Elif Shafak is one of Turkey’s most acclaimed and outspoken novelists

The Novice 
BAGHDAD, APRIL 1242
Bowing and scraping, I showed the judge to the door and quickly returned to the main room to 
collect the dirty bowls. I was surprised to find Baba Zaman and the wandering dervish in the 
same position as when I left them, neither one saying a word. Out of the corner of my eye, I 
checked them, wondering if it could be possible to carry on a conversation without talking. I 
lingered there as long as I could, arranging the cushions, tidying up the room, picking up the 
crumbs on the carpet, but after a while I ran out of reasons to stay. 

---

Halfheartedly, I dragged my feet back to the kitchen. As soon as he saw me, the cook started to 
rain orders. “Wipe the counter, mop the floor! Wash the dishes! Scrub the stove and the walls 
around the grill! And when you are done, don’t forget to check the mousetraps!” Ever since I’d 
come to this lodge some six months ago, the cook had been riding roughshod over me. Every day 
he made me work like a dog and called this torture part of my spiritual training, as if washing 
greasy dishes could be spiritual in any way. 
A man of few words, the cook had one favorite mantra: “Cleaning is praying, praying is 
cleaning!” 
“If that were true, all the housewives in Baghdad would have become spiritual masters,” I once 
dared to say. 
He threw a wooden spoon at my head and yelled at the top of his lungs, “Such back talk will get 
you nowhere, son. If you want to become a dervish, be as mute as that wooden spoon. 
Rebelliousness is not a good quality in a novice. Speak less, mature quicker!” 
I hated the cook, but, more than that, I feared him. I had never disobeyed his orders. That is, until 
this evening. 
As soon as the cook turned his back, I sneaked out of the kitchen and tiptoed to the main room 
again, dying to learn more about the wandering dervish. Who was he? What was he doing here? 
He wasn’t like the dervishes in the lodge. His eyes looked fierce and unruly, even when he 
bowed his head in modesty. There was something so unusual and unpredictable about him that it 
was almost frightening. 
I peeped through a crack in the door. At first I couldn’t see anything. But soon my eyes adjusted 
to the semidarkness inside the room and I could make out their faces. 
I heard the master ask, “Tell me, Shams of Tabriz, what brings someone like you to Baghdad? 
Have you seen this place in a dream?” 
The dervish shook his head. “No, it wasn’t a dream that brought me here. It was a vision. I never 
have dreams.” 
“Everybody has dreams,” Baba Zaman said tenderly. “It’s just that you might not remember 
them all the time. But that doesn’t mean you don’t dream.” 
“But I do not,” the dervish insisted. “It is part of a deal I made with God. You see, when I was a 
boy, I saw angels and watched the mysteries of the universe unfold before my eyes. When I told 
this to my parents, they weren’t pleased and told me to stop dreaming. When I confided in my 
friends, they, too, said I was a hopeless dreamer. I tried talking to my teachers, but their response 
was no different. Finally I understood that whenever people heard something unusual, they 
called it a dream. I began to dislike the word and all that it represented.” 

---

Upon saying this, the dervish paused as if he had heard a sudden sound. Then the strangest thing 
happened. He stood up, straightened his spine, and slowly, deliberately began to walk toward the 
door, all the while looking in my direction. It was as if he somehow knew I was spying on them. 
It was as if he could see through the wooden door. 
My heart pounded like mad. I wanted to run back to the kitchen but couldn’t see how. My arms, 
my legs, my whole body froze. Through and beyond the door, the dark eyes of Shams of Tabriz 
were fixed upon me. As terrified as I was, I also felt a tremendous amount of energy rushing 
through my body. He approached, put his hand on the door handle, but just when I thought he 
was about to open the door and catch me, he stopped. I couldn’t see his face from this close and 
had no idea what had changed his mind. We waited like that for an unbearably long minute. 
Then he turned his back, and as he paced away from the door, he continued with his story. 
“When I got a little older, I asked God to take away my ability to dream, so that every time I 
encountered Him, I would know I wasn’t dreaming. He agreed. He took them all away. That’s 
why I never dream.” 
Shams of Tabriz now stood by the open windows across the room. Outside, there was a light 
drizzle, and he watched it pensively before he said, “God took away my ability to dream. But to 
compensate for that loss, He allowed me to interpret the dreams of others. I am a dream 
interpreter.” 
I expected Baba Zaman not to believe this nonsense and to scold him, as he scolds me all the 
time. 
But instead the master nodded respectfully and said, “You seem to be an unusual person. Tell 
me, what can I do for you?” 
“I don’t know. Actually, I was hoping you could tell me that.” 
“What do you mean?” asked the master, sounding puzzled. 
“For almost forty years, I have been a wandering dervish. I am skilled in the ways of nature, 
although the ways of society are still alien to me. If necessary, I can fight like a wild animal, but 
I myself cannot hurt anyone. I can name the constellations in the sky, identify the trees in the 
forests, and read like an open book the types of people the Almighty has created in His image.” 
Shams paused briefly and waited as the master lit an oil lamp. Then he continued. “One of the 
rules says, You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is 
not confined in a mosque, synagogue, or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where 
exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for Him: in the heart of a true lover. There is 
no one who has lived after seeing Him, just like there is no one who has died after seeing Him. 
Whoever finds Him will remain with Him forever.” 

