Season of the Sandstorms - Mary Pope Osborne [14]
“Wow,” whispered Jack.
“You have shown me that you have a great respect for books and learning,” said Caliph al-Mamoon. “And you have also proven you have humble hearts. Before you join your family, I want to show you a very special place. I call it the House of Wisdom.”
“The House of Wisdom?” breathed Jack. “That sounds great.”
“It is my hope that the world will indeed find it ‘great,’” said the caliph. “Come.” He started to leave the room. Jack and Annie rose from the floor and hurried after him.
Carrying the ancient book of Aristotle, the caliph led Jack and Annie out of the Room of the Tree. His gold-trimmed robe billowed about him as he swept down the corridor. Every person he passed bowed low to the floor.
“Another mystery solved!” Annie said to Jack. She quoted from Merlin’s letter:
Greet a friend you once knew
and a new friend to be.
“Both friends are the same person!” said Annie. “Mamoon from the desert and Caliph Abdullah al-Mamoon.”
“Right,” said Jack, smiling.
The caliph led Jack and Annie out the front doors of the palace. In the courtyard stood two camels with long poles attached to their saddles. Resting on top of the poles was a small carriage decorated with gold tassels and brass bells.
Servants helped Jack, Annie, and Caliph Abdullah al-Mamoon into the strange little carriage. Bells jingled as the camels began to move slowly through the courtyard.
The caliph opened tiny shutters to let in air and sunlight. Jack looked out. Everyone bowed as the royal carriage passed by: the boys playing ball, the gardeners weeding flower beds, the women carrying pots.
Jack had lots of questions about the House of Wisdom. But now that he knew their friend Mamoon was the mighty caliph, he felt shy. Even Annie seemed to be at a loss for words as they rode past the date palms and the palace gardens.
“We are here,” said the caliph as the camels came to a stop. He helped Jack and Annie out of the carriage. Then he led them up the steps of a large brick building.
“Welcome to the House of Wisdom,” said the caliph, “a learning center for the entire world.”
“What happens here?” asked Jack.
“Come, I will show you.” The caliph escorted Jack and Annie through the front door and down a wide hallway. “We have a laboratory for discovering new medicines,” he said, “and an observatory for viewing the stars and planets. But this is my favorite room of all.”
The caliph stopped before an arched doorway. He opened the door and led Jack and Annie into a huge, silent room. “This is the library,” he said in a hushed voice. “Even I must be very quiet here.”
Late-afternoon light slanted down from high, open windows, streaming over bookshelves and colorful carpets. Men read at long tables. When the readers looked up and saw the caliph, they all started to rise.
“Please continue with your work. Do not mind us,” the caliph said softly.
The men sat down again and returned to their reading and writing.
The caliph pointed to a bearded man sitting by a window, hunched over a pile of papers. The man was writing furiously.
“That is al-Khwarizmi,” whispered the caliph. “He is a truly great mathematician. He has perfected the Indian way of writing numbers.” The caliph pointed to numbers written on a board on the wall: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. “We call these the Arabic numerals,” he said.
“Arabic numerals?” said Jack.
“Yes,” said the caliph.
Jack whispered to Annie, “We use the Arabic numerals, too. They must have come from that guy.”
The caliph pointed to another man reading by the window. “He is al-Kindi. He is perhaps the most brilliant scientist and thinker in the world,” whispered the caliph. “But he is very humble. He believes knowledge cannot belong to only one person