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news
when 
someone tells you 
something new
plague
a very 
bad illness; it can 
kill lots of people
Chapter 5 - To Tangier and Granada
‘So what was the trouble with those cities when you visited 
them again?’ I asked my uncle when I arrived the next day. 
‘Let’s talk about my journey from China first,’ he 
answered quietly. 
On my way back from China, I stopped in Sumatra again. 
Then I got on a big ship and sailed for forty days to India. 
When I arrived there, I thought about visiting the Sultan, 
but I was afraid. Perhaps he remembered his gifts for the 
ruler of China, and the time when I lost them all!
From India, I sailed to the south coast of Arabia. I then 
travelled through Persia to Baghdad. I journeyed across 
the desert and – in the end – I arrived once more in the city 
of Damascus. It was twenty years from the time of my last 
visit, but I remembered it well!
In Damascus, I heard something interesting. A teacher 
from Tangier now lived and worked in the city! I was 
excited to meet this man, and I asked him at once for 
news
from home. My father was dead, but my mother was alive, 
he told me. I felt bad about my father, and suddenly, after 
twenty-four long years away, I began to think of going 
back home, and of seeing my mother.
I journeyed to Aleppo, but there I heard some bad news. 
The
 plague
wasn’t far away, and many people were ill 
with it. At first, I travelled quickly from city to city in Syria. 
I wanted to stay in front of the plague, you see. But – after 
a time – when I arrived in new places, the plague was there 
before me.
So I went back to Damascus. Here I learnt the worst – at 
that time, lots of men, women and children died of plague 
there every day. Everybody came out into the streets with 
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their holy books and prayed for their families, but nobody 
could stop the plague.
The news of the plague made me think of my mother 
again. Was she ill, too, perhaps? So I travelled on pilgrimage 
to Makkah one more time, and then began my way 
back home through Cairo. Of course, I knew 
this wonderful city from years before. But it 
was very different now. Twenty-one thousand 
people died from the plague there every day.
My uncle stopped and looked out of the 
window.
‘Did you get ill, Uncle?’ I asked.
‘No, I didn’t,’ he said slowly. ‘And I thank God 
for that.’
I left Cairo, travelled to Tunis, and then got on a 
ship to the island of Sardinia. We didn’t stay there 
long. There were bandits on the island and they 
wanted to fight and kill us, so we left quickly.
After Sardinia, I sailed to North Africa and 
then travelled by donkey to Tangier. But not 
long before I arrived home, I heard bad news 
about my mother. She was dead, people in 
the town of Taza told me. I was very sorry to 
hear this.
In the end, I went to the most important 
city in our country – Fez – and I met 
our ruler, Sultan Abu Inan, there. To 
me, he was more wonderful than all 
the rulers in the world. Sometimes, 
Ahmed, the things in your home 
country are the best.
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