He climbed the slope and stretched out in a cave for a long time. On regaining consciousness, he brooded about the camel’s secret. He knew a lot about the wrath of camels but did not remember ever harming this one since receiving it from a noble of one of the tribes of Azjer in compensation for a long-deferred loan. Whatever could have come over it?
The next day he descended to the base of the mountain, drank from the pool, and ate some plants in the valley bottom before he made his way to the jenny. He found her grazing in a southern bend of the ravine. Then he stroked her neck for a long time and sang her an ancient lament. Next he tore apart his garment, which was stained with blood from his insane trip, and made a shackle for her from the strips of cloth. After placing this fetter over two of her legs, he set off to explore the area. He discovered evidence of camels and ashes from the fires of herdsmen but did not encounter anyone before evening fell, and so he relaxed. He climbed the hillside again and sought refuge in the cave. He lay down and immediately fell asleep. He was shortly awakened, however, by a ruckus. He searched to see whether those responsible for the ruckus were at the entrance to the cave but found no one. He crawled outside to find, towering above him, a man wrapped entirely in dark-blue fabric, from his veil to his feet. Rising, he found himself face-to-face with the specter. As desert people normally do when uncertain of the lineage of a wayfarer or of a stranger’s ethnicity, he inquired:
“Am I addressing a human being or a jinni?”
The specter replied immediately, “In the caverns of Tassili we frequently meet human beings with the body of a jinni and jinn with human bodies.”
“But we can always rely on amulets. The unintelligible lingo of the ancients reveals a creature’s constitution and shreds his veil of dissimulation.”
“Tribes of jinn have buried in the Tassili caves some of the most potent amulets. The only amulet worth anything here is a man who sees no difference between men and jinn.”
“I actually have never detected any difference between them.”
“That’s your most authentic amulet.”
“My master may sit with me, but I am unable to offer him food or drink, because I am also a guest in these lands.”
“We are all guests in these regions. Anyone who thinks differently is a scoundrel.”
They sat facing each other at the entrance to the cave. The guest spoke of rain and then changed topic to discuss armed raids, then epidemics, and finally famines. When it was his turn, he spoke about the fortunes of the tribes in the northern deserts and finished with his migration to the central deserts. Then he recounted his bloody ordeal with the camel he had received as repayment for a loan. The guest interrupted him: “Did you say you received it as repayment for a loan?”
“That’s right.”
“The secret lies in the loan, not the camel.”
“What?”
“We violate the commandments of our lost Law when we ask for a loan. We violate the Law twice when we grant a loan to people.”
“Is this a riddle?”
“Not so fast! Take it easy! Your first mistake was in making a loan to your friend, because a loan serves to nurture enmity in strangers, whom we provide with an incentive to become our enemies.”
“But why?”
“Human nature!”
“Do you think the debtor doctored the camel with some secret potion?”
“Didn’t I tell you that even worse than the jinn are people who disguise themselves as people?”
“But what should we do for individuals who fall on hard times and are in pressing need of a loan?”
“We give them what we can as a present, not a loan.”
“Amazing!”
“That’s preferable to loaning them something and then receiving a booby trap in return.”
“I don’t understand how a person can turn a beast into a booby trap.”
“That’s incredibly easy. One simply abuses the animal and then dispatches it to a competitor or enemy so that its bile will be vented on him instead of on the owner who mistreated it.”
Then he prepared to depart, and his host descended the hillside with him to see him off.