Synopsis of the Book al-Bashar wa al-Sahali by Hasan Abdel Mawgood
The Book of al-Bashar wa al-Sahali (Humans and Lizards) is a collection of short stories written by an egyptian writer, Hasan Abdel Mawgood (transliteration: Ḥasan ‘Abd al-Maujūd). This book became phenomenal because it won an award at the 53rd Cairo International Book Fair in the Best Short Story Collection category.
The book was published by al-Dār al-Miṣriyyah al-Lubnāniyyah in Cairo in 2021 and distributed in print and digital versions. The book contains 160 pages and contains ten fictional short stories. Each story features a particular animal as its theme.
For example, the first story in this book is titled "Al-Khinzīr: Adūnīs Ya’ud ilā al-Qaṣr" (Pig: Adonis Returns to al-Qaṣr). As implied by the title, this story tells the tale of a boy who is obsessed with certain animal, namely a pig. Thus, this story will revolve around this animal.
So, what is the general synopsis of the ten stories? Here is a review.
Read also the synopsis of al-Bashar wa al-Sahali in arabic and indonesian version here:
الخنزير: أدونيس يعود إلى القصر
The first title is "Al-Khinzīr: Adūnīs Ya’ud ilā al-Qaṣr" (Pig: Adonis Returns to al-Qaṣr). This story tells the tale of a boy who was born and raised in a muslim environment.
The boy lived next door to a christian family, Uncle Zarif, Aunt Demiana, and their daughter Maha. The boy was very close to the christian family. However, the boy's family, especially his mother, was very protective of him.
The people of the village where the boy lived were very submissive to the prevailing norms. They were very anti-pig. Even christians who wanted to eat pork had to get it from the village of al-Qaṣr in a slaughtered state.
What is interesting is that the boy –who is a muslim– is actually very obsessed with pigs and wants to taste their meat. When he found out that Uncle Zarif had a pig farm in the village of al-Qaṣr, the boy planned a conspiracy to trick his mother and family.
He claimed to want to visit Maha's grandmother in the village of al-Qaṣr who was sick. However, this reason was just a lie so that he could go to Uncle Zarif's farm. There, he finally tasted the pork that he had been craving for.
السحلية: مفتاح الجنة
The second title is "Al-Siḥliyyah: Miftāḥ al-Jannah" (Lizard: The Key to Paradise). This story tells the tale of a boy who believes he is a prophet.
His belief stems from his misunderstanding of the term "khātam al-nabiyyīn". In his understanding, the word "khātam" in the term means "ring". Thus, the term means the ring of the prophets. In fact, the word "khātam" is homonymous and can also mean "last". It is the second meaning that is intended in the term.
This misunderstanding is compounded by his mother, who tells him about a strange event during her pregnancy. At that time, his mother hallucinated and felt that she was visited by a figure, angel, or being from another realm. The figure seemed to come to bless the unborn child, like a prophet.
As someone who believes he is a prophet, the child tries to find an animal to be his symbol, like the hoopoe and ant that are the symbols of the Prophet Solomon, the camel that is the symbol of the Prophet Noah, and the snake that is the symbol of the Prophet Moses.
His long search ends with a lizard. In order to make the lizard his symbol, the child conducts an experiment. However, due to his own carelessness, the experiment brings disaster to the child and his mother.
He uses his mother's bread dough as bait for the lizards. In the midst of his waiting, the child falls asleep and his mother's bread dough for the Baking Day is ruined by the lizards.
الكلب: أعمى في غابة
The third title is "Al-Kalb: A’mā fī Gābah" (Dog: The Blind Man in the Forest). This story tells the tale of a girl who lives with her parents and siblings.
One day, the girl's father goes blind. At the same time, her father also starts to become senile. The girl has to take care of her blind and senile father, while her siblings are indifferent to their father's condition.
Not only that, they even take advantage of their father's blindness to finish his food rations. This makes the girl and her mother sad. The problems don't stop there. The girl's father apparently often leaves the house at night to wander the streets alone, in his blind and senile condition.
