The Call of What Was Not Far Away

Description

The novel opens with a scene that transports the reader to a desert world inhabited by strange tales, imaginative legends, and symbols that provoke the mind to search for their meanings. The reader is captivated by the key to the reed, which the novelist has chosen as the starting point and axis of his story. This key is the first treasure the Pasha (the central character) takes from his pocket, and it rubs its hands over his head, saying in a voice he clearly hears: “What matters to me is your heel! I was created to crush my head with your heel, and I was created to sting your heel.” Events unfold, yet this haunting memory continues to resonate within the Pasha, driving him to seek a way to protect his descendants from the curse. The scene concludes with the Pasha, afflicted by various ailments—he has become blind and suffers from a constant headache—deciding to free his descendants from the serpent’s curse by sacrificing his own life, firing a few shots to end it.