"I thought you looked like a soldier, my man, and with all that you are an infidel, it looks like you've got good judgment ... now I am an old man and my eyes are dead and I see though that we were not following truth in those raids we were doing in the name of Allah, but just brutality, and I thank you for having come till here ... and I thank as well those who took my eyesight and in this way turned me into a man of God, instead of meeting death by the hands of infidels in one of our raids ... may God have mercy on the souls of us all, in peace only we will find Allah’s truth".
But the other man had vanished, as if a gust of wind had carried him away. Those who saw two men, wrapped in their cloaks, walking in the Medina, thought they had seen two ancient spirits appearing in the dark night. The guard was sleeping when they went through the door, and in Zaragoza no one saw them ever again. Of the things taken away, something had been given back; not the eyesight back to the old man, who had been a plunderer, not life back to those who had died: freedom from fear to those who still feared nameless horrors after so much time.
But the other man had vanished, as if a gust of wind had carried him away. Those who saw two men, wrapped in their cloaks, walking in the Medina, thought they had seen two ancient spirits appearing in the dark night. The guard was sleeping when they went through the door, and in Zaragoza no one saw them ever again. Of the things taken away, something had been given back; not the eyesight back to the old man, who had been a plunderer, not life back to those who had died: freedom from fear to those who still feared nameless horrors after so much time.
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