Translating Nouzha Fassi Fihri's La Baroudeuse: A Case Study in ...

powers.
So they decided to leave her alone, not knowing the extent of her evil
One night, when Marjana had been with them only a few months, the
household awoke in a panic, their sleep disturbed by the smell of something
burning.
They ran to see what it was, thinking a brazier had been left too close to a
wool mattress or that coals had spilled out and set fire to rags nearby.
How great was their consternation to find the newest member of the
group, naked as a worm, her hair like a steel helmet around her uproarious face as
she danced around a fire she had lit in the middle of the living room. Was she
crazy--they almost resold her as such--or was this a ritual of her native Guinea?
In any case, she got forty lashes with a wet cord across her buttocks. That
was the only time Lalla Kenza ever saw a slave being punished. After all, the
misdemeanor was relatively serious.
Marjana was put in Kenza's service as soon as the more experienced
slaves had taught her the requirements of her new job. She quickly became
Kenza's friend and confidante. When her mistress married, Marjana began
protecting the couple and their privacy in a house full of people as a lioness
protects her young in the den. In her approximate Arabic, saying ka for kha, ha
for hha, confusing masculine and feminine and singular and plural, she
challenged anyone who dared to approach the lovers' den without invitation. She
could be seen squatting in front of their door constantly on guard cleaning lentils,
shelling dried beans, or singing sensuous songs from her homeland. The newly-
weds' love shone in her eyes, ran in her veins, and swelled in her chest.
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