The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (88 page)

The sheikh replied that the time had indeed come for the secret to be completely revealed to me and began his story as follows:

The Moors had been in Spain for several years when they decided to settle in the valleys of the Alpujarras mountains. A people called Turdules or Turdetains then lived in these valleys. The natives called themselves Tarsis and claimed to have lived formerly in the region of Cadiz. They still used several words of their ancient language, which they could even write. The letters of their alphabet were what are known in Spain as
desconocidas
.
¹
Under Roman and later Visigoth domination the Turdetains paid considerable tribute and were able in return to retain their liberty and their old religion. They worshipped God under the name of Jahh and made sacrifices to him on a mountain called Gomelez Jahh, which in their language means Jahh mountain. The Arab conquerors, who were the enemies of
the Christians, hated pagans, or those taken to be pagans, even more.

One day Massoud discovered in the subterranean tunnels of the castle a stone covered in archaic writing. He lifted it up and saw a spiral staircase leading down into the mountain. Massoud had a torch brought and went down by himself. He found chambers, passages, corridors; but as he was afraid of losing his way he turned back. The next day he went back underground and noticed dust that glinted under his feet. He collected it together, took it to his apartment and was convinced that it was pure gold. He made a third expedition and, following the trail of gold dust, he reached the very seam which you have been working. He was dumbfounded by the sight of such treasure. He quickly returned to his apartment and took every conceivable precaution to hide the treasure from the eyes of the world. At the entrance to the underground domains he built a little mosque and claimed to wish to live the life of a hermit there in prayer and meditation. Meanwhile he worked tirelessly at his seam, extracting as much gold as possible. The work went ahead at a snail's pace, not only because he could not risk enlisting help but also because he had to procure the requisite steel tools secretly.

Massoud then realized that wealth by itself does not confer power. Before him he had more gold than all the princes of the world put together. He had expended untold energy on extracting the mineral, and didn't know what to do with his gold or where to hide it.

Massoud was a fervent disciple of the prophet and a fanatical supporter of Ali. He thought that the prophet himself had shown him this gold and given it to him so that the caliphate would return to his family, that is to say, the descendants of Ali, and the whole world be converted by them to Islam. This idea took hold of his mind. He embraced it all the more enthusiastically because the reign of the Ommayad of Baghdad was on the point of collapse and there was hope that the descendants of Ali would again succeed to the throne. Indeed, the Abbasids exterminated nearly all the Ommayads, but the descendants of Ali gained no advantage from this. On the contrary, one of the Ommayads even came to Spain and became the Caliph of Córdoba.

Massoud saw himself more than ever surrounded by enemies. By taking precautions he was able to avoid their attention. He abandoned
any thought of implementing his project at once but rather gave his plans a shape which in some way kept them alive for the future. He chose six chiefs of tribes, made them swear a solemn oath, revealed to them the secret of the seam of gold and then said to them:

‘For ten years I have owned this treasure and have not been able to profit at all by it. If I were younger I would have been able to raise an army and reign by this gold and by the sword. But I discovered my treasure too late. I am known to be a supporter of Ali and I would certainly have been murdered before being able to bring a party together. I have not abandoned hope that one day our prophet will return the caliphate to his family and that the whole world will then go over to his faith. That moment has not yet come but we must prepare for it. I am in contact with Africa and secretly give support to the Alids, but we must also reinforce the power of our family in Spain. Above all else we must keep the secret of our wealth. We must not all bear the same name, so, cousin Zegris, you will settle in Granada with your family and mine will remain in the mountains and keep the name Gomelez. Others will go to Africa and marry the daughters of the Fatimids. We must pay special attention to our young men. We must examine their hearts and put them to all sorts of tests. If one day one of our young men is found to have exceptional qualities of courage, he will set out to overthrow the Abbasids, wipe out the Ommayads and restore the caliphate to Ali's descendants. In my opinion this future conqueror should take the name of Mahdi – that is, the twelfth imam – and apply to himself the words of the prophet which declare that the sun shall rise in the west.'

These were Massoud's plans. He wrote them down and, from that time on, did nothing without taking the advice of the six chiefs of tribes. Eventually he gave up his position and entrusted to one of them the dignity of great sheikh and the castle of Cassar Gomelez.

Eight sheikhs succeeded one another. The Zegris and Gomelez acquired the most beautiful properties in Spain; other families went to Africa, occupied important posts and allied themselves by marriage to the most influential families.

