By : Ali Taha Alnobani
Translated by : Fateh Kassab
© 2010-2015 Ali Taha Alnobani rights reserved
Abu Mejhem entered the tent silently, and then he looked at his wife, Terfah, and said "Get Ala'noud ready".
"What for?" asked Terfah.
"To leave to her husband's house. She was chosen to be (Ghoret Almadda) answered Abu Mejhem.
"But she is still a child; she isn't thirteen yet" said Terfah.
Abu Mejhem stared at her fiercely,… so she stopped and kept silent.
A hot tear flew on her cheek when she saw her little daughter playing with the children in front of the tent.
Mansour was a member of Abu
Mejhem's tribe. He killed a man from another tribe, so the tribal court
obliged Abu Mejhem's tribe to pay the killed man's tribe a number of
goats, camels, and a young bride for the Sheikh of the killed man's
tribe. Anoud was that bride.
Terfah was singing sad lyrics
"Oh, my poor little child. What did you do, that made you leave your tribe, your father's tent and your little friends."
She was at
the same time packing her daughter's clothes in a package. Her tears
were flowing on her cheeks. She was watching her child once, and hugging
and kissing her clothes another. She hailed Alanoud. When she approached, Terfah seated her on her lap. Her sad singing and crying raised.
Abu Mejhem entered the tent and led the girl by hand and delivered her to her new family.
Anoud didn't understand what was going
on. She traveled away from her tribe. After a long day journey, she
arrived to her tent in the new tribe. She was shocked to see a tall,
broad shouldered man with flocks of hair dangling under his head scarf
(koufiah).
Two or three hours later, Anoud became the fourth wife of Sheikh Juai'd. But she was the inferior one, because she was (Ghoret Almadda).
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1- (Ghoret Almadda)
is a Bedouin term for a woman who is sometimes given upon the demand of
the tribe members from which a man is killed, as a part of
compensation. When this happens, it is meant to cause more humiliation
to the tribe of the killer. The term is especially used to indicate to
any woman being abused by her husband.
2- The story is based upon real events that used to happen in the past. This may still happen until now, but not in public.
My Other Half
