The Haj - Leon Uris [49]
‘The girl, Ramiza, is very young and I have been through many harvests.’ He emitted a deep, deep, deep sigh and did it over again. ‘It is vital that I make a great impression because this marriage is one of the most important to take place inside the Wahhabi tribe for many years. Gideon, my friend, in recent times I have had some failures.’
‘What kind of failures?’
The muktar waved his hands about and grumbled. ‘Failures of the most humiliating kind. It is certainly not my fault. I simply cannot find Hagar that attractive anymore. I know there has been women’s gossip around the water well. Hagar has intimated that there is no longer satisfaction between us. I must make an important impression on my new wife or I will be ruined.’
‘You’re speaking about your role as a man, a lover in bed, are you not?’
Ibrahim groaned long and shook his head. ‘I cannot understand it. It has only begun to happen since the last harvest and only once in a while.’
Gideon nodded that he understood and felt for Haj Ibrahim’s embarrassment. The centerpiece of an Arab man’s existence was his masculinity. Known impotence was the most horrendous disgrace that could befall a man.
‘What am I supposed to do?’ Gideon asked.
‘I know that your people at Shemesh have certain medicines that can correct the situation.’
‘Really, Ibrahim. Men have been searching for that magic elixir since time began. You have your own aphrodisiacs.’
‘I’ve tried them all. I even sent to Cairo from a magazine. They don’t work. I am all right except when I get nervous and think too much about it.’
Gideon shrugged.
‘The stuff you give to your bulls and horses. The stuff that comes from Spain.’
‘Spanish fly!’
‘Yes, yes, that’s it. Spanish fly.’
‘But that’s for animals. It would be dangerous for a man. No, no, Haj Ibrahim, nothing doing.’
‘If I get nervous and fail with this young girl, I leave Tabah, I leave Palestine. I go to China.’
The consequences of failure loomed so large that Haj Ibrahim had been driven to expose his weakness to another man, the most intimate secret an Arab could have.
‘I’ll speak with the veterinarian,’ Gideon said.
‘My good dear blessed friend! But you must swear by Allah,’ he said, putting his finger to his lips.
Two hours later Gideon returned to Tabah to find Haj Ibrahim alone in the square, pacing fiendishly.
Gideon took a packet from his pocket. ‘I had to argue like hell and lie a lot to get this.’
Haj Ibrahim seized Gideon’s hand and kissed it. Gideon opened the packet, revealing a gram of brownish powdery stuff.
‘How does it work?’
‘It’s made from ground-up beetles and it irritates the skin. Use only a tiny pinch. Rub it around on the head of your prick.’ Gideon pressed his fingers together to indicate an infinitesimal amount. ‘Too much could be very dangerous. What is here is enough to last you for ten days. After that, you’re on your own.’
Haj Ibrahim rubbed his hands together gleefully. ‘I’ll get her with child right away. Then everyone will know exactly how great I am.’
After morning prayer, Farouk and the clan chiefs and elders assembled at Haj Ibrahim’s house. They then paraded solemnly to the knoll and to the tent of Walid Azziz. Several of the more important members of the Wahhabis sat on either side of the old sheik. Camel saddles surrounded by dozens of embroidered pillows were on the floor in a semicircle.
Farouk had brought a small chest of silver and gold pieces and a number of official documents. He cracked the lid, withdrew the first of the papers, and read it. It detailed the bride’s fortune to be paid by the husband, the bride’s price paid to the father, and terms for her return in the event she was not a virgin or did not bear him a son with three pregnancies or if she proved barren.
Farouk then turned over a deed giving Ramiza fifty dunams of land.
The chest of gold and silver pieces was placed before the sheik. This would be the next to final payment. A small percentage was held back in case she had to be returned.