Read Online Children of Gebelaawi by Naguib Mahfouz - Free Book Online
Authors: Naguib Mahfouz
Tags: Fiction
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somebody gentle.
- I pray God to make things easier for you and for us. What
has happened to you has spoilt life for me and made me
miserable.
- I ought to have known that from the begin ning, but I was
mad with rage. Then drink took away my honor. Living as a
tramp and a parasite put out the last spark of humani ty i n me.
Did you ever know your big brother to act like that?
- Never! You were the best of brothers and the noblest of
men.
Idrees said in an agonized voice:
- Those were the days! Now I know nothing but misery. I
wander about the desert dragging a pregnant woman after me,
swallowing i nsults everywhere and making my living by being
hateful and making enemies.
- You break my heart, my brother.
- Forgive me, Ad ham. That's you as I 've always known you.
Didn 't I hold you in my arms when you were little? Didn't I
watch you as a child and as a you ng man , seei ng your fi ne,
noble character? Damn anger, wherever it flares up!
- Damn it indeed!
Idrees sighed and spoke as if to himself:
- For the wrong I've done you, I deserve worse than I got.
- I pray that God may make things easier for you. You know
I've never given up hope of you returning. Even when our father
was at his angriest, I risked talking to him about your situation.
ldrees smiled, showi ng teeth that had become dirty and
yellow.
- That's what I felt. I said to myself, if there was any hope
of our father relenti ng, it wouldn't happen without your help.
Ad ham's eyes shone as he said:
29
Children of Gebelaawi
- I 'll be guided by your generous spirit. Don ' t you think the
time has come to speak to our father about the matter?
Idrees shook his dishevelled head hopelessly.
- One day older, one year wiser! And I'm not evenjust one
year older than you but ten years. I know that our father will
forgive anything except bei ng humiliated. He'll never forgive
me after what has happened. I have no hope of coming back
to the Great House.
There was no doubt that Idrees was right, which depressed
Adham. He murmured wretchedly:
- What can I do to help you?
Idrees smiled again:
- You needn't think about helping me with money. I ' m
sure you 're a n honest Trustee, a n d I know that if you helped
me in that way, it wou ld be out of your own pocket, which I
couldn't accept. You're already a husband and you ' ll soon be
a father. No, it isn ' t poverty that has driven me to come. I'm
here to tell you how I regret what I let myself say about you, and
to win back your friendship, and also because I have a favor to ask.
Adham looked at him anxiously and asked:
- Tell me the favor.
Idrees brought his head close to his brother's, as if afraid
that the walls might overhear.
- I wan t to be sure of the future, now that I've ruined the
present. I ' m going to be a father too; and what's to become of
my chi ldren?
- You ' ll find me ready to do anythi ng I can.
Idrees put his hand affectionately on Adham's shoulder.
- I want to know whether my father has cut me out of his
will.
- How could I know anything about that? But if you wan t
m y opinion .. .
Idrees cut h i m short impatiently:
- I'm not aski ng for your opinion; I want your father's.
30
Adham
- But you know perfectly well he doesn't tell anybody what
he has in mind.
- But he'll certainly have written it into the Trust Deeds.
Adham shook his head and said nothi ng. ldrees repeated:
- Everythi ng is in the Deeds.
- I know nothing about it. You know that nobody in the
house knows anything about it. My job as Trustee is completely
under my father's directi on.
ldrees gave him a melancholy look.
- The Deeds are in a fat leather-bound book. I once saw it
when I was a boy, and asked my father what was in it. At that
time I was the apple of his eye, and he told me it contained
everything abou t us. We didn't talk about it any more, and
when I did want to ask abou t it he wouldn't let me. I have no
doubt now that my fate's already fixed in i
- I pray God to make things easier for you and for us. What
has happened to you has spoilt life for me and made me
miserable.
- I ought to have known that from the begin ning, but I was
mad with rage. Then drink took away my honor. Living as a
tramp and a parasite put out the last spark of humani ty i n me.
Did you ever know your big brother to act like that?
- Never! You were the best of brothers and the noblest of
men.
Idrees said in an agonized voice:
- Those were the days! Now I know nothing but misery. I
wander about the desert dragging a pregnant woman after me,
swallowing i nsults everywhere and making my living by being
hateful and making enemies.
- You break my heart, my brother.
- Forgive me, Ad ham. That's you as I 've always known you.
Didn 't I hold you in my arms when you were little? Didn't I
watch you as a child and as a you ng man , seei ng your fi ne,
noble character? Damn anger, wherever it flares up!
- Damn it indeed!
Idrees sighed and spoke as if to himself:
- For the wrong I've done you, I deserve worse than I got.
- I pray that God may make things easier for you. You know
I've never given up hope of you returning. Even when our father
was at his angriest, I risked talking to him about your situation.
ldrees smiled, showi ng teeth that had become dirty and
yellow.
- That's what I felt. I said to myself, if there was any hope
of our father relenti ng, it wouldn't happen without your help.
Ad ham's eyes shone as he said:
29
Children of Gebelaawi
- I 'll be guided by your generous spirit. Don ' t you think the
time has come to speak to our father about the matter?
Idrees shook his dishevelled head hopelessly.
- One day older, one year wiser! And I'm not evenjust one
year older than you but ten years. I know that our father will
forgive anything except bei ng humiliated. He'll never forgive
me after what has happened. I have no hope of coming back
to the Great House.
There was no doubt that Idrees was right, which depressed
Adham. He murmured wretchedly:
- What can I do to help you?
Idrees smiled again:
- You needn't think about helping me with money. I ' m
sure you 're a n honest Trustee, a n d I know that if you helped
me in that way, it wou ld be out of your own pocket, which I
couldn't accept. You're already a husband and you ' ll soon be
a father. No, it isn ' t poverty that has driven me to come. I'm
here to tell you how I regret what I let myself say about you, and
to win back your friendship, and also because I have a favor to ask.
Adham looked at him anxiously and asked:
- Tell me the favor.
Idrees brought his head close to his brother's, as if afraid
that the walls might overhear.
- I wan t to be sure of the future, now that I've ruined the
present. I ' m going to be a father too; and what's to become of
my chi ldren?
- You ' ll find me ready to do anythi ng I can.
Idrees put his hand affectionately on Adham's shoulder.
- I want to know whether my father has cut me out of his
will.
- How could I know anything about that? But if you wan t
m y opinion .. .
Idrees cut h i m short impatiently:
- I'm not aski ng for your opinion; I want your father's.
30
Adham
- But you know perfectly well he doesn't tell anybody what
he has in mind.
- But he'll certainly have written it into the Trust Deeds.
Adham shook his head and said nothi ng. ldrees repeated:
- Everythi ng is in the Deeds.
- I know nothing about it. You know that nobody in the
house knows anything about it. My job as Trustee is completely
under my father's directi on.
ldrees gave him a melancholy look.
- The Deeds are in a fat leather-bound book. I once saw it
when I was a boy, and asked my father what was in it. At that
time I was the apple of his eye, and he told me it contained
everything abou t us. We didn't talk about it any more, and
when I did want to ask abou t it he wouldn't let me. I have no
doubt now that my fate's already fixed in i
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