Monthly Archives: October 2016

Upon entering the Sixth Circle, Dante and Virgil come across tombs “kindled all of them to glowing heat” (IX 119). When I think of a heretic, I envision an intellectual who has forsaken his people’s principles. However, it seems that … Continue reading →

The first realization that comes to a reader, who has never read this epic before, is that this Divine Comedy is not completely theological (and sadly not a joke book). The second realization the reader comes to is that this … Continue reading →

Three forms of violence find punishment in the Seventh Circle of Hell. In the second ring are those violent to self: “suicides, self-robbers of your world, / or those who gamble all their wealth away / and weep up there … Continue reading →

“Having mended the net, he cast it into the sea, and      waited for it to sink. When he pulled, he found that it was so heavy that he  was unable to haul it. He shook it and found that it was  caught at the  bottom. Saying “There is no power or strength save in God, the Almighty,    the Magnificent,” he took off his clothes and dove for the net. He worked at  it until he managed to free it, and as he hauled it to the shore, he felt that  there was something heavy inside. He struggled with the net, until he  opened it and found a large long necked brass jar, with a lead stopper  bearing the mark of a seal ring. When the fisherman saw the jar, he was  happy and said to himself, “I will sell it in the copper market, for it must be worth at least    two measures of wheat.”   The fisherman was ecstatic to bring his catch to the local merchant to sell the jar … Continue reading →

After the demon released the merchant, he said to the four men, “all of your stories were strange. But now that I no longer pose a threat to you, oh merchant, I will share with you how my son came … Continue reading →

“He spent the rest of the time with his family, and when the year came to an end, save for the time needed for the journey, he performed his ablutions, performed his prayers, and, carrying his burial shroud, began to … Continue reading →

Demon, as for my story, these are the details. These two dogs are my brothers. We were raised by the great Huntmaster in Abha. As hunting dogs, we were trained to kill the biggest game in the vastness of the … Continue reading →

But this story is not as strange or as amazing as the story of the salesman and the thief… Dinarzad asked, “Please, sister, what is the story of the salesman and the thief?” Shahrazad said…”’ Let me tell you about … Continue reading →

The merchant himself went back home to his family, his wife, and his children, and he lived with them until the day he died. But this story is not as strange or as amazing as the story of the Princess … Continue reading →

The following text is found on page 577. My words start from the italics. ‘Then they separated, and each of them went on his way. The merchant himself went back home to his family, his wife, and his children, and … Continue reading →