East of Marraket

East of Marraket a vast plain stretches, that is bordered by the mountains on the east side and the desert on the west side. Various small settlements are along the roads. Most of the people in this area live from cotton that is grown on the fields. In the summer all the fields are white from the cotton blooms. When it is autumn the merchants and traders come from all directions of the wind and meet in a gathering. For you must know that all the farmers are not allowed to sell the cotton directly to the merchants. Instead they sell it all to a trader that is employed by Sultan Choteimein, blessed be his name. This trader than sells it to the merchants. This system was installed more than two generations ago, when more and more farmer lost all their money to fraudulent merchants.

We travelled two weeks across the plain and every night, we could sleep in the houses of the local mayors. Then we came a town that has the name Tambulis and is the regional capital of this region. The local mayor invited me into his mansion when he had learned that I was a guest of both Sultan Tabas and Sultan Choteimein. Therefore I and my escort went to his mansion and we were greeted by the mayor, whose name was Rasullah El Al. The town of Tambulis is not bigger than one thousand inhabitants, but much of the cotton trade is going through this town. The most remarkable feature of Tabulis are the great warehouses where the cotton is stored before the auction. Both are cylindrical in shape and whitened with chalk. Each of the warehouses is supervised by a Kolp dor, which is the title of an overseer. Both of them are very respected and they keep a record of all farmers and all the cotton that is harvest.

When I sat with Rasullah and we drank tea together he told me that Tambulis does not have a magistrate at the moment. After he had learned that I have prayed in Marraket and that Sultan Tabas has taught me in law, he offered me the position of magistrate in Tambulis. I agreed. Three weeks later, the mayor has sent a messenger to Marraket and that messenger returned with the permission of Sultan Choteimein, blessed be his name, that I should now be magistrate in Tambulis and that I should be given two villages to live from the taxes of these villages.

Afterwards a ceremony was prepared to celebrate my appointment. A parade was lead by the mayor through the street and I walked below a white canopy. Then we entered the court house and I vowed on the holy prophecies of the prophet, that were handed to him by Allah, his gratitude shall enlighten the world. Since it is necessary to be married to be a judge in this part of the world, I choose a young girl as my bride and we married afterwards. Her name was Saliah. The next day I had to decide the first case.

The case was as follows: A woman came to me. She told me that her husband has died six months ago. Their marriage was not blessed with children. After her husband's death, his brothers, who were his only heirs, refused to marry his wife. This marriage is called makamona-marriage, although the origin of the name is lost in history. I told the women to come back in two days, since I had to consult the local laws because such an institution is unknown in Tanfar. Then I consulted the words of the prophecies and of the authorities and the old records of the courts, for everyone should look at the example of our ancestors before making a decision. Then I ordered the woman and her brothers-in-law to the court. I asked the brothers-in-law why they had refused to marry the widow and they confessed that they were against the marriage and that they therefore did not want to marry her know. I reminded them that they could not question their brother's decision and it was not up to them to use the makamona-marriage as a kind of late punishment for the past. The makamona-marriage is a way to ensure the support of the widow when her husband has died and no children can support her. I then ruled that the makamona-marriage was originally only a moral law and not an actionable law. I then said that this has changed through the years and that it became customary law that a widow can demand the marriage, when its refuse is against good manners. In my opinion this was the case here. Therefore I decided that the eldest brother-in-law should marry the widow and pay for her expenses until either the widow or the brother-in-law dies in which case his next eldest brother should marry her unless he has any children in which case his children should support her as if she was their mother.

After I have stayed in Tambulis for three months I was witness of a rare event. The town had a wizard by the name of Mustafah Ekred. I have met the man some weeks before. He was long and has reached the end of his life. His task was to protect his people against the hordes from the north [probably goblins or Ungols] and the dreaded chaos forces, may Allah crush them like insects, and to serve as the healer of the town. He had chosen a young boy with the name Imas Anokia to be his successor. Before this could happen, the boy had to be initiated into the arts of magic. To do this the old wizard and his successor came to the town's square. There the wizard summoned a djin. The djin and the young wizard then swore loyalty to each other. The both inflicted themselves a wound and rub the wounds against each other to exchange blood. Afterwards the djin disappeared and the young wizard was welcomed as a new member in the society, for he was reborn. The young wizard then moved into the house of the old wizard and the old wizard left the village and went to the west to find death in the desert.

Note: Although the description of the initiation may be considered heretical and against anything we believe in, we consider it necessary to give some explanations. Most of the information which we could find were very vague and not from the first-hand. Since the author is pretty precise in his description, we cannot disregard the description as hocus-pocus. The text reads that a wizard is initiated through a ceremony that resembles a wedding. A djin can probably be translated as a demon, but considering the description, a djin seems to be less violent than the demons that we know of. If this is done by a special kind of summoning spell or if the Arabian know of different and less evil demons is unknown. Another possibility may be that the Arabians are themselves in a way connected to evil forces in general, which is what most inquisitors imply, but since none of them how ever travelled to the Old World was different from us, we can safely consider this to be nothing but propaganda. We think that the best explanation is, that the djins are different from the demons we know of. A reason for this is that the author explicitly says, that the djin and the young wizard exchange blood. From all the records we have about demons, we could not find any indicator that demons bleed in the literal sense. Even if blood in this context is meant metaphorical and stands for any kind of body fluid, the description would make no sense, since the fluids of a demon are, as far as we know, not only poisonous to human beings, but also acid. Therefore it can be concluded that a djin is different from a demon. Another conclusion is that at least some wizards, seem to have a djin as a familiar, in the same way as some sorcerers have animals, with the difference that such a djin must be more powerful than an animal familiar.

I stayed in Tambulis for one year. After this period I decided to continue eastward, since I felt a longing for the wonders of Ind and Cathay. My beloved wife Saliah did not want to follow me on my quest for wisdom. Therefore I ordered my loyal escort of fedaikin to return to Marraket and to petition Sultan Choteimein, that he may take care of her. And I told her she shall be released from our marriage, if I should not return after one year. After this way done I went to Rasullah and asked him to release me from my position and I explained him where I wanted to go and what my reason are. He agreed and thanked me for my service. He also gave me a letter to the caliph of Tekheran, since this was the next place where I wanted to go.
Rasullah gave me two horses and enough food and water to reach Tekheran. Then we said farewell and I kissed Saliah for the last time and forever since I have prayed for her safety.

To be continued...