FATIMA AL- SAMMHA
THE STORY AND THE PLAY

In a small village beside a river lived a girl. Her name was Fatima. She had no mother or father, her grandmother gave her the name Fatima the Sammha because of her mystical beauty. The men of her village lost their minds and the women hated the dawn that gave birth to her. Her smell needed no pass or permission, it was everywhere in the village. Everyone needed her. The beauty of her face healed the wounds except from her passion wounds. Fatima is growing and the worries of her grandmother with her.

In her sleep Fatima’s grandmother hears voices talking to her.

(Scene 1)
The grandmother in her house sleeping
Three ghosts moving around and talking to her

GHOST TWO: She must stay away from the eyes .
GHOST ONE: The eyes are blind and the heart is sad .
GHOST THREE: For the hunger there is food .

The grandmother wakes up worried.

GRANDMOTHER: I must hide her! Where is Fatima?

She leaves the place, the three ghosts disappear.

Since then Fatima was kept away from the eyes. But her fire still burns in the girls hearts.

(Scene 2)
Three girls, somewhere in the village.
They meet, they greet.

GIRL ONE: Hi, hello, how you doing?
GIRL TWO: Hi, how are you?
GIRL THREE: Fine, Fine. How are you?
GIRL TWO : Fine, except for my dreams.
GIRL ONE : Mine are the weirdest, what about your dreams?
Touching girl three and asking her friendly)
GIRL TWO: Do you dream? Do you have any visitor?
GIRL THREE: Visitors!!! The smell for us and the sandal wood for her.
GIRL ONE: She is the one to be blame, the men lost their minds …
GIRL TWO: I just can’t believe it, even my old father
GIRL THREE: And mine too.
GIRL ONE: How can we get ride of her …
GIRL TWO: Yes, yes, but How?
GIRL THREE: How?

Their how bring to existence their monster, the Guul. When they see him, they sit on the ground, hiding their faces with both hands. He jumps around them playing with his long tail, then he says:

THE GUUL: Look, look at me. You know me, don’t hide your faces.
GIRL ONE: My goodness, it is the Guul, he is real [looking at his face]
THE GUUL: I am real, not a dream. [Laughing]
GIRL TWO: I know him [Through her fingers]
GIRL THREE: Me too [with her hands still on her eyes]
THE GUUL: The three of you, you know me like many others. I am the one who mastermind your hidden desires, who knows your top secrets.

The three girls hold each others and whisper, then with one voice they say to him

THREE GIRLS: Yes, yes, we know you, keep our secret.

The Guul, laughing, jumping, looking very satisfied, says

THE GUUL: You want to get ride of her? I am ready, I am the only one who can help you.

The three girls with one voice say: How?

THE GUUL: I Take her away with me.
GIRL ONE: Take me with you instead [showing him her hair].
GIRL TWO: Look at my face [Touching her face].
GIRL THREE: Look at my body [dancing around him].
THE GUUL: Go away, I want her, I want Fatima and you will help me to get her. I want her and you don’t want her, perfect, just accept it.

The three girls talk to each other. Then

GIRL ONE : We will accept with one condition, don’t forget about us.

GIRL TWO: We will take you to her house.
GIRL THREE: You will come to us?
THE GUUL: We will see, show me the way to her house, go, I will follow you.

The girls walk to Fatima’s house, behind them the Guul


(Scene 3)
Fatima inside the house sleeping, while the three Ghosts talking:


GHOST THREE: lets take her away from them.
GHOST ONE: Fatima, stop their tears.
Fatima, give them some air.
GHOST TWO: Fatima I want you .
Fatima wake me up.

They hear knocking at the door, they run, they leave the place. The Grandmother answers the door

GRANDMOTHER: Who are you? What do you want?
GIRL ONE: We are Fatima’s friends we used to play with her.
GIRL TWO: We missed her.
GIRL THREE: We want to see her.
GRANDMOTHER: Leave her alone, I don’t want her to be seen.
GIRL ONE: Please granny, we just want to say hi.
GIRL TWO: Oh please granny.
GIRL THREE: We will just say hello and go.
GRANDMOTHER: Get in, it will be your first and last time I don’t want to see your faces again.

