Mohammed Mrabet - M'Hashish

It seemed to him that the safest way of getting to the kif patch without being seen was to cross the stream and creep along the path behind the bushes. Once he had crossed the stream he jumped off the donkey. Leaving it there, he went up, along the path where the boar-trap was. When he walked onto the false earth over the pit, the cover broke with his weight, and he dropped down onto the bed of glass and cactus spikes.

The blood was running out of his body. Everyone was asleep, and there was no one to hear even his loudest cries, out there in the woods.

In the morning the Rifi got up and went out to take the covers off his kif. He looked closely at the plants, and found them all smiling and happy. He left them uncovered, waiting for the sun, and went to another part of the garden where his vegetables grew. Soon he decided to go down and see the boar-trap.

When he saw the open pit ahead of him in the path, he smiled. He was sure he had caught the boar.

He leaned over, saw the Djibli, and ran to get a rope. He came back and slung the rope over a branch of one of the trees, making it secure with a noose. Then slowly he let himself down in. The Djibli was dead, covered with blood and creosote.

Then the Rifi knew who had destroyed his kif, and he realized that the boar had made it possible for him to kill the Djibli without any guilt. No one can foresee the plans of Allah, he murmured.

He climbed up and ran to his house. There he got out several kilos of lime for whitewashing, which he dumped into a cauldron full of water. He worked at it, mashing it and stirring it until it bubbled and steamed. He carried it down to the pit and poured it over the Djibli. Then he threw in rocks, and after that he shovelled in earth, until the pit was filled up. In the place where it had been he planted weeds and bushes. No sign remained that there ever had been a trench dug there.

From then on the Rifi lived alone and cut his trees alone. He picked his kif and smoked it by himself, and had no more trouble.

At the entrance to the Khalifa's palace there was a garden full of fountains and flowers. It was here that a certain Nchaioui used to come each day to sit under a fig tree. He would set his basket down and take from it a sheepskin which he always carried with him. Then he would spread out the sheepskin and sit on it. In the basket he also had charcoal, a teapot, and a bowl of majoun. He would place three stones in such a way that there was room between them to make a fire, set the teapot on top, and wait for the water to boil. Any day you could see him sitting there in the garden on the sheepskin. He had no work, but he had many friends who kept him alive with small sums of money which they gave him from time to time.

It became known that the Khalifa was suffering from an abscess in a private part of his body, and that as a result he could not sit down. The best doctors had been called, but they were not able to help him. The reason for this was that the Khalifa, being ashamed, would not let them examine the abscess. He called in holy men and tolba who chanted the Koran for him, but the pain went on.

The Nchaioui heard about the Khalifa's difficulties, and straightway he went to the garden and began to eat majoun. He ate more than usual that day, and smoked a great deal of kif as well. All the while he was thinking about the Khalifa. When he was feeling happy, he lay back in the shade of the fig tree and said to himself: I think I can cure him.

Soon he rose, folded his sheepskin, put his pipe and teapot and bowl of majoun into the basket, and went to knock at the Khalifa's gate. A Sudanese opened it and asked him what he wanted.

I'm a doctor, he said.

Where are you from? said the black man, looking at his ragged robes. We've had all the doctors in the country.

I'm from the Ghemel, he told him. I've got medicines that will make anybody feel better, no matter how sick he is.

Wait, said the black man. I'll be back in a while.

The Sudanese went in to his master's chamber and told him that a toubib had arrived from the Chemel.

The Khalifa was lying on his belly. He raised his head a little and sighed. Bring him in, he said.

The servant went to the gate. Come with me, he told the Nchaioui.

In the chamber the Nchaioui saw the Khalifa lying face down on the bed. Bring plenty of honey and hot tea, he told the black man, and he sat down on the bed beside the Khalifa. When the servant returned with the tea and honey, the Nchaioui took out his bowl and scooped up a large ball of majoun, which he handed to the Khalifa. First eat this, he told him. And drink this tea afterward.

The Khalifa did as he was told, and the Nchaioui kept giving him more tea to drink. When an hour had passed, and the Nchaioui saw that the majoun had taken effect, he sent the servant out of the room and stood up.

This is the moment for the medicine, he said. He reached down and pulled off the Khalifa's tchamir, leaving his buttocks uncovered. The Khalifa did not even notice.

Then the Nchaioui anointed his sex with honey and thrust it with great force into the Khalifa.

The Khalifa uttered a scream, and tried to throw the Nchaioui off, but he did not have the strength. After that he was quiet while the Nchaioui worked.

The operation is almost over, your Excellency, said the Nchaioui. He finished and withdrew his sex, very much pleased. The abscess had burst, and he summoned the black man and told him to bring towels and clean his master.

Meanwhile the Khalifa, who had been in pain for a long time, was so relieved by the bursting of the abscess that he fell asleep. Seeing this, the Nchaioui unrolled his sheepskin and lay down on it at the foot of the bed. In the morning when he awoke, he found the Khalifa still sleeping.

The Khalifa awoke shortly afterward, and the Nchaioui helped him out of bed.

I have no more pain, said the Khalifa.

Hamdoul'lah! said the Nchaioui.

Together they went into the Khalifa's bathing chambers. After the servants had poured water over them and gone out, the Khalifa said: Last night, when you operated on me, what did you use? A pole of some kind?

Your Excellency, I used this. He pointed at his sex.

What? cried the Khalifa. But that means you assaulted me. You assaulted your Khalifa!

No, your Excellency, I operated on you, nothing more.

Good, said the Khalifa, remembering that the Nchaioui had indeed cured him.

They came out of the hammam, and the Khalifa ordered a great festival to be given immediately. There were musicians and dancers, and the guests ate and drank tea for many hours. In the middle of the party the Nchaioui took out his bowl of majoun and gave a spoonful to the Khalifa. Soon the Khalifa began to talk and laugh and sing, and the Nchaioui knew that he was happy. He put everything into his basket and stood up.

I must leave, your Excellency, he said. How much do I owe you? the Khalifa asked him.

Sidi, whatever you give mewill be more than enough, because it comes from you.

He is a great doctor, thought the Khalifa. He sent a servant for a pouch full of dinars, and gave it to him.

The Nchaioui thanked him and left. Then he went across the street and sat under the fig tree to smoke kif.

A man named Si Qaddour had been left a large tract of land by his father. There was a big house at one end of it where the family lived, and a half mile or so from the house there was a grove of trees. Here in the shade at the edge of a stream Si Qaddour's father had built a small house and arranged a garden around it. The old man had spent most of his time sitting in this garden, far from his family.

Si Qaddour was a busy man, and never went near the little house in the woods. His son, however, a youth of seventeen, liked to smoke kif, and his grandfather's garden seemed to him the perfect place to do it. He began to spend more and more time there, until finally he moved out of his family's house altogether and went to live alone in the woods. Once a month he would go into the town and buy what he needed, such as matches, or a new pipe, or more kif. Each afternoon he walked to his father's house and got the food he would be eating that night and the next day.