Ali woke up from his sleep looking around everywhere, still preoccupied with the dream he had and the image of the young man he saw in the dream and the sentence he said to him. He left the room heading towards the elder's room to tell him about the strange dream he had. When Ali entered the room, he found the elder sitting in his strange chair and holding his strange stick. When he saw Ali, he said to him, "Did you wake up, my son? How was your sleep? Did you rest from the fatigue of traveling?" Ali replied, "Yes, grandfather, but I woke up frightened from a strange dream." The grandfather asked, "What did you see, my son? Hopefully, it was a good dream by the will of Allah." Ali continued, saying, "I saw strange people riding horses and holding shiny swords. One of them was a young man dressed in a strange costume, with a dagger on his waist and a sharp sword in his hand. He approached me and put the sword on my neck and said, 'Your end will be on my hands, as I am waiting for you.' What does this mean, grandfather?"
The elder said, "Don't worry, my son. Be prepared for the task you will be entrusted with and be knowledgeable about everything. Now, they will bring us food for lunch and then I will continue the rest of the story."
"Okay, grandpa, I am eager to hear the rest of the story," Ali replied.
The servants brought the food to the elder's room, and it was a delicious meal with various dishes of meat, chicken, rice, and vegetables, all with a delicious flavor of the countryside.
"But, grandpa," Ali asked, "does what I saw in the dream have any connection with the task I will be entrusted with?"
The elder replied, "Yes, my son. I don't want to lie to you. What you saw in the dream means that they are ready to receive you and that they are preparing for you. It is strange that they know who the chosen person for the task is, and this raises my question of how they knew it was you."
Ali was surprised and asked his grandfather, "Who are these people you're talking about?"
"You will know, my son, when I finish the story," the elder replied.
Ali washed his hands, and while he was washing them, he looked at the woman and examined her neck, where it hurt him. But in reality, the pain was not just a normal dream.
After he finished washing his hands, he went to the room and took his place, ready to hear the rest of the story.
"I'm ready to hear the story, grandpa," Ali said.
"After Abu Al-Qasim swore to prevent Tayam(the fortune-teller) from reaching his son and to prevent him from marrying his daughter in any way, he and the council advisers agreed to wage war on Tayam's house and make him pay the price for thinking of approaching the Salmani's house and his family. On a moonless night, Salmani gathered his soldiers to attack Tayam and kill him. Salmani reached Tayam's house and kicked the door hard, but only his daughter was there. When Salmani saw her, he became angry and said, 'So, you are the one who tempted my son with your beauty. Then I will end your life.' Salmani killed the innocent girl who had no fault in this story. Salmani then searched for Tayam everywhere to kill him too, but he didn't find him. However, he left two soldiers close to his house to check for any trace of him when he appears," the elder continued the story.
At that time, the fortune-teller Tiyam was in another place on the outskirts of the town, and he had a hidden house in one of the mountains where he practiced magic and divination. At that time, Tiyam saw what happened to his daughter in a courtyard with enchanted water, in which he could see the things he wanted to know about. He became furious when he saw what happened to his daughter, who was killed without any wrongdoing, except for being his daughter.
The fortune-teller swore to make the lives of Salmani and his son never-ending wars, but the fortune-teller disappeared from the town for a year. During that year, Qasim had managed to get rid of the spell that was cast on him by the fortune-teller through one of the tribe's elders who helped him to do so. Salmani chose a wife for his son Qasim, and she was the daughter of one of his advisors. She was beautiful, but not as beautiful as the fortune-teller's daughter.
After two months of marriage, Qasim's wife became pregnant, and after nine months, she gave birth to twin boys who were very handsome but different from each other and did not resemble each other. Qasim named them, one Khalid and the other Samer.
On a moonlit night, Tiam was sitting in his tower and seeing everything that was happening with Qasim, and that he had given birth to twin boys who did not resemble each other. Tiyam the fortune-teller planned to kidnap one of them, and on this moonlit night, Tiyam prepared a plan to kidnap one of the children.
