened?

I unwrapped the things and showed them to them. It's all here, I said, and I climbed up onto the musicians' platform and asked the qahouaji for a glass of tea. Then I began to cut.

THE GANEBRAKE

The husband who keeps his wife in the house and does the marketing himself is a common phenomenon even today. Mrabet's grandfather killed one of his wives for standing fully dressed in the open doorway, looking out into the street.

THE KIF PATCH

This is a commentary by a Riffian on the character of his traditional enemy, the Djibli. The most violent street fights in my quarter of Tangier are the melees involving extended families of Riffians and extended families of Djebala. The women and children join in; furniture is hurled from windows and bricks from rooftops.

THE DOCTOR FROM THE CHEMEL

The word chemel, while meaning "left" as opposed to "right", is used also to indicate the east. (In Medina, facing Mecca, the east is on the left.) In Morocco, the Rif is referred to as the Chemel.

A Nchaioui is an individual, generally having a strongly psychopathic personality, who has become so thoroughly habituated to cannabis that virtually all his waking hours are passed in the preparation and ingestion of it. He is a stock character in the story-tellers' repertory, probably a contemporary variant of Abu Nowas of The Thousand and One Nights, whose taste and capacity for every form of cannabis was boundless. Sometimes he is called the Hacheichi.

HASSAN AND THE AGHREBIA

Aghrebia are small, rather hard cakes, generally given, one to a guest, at a wedding or a naming party for a week-old baby. They come under the category of food, and are not otherwise therapeutic. The household recipe, however, does not concur with Si Mokhtar's, which follows:

Aghrebia

1/2 kilo kharouah beans

2 kilos whole wheat flour

5 eggs

1/4 kilo dried green almonds, previously macerated in mortar

1/4 kilo walnuts, chopped

1/4 kilo sugar

1/4 kilo rancid sheep's butter

Boil kharouah beans in cauldron of water until the water turns black. This will take more than an hour, and extra water may be needed. Remove beans from water. Put the beans into a skillet and heat them, shaking, until they are completely dried out. Then pound them in a mortar until they are pulverised. Add the flour, sugar and eggs, and stir. To the almonds and walnuts add a handful of unhusked sesame seeds and one grated nutmeg, and pour the mixture into the dough. Now add the black bean-water and mix thoroughly. Spread the rancid sheep's butter over the palms of the hands and rub the palms lightly over the mass of dough. Continue until all the sheep's butter has been rubbed onto the outside of the dough. Sprinkle sugar over the top and cut into strips, which can then be cut into cubes, the cubes being rolled into balls before baking. They need a very hot oven for a half-hour.

THE SEA IN THE STREET

Qoqa, the dried seeds of the red poppy, pulverised. Some smokers lace their kif with the powder, claiming it enhances the effect.

THE DATURA TREES

The slipping of rhaita (datura) flowers into the food or drink of one's friends is a standard practical joke.