This habit of her father forces the girl and her mother to take turns watching over him all night long. On one of his nightly adventures, the girl's father is attacked by stray dogs, forcing him to be taken to a health unit for intensive care. He has to be injected with dog serum for his treatment.
القط: نصف نوبة حراسة
The fourth title is "Al-Qiṭṭ: Niṣf Naubah Ḥarāsah" (Cat: Half a Guard Shift). This story tells the tale of Zainab, who is blessed with a pair of twins. These twins are not normal human babies, but cats.
The older cat is named Gubarah, while the younger one is named Qitt. Although these two cats are twins, they are not identical. Gubarah has an ordinary appearance, brownish like dust, while his younger brother is handsome and white. The older brother is weak and suffers from acute allergies, while the younger brother is healthy and has a magical ability. This ability is that he can release his spirit from his body while sleeping at night and then enter the bodies of other cats.
In his nightly adventures, Qitt witnesses many things and observes the strange behavior of his mother's female neighbors. One night, Qitt –in the body of a cat– enters a house that he has never visited before. This house apparently belongs to an old woman over 100 years old. There, Qitt is treated unkindly and injured.
الدودة: حديث دافئ في المقبرة
The fifth title is "Al-Dūdah: Ḥadīṡ Dāfi’ fī al-Maqbarah" (Worm: Warm Conversations in the Cemetery). This story tells the tale of a child who lives with his poor family in a slum environment. In order to stave off hunger due to lack of food, this family often eats whatever they can find, from flies, fruit seeds, to worms.
Once upon a time, the child's grandmother was sick and often had near-death experiences. One time, the grandmother became seriously ill and felt that her death was near. On the orders of his grandfather, the child went to the health unit to pick up a doctor to check on her.
The people of this village usually ask for help from Sayyidah, a witch woman, to cleanse their bodies of worms. Children often suffer from worms. However, in emergency situations such as the grandmother's case, a doctor is called from the health unit.
The doctor and the witch actually never got along. The doctor always drove the witch away and forbade her from coming again. That day, the witch apparently came to the village again. In an unexpected meeting between the doctor and the witch, something absurd happened.
Sayyidah did something to the doctor, and then suddenly worms came out of the doctor's ear. The incident shocked and surprised the doctor. Not only that, the doctor also witnessed some of the behavior of the local people that reflected an unhealthy and slum life.
العقرب: سحابة قريبة ومطر أصفر
The sixth title is "Al-‘Aqrab: Saḥābah Qarībah wa Maṭar Aṣfar" (Scorpion: Close Clouds and Yellow Rain). This story tells the tale of a pair of siblings who have a habit of bedwetting. Their strict and overly disciplined father always punishes them for bedwetting. The punishments vary, but the most common is whipping them with a belt.
One night, the siblings bedwet again. For fear of being punished, they immediately change their sheets and clothes before their father finds out. Unfortunately, as soon as they go back to sleep, the older brother bedwets again.
Their father then comes to check and almost catches the older brother bedwetting again. Of the two, it is the older brother who is the worst. He kept bedwetting for years, while his younger brother had long stopped bedwetting. To the point that his father once planned to burn the older brother's genitals with a hot iron.
Their father has an unusual hobby, which is hunting scorpions and making them toys. This is the father's only favorite pastime in the midst of the boredom of working and carrying out the orders of his bosses.
After many years, the older brother grew up and got married. Their old father, who had liver cancer, could not live alone, so he moved in with his older son. His failing organs made him weak, and now he often bedwets like his son used to.
الديك: خمسة ذقون ناعمة
The seventh title is "Al-Dīk: Khamsah Żuqūn Nā’imah" (Turkey: Five Smooth Chins). This story tells the tale of a Major who spends his life chasing only rank and recognition.
The Major is very ambitious in achieving his goals in order to be considered equal to his bosses. When he finally succeeds in winning the "eagle" award, the Major wants the people of his village to celebrate his achievement.