On this night, the twins were crying a lot and refusing to breastfeed from their mother. They were very hungry, but they refused to drink their mother's milk. The mother and Qasim were confused about what to do with them so that they would drink the milk.
Their maid suggested, "Why don't we search for a nursing mother who just gave birth? Maybe they would agree to nurse the babies." The idea sparked in Qasim's mind, and he announced throughout the town to search for a woman who had just given birth to breastfeed the twins. At the same time, Tiam was ready for this call as he had a slave girl and had prepared her for this day since he was the reason why the twins refused to drink milk from their mother.
Tiam had planned to enter Qasim's house and kidnap one of the children. He sent his slave girl to Qasim's house with a newborn baby to say that she was ready to breastfeed the babies with her own child. The twins' mother was delighted to have her and welcomed her, saying, "Please sit and breastfeed my two babies as they are extremely hungry." When she held the first baby to breastfeed, the baby refused to drink, but the other newborn began to suckle on the slave girl's breast, even though there was no milk in it.
Qasim was amazed by this, and he and his wife believed that the slave girl was nursing the child. Tayam was successful in making the baby calm and suckle the slave girl's breast. Qasim was pleased when he saw his son calm down and his other child drink and satisfy his hunger. After she finished feeding the first baby, she held the second one to breastfeed and placed her own son next to her, sleeping soundly without making a sound. Suddenly, both babies started crying, and the slave girl grabbed Samer's cloak. This was the signal to kidnap one of the babies.
When the parents saw the two children crying, they told the maid to wait and not leave, and to stay with the children for a while so that they wouldn't cry. The maid agreed to stay with the children, and she was happy inside because she had enough time to carry out the plan. The maid asked the mother to ask her servant to make her some food so she could eat because breastfeeding the children made her very hungry. The mother went to order her servant to make some food for her, and at that time, Qasim went outside for a while. The maid had the opportunity to replace the child with the one with her, who had a tiger-shaped stamp on his leg, which she stamped on Khalid's leg. Then she covered the child's face a little so that no one would notice that she had replaced them. After the servant brought the food, the maid pretended to eat it and then said that she had to leave so that her husband wouldn't get angry. The mother thanked the maid and gave her money for her service, then she quickly left the house. At the same time, Tiam left her a horse near a tree, and when she approached it, she found it and rode it to her church quickly before the kidnapping was discovered.
When the mother rushed to see her children, she found her son Khalid and the other child, not her son Samer. She thought that the maid had made a mistake and took Samer instead of her son, but when she approached the maid's child, she found him not crying and not moving. He was not a child but just a doll that looked like a real child. Anyone who saw it would think it was a real child. Qasim's wife screamed at the top of her voice when she felt that her son had been kidnapped and that this was a deliberate plan and not just a coincidence. Qasim entered his wife and found her holding this doll and crying bitterly over her kidnapped son.
Translation: "At the time, Tiam left her horse near a tree when she approached it, she found it and rode it quickly to reach her tower before the kidnapping was discovered. When the mother hurried to see her children, she found her son Khaled and the other child, Samer, who was not her son. Khaled's mother thought that…
Qasim didn't believe what was happening, he rushed to his son Khaled to make sure he was there, and when he examined him, he found a strange shape on his leg. Surprised, he said, "What is this?" A tiger's face on my son's leg, sealed by whoever did it. Qasim asked the mother if either of her children had this mark when they were born, and she answered no, neither of her children had any marks on their legs.
Qasim was able to guess that the soothsayer Tiam was behind it all, and that he was the one who kidnapped his son and put the seal on his other son's leg. Qasim and his wife almost lost their minds with the loss of their son Samer. Qasim sent for his father Salmani to come and find a solution to this disaster that had befallen their tribe with the loss of one of their sons. The maid rode the horse with Samer in her hand, and the horse ran quickly until it reached Tiam the soothsayer's hiding tower in the mountain.
When she arrived there, Tiam the soothsayer took Samer and laughed a big laugh that echoed throughout the mountain. He said, "From today on, this will be my son, and he will be the weapon that will fight them with their own blood. Wars between them will not stop from now on. I will build a big city that no one will enter except those I choose to be its inhabitants. It will be the greatest town in all the lands, but it will be hidden from people's eyes. It will have its own customs different from the others, and it will be like no other.
