Chapter 4: Lessons

As they walked into the harem proper, Sister Annamaria was shocked to see the near nudity of the women, dressed as they were in short satin dressing-gowns, reaching only to the tops of their thighs and without any buttons or belt to hold them closed below a collar button. Other than that she could see that they were completely naked, not even wearing slippers.

Watching her reaction, the Emir thought she took it well. He was amused by the women’s reaction to the nun’s dress, a severely cut dark grey suit with the skirt well below the knee, over a high-necked simple white blouse, and with her hair held in a severe wimple.

Addressing nobody in particular he said, “Sister Annamaria is here to teach the children scientific subjects. Please make her welcome. She will not be staying in the harem, but will soon have her own house.”

A quiet buzz of surprise greeted his last sentence, and those few women who recognised the honorific and the clothing she wore wondered how a nun from a teaching order had strayed as far as Kobekistan.

Sister Annamaria was almost overwhelmed by the friendliness of the Emir’s wives to whom she was formally introduced. It did not surprise her that there was more than one; she had assumed that country, if not the Emir himself, had the Moslem tradition of up to four wives. When two of the wives were English and clearly not oppressed or unhappy, she felt just a little more reassured that this incredible situation was perhaps another of God’s mysteries, and an opportunity.

The children were like children the world over, some were mischievous and forward, some were reserved, and some were downright shy and frightened by her appearance. The one called Sharifa, who was apparently the indirect cause of her kidnapping was a serious, reserved child, on the brink of puberty.

It was the concubines who disturbed her; they did not seem to have any opinions, and she got the impression that they rather resented her. The elder of the two English wives, the Princess Ayda, explained that the locally born concubines had no concept of a woman who worked, or of a woman who devoted her life to God, and that they only viewed her as a potential rival.

“It will take several days to prepare a suitable house for you ... er ... Sister,” said the Chief Eunuch, “and His Magnificence, the Emir Mahmoud Abdullah, my Master, may he live for ever, has decreed that until it is prepared you will be accommodated in one of our guest suites.”

The good Sister was horrified by the opulence of the rooms to which she was escorted, and stood surveying the décor, the deep carpeting, the beautiful highly polished furniture, the fruit and canapés which stood on silver salvers. “My goodness!” she exclaimed aloud, “Whatever would the Mother Superior say?”

She almost fainted when one of what she had assumed were two statues beside the door which presumably led to the bedroom actually answered her question.

“Would the Master wish me to inquire, Master?”

When she had recovered from her surprise she replied, “No, thank you. Who are you, and why do you call me ‘Master’?”

“We are the eunuchs assigned to this suite as slaves, Master. His Magnificence, the Emir Mahmoud Abdullah, may he live for ever, has decreed that you are a man while you are in this country, Master.”