The Haj - Leon Uris [47]
‘We are very close,’ Azziz emoted. ‘Instead of six camels, I think in terms of eight.’
‘That is beyond all question,’ Farouk answered.
‘But we are very close, Nephew, very close. I think in terms of keeping the seventh camel, but I shall sell the eighth ... and the money from that will find its way back to you.’
‘I cannot hear of such a thing,’ Farouk opined sincerely.
‘And instead of twenty-four rifles, let us say, thirty-five rifles and the proceeds of the sale of five of them will be yours.’
Farouk closed his eyes and shook his head ‘no ... a thousand times no,’ but Walid Azziz continued down the list, so that when he was done Farouk had obtained a small fortune for himself.
Farouk returned to Tabah elated and recounted how he had bilked the old sheik out of his favorite daughter at an immensely reasonable price.
A month later Hagar was unceremoniously told to visit her relatives in Khan Yunis on the Gaza Strip and not to return until she was sent for.
After she left, Haj Ibrahim organized all the village’s women to start preparing a feast of glorious proportions. Several days later a majestic line of camels floated over the horizon toward Tabah. Haj Ibrahim, dressed in new robes, galloped out to greet them and led them into the village.
Tabah had a khan near the village center containing two large rooms: one for the women and one for the men. In the old days the village was a day’s camel ride to Jerusalem and the khan had served as a hostel for Moslem pilgrims. These days cameleers came to Tabah several times a year to haul crops, and the khan was availed to them. On other occasions, such as a wedding or other large occasion, the big room was used as a gathering and banquet hall, instead of the tent.
The entire male population of Tabah had gathered in the square. Haj Ibrahim entered first, followed by the great Walid Azziz astride a horse and flanked by his two slaves on donkeys. The camels were tethered in the court of the khan and the two lines of men came together, firing rifles into the air, whooping it up, hugging, kissing, invoking parables and Allah’s name. Gifts of the principals were exchanged. The sheik gave Ibrahim a silver dagger of pre-Ottoman vintage and Ibrahim presented the sheik with a handsome camel saddle.
During the men’s greetings the bride had been whisked, unseen, up to the knoll by the prophet’s tomb, where two large Bedouin tents were pitched, one for either sex.
When the men had rested from the journey and completed their encampment, they repaired down to the khan for the feast. Counting the men in the Wahhabi party and Ibrahim’s clan sheiks, muktars, clansmen, and close friends, some eighty men reclined on the carpeted floor on an array of pillows and camel saddles, to be served by over a hundred women.
Neither the sheik nor Haj Ibrahim allowed religion to interfere with a little imbibing on such an occasion. Mouths were seared and stomachs turned into infernos with portions of arrack that brought tears to all but the most hardened.
It is said there were four ways of eating. With one finger to indicate disgust; with two fingers as a show of pride; with three fingers as an indication of normalcy; and with four fingers to show voraciousness. This was strictly a four-finger affair.
Haj Ibrahim had often lectured his villagers, admonishing them for giving parties beyond their means. It was an Arab downfall, a false means of proving one’s self-image. Haj Ibrahim was not, of course, a man to be bound by advice he gave others. The Muktar of Tabah displayed his generosity and power and veracity by the enormity of his parties. Farouk often complained that his brother’s banquets were taking them to the brink of ruin, but to little avail.
After the ritual handwashing, food came in battalions, regiments, and legions. A parade of the mezes led off the feast, with three dozen varieties of salads.
Stacks of pita bread, flat and round, were torn asunder to be swished around in the pasty salads while the rest was taken by finger. There was hummus and tahini