Atiq Rahimi - Earth and Ashes

Murad will recognize your box of naswar. After all, he gave it to you himself, the first time he was paid. As soon as he sees the box, he’ll know you’re alive. If he comes after you, you’ll know Murad is your Murad. If he doesn’t, you will have no Murad anymore. Go, get Yassin and return to the village. Wait there a few days.

You quicken your step towards the exit of the mine. You reach the gate. Without waiting for Shahmard, you walk towards the hills. A sob constricts your throat. You close your eyes and weep quietly within. Dastaguir, be strong! A man doesn’t weep. Why not?! Let your heart’s sorrow overflow!

You wind around the side of the first hill. You want naswar. You have none. Maybe the box of naswar is already in Murad’s hands.

You slow your pace. You stop. You bend down. You take a pinch of grey earth between your fingertips and place it under your tongue. Then you continue on… Your hands are clasped behind your back, holding tightly the bundle you tied from the apple-blossom scarf.

Born in Kabul in 1962, Atiq Rahimiwas seventeen years old when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. He left the country during the war, eventually obtaining political asylum in France. Rahimi now lives in Paris, where he makes documentary films. Earth and Ashes is his first book.

Published by Vintage 2003

2468 10 97531

Copyright © P.O.L editcur, 2000

Translation copyright © Erdag M. Goknar, 2002

First published in Dari (Afghanistan) in 1999 By Editions Khavaran, France, Under the title Khakestar-o-khak

Atiq Rahimi has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

First published in Great Britain in 2002 by Chatto & Windus

Vintage

Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA

Random House Australia (Pty) Limited 20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney New South Wales 2061, Australia

Random House New Zealand Limited 18 Poland Road, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand

Random House (Pty) Limited Endulini, 5A Jubilee Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009 www.randomhouse.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 09 944212 4

Papers used by Random House arc natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Cox & Wyman Limited, Reading, Berkshire