[Oriental Encounters by Marmaduke Pickthall]@TWC D-Link book
Oriental Encounters

CHAPTER XXIX
1/10


CONCERNING CRIME AND PUNISHMENT If we wished to stay in any place for more than a day or two, Rashid, upon arrival, wandered through the markets and inquired what dwellings were to let, while I sat down and waited in some coffee-house.

Within an hour he would return with tidings of a decent lodging, whither we at once repaired with our belongings, stabling our horses at the nearest khan.
My servant was an expert in the art of borrowing, so much so that no sound of disputation on that subject reached my ears.

It seemed as if the neighbours came, delighted, of their own accord to lend us pots and pans and other necessaries.

He also did the cooking and the marketing without a hitch, giving a taste of home to the small whitewashed chamber, which we had rented for a week, it might be, or a month at most.
When obliged to go out upon any errand, Rashid was always worried about leaving me alone, regarding me as careless of my property and so untrusty from the point of view of one who idolised it.
'If your Honour should be seized with a desire to smell the air when I am absent,' he would say, 'do not forget to lock the door and place the key in the appointed hiding-place where I can find it.

There are wicked people in the world.


<<Back  Index  Next>>

D-Link book Top

TWC mobile books