Book of Fate

Once - many years ago - when he returned to Baghdad , where he was selling a good game of hide and carpets, found a caravanserai near damask, an old Arab from Hejaz who called me , somehow attention . Spoke busy with merchants and pilgrims , gesturing and swearing incessantly ; constantly chewed a strong mixture of tobacco and hashish , when I heard a fellow of any censure , cried , shaking hands between the tattered turban : - why Allah ! O Muslims ! I was already powerful ! I've had this hand destination ! - It's a poor devil - some said - not regulated well crumb ! Allah protects it ! But I confess , I felt the irresistible attraction of the unknown tattered turban. Tried approach him quietly talked to him several times gently and after a few hours since you had fully captured the trust. The caravan take me crazy - he told me one night when cavaqueávamos alone - Do not want to believe I ever had in his hands the fate of all humanity. Yes , sir : the fate of mankind . Esbugalhei eyes haunted . That insistent assertion that he had been Lord of Destiny, was characteristic of his poor state of dementia . The stranger , however, that did not seem to notice my scares and distrust , continued : - According teaches Quran - the Book of Allah - the life of all of us is writing - Maktub ! - The big " Book of Destiny " . Each man has his page there , with all that good or bad will happen to him . All events that occur on land, from the fall of a dry leaf to the death of a Caliph , are writings - writings are fatally - in the "Book of Fate " ! And without waiting for the interrogate , shaking his head painfully continued : - I saved from the hands of sheik Abu Dolak , after a terrible , " razzia " that ruthless Bedouin tribe made ​​a camp of Morebes , an old sorcerer who would be hanged . This wizard, in gratitude , gave me a rare talisman that had a dark , tiny stone, heart-shaped , found years before, in the tomb of a Muslim saint . And this wonderful stone allowed free entry into the famous cave of fatality , where is - by the will of Allah - the Book of Fate. Traveled long years until the high mountains of Masirah , beyond the Dahna desert in order to reach the enchanted cave. A djinn - kind genius who was on guard at the door - let me in, telling me , however, that he could only stay in the cave for the space of a few minutes . It was my intention to change what was written on the page of my life and make me a rich and happy man. Enough to add to the shame I 've brought : - " It will be a happy man , esteemed by all , will have good health and lots of money " remembered , however, from my enemies . Could , at that time , do great harm to all of them . Moved by the most shameful feelings of hatred and revenge , Ali opened the page Well - Homed the merchant . I read what was going to happen in the course of life, that my rival and added underneath, without hesitation , in a burst of anger : - " You will die poor, suffering the greatest torments ! " In the el Sheik Zalfah page - Abari recorded , impetuous, changing her entire life : - " you will lose all their possessions ; 'll go blind and die of hunger and thirst in the desert ! " and so mercilessly , was hurting and atassalhando all my enemies ! - And in your life? - I asked , looking at him with surprise - What have you done , O caravaneiro in the Destination page devoted to your own existence ? - AH ! My friend ! - Interrupted the stranger , wringing hands in despair - I did nothing in my favor . Concerned about doing evil to others , I forgot to do well myself. Widely sown misfortune and pain, and not cropped the lower portion of happiness . When I remembered me when I thought of making my life happy , my time was over . Not that I expected , I came up against a " Efreet " - fierce genius - that grabbed me tightly and then tear out of my hands the talisman , threw me out of the cave . Fell between the rocks and the violence of the shock , I lost consciousness . When I regained reason, I found myself injured and hungry , far from the cave, next to a desert oasis of Oman. Without the precious talisman, I could never figure out the path of the enchanted mountains of Masirah cave ! He concluded , between gasps , with increasingly hoarse, low voice - I lost the only opportunity I had to be rich , ships and happy ! Would be true this strange adventure? Until today ignore . What is certain is that the sad case of the old Arab Hejaz encerrava profound teaching . How many men are there in the world who , anxious to bring harm to their fellows , they forget the good they can bring themselves . . . end