At the end of the second century of the Hegira, a Zegris dared to proclaim himself mahdi, that is, legitimate chief. He made his capital at Kairouan, a day's journey from Tunis, conquered the whole of
Africa and became the first of the line of Fatimid caliphs.
²
The Sheikh of Cassar Gomelez sent him a great deal of gold but had to be more than ever careful to keep his secret because the Christians were beginning to win victories and it was feared that the Cassar might fall into their hands. Soon other worries preoccupied the sheikh, namely the sudden rise of the Abencerrages, a family which was hostile to us and whose outlook was opposed to ours. The Zegris and Gomelez were shy, reserved but keen on spreading the faith. The Abencerrages, on the other hand, were gentle, courteous to women and friendly towards Christians. They had discovered some of our secrets and encompassed us with snares.

The mahdi's successors conquered Egypt
³
and were recognized in Syria and Persia. The power of the Abbasids collapsed. Turcoman princes conquered Baghdad.
⁴
But in spite of this the doctrine of Ali scarcely spread and the Sunnis still held sway.

In Spain the example set by the Abencerrages started a progressive moral decline. Women appeared in public without veils, men sighed at their feet, the sheikhs of the Cassar no longer left their castle and did not touch the gold. This state of affairs went on for a long time. In their desire to save the faith and the kingdom, the Zegris and the Gomelez formed a league against the Abencerrages and slaughtered them in the Court of the Lions in their own palace, which they called the Alhambra.
⁵

This disastrous event deprived Granada of a considerable number of its defenders and precipitated its fall. The valleys of the Alpujarras followed the example of the region and surrendered to the victors. The Sheikh of Cassar Gomelez destroyed the castle and took refuge in the underground dwellings in which you met Zoto's brothers. Six families hid with him in the depths of the earth. Others fled to surrounding caves, which open out on to other valleys.

Some members of the Zegris and Gomelez families adopted the Christian faith or pretended to be converted. Among those was the Moro family, which before had had a trading house in Granada. Members of this family later became court bankers. They did not have to fear running short of money because the treasures of the mines were at their disposal. Contacts with Africa, especially Tunis, were maintained. So all went tolerably well until the time of Charles, the Emperor and King of Spain. The faith of the prophet, which was no longer as widespread in Asia as at the time of the caliphs, spread on the other hand through Europe, thanks to the Ottoman conquests.

At this time discord, which destroys everything on earth, reached below its surface too. That is to say, it reached our caves. Moreover, the small amount of living space exacerbated rivalries. Sefi and Billah fought over the position of sheikh, which was indeed worth coveting since it also conferred on its holder the right to have at his disposal an inexhaustible gold-mine. Sefi saw that he was weaker and sought to ally himself with the Christians. Billah plunged a dagger into his heart. Then he began to think about the whole issue of security. The secret of the underground domain was written down on a parchment and this was cut into six vertical strips so the page could not be read except by bringing together the six strips. All six chiefs of the tribes received one and were forbidden on pain of death to give it to anyone else. The initiate carried the strip on his right shoulder. Billah kept the power of life and death over all the inhabitants of the caves and of the region. The dagger he had plunged into Sefi's heart became the symbol of his power and was handed down to his successor. Having thus established a harsh regime in the caves, Billah devoted his indefatigable energies to Africa, where the Gomelez occupied several thrones. They reigned in Taroudant and Tlemcen. But Africans are fickle: men who listen above all to the voice of their passions. And Billah's undertakings on that continent did not result in the hoped-for success.

At about this time there began the persecution of the Moors who had stayed in Spain. Billah skilfully turned these circumstances to his advantage. With great shrewdness he established between the caves and high dignitaries of the state a system of mutual help. The latter thought that they were protecting a few Moorish families who
wanted to be left to live in peace; in reality they were furthering the plans of the sheikh, who opened his purse to them in recompense. I also note in the annals that Billah introduced, or rather revived, the ordeals which young men had to undergo to show their strength of character. Before Billah's time they had fallen into oblivion.

Shortly after, the Moors were expelled. The sheikh of the caves was then called Kader. He was a wise man who used all the means at his disposal to ensure the safety of the inhabitants of the caves. Moro the bankers founded a society of highly-placed people who pretended to feel pity for the Moors. Under this cover they did many services for which they were handsomely paid.

The Moors who were banished to Africa were filled with a spirit of vengeance which constantly spurred them on. The whole continent looked as though it would rise up and overrun Spain but the African states were set against the interests of the exiled Moors. Much blood was pointlessly shed in civil wars. In vain did the sheikhs of the caves spend untold sums of money. The ruthless Moulay Ismael
⁶
took advantage of the age-old discord and founded the state of Morocco which still exists today.

I have reached the time of my own birth and will speak about myself from now on.