Its inhabitants will be the strongest and most powerful knights, and their weapons will have no match in their strength and unity. Tiam turned to the maid and said to her, "From now on, you will be the mother of the child, and you will be my wife and queen of the city I will build. Our son will be the expected king of our city , which I will choose a name that its people will sing with pride. Its name will be the city of "Washindi". The maid couldn't believe what she was hearing and that she would finally become Tiam the soothsayer's wife after serving him all these years, hoping he would marry her and make her a wife instead of a maid. Her dream would finally come true, and she would be his wife and the queen of the future of the city of Washindi.
Tiam said, "From now on, I will name our child 'Nalan.' The person with this name possesses a great deal of wisdom and intellect, is fair and just, has a strong personality, and can bear the burden. Nalan means 'the honest king,' and my son will be the king of the future town of Washindi."
Tiam turned to his maid, calling her by her distinctive name, "Hatun," and said, "Be prepared, Hatun, to take on a great deal of new responsibility. You must live up to the confidence I have placed in you. From now on, you will be Tiam the fortune-teller's wife, the queen of Washindi, and the mother of our son Nalan. This child will be the means to fight the Salmani tribe and avenge my daughter's death at the hands of their criminal. They will not live in peace anymore, and war will begin between us once our son becomes a young and capable warrior. Today is the beginning of building our new city, Washindi."
Hatun approached Tiam and placed her hand on his shoulder, saying, "I promise to live up to the confidence and responsibility. I am at your service in everything you ask of me. From now on, I will take care of our child and you, and all my love, affection, and care will be for both of you only."
An hour after telling Ali the story, the elder Salmani said, "That's enough for today, my son. You need to rest now; I have told you a lot of the story today. We still have two days until your mission begins, during which I will have completed telling you the story of our tribe. After that, I will give you the book of laws, and then you will go on your mission, my son. This will be the last mission for the Khalid tribe, and we want the victory to be ours, and for you to return victorious."
Hatun approached Tiyam and placed her hand on his shoulder, saying to him: "I promise you that I will be trustworthy and responsible. I am under your command in everything you order me to do, and from now on, I will take care of our child and you. All my love, tenderness, and care will be for both of you only."
After an hour of grandpa's storytelling to Ali, he said to him: "That's enough for today, my son. You need to rest now. I have told you a lot of stories today, and we still have two days before you start your mission. I have finished telling you the story of our tribe, and then I will give you the book of laws. Then, you will go on your mission, my son. This will be the last mission for the Bani Khalid tribe. We want to win, and we want you to achieve what is required and return as a victor."
Ali said: "Okay, grandpa. I will be ready, God willing, and I ask God to grant me victory and give me the strength and courage for the new mission."
The grandfather allowed Ali to go to his room to rest and sleep a little. Ali went to his room, and his mind was still preoccupied with the events of the story and its characters. The story had made him forget his wife, whom he had divorced, and he had not thought about her, despite his love for her and his heart being very attached to her. Ali lay down on the bed, closed his eyes, and fell asleep from too much thinking. He had a strange dream in which he found himself walking in a dense forest with a sharp and shiny sword in his hand, wearing strange clothes that were not familiar to him.
The design of the clothes was strange and not from his country's traditional clothes. It was an unconventional dress for him. Suddenly, he heard the voice of his wife, Jana, around him, saying, "I'm waiting for you, Ali. Be ready." He saw two people from afar, a woman and a man, wearing the same dress he was wearing, but the difference was that they were wearing a crown on their heads, and they seemed to be the kings of this forest. Ali ran after them, calling their names, but they ran away from him until they entered a cave with a door. The girl turned to him and smiled. It was his wife's face, Jana, but she was holding the hand of that young man, and she closed the cave after that. Both of them disappeared before his eyes. Ali woke up from his sleep, puzzled and confused.
© Doaa Khaled
Washindi laws