So he buys two large turkeys and parades them around the village. However, his celebration does not go as planned. The villagers instead pit his two turkeys against each other like Spanish bullfighting. It turns out that his bosses also witnessed the event, which embarrassed the Major.
It doesn't stop there, his bosses also invite the Major to join their club, but this invitation is only a plan for them to play with and humiliate the Major.
الحمار: سعف ذهبي ونبيذ وأحذية قديمة
The eighth title is "Al-Ḥimār: Sa’f Żahabī wa Nabīż wa Aḥżiyah Qadīmah" (Donkey: Golden Date Fronds, Grapes, and Old Shoes). This story tells the tale of a child who lives with his extended family.
The child has two grandfathers, one from his mother's side and one from his father's side. Both of his grandfathers have donkeys, but they are very different in how they treat their donkeys. The grandfather from his mother's side loves his donkey very much, while the grandfather from his father's side is very cruel to his donkey. The child is very attentive to donkeys.
One day, the child is asked by his grandfather from his mother's side to take care of his donkey. Out of curiosity, the child tries to ride the donkey. The donkey then runs fast like a racehorse, carrying the child who is not really good at riding.
The donkey takes the child through the streets to his grandfather's field at high speed, then back again. The child's buttocks are injured from riding the donkey without a saddle. After arriving home, his parents check on him. He then sits and listens to his grandfather's story about his fictional story.
التيس: الحياة القصيرة الجميلة
The ninth title is "Al-Tays: al-Ḥayāh al-Qaṣīrah al-Jamīlah" (Billy Goat: A Short and Beautiful Life). This story tells the tale of a pair of siblings named Ramadan and Jum'ah.
Both of them live in a village where the people live with a low economic level and poor health. Unlike them, these siblings are lucky because they live comfortably. Their family has a butcher shop that supplies meat throughout the village.
Jum'ah is always jealous of his older brother who is superior in everything. This advantage is what made the older brother, Ramadan, inherit the family butcher shop, while Jum'ah only became an assistant in charge of taking care of the animals and slaughtering them.
Jum'ah has a bad habit, he likes to eat raw meat. His brother has repeatedly scolded him to stop his habit. One day, Jum'ah suffered unbearable pain. He had to be taken to the hospital for medical attention. It turned out that he had kidney stones and had to be operated on.
However, before his recovery period was over, Jum'ah ran away from the hospital to attend the routine slaughtering event. At this moment, he usually distributes candies to the children. This time, instead of throwing candy, he threw the kidney stones that had been removed during his operation.
أبو دقيق: تراب أبيض مقدس
The tenth title is "Abū Daqīq: Turāb Abyaḍ Muqaddas" (Butterflies: The Sacred White Powder)". This story is about a child who talks to butterflies.
The child thanks the butterflies for giving life to the community with "magic white powder", namely flour, salt, sugar, and lime. All of these white powders are useful for the community. Flour can be processed into bread, salt can be used as a flavoring, sugar can be used as a sweetener, and lime can be used as a mixture of wall paint.
The child thanks the butterflies because he had misunderstood the process of making flour. All this time, he thought that the flour was produced from butterfly wings, because he always found white powder on the cabbage leaves that butterflies landed on.
He just learned that flour is processed from wheat and corn kernels. His misunderstanding was caused by the naming of butterflies by the people of his village, namely abū daqīq which means "father of flour".
Reference
Mawgood, Hasan Abdel. Al-Bashar wa al-Sahali. Cairo: al-Dār al-Miṣriyyah al-Lubnāniyyah, 2021.
Wahid, Tafkur Bahril. “Isykāliyyāt Tarjamah al-Muṣṭalaḥāt al-Ṡaqāfiyyah fī Majmū’ah ‘al-Basyar wa al-Saḥālī’ al-Qaṣaṣiyyah li al-Kātib Ḥasan ‘Abd al-Maujūd.” Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, 2024.
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