Rafik Schami - Damascus Nights

" 'You are the only one who can free your voice,' the demon said softly. 'He locks the voices up in his castle and uses them to create his elixir. No demon on earth can gain entrance to his castle, but with my help you will be able to. I shall change you into an eagle and you can search earth, heaven, and hell for the casde. When you find it, do not look back. Whatever you hear, do not look back. For if you do, the castle will be gone forever. Find the blue window that looks to heaven and dive right into it. The moment you break through that window you will turn back into a man. If you leave through the same window, you'll turn once more into an eagle. Take a sliver of the broken glass and hide it under your tongue, for as long as you keep this sliver, the castle cannot escape you. Look for your voice inside the castle — it will be your own image. Hug it close to you; that way you will set it free. But do not forget the glass sliver even for a second. The wizard will attempt to repair the broken windowpane in order to hide his castle in the fog of eternity, but as long as the smallest piece is missing, he will be unable to protect the castle against the might of Time. After seven nights it will collapse. Then the voices will lose their chains, but they will wander the earth until the end of time if they cannot be united with their images. Do not forget the splinter! The wizard will do everything he can to save his castle.'

"All right, so the demon kissed the man between his eyes and sent him soaring into heaven as an eagle. The demon and his wife watched the king of birds disappear into the blue sky. The demoness was still lost in thought when her beloved took her in his arms and kissed her on the lips. Two corn-poppy blossoms sprang from the spot where her feet had touched the earth.

"For years the eagle combed earth, heaven, and hell for the wizard's castle. During this time his wife searched desperately for him. Just as she was about to give up all hope, there suddenly appeared in her courtyard an old man with a long beard as white as snow. The horses shied and the dogs whimpered as if they felt an earthquake coming.

" 'Would you like your husband back? In return I wish neither castles nor gold,' said the old man, who then ran his fingers thoughtfully through his beard and peered at Sahar with eyes as red as fire.

" 'Of course I want my husband back, but what is your price if you want neither gold nor castles?'

" 'Your voice,' the old man said quietly. 'Give me your voice and in seven nights you will be lying in his arms.'

" 'I will never sell my voice! Be gone!' Sahar shouted, although her heart burned with longing for her husband.

" 'I will be back,' the wizard replied and walked slowly out of the courtyard.

"Three months later the old man returned, but Sahar again sent him away, with a heavy heart.

" 'The third time I come back will be the last. Consider my offer carefully!' the old man said angrily and slammed the door behind him.

"Sahar waited and waited, but it was three years before the old man returned. 'Well, have you considered my offer, carefully?' he asked, and a smile played around his lips.

" 'Take it. I want him.' Sahar said quietly.

"The wizard threw his cape over her, and when she came to, she could no longer speak. The servants were frightened when they saw their mistress coming out of her chamber looking so pale, for only a little while before they had watched her slowly leave the castle with the old man and climb aboard his carriage.

"Meanwhile, the eagle searched and searched. He circled above all the valleys and mountains of earth, heaven, and hell. One day, as he was circling over the earth, he saw a castle rising from the depths of a valley. Shortly thereafter he recognized the wizard hurrying into the castle with a woman. He wanted most of all to pluck out the wizard's eyes, but he knew that the castle would vanish on the spot. So he circled again and saw a golden dome with four windows: one red, one green, one blue, and one black. God only knows what the other three windows were for," said Mehdi, who then took a few draws on the waterpipe and passed it to Junis.

"Blue for heaven, red for sin, black for. ." Isam tried to explain.

"You heard him," replied Musa, "he said God only knows what they were for. Are you God now, or what? Please, go on, don't leave out a single word,' he; begged Mehdi.

"All right, so after searching for a long time the eagle found the blue window that looked to heaven, but at the same moment he heard his wife crying for help behind him. He wanted to turn around, but he remembered the kind demon's warning. Straight as an arrow he flew into the window with all his might. The glass shattered. The eagle took a sliver in his beak and jumped through. And then it happened exactly as the demon had promised: he was once again a human being. Now he tore off part of his shirt, wrapped up the sharp sliver and shoved it under his tongue.

"Two rows of rooms lined an endless hall. The farmer pricked up his ears and soon made out a song in a foreign language coming from the first room. He carefully opened the door, and inside he saw over forty young people, men and women, in foreign dress. They were chained to the wall, but they seemed refreshed and cheerful, as if they had just arrived. They paid him no notice, as if they couldn't see him. The farmer now hurried from door to door, opening each one and looking for himself among the many singers and storytellers. Then, outside the thirty-third room, he heard his own voice. He pushed open the door and saw his image chained to the wall. With the strength of all his love for his own voice he tore the chains off the wall and embraced his image. 'Sahar!' he cried out loud, and his heart fluttered wildly with joy, like a bird just escaped from a cage.

"It wasn't long before he heard the wizard on the roof, bellowing furiously, for he was trying in vain to piece together the broken window. 'I smell a human,' the voice of the wizard echoed through the halls of the castle. For a moment the farmer was crippled with fear, but he ran as fast as he could and leaped back through the window into the open sky. A great eagle with mighty wings climbed the heavens. 'I'll get you!' cursed the wizard from the roof of his castle. He, too, changed into an eagle, but the farmer was faster. Then the wizard changed into a gusty wind and tried to knock the eagle down, but the eagle was stronger than the wind. He flew unerringly for two days and two nights. Hunger tore at his stomach. The wizard turned into a dove that fluttered helplessly in front of the eagle, but the eagle flew on. On the third day, the eagle was so thirsty he would have given everything in the world for a drop of water, but when he spotted a blue lake beyond the mountains he remembered the splinter underneath his tongue and was afraid. He flew on, and the lake dried up at once, for it had been none other than the wizard. Late in the afternoon of the third day, the eagle reached his palace. He flew through the open door of his bedroom, and there he saw Sahar lying on the bed. The moment he saw her dead eyes, the farmer knew that she had given up her voice for him. Sahar realized the eagle was her husband, because she recognized his eyes, the eyes that she had missed all those many years — but she couldn't speak a word to him.

" 'Come with me to rescue your voice!' the eagle said in the warm voice that Sahar had always loved. She climbed onto his back, and the eagle flew off.

"Now, the wizard knew the farmer would return. He went back to his castle and waited in front of Sahar's image. Day and night he waited, and late in the afternoon of the sixth day the farmer and his wife flew through the blue window that looked to heaven. Sahar wished for all the words in the world to tell her husband — who was now standing before her — how much she loved him, but she couldn't bring a single sound across her lips. Her husband whispered to her very softly: 'We have to find your image, and once you see it, do not look back, no matter how much I scream. Tear it from its chains and run out. Did you hear me? Save yourself!' He took Sahar in his arms. One final embrace, and then they tiptoed down the hall.