The Weird Orient: Nine Mystic Tales — A Closer Reading

Voice and Perspective in 'Solomon and the Mare'

The excerpt from 'Solomon and the Mare' is notable for its sustained first-person narration by a dying horse. The mare's speech is not a simple anthropomorphism; it is a carefully constructed indictment of human behavior. She recounts specific abuses: 'I have often been whipped and kicked by my cruel master,' and describes witnessing the slaughter of animals for food. The language is direct and accusatory, as when she states, 'Man is our devil, helpless, dumb animals that we are.' This choice to give an animal a voice that is both eloquent and bitter is a deliberate stylistic move, one that aligns the story with a tradition of moral fable while grounding it in visceral detail.

Dialogue as a Tool for Conflict

Iliowizi uses dialogue not merely to advance plot but to dramatize ideological conflict. In the excerpt, the mare's resigned wisdom clashes with her colt's fiery rebellion. The colt declares, 'I will kick right and left, break windows, bones, vehicles, break whatever comes in my way,' while the mare counsels patience, warning that 'a vicious horse... is sure to get his double share of torture.' This exchange creates a tension between passive endurance and active resistance, a dynamic that likely shapes other tales in the collection. The dialogue is also marked by a formal, almost biblical cadence, as in the mare's address: 'Child, never try it, if thou lovest me.'

Description and the Oriental Setting

Iliowizi's descriptive passages evoke an 'Oriental' atmosphere through specific, sensory details. The preface notes his residence in Morocco, and the stories are set in a vaguely defined East. In the excerpt, the setting is established through references to 'the king's bosom' and 'familiar notes' falling on Solomon's ear, grounding the tale in a legendary, biblical context. The description of the mare's suffering—'the heat by day and the cold by night, I endured; toiling, toiling under the rod'—uses repetition and parallel structure to create a rhythmic, almost incantatory effect. This style, blending naturalistic detail with a formal, elevated diction, is characteristic of the author's approach to the exotic locale.

Moral Argument Embedded in Narrative

The excerpt from 'Solomon and the Mare' functions as a moral argument against cruelty to animals, but it does so through narrative rather than direct sermonizing. The mare's speech includes a catalog of animal products—'The hen supplies him with her eggs, the cow with her milk and with butter and cheese, and the lamb with its wool'—to argue that humans have no need to kill for food. This rhetorical strategy, listing the gifts of nature, is a persuasive device that Iliowizi employs within the story's fictional frame. The colt's rebellion and the mare's cautionary tale about her own past violence—'I once made a wild break for deliverance... killing one and hurting others'—adds complexity, suggesting that resistance can lead to greater suffering. The moral is not simplistic but emerges from the characters' experiences.

Readers approaching The Weird Orient should attend to the ways Iliowizi blends folkloric motifs with a distinctive authorial voice. His background in Hebrew and Arabic, and his experience living in the East, inform the texture of these tales, but the stories themselves are literary constructions, not ethnographic reports. The excerpt from 'Solomon and the Mare' offers a useful entry point, revealing the author's interest in giving voice to the voiceless and his use of dialogue to explore ethical questions. The collection rewards attention to its narrative strategies and cultural references.

Reading the old tale of Solomon and his mare, I found myself oddly transported to a shelf of riddle stories, where every answer hides behind a question, much like the animals’ voices hid behind their silence. There’s a quiet kinship there. Masterpieces of Mystery in Four Volumes: Riddle Stories — Background and Themes holds a similar patience, waiting for the reader to notice the pattern beneath the surface—a gentle echo of lifting that strange, old book again.