Small Sun

Small Sun, by Zakaria Tamer, is an Arabic short story about a man who finds a stray sheep in an ally. This sheep tells the man if he lets him go he will give him seven jars of gold. Not believing the sheep, the man walked away to go home to his wife and tell her what happened. The man's wife encouraged him to go back to the ally to find the sheep and retrieve the gold. Upon entering the ally the man gets murdered by a drunk. I felt bad when the man died in the ally because he was trying to get the gold to make a better life for himself and his wife. His intentions were good but unfortunately he became the victim of bad luck.


The Trial of the Small Black Woman

The Trial of the Small Black Woman, by Abdel-Hakim Kassem, is an Arabic story about a man who has his money stolen. The man has a horrible cough and can hardly breath but he still manages to accuse a small black woman of the crime. Eventually she is convicted of the crime by a court. This story made very little sense because the details were hard to follow. I was also frustrated with the last section because it did not seem to have anything to do with the story.


Dreams Seen by a Blind Boy

Dreams Seen by a Blind Boy, by Yusuf Abu Rayya, is an Arabic short story about a blind boy who preaches from the Qur'an. The story briefly describes where the boy goes and who he interacts with throughout a typical week. The most interesting day is Friday when he and his mother attend funerals so they can get their hands of some bread. They get both leavened and unleavened which was confusing to me because I've never heard those terms. This story was just over a page long so it didn't have much substance but it was interesting nonetheless.


Clocks Like Horses

Clocks Like Horses, by Mohammed Khudayyir, is an Arabic short story about the tales of two men. One of the men is a traveler looking for a way to fix a watch that belonged to a dead relative. The other man was quite old and used to build watches for a living. I felt the most interesting part of this story was the way in which the author made a connection with the old man's dreams and his clocks. In my opinion, this was a very well written story and I really enjoyed reading it.