The Missing Hand

Feb. 2022 Update: This story has been reprinted online at Medievalists.net here.

My translation of a 10th century detective story by Tanukhi is published in the latest issue of ArabLit Quarterly (excerpt below). The theme of this issue is Crime, and this story is one of my all-time favorite stories in classical Arabic literature for its sheer weirdness. It is titled here as “The Missing Hand.”

I was alone on my way to Ramla. When I arrived at night, everyone had gone to bed, so I headed to the cemetery. I entered a few mausoleums that were above the graves, cast down a leather shield I had with me, and hung my sword. I wanted to sleep, and enter the city by day. But the place made me feel uneasy, and I could not sleep.

After a long bout of insomnia, I sensed a movement, and I thought, It’s thieves going by. If I go after them, I won’t overcome them: they could be a group, and then I wouldn’t be any match for them. So I stayed put, not moving. In great fear, I poked my head a little out of the doors of the mausoleum. I saw a beast like a bear moving, so I hid myself. It was advancing toward the mausoleum across from me, close to me. The animal continued circling and encircling it, walking around it for a while, and then entered it.

I was suspicious of it, disapproving of its action, and my soul waited to see what it was doing. It entered the mausoleum, and came out with no hesitation, quickly entering and exiting with energy. The next time it entered, I kept my eye on it. It hit one of the graves in the mausoleum, and started to dig. So I said to myself: Grave robber, no doubt about it.