The mourning-women remained the entire night, sometimes interrupting
their prayers, to say to each other that Mohammed, the only son, was
really a very unnatural child, and respected his mother very little,
or he would not be wandering about among the rocks, while his
mother's body was still unburied. Then they console themselves with
the thought that he will come in the morning, when the tomtom
resounds, which calls the people to the funeral.
The signal is heard on the following morning, and the men come
carrying in their crossed arms the Koran.
The sheik himself condescends to appear at Sitta Khadra's funeral.
She was an honest, virtuous woman, and is to be buried with honor
beside the grave of her husband, Ibrahim.
The mourners slowly assemble. The tomtom is still vainly summoning
the only son.
The body has been laid on two boards covered with woollen cloths,
and is borne out on the shoulders of four men. The mourning-women
yell and shriek, the men murmur prayers, and the drum resounds,
while the procession is slowly moving toward the place of burial.
Mohammed hears nothing of all this. He has fled to the cave, once
his paradise, now his hell. There he lies on his mat, looking up
through the opening in the rock at the heavens, and cursing the
ghins who have robbed him of his mother. But his agathodaemon will
intercede with Allah for his forgiveness for the despair which
causes his lips to utter curses of which his heart knows nothing.
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