Novel Alone in the Desert, Episode One
Beginning of the story:
It is said that the king of a tribe and his son went out one day in a large caravan to visit his sister who had gotten married and went to live with her husband in a distant country.
They crossed the countryside and the valleys, and when they approached, they met on the way a young maid sitting on a stone, crying and wailing, and her voice could be heard from a great distance. The riders approached her. The king got off his horse, greeted her, and asked her: What makes you cry, maid?
She replied: Let me complain about my concerns to God in my current situation, for the servants cannot do anything!!! He said to her: You are right, but we are an Arab people who possess chivalry and help, and no one who sheds a tear from your eyes will ever live. Tell me about your story, and you will not find among us anyone except those who make you happy!!!
She said: Sir, I am still a child, and I have never known anything from life except cruelty, and nothing from my husband except evil and humiliation. This is my fate and nothing is useful in it except crying.
The king said to her: Know, maid, that God is merciful to His servants, and He does not close a door before you except to open a better one for you. Tell us about your family, and we will carry you to them, or do you want us to bring them to you? She replied: I am an orphan and cut from a tree. I only have the face of God, and only He knows my condition!!!
The king patted her on the shoulder and said to her: Consider me from today on as your father and my son who stands there as your brother. This is a promise I make to myself. Your joy is our joy and your sadness is our sorrow. Give good news, for God has heard your complaint and sent us to you on this day. The girl was silent and wiped her tears, so the king called his son to bring her food. He milked a camel, and carried milk and a handful of dates for her. She was hungry, so she ate and drank, then wiped her lips. The boy said to her: Do you want more milk, sister?
She cried again and said: No one had ever called me that word before. I didn’t know she was so beautiful!!! Then she was relieved, and her spirit returned to her, so she fixed the cover on her head, and after that she said to them: My story is sad. When a poor man was passing by with his donkey on the road, he found me under a tree, and I was still young, so he took pity on me, and carried me to his house, and his wife was happy for me despite She had many children, and she used to feed me with the milk of a goat she had. My body was healthy after I almost died, and she treated me like her daughter. People heard my story, but no one came looking for me. So I grew up with that good family as one of them. They called me Shaima, and they loved me. And when a man buys something for his children He would bring me something similar, and when I was playing in the alley with the girls, passers-by would stop and look at me in astonishment, for I was extremely beautiful despite my old clothes and my perforated