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

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

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"He stayed away for forty years, and God took him back while he was <strong>in</strong><br />

his ancestral home. He did not die <strong>in</strong> exile, as he lived."<br />

<strong>in</strong>dignantly.<br />

"He lived with his family, with his wife and children," his sons replied<br />

"Of course, my son, of course!"<br />

"We would like to go to our father's grave tomorrow before we leave,"<br />

<strong>in</strong>terjected the older son.<br />

"Leave? So soon? It wouldn't be proper. You must stay for the three dawn<br />

celebrations and then the d<strong>in</strong>ner of the tomb before speak<strong>in</strong>g of leav<strong>in</strong>g. Besides,<br />

your blessed father would have wanted you to stay long enough to get better<br />

acqua<strong>in</strong>ted with your paternal family. You are the only 'scent' we have left of the<br />

dear man, God rest his soul."<br />

"In the meantime," the bony old man cont<strong>in</strong>ued, "I must work out some<br />

details of the <strong>in</strong>heritance with you. Moulay Ali delegated the responsibility to me-<br />

-let me rem<strong>in</strong>d you that he and I were first cous<strong>in</strong>s--to take care of his possessions<br />

<strong>in</strong> and around Fez. Speak<strong>in</strong>g of possessions <strong>in</strong> our case," said the man <strong>in</strong> a modest<br />

manner that defied any objection, "is say<strong>in</strong>g too much. In fact, it concerns<br />

portions of properties donated to religious charities. Your father <strong>in</strong>structed me to<br />

use the profits to ma<strong>in</strong>ta<strong>in</strong> our ancestors' burial sanctuaries. There are also<br />

<strong>in</strong>divisible rights concern<strong>in</strong>g some family houses that are fall<strong>in</strong>g to ru<strong>in</strong> and some<br />

farmlands that have belonged to us for centuries. These rights would have been of<br />

some value if the family had not grown so extensive, mak<strong>in</strong>g the part of each one<br />

of us so modest that it isn't even worth the time it would take to make the fruitless<br />

241

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