b e d u

Rarely does a Bedouin, in moments of inspiration or danger, answer your question directly. A direct answer implies either spiritual shallowness or a limited intellect (qualities associated with agriculturalists), or poses a danger to his family from a raid or a taking of revenge. Therefore, his answer usually takes the form of a line of verse, a story, or a parable. And it is up to you to arrive at an answer.

Clinging to the fringes of desert with plantations and forgotten ruins, I stumbled on Saalim Wahaibi, a Bedu in a small hut with a wife and five wild-eyed children. He offered to take me into the desert in search of trees, a journey that would slowly expand into a full-fledged crossing right to the Arabian Sea. I had lunch in his ramshackle dwelling: hard-packed rice, fried mutton with aniseed and camel milk.

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