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Waswasehaye Abi

 

you can order the book here

This novel is about a young aristocratic girl growing up in Iran during the second half of last century. In the background of the story the major political events of that time take place, such as the flight of the Shah, the arrival of Khomeini and the start of the Islamic revolution. In the beginning the girl is politically naïve but by a number of events in her life, among other things in the area of (unwanted) sexuality, she becomes increasingly aware of her position as a woman as she grows older.

fragment

The snake catcher stood in front of the old, broken barn that hadn’t been used for quite some time and muttered softly his formulas to enchant the snakes that were presumably inside. His long rosary swayed to and fro and with every word he spoke, his weak, skinny body was trembling.

I did not understand what he was doing and looked at him, with a clammy fear that gradually took possession of my whole body. I moved closer to my mother. It was hot, it seemed to me that rain and wind were unknown to this city, there was dust everywhere. My parents, brother and sister kept a safe distance to the barn, all our eyes and ears were focused on the snake catcher. But Dayeh jan, my nanny, had stayed behind in the pavilion because she did not believe in “these kind of things”.

The snake catcher was getting to the climax of his incantations, he screamed and called for the prophet Suleyman to lure the snakes out of the barn. He rocked his body slowly back and forth and every now and then he touched the wall of the barn with the strange, shiny stone at the end of his rosary. A couple of times he lifted the stone to his nose and sniffed. With every movement of the snake catcher the bag at his feet moved as if it contained thousands of snakes. I stiffened, grabbed the hand of my mother and hid between the puffed folds of her skirt.

After a while the snakes answered to the incantations of the snake catcher, hissing. First, a female snake wriggled out, calm and dignified, it was like the striding of a bride to the altar. Her yellow eyes were fixed on the snake catcher, she was fascinated by him. The old man drew a circle in the air with his long, slender fingers, each of which resembled a snake and the snake curled up and lay still. He put a tin bowl over her and began to repeat his incantations for the male snake. But this one came out soon by himself to look for his wife and was trapped under a bowl too. Once the snakes were in the bag of the snake catcher, we applauded and went back to the pavilion.