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MOROCCO THAT WAS/ MIDDLE EASTERN FOOD/ HAMAM/
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA/
LITERATURE MAIN |
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extract from "Morocco that was", by Walter Harris, first
published by Wm. Blackwood in 1921, and still in print. |
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It was the custom of the Sultan in early spring, when
the first fresh butter of the season came in, to give a
feast to his courtiers and to certain distinguished
people of the town. Butter with the Moors is like the
primrose with us. It heralds the spring, the time of
great productiveness in Morocco, when the flocks and
herds bear their young and fatten upon the rich grass. A
few months later summer comes, and the herbage dries up.
The cows cease calving and their milk runs dry, with the
result that the people are dependent upon preserved
butter - "smin" - for their food; and they are
great butter eaters, both in its raw state and in their
cooking. So when the first cows calve and the butter
comes into season, no feast is complete without its
"lordly dish of this much-appreciated article. The poets
sing of it, as ours do of the nightingale - not
materially, but rather as being the outward and visible
sign of the new spring-life of all things, those few
months of the year when all is productive, all is
increasing, and which give promise of the great crops
that are to follow.
Amongst the guests of the Sultan upon one of these
occasions was a certain celebrated scholar, a master of
religion, who was charged with the education of the
Sultan's sons. He has, as well as great knowledge,
another characteristic - great meanness.
When the repast was over and the steaming dishes of
cooked meats, or what was left of them, had been
removed, there remained great plates of fresh butter,
the very first of the season,
hard and rolled into large balls. The learned tutor of
the Sultan's sons stated that it was much to be
regretted that such splendid butter should be wasted by
being eaten by the palace slaves and attendants, and
forthwith he tore off a length of his fine white turban,
rolled up one of the large balls of butter, and replaced
the package in the crown of his high-peaked fez, which
formed the foundation of his headgear.
One of the slaves told Mulai Hassen what had occurred,
and he determined to amuse himself at the expense of his
sons' tutor. He entered the great chamber where the
guests were assembled and bade them welcome, paying a
few compliments to each. When it came to the turn of the
learned man, the Sultan congratulated him on his great
attainments, adding, "He shall be specially honoured.
Bring rose-water and incense."
Now, it is the custom at Moorish feasts to sprinkle the
guests with rose and orange-blossom water, and to
perfume their robes with incense. So the long-necked
silver bottles and the brass incense-burner were
produced. From the latter, laid upon red-hot charcoal,
the burning sandal-wood diffused its smoke in delicious
clouds. Having received the regulation sprinkling, the
incense-burner was placed before him. Lifting his wide
sleeves, the slaves held the censer below them, allowing
the smoke to permeate his voluminous garments. Then
drawing the hood of his "bernous" over his head and
face, the customary perfuming of the turban was begun.
But the slaves held tight, and instead of the
performance lasting half a minute, it was unduly
prolonged. At first it was only the richly-perfumed
smoke of the sandalwood that entered his nose and eyes;
but presently the delicious odour changed, for the
butter concealed in his fez, melting under the applied
heat of the red-hot charcoal, was beginning to drop in
to the incense-burner, giving forth a penetrating and
unpleasant odour of cooking. From drops to a trickling
stream took a very little while, and soon the whole room
was full of the smoke of burning butter, while the aged
scholar presented the most pitiful sight - half-blinded,
choking, and dripping all over. When he had been washed
and cleaned up the Sultan had gone. |
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