Crumbs of Bread
By:
Hussien Ali Mansour
On Monday afternoon, at the end of May, Ali, Ahmad
and Hamza were resting beneath an olive tree in one
of the orchards that stretched just outside the town
of "Hanin" They were resting after they accomplished
their mission.
They started peeking at the captured town of "Hanin"
where they dusted their bodies by the soil of its
edges, sitting in that orchard, experiencing home
sickness, and writing letters to the hidden land,
the fragrance of which they were scenting. The even
wrote letters to the thyme that received them with
its scent, to the rustling sound of the wind on
trees, which saddened shortly afterwards because
they had to leave soon.
Ali laid his back to a tree, stretched his legs,
placed his arms on his chest, and began observing
the place, looking at the facing hill towards the
east, where "Hanin" was setting behind it.
Ali noticed two rows of ants marching in two
opposite directions. The first row came from the
wall of the stratified rocks, heading towards a
small nest in the ground. The other row was coming
out of the nest, heading towards the wall. Both rows
were entering and exiting the nest without carrying
anything.
Ali changed his sitting posture and wondered why the
ants were returning empty-handed despite the fact
that the area was rich with leaves, straws and other
similar issues. This issue drew his attention that
was attracted further towards a number of ants that
were stopping to sense and dally with each other,
after which they returned to their track and group.
He remembered that he had a piece of bread in his
bag. Therefore, he reached out for it, crushed it
with his hands, and threw the small fragments to the
ants.
The ants stopped as soon as the fragments touched
the ground. Shortly afterwards, some ants approached
the small pieces of bread, started sensing them with
their legs, turning them over, as if they were
smelling them, and handled them with their jaws,
carrying towards the nest, inside which they
disappeared.
Ali watched the events with great amusement and
realized how the ants rushed towards the bread
fragments for a pick up. The ants lost their
boredom, became amazingly active, and found the
provision they were seeking without any trouble.
Oh God, another strange issue was happening. The
rest of the ants stopped marching towards the wall
and they began gathering at the place where Ali
threw the bread crumbs. They starting moving
differently, touching each other and whispering, as
if they were waiting more bread from Ali.
Ahmad and Hamza were watching and noticed how the
ants sensed the bright of love in the pieces of the
thrown crumbs of bread. It was like a baby talking
to its mother, a field talking to its plants, or a
rose talking to its dewdrops. It was like someone
exiting a prison to a spacious world, where he could
discover bonds and relations to find love.
Ali gave away the rest of the pieces to the ants
that used a language which we could not understand,
yet we could clearly sense it through their
primitive actions guided by their instinct. Hence,
the ants picked up the crumbs, and marched away to
disappear inside the nest.
Ahmad: Praise the lord; should we discard this
primitiveness out of our life, it will discard us
out of its world and life. Hence its secrets will
remain hidden without anyone succeeding in
unraveling them.
Ali: It is the choice, my friend, which will define
our destiny and ambition. Choice helped me explore
the silence of languages and built a relationship
with these ants through a few pieces of bread.
Hamza: If it were not for the tenderness of our
hearts, we would have stepped over these ants, and
we would have crushed their lives and dreams without
any mercy or attention from our side.
Ali: Let us move on, our brothers are waiting for
us.
On Friday afternoon of August, Ahmad and Hamza
returned to that olive orchard in "Aytit", after
they had accomplished their mission. And again, they
peeked at another village named "Rshaf" and dusted
their bodies with its soil.
Ahmad laid his back to a tree, sat in a squat
position, then reached out for a piece of bread out
of his bag, crushed it with his hands, and threw the
small fragments to the ground. Ants grouped around
them, and the hearts were sparked with cordiality.
Bullet
Pen (Qalam Rasa's) series, part three; Nasr
Encyclopedia of the Resistance Literature; issued by
the Lebanese Association for Arts, RESALAT.
