El enigma
del califa
Hace mucho tiempo, Bagdad era el centro del mundo. Y el
centro del mundo lo ocupaba el gran califa. De entre todas las maravillas que la vida le
brindaba, la joya más preciada era su harén. Sin embargo, cuando conversaba con
sus mujeres les comentaba que echaba de menos muchas cosas. Demasiadas cosas,
porque el califa… era ciego.
Las concubinas escuchaban con atención cuando él les decía
que de su niñez, recordaba el color de los atardeceres; de su juventud, las
increíbles formas femeninas; y la luz, el juego de la luz con su extraordinaria
capacidad para apreciar los más inadvertidos detalles en las cosas. Y les
comentaba que todo se había transformado en oscuridad.
Cuentan que fue su fogosidad para mantener vivo el harén lo
que le hizo perder la capacidad de ver. Pero todo el mundo creía que, como si algo
o alguien tratara de compensar su desgracia, sus otros sentidos se habían
desarrollado de una manera increíble. Por ese motivo conocía de tal manera a
sus concubinas, que podía identificar a cada una de ellas acariciando un
instante su piel, o escuchando su voz, o simplemente oliendo sus esencias.
Pero no se trataba de que sus sentidos se hubieran agudizado.
En realidad nadie sabía que cuando una mañana se despertó sus ojos no le
permitían ver, pero al mismo tiempo percibía en su mente las imágenes que antes
le ofrecían sus ojos. Éstas eran imágenes esféricas, ofreciéndole un panorama
detallado en todas las direcciones del espacio. Así que nadie supo jamás que el
califa lo ‘veía’ todo, y el enigma se mantiene vivo para el resto del mundo.
The Conundrum of the Caliph
Long ago,
Baghdad was the center of the world. And the center of the world was occupied
by the great caliph. Of all the wonders that life offered him, the most
precious jewel was his harem. However, when he talked to his wives he said them
that he had missed many things. Too many things, because the caliph ... was
blind.
The
concubines listened to him with attention when he told them that he remembered
the color of the sunsets when he was a child; the incredible feminine forms
when he was a young man; and light, the play of light with its extraordinary
ability to appreciate the most unnoticed details in things. And he told them
that everything had been transformed into darkness.
They say
that it was their ardor to keep the harem alive which made him lose his ability
to see. But everyone believed that, as if something or somebody were trying to
make up for their misfortune, their other senses had developed in an incredible
way. That is why he known his concubines in such a way that he could identify
each of them by caressing her skin for an instant or by listening to her voice,
or simply by smelling her scents.
But it was
not that his senses had become more acute. No one really knew that when one
morning he woke up, his eyes he would not allow him to see, but at the same
time he perceived in his mind the images that his eyes offered him before.
These were spherical images, offering a detailed panorama in all directions of space.
So no one ever knew that the caliph 'saw' it all, and the enigma remains alive
for the rest of the world.