---

In that dim, flickering light, Shams of Tabriz seemed even taller, his hair falling to his shoulders 
in disorderly waves. 
“But knowledge is like brackish water at the bottom of an old vase unless it flows somewhere. 
For years I prayed to God for a companion to share the knowledge accumulated inside me. 
Finally, in a vision in Samarkand, I’ve been told I should come to Baghdad to fulfill my destiny. 
I understand that you know the name of my companion and his whereabouts and will tell me, if 
not now, then later.” 
Outside, the night had settled, and a wedge of moonlight streamed in through the open windows. 
I realized how late it was. The cook must have been looking for me. But I didn’t care. For once it 
felt good to break the rules. 
“I don’t know what kind of answer you are asking of me,” murmured the master. “But if there is 
a piece of information I am destined to reveal, I know it will happen in due time. Until then you 
can stay here with us. Be our guest.” 
Upon hearing this, the wandering dervish bowed humbly and gratefully to kiss Baba Zaman’s 
hand. That is when the master asked that bizarre question: “You say you are ready to deliver all 
your knowledge to another person. You want to hold the Truth in your palm as if it were a 
precious pearl and offer it to someone special. But opening up someone’s heart to spiritual light 
is no small task for a human being. You’re stealing God’s thunder. What are you willing to pay 
in return?” 
For as long as I live, I will never forget the answer the dervish gave then. Raising an eyebrow, he 
said firmly, “I am willing to give my head.” 
I flinched, feeling a cold shiver travel down my spine. When I put my eye to the crack again, I 
noticed that the master looked shaken by the answer as well. 
“Perhaps we have done enough talking for today.” Baba Zaman exhaled a sigh. “You must be 
tired. Let me call the young novice. He will show you to your bed and provide clean sheets and a 
glass of milk.” 
Now Shams of Tabriz turned toward the door, and I felt down to my bones that he was gazing at 
me again. More than that. It was as if he were looking through and into me, studying the pits and 
peaks of my soul, inspecting secrets that were hidden even from me. Perhaps he was involved 
with black magic or had been trained by Harut and Marut, the two angels of Babylon that the 
Qur’an warned us against. Or else he possessed supernatural talents that helped him to see 
through doors and walls. Either way he scared me. 
“No need to call the novice,” he said, his voice attaining a higher pitch. “I’ve a feeling he is 
nearby and has already heard us.” 

---

I let out a gasp so loud it might have woken the dead in their graves. In utter panic I jumped to 
my feet and scurried into the garden, seeking refuge in the dark. But an unpleasant surprise was 
awaiting me there. 
“So there you are, you little rascal!” yelled the cook as he ran toward me with a broom in his 
hand. “You are in big trouble, son, big trouble!” 
I jumped aside and managed to duck the broom at the last minute. 
“Come here or I’ll break your legs!” the cook shouted behind me, puffing. 
But I didn’t. Instead I dashed out of the garden as fast as an arrow. While the face of Shams of 
Tabriz shimmered before my eyes, I ran and ran along the winding trail that connected the lodge 
to the main road, and even after I had gotten far away, I couldn’t stop running. My heart 
pounding, my throat dried up, I ran until my knees gave out and I could run no more.