on the other side of town

Once there was a rich and famous sultan.
He had embroidered shirts and soft carpets. He owned a palace in Mogadishu on the shores of the Indian Ocean to catch the cool breeze. It was filled with precious jewels and silks from Arabia.
The most expensive incense burned in the rooms whether he was there or not.
Despite all his great wealth he was not happy and could not understand what was wrong.
He had many wives who bickered constantly, sons who fought with each other and daughters who sulked.
He could buy anything he could think of but he never felt happiness or contentment.
One morning after a sleepless night, he called to his servants and told them, 'Go and search until you find a truly happy man. When you find such a person bring him to me, I want to talk to him.'
The servants scoured the land and one day they noticed a poor man singing as he pulled water from a tiny well for his one skinny camel. He hummed as he milked the beast and shared the tiny bit of milk with the sultan's servants. Even with an empty stomach he laughed and joked.
'Are you a happy man?' the servants asked. 'What is there to be unhappy about?' the man answered. 'Please sir, come with me to the sultans palace' the oldest servant said. 'My master would like to meet you.' The poor man agreed and journeyed from the Haud into the great city of Mogadishu. He had never seen anything like it. There were so many people, so many colours, so many things to smell and taste. The sultan entertained him richly with wonderful fruits and sweetmeats, gave a lavish banquet and presented him with an embroidered goa.
'What is the secret of happiness?' the sultan asked, perched on soft pillows.
The poor man didn't know what to say, his tongue tanlged with his teeth and he couldn't talk.
He didn't know what made him happy when he lived in the desert- it was just the way he felt.
Disappointed, the sultan sent him away and the man returned to his camel and his milk bowl carved out of wood. He never forgot all the wonders of the sultan's palace...
and he was never happy again.

-somali story
as excerpted from 'desert dawn' by waris dirie

s.s.