The Unhappiness of Being a Single Man: Essential Stories

JACKALS AND ARABS

WE’D MADE CAMP at an oasis. The others were asleep. An Arab, tall and white, came past me; he’d been seeing to the camels and was heading for the tents.

I threw myself down on the grass; I wanted to sleep, but I couldn’t; a jackal howled in the distance; I sat back up again. And what had been far off was suddenly very near. Jackals swarming all around me; eyes glowing a matt gold before dulling again; slender bodies, their movements as nimble and synchronized as if under threat of a whip.

One came forward from the back, pushed himself under my arm, right up against me, as if he needed my warmth, then stood in front of me so we were almost eye to eye, and spoke: “I’m the oldest jackal anywhere round here. And I’m glad I’ve lived long enough to welcome you. I’d almost given up hope, because we’ve been waiting for you almost since for ever; my mother waited for you, and her mother, and all their mothers back to the mother of all jackals. Believe me!”

“That’s astonishing,” I said, and forgot to light the wooden torch that was supposed to keep the jackals away with its smoke. “I’m astonished to hear that. It’s only by chance that I’ve come here from the far north, and this is only a brief trip. What is it you want, jackals?”

And as if encouraged by what was maybe an over-friendly response, they drew their circle tighter around me; I could hear them panting quick and hot.

“We know,” the oldest one went on, “that you come from the north, that’s what our hopes are based on. Up there, you have a rationality that you’ll never find among the Arabs. They’re so cold and arrogant, you know, that you can never strike a spark of sense on them. They kill animals for food, and won’t touch carrion.”

“Not so loud,” I said. “There are Arabs sleeping nearby.”

“You really must be a foreigner,” said the jackal. “Otherwise you would know that never in the history of the world has a jackal been afraid of an Arab. Be afraid of them? Isn’t it bad enough that we have to live beside them?”

“Perhaps, perhaps,” I said. “I wouldn’t presume to judge things that are so alien to me; it seems to be a very old feud; it’s probably in the blood, so it may well only end with bloodshed.”

“You’re very wise,” said the old jackal, and they all panted even faster, their lungs racing even though they were standing still; a bitter stink streamed from their open muzzles and I sometimes had to clench my teeth to tolerate it. “You’re very wise; what you say is in our ancient teachings. We’ll take their blood and the feud will be over.”

“Oh!” I said, more wildly than I wanted. “They’d defend themselves; they’d use guns to shoot you down in droves.”

“You misunderstand us in the human way,” he said, “even if you are from the far north. The Nile doesn’t have enough water to wash us clean. Just the sight of their living bodies sends us running off for cleaner air, into the desert, that’s why it’s our home.”

And all the jackals around me, who had been joined by many more from further away, put their heads down between their forelegs and scrubbed them with their paws; it was as if they were trying to hide their disgust, and it was so horrible that I would have liked to leap right over them, out of their circle, and flee.

“So what do you intend to do?” I asked, and tried to get up. I couldn’t; two younger animals behind me had clamped their teeth into my jacket and shirt; I had no choice but to stay sitting. “They’re holding your train,” the old jackal explained seriously. “It’s a mark of respect.”

“Tell them to let go of me,” I shouted, turning back and forth between the old jackal and the younger ones.

“Of course they will,” said the old one, “if that’s what you what. It’ll take a little while, because, as is customary, they’ve bitten deep and will need a moment to unclamp their jaws. In the meantime, please hear our plea.”

“Your behaviour hasn’t made me especially well disposed to it,” I said.

“Don’t let our clumsiness count against us,” he said, and now for the first time, he employed his voice’s natural whine. “We’re poor animals, all we have is our jaws; for everything we want to do, good or bad, it’s our jaws or nothing.”

“So what do you want?” I asked, only a little mollified.

“Sir,” he cried, and all the jackals howled; I got a faraway sense that it was some kind of melody. “You must end the feud that divides the world in two. You are how the ancients described the one who would come to do that work. We must have peace from the Arabs; breathable air; our sight cleansed of their presence as far as every horizon; no more lamentation from the sheep the Arabs stab to death; all animals will die peacefully; we’ll drink them dry without being disturbed and clean them all the way down to the bone. Cleanliness, cleanliness is all we want”—and now they were all crying, sobbing—“How can you stand it in this world, with your noble heart and sweet innards? Their white is dirty; their black is dirty; their beards are a horror; the look of their eyes makes you sick to the stomach; and if they raise their arms, a veritable hell opens up in their armpits. That’s why, dear sir, oh, dearest sir, you must use your hands that can do anything, your hands that can do anything at all, to cut through their necks with these scissors!” He jerked his head and another jackal came forward; with one of his incisors he was holding a little rust-covered pair of sewing scissors.

“So finally the scissors—and that’s enough!” shouted the Arab leading our caravan, who’d crept up to us from downwind and now cracked his enormous whip.

They all ran away at once, but then huddled together again at a distance, the many animals so close together and so still that they looked like they were in a narrow pen with a strange light flickering around them.

“So now you’ve seen and heard this performance as well, sir,” said the Arab and laughed as happily as his people’s reticence allowed.

“You know what the animals wanted?” I asked.

“Yes, sir,” he said. “Everybody knows. That pair of scissors has been wandering the desert for as long as Arabs have existed, and it’ll wander along behind us until the end of days. It’s offered to every European who passes through so he can carry out their great work; each time, they think it’s this European who’s destined to do it. They’re full of crazy hope, these animals; they’re fools, real fools. That’s why we love them; they’re our dogs, lovelier than yours. Just watch: a camel died in the night and I’ve had it brought over.”

Four bearers came and dropped the heavy cadaver in front of us. Hardly had they done so but the jackals lifted up their voices. As if pulled irresistibly forward by invisible tethers, each of them inched closer, hesitating, their bellies brushing the ground. They’d forgotten the Arabs, forgotten their hatred; the all-eclipsing presence of the pungent carcass bewitched them. One of them was already hanging on to the camel’s neck and found its artery with the first bite. Each of the muscles in the jackal’s body pulled and jerked in its place, like tiny, frenzied pumps trying eagerly but hopelessly to extinguish an enormous fire. Soon the other jackals had piled up on top of the cadaver and set about the same task.

Then the caravan leader slashed his whip hard across their backs. They lifted their heads, between delirium and unconsciousness; saw the Arabs standing in front of them; got the whip again across their muzzles; leapt backwards and ran a little way off. But the camel’s blood already lay in steaming puddles, its body had been torn wide open in many places. They couldn’t resist; they came back; the leader lifted his whip again; I touched his arm.

“You’re right, sir,” he said. “We’ll leave them to their work; it’s time for us to break camp. Anyway, you’ve seen them now. Wonderful animals, aren’t they? And how they hate us!”