Fear by Amin Faqiri translated by Iraj Bashiri © copyright 1987, 2002

The couple had traveled two farsangs in the plain under the light of the moon. This was the first time that Qareh Mohammad was taking Sanam, his wife, to meet his long-time friend. Sanam was tired. They had been invited to the wedding of Kuhzad, the son of Amir Hamzeh in the neighboring village. As soon as he had received the invitation, Qareh Mohammad had placed two sugar cones in a satchel to present to the bride and groom to sweeten their wedding. But, rather than hurry as travelers usually do to leave early, they had procrastinated. They had left late in the afternoon, knowing that they might encounter difficulty. They did not carry a lantern, placing their fate in the lantern in the sky. Sanam had not traveled on this road before. Like a sword, the cold, as if carried by moon beams, penetrated their skin. In the distance they could see the silhouettes of the wild beasts whose eyes glowed in the dark. Sanam knew that Qareh Mohammad was strong and that he could fight and overcome ten men. He had killed four wolves with his club and two leopards with his gun. Among the men of the Baseri tribe he stood alone. No one had been able to pin him. In stick dancing, too, he was peerless. The mere recollection of these attributes of her husband chased all fear away from Sanam's mind. Every now and then as the hem of her petticoat got caught on some thorns, Sanam stopped and disentangle it. She was wearing her new petticoat. She was also wearing the ornamental coins that she had kept hidden in her sea chest. They adorned her face, encircling her hazel eyes, narrow nose, and thin lips with a halo of gold. The coins loosely fastening her kerchief under her chin jingled, producing a pleasant sound in the silent night. In spite of all these beauties, however, she had lost her attraction for Qareh Mohammad.

Sanam had to run to keep up with her husband. Qareh Mohammad said, "The difficult part of the road is this gorge. If we cross the gorge safely, a fine entertainment awaits us. Besides, the air in the gorge is colder than the air here on the plain. We have to be careful. Very little light reaches the gorge. It will not only be pitch dark in the gorge but there also will be many bears and wolves. This, of course, is a new situation which has happened since the disarmament. Because of a lack of fear, the pigeon and animal population has sky-rocketed. It was a mistake for us to set out that late in the afternoon. But, with God's help, we shall cross the gorge safely. I have crossed this gorge a thousand times before, both during the day and at night. Make sure that you are at my side at all times. Don't lose me!"

Sanam said, "As long as I have you, nothing will frighten me. Your rescue of Hossein Dad from the wolf pack is still on every tongue."

But, of course, there are accidents. A modicum of bad luck is sufficient to make one a prey for the wolf pack. A thief gets away a thousand times with the loot, but the one time he is caught is sufficient to ruin his life. Sanam said, "Are there really a large number of beasts in the gorge?"

"Yes, it's real crowded," said Qareh Mohammad. "As I said in the past the crack of the rifle shots scared them and made them flee to the higher reaches. But now they are snugly placed in the gorge, especially helpful to them are the catacombs in which they can make homes and bring up their young. The problem is that there is no one straight way through the gorge; one that we could follow until we reached the other side. The path winds itself around the base of the mountain and, at some spots, it is totally covered by snow and ice.

Fear had Sanam in its grip. She had heard many fearsome reports about the gorge. She thought to herself, "Why was it necessary to leave the village that late in the afternoon and be stuck in this God-forsaken gorge?" Qareh Mohammad's tall body reminded her of Kuhzad to whose wedding they were going. She thought Kuhzad was a nice young man. She murmured to herself, "Come what may! The difficulty is for just this one hour. It passes."

