A writer pictures a childhood well with startling clarity. Her cousin recognises the red cloth, while a kitchen cup opens a different account.
01Read the Arabic story
قِصَّةُ الطُّفُولَةِ الَّتِي اسْتَعَرْتُهَا
فِي مَقَالَةٍ عَنْ طُفُولَتِي، كَتَبْتُ أَنَّنِي كُنْتُ أَسْحَبُ الْمَاءَ مِنْ بِئْرٍ وَأَلُفُّ قِطْعَةَ قُمَاشٍ حَمْرَاءَ حَوْلَ مِقْبَضِ الدَّلْوِ. رَأَيْتُ الْقُمَاشَ وَأَنَا أَكْتُبُ، وَسَمِعْتُ صَرِيرَ الْحَبْلِ. لَمْ أَتَوَقَّفْ عِنْدَ ضَمِيرِ الْمُتَكَلِّمِ؛ كَانَ الْمَشْهَدُ مَأْلُوفًا بِقَدْرِ مَا كَانَ بَعِيدًا. أَرْسَلْتُ الْمَقَالَةَ إِلَى ابْنَةِ خَالَتِي مَرْيَمَ، قَبْلَ إِرْسَالِهَا إِلَى الْمَجَلَّةِ الَّتِي طَلَبَتْهَا.
اِتَّصَلَتْ مَرْيَمُ وَسَأَلَتْ عَنِ الْقُمَاشِ. كَانَتْ قَدْ حَكَتْ لِي قِصَّةَ الْبِئْرِ مَرَارًا، وَكَانَتْ أُمُّهَا تَضَعُ تِلْكَ الْقِطْعَةَ لِتَحْمِيَ يَدَ مَرْيَمَ. لَمْ تَتَّهِمْنِي بِالسَّرِقَةِ، وَلَمْ تَقُلْ إِنَّ الصُّورَةَ لَا تَخُصُّنِي بِأَيِّ مَعْنًى. قَالَتْ إِنَّهَا لَا تُرِيدُ اسْمَهَا وَلَا اسْمَ الْقَرْيَةِ فِي الْمَجَلَّةِ. كُنْتُ قَدْ تَذَكَّرْتُ الصُّورَةَ وَنَسِيتُ أَنَّنِي سَمِعْتُهَا مِنْهَا.
سَأَلْتُ أُمِّي عَمَّا كُنْتُ أَفْعَلُ حِينَ أُرِيدُ الْمَاءَ. ذَكَرَتْ مَقْعَدًا صَغِيرًا أَقِفُ عَلَيْهِ أَمَامَ حَوْضِ الْمَطْبَخِ فِي شَقَّتِنَا. تَذَكَّرْتُ حَافَّةَ كُوبٍ مَعْدِنِيٍّ مَعْوَجَّةً تَلْمَسُ شَفَتِي. لَكِنَّ بُرُودَةَ الْمَاءِ الَّتِي وَصَفْتُهَا فِي الْمَقَالَةِ لَمْ تَجِدْ مَكَانًا وَاحِدًا بِسُهُولَةٍ. لَمْ أَطْلُبْ مِنْ أُمِّي أَنْ تَضْمَنَ كُلَّ تَفْصِيلٍ؛ سَأَلْتُهَا إِنْ كَانَ الْكُوبُ بَاقِيًا.
كَتَبْتُ إِلَى مَرْيَمَ أَطْلُبُ إِذْنَهَا لِرِوَايَةِ قِصَّتِهَا بِلَا أَسْمَاءٍ، وَأَرْسَلْتُ الصِّيَاغَةَ الْجَدِيدَةَ. وَافَقَتْ عَلَى عِبَارَةِ «حَكَتْ لِي قَرِيبَةٌ»، وَطَلَبَتْ حَذْفَ تَفْصِيلٍ عَنِ بَيْتِهَا. حَذَفْتُهُ، وَأَبْقَيْتُ الْبِئْرَ فِي قِصَّتِهَا وَالْمَقْعَدَ فِي قِصَّتِي. لَمْ يَكُنِ التَّعْدِيلُ تَغْيِيرَ ضَمِيرٍ فَحَسْبُ؛ صَارَ لِلصُّورَةِ طَرِيقٌ إِلَيَّ وَشَخْصٌ يَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ يَرْفُضَ نَشْرَ جُزْءٍ مِنْهَا.
