Children of Gebelaawi Read Online Free PDF Page A

stories.
    I have witnessed only the most recent events, which have
    happened i n my own lifetime, but I have recorded everything
    as it is related by our nu merous bards. Everyone in our Alley
    tells these tales, just as they have been heard i n the local cafe
    or handed down in the fami ly, and such have been my only
    sources. There are so many occasions that call for the stories
    to be told. Whenever people suffer trouble or oppression or
    i njustice, they point to the Great House at the head of the AIIey
    where it meets the desert, and say sadly: There stands our
    Ancestor's house. We are all his children and we all have a right
    to his Trust. Why shou ld we be hungry and wretched? ' Then
    they start telling the stories of the glorious sons of our Alley:
    Adham, Gebel, Rifaa and Qaasim.
    This Ancestor of ours is a riddle. He lived so much longer
    than a human bei ng can hope for or even conceive that he
    became proverbial. He had been shut away in his house long
    ago because of his age, and si nce then no one had seen him at
    all. The legend of his isolation and longevity defies understanding, and imagi nation or wishful thinking no doubt helped it to grow. Be that as it may, he was called Gebelaawi or 'Old
    Man ofthejebel', and our Alley is named after him. He was the
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    Children of Gebelaawi
    Founder of its Trust Fund and the master of all that stood on
    its soil and of all the property around the nearby desert.
    I once heard a man say of him: 'From him came our Alley,
    from which came Cairo, mother of the world. He lived here
    alone when i t was a desolate wasteland and mastered it by the
    strength of his arm and by his standing with the Governor.
    Time will not bring another like him. He was a strongman so
    tough that wild animals cri nge at the mention of him.' I heard
    someone else say of him: ' He was truly a strongman, but not
    like the others. He never extorted protection money from
    anyone, nor did he strut about the world proudly, and he was
    merciful to the weak. ' Then came a time when a few people
    spoke of him in ways unworthy of his power and position; such
    is the way of the world.
    I myself have always found conversation about him fascinating, never dull. How often it has made me walk round the Great House in the hope of catch ing a glimpse of him, but
    always in vai n ! How often I have stood in fron t of the huge gate,
    gazing at the stuffed crocodi le mounted over i t! How often I
    have sat i n Muqattam Desert, not far from the great wall, able
    to see only the tops of the mulberry and fig and palm trees that
    screen the house, and a few shuttered windows that show no
    sign of life!
    Was it not sad to have such an ancestor without our ever
    seeing him, nor he us? Was it not strange that he should be
    hidden away in this great, locked house, while we lived i n the
    dust? If you ask what brought us all to such a pass you will at
    once hear the stories of Ad ham, Gebel, Rifaa and Qaasim. You
    will learn nothing to comfort your heart or ease your mind. As
    I have said, no one saw our Ancestor after his withdrawal, but
    that did not matter at all to most people. From the beginning
    they were interested only i n his Trust and in the famous Ten
    Clauses, about which so much has been said. This is the source
    of the conflict that has been raging ever since I was born, which
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    Prologue
    has grown more dangerous with every generation up till this
    one - and the next.
    I do not want any sarcastic comment when I point ou t that
    our people have always been one family, into which no outsider has married. Everyone knows everyone, both men and women, yet no alley has seen such savage feuds as ours, nor has
    conflict divided its people as it has ours. For each person who
    tries to do good you will fi nd ten strongmen brandishing their
    cudgels and looking for a fight, so people are accustomed to
    buyi ng securi ty with protection money and peace with su bmission and degradati on. They are severely punished for the