We went through the Jaffa Gate, towards the Marketplace El Bizar, and there we found Mustafa. He didn’t notice us right away, because he was involved in playing a trick on a customer who wanted to buy a new turban. In the middle of the shop, there stood a camel—which actually was his helper, Habakek. He had positioned himself on all fours and had adorned his disguise exactly like a camel that you see in a parade, having head bands jingling with ornaments and feathered plumes. The forelegs had a string of bells; draped over the costumed camel’s sides was a gaudy, glass-beaded wool netting. To the rear, there was a kid-leather water bottle which one would need in the desert. Nearby stood Thar, dressed only in an over-sized, common blue shirt that sagged loosely from his elbows to his knees. The boy’s face, arms, and legs were painted palm bark-brown.
Just as we entered the shop, the boy called out to their African servant Bem, who was squatting near the room’s coffee-corner: “I’m the Bedouin Sheik, and I’m feeding my camel!” At that moment, he scooped up a handful of lettuce leaves which the next door shopkeeper had previously thrown into the street. He shoved the soiled greens into the submissively open mouth of the make-believe camel. Habakek loudly, deliberately, and delightedly chewed the fodder. You would have thought that this creature was just an ordinary dromedary— a downright authentic camel. Just by the way he behaved, one could not tell that this was Habakek. Due to the fact that his face was so completely painted with colorful crosses and dashes, he seemed to disappear beneath all that makeup. For that reason, Bem questioned Thar:
“Why then have you painted him up?”
Thar readily resounded: “Don’t you know? This is the hide that I’ve painted. As you know, a camel has hairs on its face!”
In addition to this scene, we took note of the richly decorated donkey that stood in front of the neighboring store. In no way was this animal’s owner a commoner. The donkey’s important master had dismounted and stepped inside to buy something.
For the first time, the African saw me. At the moment, he was busy grinding coffee beans with a mortar and pestle. He was so overwhelmingly surprised that he tossed aside the coffee and the mortar and let out a piercing whoop of joy. Consequently, all of the others now drew their attention to me. Mustafa Bustani was so surprised to see me suddenly in front of him, that he stood completely still and said nothing. So much more in tune to the situation, Thar happily leaped in the air, let out a triumphant cheer, pointed to my wife, and asked: “Is this she, the woman whom you promised to bring to us?”
“Yes, it is she,” I answered.
He bowed three times before her and beckoned towards the camel: “Please sit upon this; it’s bejeweled for you!”
All at once, the camel stood up on its hind legs and used its hands to wipe the fur from its face: “I have no more time for this! I need to attend to the store’s business!”
As he happily greeted my wife and me, he tossed off the camel-costume jewelry and devoted his attention to the customer whom Mustafa had left to his own devices. Mustafa’s joy was as great as it was genuine. He greeted me with the customary bows and pulled me close to his heart: “What a comfort to see you today! Give thanks to Allah. Dearest friend, sit down with me; you know that you’re always welcome here!”