Like a bull regurgitating, the mountain lay in front of her. And, as they walked, it came closer and closer to them. The dark face of the mountain was mysterious and awe-inspiring. The gorge looked like a big chunk taken off the body of the bull. Like a dead man's mouth, the gorge remained open and motionless. It was ready to swallow them. Its silence had a thousand tales to tell. They were fifteen minutes into the gorge. The leaves of the turpentine and oak trees high on the sides of the gorge, had covered the surface of the river below. The boulders in the precipitous, snow-covered passes, threw fear into her heart. The moonlight made the shadows scary. The husband jumped nimbly from rock to rock while the wife groped for a path. The moon painted part of the gorge a delicate silver and the rest was plunged in a dark shadow. As if the mountain was closing its mouth on them, the more they advanced, the narrower the gorge became. Even during the day this was not an easy path to follow. The murmur of the stream and the chirping of the birds reverberated in the gorge.

Gradually there were less and less trees and the silhouettes of the boulders were assuming a more distinct form. The man pulled the woman by the hand. The woman had a hard time breathing. The cold mountain air had them at its mercy. The mountain peak was covered by snow. Whenever they looked up, the gray moonlit snow struck their eyes. Having let go of the woman's hand some time ago, the man had proceeded at his own pace. He had put a lot of distance between himself and the woman. Suddenly the woman stopped. Sanam was terrified. Two evil eyes were riveted on her in the dark. Her mouth opened and she felt that she had shrieked the loudest shriek in the world. But, in reality, her shriek had been no more than a sigh. Her tongue was dry; uselessly, it moved about in her mouth. Her heart beat hard and she was breathless. She felt that her heart had become too large for her chest to hold it in. The bear in front of her was black. It was a small bear, walking slowly in her direction and making a faint, moaning sound. The woman took a few steps backwards. Moonlight was all around her. She continued to walk backwards until she disappeared in the dark shadows. A small cleft caught her sight. Involuntarily, she slid her body into the cleft and dragged herself as far as she could to the end of it. She then covered herself thoroughly to avoid being detected. The bear continued to come in her direction. Under the light of the moon she could see the beast looking around him. It was obvious that he had lost his prey. He was a fat, black bear. Every now and then it halted and, standing on its hind legs, looked around. Then he approached the boulder forming the wall of the cleft and sat there, facing the woman. The woman pulled her petticoat in. Unable to push the boulder farther back, she pressed her own limbs against the unmoving rock to compensate for space. Some fifteen minutes passed before she could collect her thoughts and think of her husband. Sanam thought, "What came over Qareh Mohammad. We loved each other. It has been a while and still there is no sign of him!"

At the same time that these thoughts crossed her mind, she heard Qareh Mohammad calling her name. Sanam tried to answer, but realized that she could not. Like a gag, the bear kept her from telling him where she was. If she shouted, the bear would know her hiding place. Disappointed and scared, she clang to the rock. She had no idea whether she was resting on her back, on her bottom, on her head, or on her hand. All she knew was that she was pressed against the rock. Breathing had become a task. A patch of the sky, illuminated with two stars, was all she could see from between the boulders forming the cleft. Time, like water moving up a slope, moved slowly. The man's voice sounded choked, distant and pleading. The more the man's voice grew faint, the more tears ran down the woman's cheeks. The moon, rising above the woman's head, had made her more visible. A couple of hours passed. It was midnight. The bear moved. As if awakened from a deep sleep, quietly, he rose and headed for the upper reaches of the gorge. The woman felt the loosening of the claws of death on her. She forced herself out of the cleft. Her petticoat was torn in a few places. In her imagination a thousand beasts danced before her. She did not know what path to follow. Even in daylight this was a dangerous gorge. Those forced by necessity to come to this gorge, the woodsmen, for instance, came in groups. Only Qareh Mohammad dared walk there alone. And he did not like to share this distinctive point of his pride with anyone.

The woman entered the plain. The jingle of her ornamental coins created a pleasant break in the silence of the night. Then, as soon as she was on the outskirts of the village, the dogs rushed to meet her. Not running to her on the ground, of course, but from the roofs. Dogs do not move around the village at night. Rather they guard their master's house from the rooftop.

Her mother took the weeping Sanam in her arms. Sanam explained what had happened before she succumbed to weariness, and went to sleep.