Grandmother sees the three girls but can’t see the Guul who entered the house behind them. He represents their hidden desires, when they step in the house the three girls and the grandmother vanished.
The Guul walks in the house, suddenly he smells her scent, he says:

THE GUUL: What a strange feeling… is that what they call hunger, thirst? I don’t want to be like them. Fatima, where are you?.

He looks for her around the house

Fatima woke up, she is sitting playing with her hair. The Guul comes close to her, he smells her neck, she jumps back, stands up, looks at him and asked:

FATIMA: Who are you beautiful creature?
GUUL: You don’t know me, we never met before, I am very very pleased to see your mystical face.
FATIMA: They started the pain. No rain can stop the pain.
THE GUUL: Fatima, where I come from is different, billions and billions of drops fall from the skies, they will take the pain.
FATIMA: The land needs a lover
THE GUUL : They don’t want you. You can’t force them to love the land. I want you Fatima, I really do.
FATIMA: And the river?
THE GUUL: We will cross the river, we will live the other side of the river. Leave them, they want the fire, they think the fire is the only thing, come with me Al-Sammha…
FATIMA: Take me with you, no fire can stop this pain.
THE GUUL: Fatima come.


The Guul and Fatima leave the house, they cross the river. The Guul takes Fatima to his castle. No one sees them.
The Grandmother lives in pain and waiting for the fate to knock on her door. The village and the women and the children lost the men, one by one they left the village, they went all directions and none of them come back or met her.


(Scene 4)
The grandmother in her sleep
One day while the grandmother was in her deep sleep the fate knocks on her door. A hero entered the village. He is very tired and needs a drop of water. He collapsed in front of her door, he felt asleep. He wakes up. He knocks at the door and says:

HERO: Anybody in? I need a drop of water.

The grandmother, who became very old and blind asks

GRANDMOTHER: Who are you?
What do you want?
HERO: Open the door, open the door, please.

She opened the door. She moved around him, trying to touch his arms, he walk close to her, stretching his strong body. She touches his muscles and says

GRANDMOTHER: I knew the fate will bring you, come in my son I will bring you some food.

She holds his arm, he follows her inside the house. The smell of Fatima inhabited the house for many years. It was here where she was brought up, and from here she left years ago, but her scent is still very strong and un seen. The hero stands in the middle looking around himself and smelling, touching his stomach and his throat and with his eyes open says:

HERO: This smell… What a strange thing !!!
I am not hungry!!!
I am not thirsty!!!
I am not tired anymore…

GRANDMOTHER: Oh Fatima, we need you.

HERO: Fatima? Who is she? [talking to himself] So my dream was a vision… Yes, yes, I am sure.

GRANDMOTHER: Fatima is our salt, the salt of our soil. The devil one, the Guul, set the fire on our village, he took her away across the river, help me my son, bring her back to us and she will be yours.

HERO: I will be the king and she will be the queen. My vision will come true.

GRANDMOTHER: I knew you will come one day. I kept for you this three things to help you in your mission [she goes somewhere and takes something, comes back and says]

GRANDMOTHER: Take them, my son, they will help you to fight the Guul, you will know when to use them. [she gives him a small branch, a small bottle with water in it and a pair of scissors].

HERO: Mission completed, don’t worry, old woman. Stay safe, I will bring Fatima and we will make you happy again.

The grandmother hugged him, he walks to the door. She shouts on him:

GRANDMOTHER: One last thing, my son, the Guul sleeps with his eyes open. Do not forget that.

The hero leaves, laughing and the grandmother walks saying


GRANDMOTHER: Fatima, Fatima…

(Scene 5)
The hero walking

He crossed the river, he walks, sniffing around the new area, then he stopped and say to himself :

HERO : I can smell her, she must be, somewhere very close from here.

