Chapter 6: Given Back

Some months later General Mustapha greeted His Magnificence, the Emir Ibrahim with a cup of thick sweet coffee, a pile of cakes and a selection of the youngest and most attractive of the inhabitants of his harem.

"Help yourself," he offered, waving at the girls, "by the way, do you want the left hand end one returned?"

"Oh, yes, I remember now," said the Emir, "The kitchen virgin. It was the most extraordinary thing. I went into the harem kitchen and there was this eighteen year old uncut virgin doing kitchen work. How is she coming along?"

"Try her yourself, Master, she's ready for anyone."

"Oh, no thanks. I like my fruit much riper than that," came the jovial reply.

Maryam's heart sank. She could now look forward only to the austere life here as one of the General's playthings. If the Emir had tried her she was sure that she would have pleased him so much that he would have taken her back to the much more opulent surroundings of the Golden Palace harem.

"Yes, find me something a little riper for now but I will have her back, when it's convenient you understand, as I am a little short on hostesses. Hunting takes its toll of them. One we used is now useless, and another actually managed to win and was sent to England to live," explained the Emir.

"Do you know, old friend," the General paused to see the Emir's reaction to this familiarity, "I often wondered if you really did that? Freed them and gave them a pension."

The Emir bridled, "I am a man of my word, I hope. If I promise something, it happens; even if I promise it to a woman."

The General quickly said, "Of course, of course."

A nod to his head eunuch was enough to send him scurrying into the harem to bring out the older and fatter women who might be more to the taste of the Emir. Maryam and the other young girls were hurried away and she did not have time to hear any more of the conversation, though in fact it did not concern her at all.

Early the next morning, long before the General or the Emir awoke, Maryam was hurried into an abaya and taken to the Golden Palace harem. There she was greeted by a minor eunuch who assigned her a sleeping place and gave her a uniform consisting of a sleeveless brocade waistcoat, in the style of a western bolero, which did not meet across the breasts but left them visible at each swing as she walked, and loose sheer chiffon trousers of pale green with no gusset or seam between the legs. Thus her legs were encased, but the gap left her shaven cunt and arse crack completely visible and accessible. Rouged nipples and labia would complete the Emir's idea of the ideal dress for a hetæra available for his guests to use. The abaya and the General's harem peignoir were taken from her to be returned to the General's eunuch who had brought her.

Maryam need not have worried about whether the General would remember to return her to the Emir's harem because, although she never knew it, both the General and the Emir had forgotten about her entirely when the larger and older women arrived. She was moved simply because the Emir had spoken within the hearing of the eunuchs and his word was law. No further instructions were necessary.