عِنْدَ أُمِّي، وَجَدْتُ الْكُوبَ فِي خِزَانَةٍ، وَشَرِبْتُ مِنْهُ وَأَنَا وَاقِفَةٌ. لَمْ يَعُدِ الْحَوْضُ عَالِيًا، وَبَقِيَتِ الْحَافَّةُ مَعْوَجَّةً. لَمْ يَحْسِمْ ذَلِكَ مَصْدَرَ كُلِّ إِحْسَاسٍ فِي الْمَقَالَةِ، وَكَتَبْتُ تَحْتَ الصِّيَاغَةِ الْأَخِيرَةِ أَنَّ قِصَّةَ الْبِئْرِ وَصَلَتْنِي مِنْ قَرِيبَةٍ. أَرْسَلْتُ الْمَقَالَةَ وَتَرَكْتُ الْكُوبَ عَلَى الْحَوْضِ. كَانَ مَاؤُهُ بَارِدًا؛ هَذِهِ الْمَرَّةَ أَسْتَطِيعُ أَنْ أَذْكُرَ أَيْنَ شَرِبْتُهُ.
Show English translationHide English translation
In an essay about my childhood, I wrote that I used to draw water from a well and wrap a piece of red cloth around the bucket handle. I saw the cloth as I wrote and heard the rope creaking. I did not pause over the first-person pronoun; the scene was as familiar as it was distant. I sent the essay to my cousin Maryam before sending it to the magazine that had requested it.
Maryam called and asked about the cloth. She had told me the well story many times, and her mother used to put that piece there to protect Maryam’s hand. She did not accuse me of theft, nor say that the image did not belong to me in any sense. She said she did not want her name or the village’s name in the magazine. I had remembered the image and forgotten that I had heard it from her.
I asked my mother what I used to do when I wanted water. She mentioned a small stool I stood on in front of the kitchen sink in our flat. I remembered a bent metal cup rim touching my lip. But the coolness of the water I had described in the essay did not easily find a single location. I did not ask my mother to guarantee every detail; I asked whether the cup was still there.
I wrote to Maryam asking permission to tell her story without names and sent the new wording. She agreed to the phrase “a relative told me” and asked me to remove a detail about her house. I removed it, keeping the well in her story and the stool in mine. The revision was not merely a change of pronoun; the image now had a route to me and a person who could refuse publication of part of it.
At my mother’s, I found the cup in a cupboard and drank from it standing up. The sink was no longer high, and the rim remained bent. That did not settle the source of every sensation in the essay, and beneath the final wording I wrote that the well story had reached me from a relative. I sent the essay and left the cup on the sink. Its water was cold; this time I could say where I had drunk it.
02Useful words from the story
| Arabic in the story | Meaning here |
|---|---|
| مِقْبَضِ | the handle of |
| الدَّلْوِ | the bucket |
| صَرِيرَ | the creaking; squeaking of |
| مَأْلُوفًا | familiar |
| حَوْضِ | the sink; basin of |
| مَعْوَجَّةً | bent; crooked |
| تَضْمَنَ | guarantee |
| إِذْنَهَا | her permission |
| الصِّيَاغَةَ | the wording |
| فَحَسْبُ | merely; only |
03Check your understanding
Choose one answer per question. Track voices, omissions and competing accounts. Choose the reading best supported by the Arabic text.
What to remember
- A vivid familiar image need not establish that the narrator personally lived the scene.
- Consent and anonymous attribution clarify the story’s route without settling every remembered sensation.
Explore the Arabic in this story
Related grammar and vocabularyOpen Araqick guides connected to this story.
Kana in Arabic: Was and Were
كَانَ الْكُوبُ بَاقِيًا
Keep the cup as kana’s nominative noun and baqiyan as its accusative past-state predicate.
Lam in Arabic: How to Say “Did Not”
لَمْ يَحْسِمْ ذَلِكَ مَصْدَرَ كُلِّ إِحْسَاسٍ
Use lam with the sound-final jussive verb to deny that the cup settles every sensation’s source.
