Then, as deft as a pickpocket, the hand slipped the ring from my finger and the arm withdrew into the hoop, vanishing completely. It was not a false hand, but one fully warm and alive as mine. Wishing to discover the mechanism of the trick, I rushed over to grab it by the hand. To pass through the hoop is to cross that duration instantlyĪgain, an arm reached out from the left side. The right side of the hoop precedes the left by several seconds. From here on, we traverse the future as well as the past through a myriad of characters, all interlinked one way or another. The latter invites our protagonist to further explore his inventions and shows him a hoop-like apparatus which functions more or less like a wormhole.
Fuwaad is enthralled by Bashaarat’s contraptions and douses him with heartfelt praises. His tale is of wonderment as he recalls a chance encounter with the owner of one of the most ingenious shops in the city. “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate” is a story narrated by the protagonist Fuwaad ibn Abbass, a fabric merchant, in presence of the Caliph of Baghdad. You may find one more agreeable to look at, but you cannot say one is true and the other is false. It leaves one charmed by the mystical, bewildered by a bygone era, and captivated by sheer simplicity.Ĭoincidence and intention are two sides of a tapestry, my lord.
Speculative fiction, set in platter of medieval Baghdad, blend in theology and philosophy, pepper with mythology, add a dollop of time-travel and voila! What we have here is another wonderful short story by Ted Chiang from the anthology “Stories of Your Life and Others”. And that you cannot avoid the ordeals that are assigned to you.
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