Smaïn; and Safti's Summer Day

Downloads: Under 100
Pages: 11

Read online EPUB Download Save

About this book

Flute music drifting through Sahara palm gardens draws a visiting narrator's attention to Smaïn, a young gardener in love with a dancer at Touggourt. His guide Safti interprets the musician's words, while the visitor builds an imagined portrait of the woman from the sounds he hears. Robert Hichens gives this first story a setting of irrigated gardens, village fires and desert moonlight, with the narrator's expectations shaping his account.

The companion story turns to Safti himself, a married guide supporting a wife and five children. Its opening describes his winter work showing visitors the market, mosque tower, gardens and nearby sights, then accepting payment at the end of the day. These two short pieces combine descriptive scenes with conversational humour. They offer readers a compact study of longing, guiding work and the assumptions a traveller brings to the people he meets.

About the author

Robert Hichens

Robert Smythe Hichens (1864–1950) was an English novelist, journalist, and music critic who first drew notice as a satirist of the 1890s. His anonymously published novel "The Green Carnation" (1894) lampooned Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas so pointedly that it was withdrawn during Wilde's trial.

More by Robert Hichens

See all 4 books

Discussion

No comments yet. Share a thought, a question or a favourite passage.

Read or download

Public domain book This work is in the public domain and free of copyright. Anyone may read, download and share it.

Read online Text reader: adjustable size, font and theme. Open PDF (original pages)

PDF 125 KB Keeps the printed page layout
EPUB 12 KB Reflows on phones and e-readers

Downloads start right away. How to open EPUB on your phone

Report a problem with this file

Book facts

Author: Robert Hichens
Reading time: About 15 minutes
Pages: 11
Language: English
Genre: Classics
Formats: PDF, EPUB, Read online

Help and policies

Language