Abo Nazmi’s Horns
I didn’t know Abo Nazmi has got horns! He was hiding them under his long hat. I also didn’t know my mother was aware to be away from him whenever we met by coincidence. However, I saw the horns finally after many desperate attempts to tease him every morning. Abo Nazmi’s issue is weird. It has made everyone feel sick, have headaches, made great minds reasoning, made people get less sleep hours and made it mysterious for whom looking for truth.
I have decided to unfold the secrets of this matter with weird insistent. I would really want to know what happened to Abo Nazmi recently. I have been waking up early to follow his steps full of self-confident and steady. I want to absorb his behaviour, his wondrous secret and his self-esteem.
He wasn’t getting up early to offer Fajir prayer or any other prayers we know nor to help solving tired peoples of life problems that got a lot, aggravate and killed a lot of people.
However, he was paying hidden dole every day. Then, he walks toward any opened shop and to spit out all his poison words like a snake looking for prey. So, he fights with the person for long while as if he needed to let out bitterness hidden in him.
Voices get louder until people gather and finding no one able to stop the fight with determination. It is nonsense fights actually. ‘’they said, we said…’’. There is so much gossip in our society really. We are not good at anything beside that.
His horns grow bigger whenever he gets involved in a fight with someone .He does so for his believes sake. So, it was normal for him to create troubles daily. Once, a hex told him that his horns won’t stop growing until it reaches two meters length. How he is going to be able to sleep and live with them?. It made me surprised and increased my curiosity every day. I asked a friend of mine one day:
-what’s the matter with Abo Nazmi? Certainly there is a weird secret behind it.
- He has mistrust, scrupulosity, ghostly imagination, and instability. He lives in confusion and losing trust in people little by little every day. He prefers loneliness to avoid others fooling him.
-Where is Nazmi?
-He traveled far away.
When Abo Nazmi died the other day, only his son and his poor wife were there in funeral day.
Heart pressure, illusion, and diabetes killed him and everything else that could shorten his life and end all peace of mind. He hired himself to be the judge of all peoples of court that only him who leads it. No one could be a help to develop his mind. Therefore, towns got in fights and misunderstanding got spread.
The funny thing about this matter is that there was a person who cried with sorrow for him. He cried for him painfully. He cried for him with heartbreak. There were rumors that there is a scientific mistake has happened. He really wanted to get treatment for his high temper and aggressiveness, yet he failed due not having honest intention.
They caught him, hanged him and got lashed, because he knew Abo Nazmi’s secret and his wealth. Then, our friend died the secret died along with him.

Original text by : Rimah al Khany
Translated by : Sarah al Hakim.