Princess Sultana's Circle

of sand and rushed toward me. Before I
could move, she had thrown the sand on my head, screaming, “May
Allah pour all his punishments upon your head!”
    Words failed the men. They
were struck dumb at Faten’s outrageous gesture of contempt. My
blood ran cold at her curse, but I was dignified and silent as I
leaned forward and brushed the sand from my head and veil. Let
Faten appear the villain.
    With great satisfaction,
one of the older Bedouin women explained to Sheik Fahd that his new
bride had physically assaulted his guests.
    “ Sultana!” Kareem rushed
toward me. “Were you harmed?”
    The Sheik sprinted after
Faten, who was now running away. We heard him shouting, “You stupid
woman! You dishonor my tent!”
    Faten was sure to get a
good thrashing by her husband, but here was a woman who deserved a
beating, I reasoned.
    Nura urged our men to take
us away from what was, for us, a primitive and frightening place,
and they quickly complied.
    When everyone heard the
full story, I was praised as a heroine. Sara is the most beloved
member of our entire family, and even Kareem understood that I had
no option but to defend her. Asad was so shaken at the thought that
a crazed Bedouin woman would have attacked his beloved, that he
told Sara he was going to buy me the most expensive piece of
jewelry available in Riyadh, as a gift of thanks. Even Ali looked
upon my act with great pride, and told everyone that would listen
that he was the one who had taught me my fighting skills, which I
had to agree was true. For the next few days, talk of my victorious
fight with Faten kept our camp in a high state of
excitement.
    When Sheik Fahd offered an
apology in the form of ten female Batiniyah camels, we knew that
Faten’s behavior was indeed a source of great shame to that proud
Bedouin chief. Batiniyah camels are from Oman, and are considered
one of the best species of camels. The ten camels were of high
quality, for they all had small heads, wide foreheads, large eyes,
small nostrils, and long ears.
    A Bedouin tribe’s wealth is
measured by the size and quality of its camel herd, and ten
Batiniyah camels are extremely costly. Suspecting that they
represented the best of Sheik Fahd’s herd, Kareem did not wish to
accept this expensive gift. Still, he could not decline, for his
refusal would have offended Sheik Fahd deeply. So, the Batiniyah
beauties joined our own herd.
    After such a melodrama, we
attempted to enjoy the remaining days of our desert trip with more
quiet pursuits.
     

Chapter
Seventeen
    Buried While Still
Alive
    Several mornings before we
were to return to Riyadh, I was rudely awakened by Maha.
    “ Mother,” she screamed, “come
quickly. Uncle Ali is dying.”
    Groggy from sleep, I
questioned, “What are you saying, child?”
    “ Uncle Ali has been bitten
by a poisonous snake! By now, he has drawn his last
breath!”
    “ Allah! No!”
    My maid stood by with one
of my full cotton dresses, which she flung over my nightgown. I
slipped into a spare pair of Kareem’s sandals that were at the
doorway of the tent, and I ran with Maha to Ali’s tent.
    A large crowd of our
servants and employees had gathered outside the tent. As Maha and I
worked our way through the crowd, I overheard their excited talk.
One of the Filipinos was saying, “He was walking only a few steps
from the camp, when out of nowhere, a huge snake appeared and bit
him on the hand!”
    “ Those snakes can fly like
a bird,” one of our Egyptian employees claimed
excitedly.
    Another Sudanese man
reported, “Even a big man cannot survive the bite of the
yaym!”
    With those words I groaned.
The yaym! If not already dead, Ali was sure to die! I knew that the
venom of that snake was more deadly than the strongest poison! The
yaym, of the cobra family, is one of three venomous species in
Arabia, and the rarest. Since it is seldom seen, there are few
accounts of its causing a death.
    Although my brother has
made it easy for me to dislike and, at times, even hate him, I have
never wished him dead. But I have always had strong desire for Ali
to change his evil ways. Should Ali die on this day, he would die a
wicked sinner. Such a thought was disturbing to my mind, for I knew
that this would greatly sadden my Mother’s spirit.
    When I tore through the
opening in the tent, my body sagged at the sight that greeted me.
Ali was lying motionless on a mattress on the floor, surrounded by
his wives, who seemed to be already in mourning. He is