He follows his nose, then a light appeared far from him. He looked and says

HERO: The smell is hers and the light is coming from her face. She is there, I am going to get her.

The Hero walked near the spot . He looked inside very carefully and then he jumped back saying

HERO: What a beautiful face! What an ugly face!
The moon is taking away by the devil
I will save her. I am the king and she will be my queen.
I will save Fatima. I am the hero. The fate brought me.
I will save al-Sammha.


When he said al-Sammha the face of the Grandmother crossed in front of him and he heard her telling him take them, my son, they will help you to fight the Guul You will know when to use them.

He laughed hysterically.
He whispered to himself imitating the Grandmother

HERO: One last thing, my son, the Guul sleeps with his eyes open.

His mood changed. He is very quiet. He closed his eyes. He breathed deep. He moves slowly. He looks inside. He moves back. He sits in Buda position. He takes out the pair of scissors, the branch and the bottle, he puts them in front of him. Again he closes his eyes, and says


HERO: Our Guul sleeps with his eyes open. Right now he is lying on her long hair, my plan for the attack: I will cut her hair with the scissors, then we will run, then I will throw the branch, I will create a forest, then we will run and at last I will break the bottle, I will create a lake. Then, you know what?, our ugly and stupid Guul will try to dry the lake, actually he will try to drink it all and as a result he will explode.

He moves slowly, he looks inside, once and twice, then he says

HERO: The eyes of the Beast are open, right time, I will attack now .

He picked up the three things, he entered inside, he moves her body out .

Fatima resists him , she says

FATIMA: Who are you ? What are you doing ? You woke me …

The hero put his strong hand on her mouth.
and tragically he forced her to follow him.
he takes her back to the grandmother.


(Scene 6)
The Grandmother’s speech

Years and years passed and the grandmother tells the children the story of Fatima the Sammha, she says

GRANDMOTHER: Salvation!!!
The hero is our saviour
He is The genie rides on his horse.
He fought against the Guul
He killed the Guul.
The Hero is our light , he is light .
He is the one who brought Al-Sammha back, he gave me light in my eyes You must hear, see and speak. I believe in The Hero. He is our past, present and he is our shiny future. Speak out the truth. Our Hero shall never die. One after the other WE and our sons and daughters and their sons and daughters must follow his gift to us: his 12 sons from Fatima Al-Sammha.
I am not going to live long.
Soon I will be gone, I will see his face again, the face I desire… come to me, feed my inner desire.

[she sits on the ground, she closes her eyes, she took a breathe, she shakes and calls on her Hero].

GRANDMOTHER: Come, come, come. Come to me, hero of the land. Feed my hungry need. Wake up, I call on you, come, come, come.


Meanwhile, a hero, maybe another face, comes to existence in harmony with her calls, from nowhere he appears, walking very proudly. He leans towards her sleeping body. He moves his hands above her face, and he says:

HERO: Look at me.
See the face.


The grandmother open her eyes. She says:

GRANDMOTHER: My hero is with me. I can see. My eyes are free. I can see your face, see your light again.

He helps her to stand up. He holds her hand and says:

HERO: Mission completed. Come with me, old woman, the time has come.

She touches his strong muscles and says:

GRANDMOTHER: Twelve strong like you and many others from your back will make our race eternal.
We live for the people we love.
I knew my fate will bring you to us, take me with you I am very tired.

Holding her hands and laughing our hero says:


HERO: I am the salvation. I shall never die.


Hands in hands they both vanished.


(Scene 7)
Fatima meets her Guul again

Same place, different time. Fatima is lying. Around her the Guul walking and talking

THE GUUL: Fatima, call my name, Fatima wake me up! Al-Sammha call my name, I will take your pain. Fatima, when the men had arrived the village, the women were playing in the water and the children were laughing. They stopped and watched. Then their machines began to sing. The women danced and fall. The small children stayed cold. And the music continued to play, soul, jazz, blues and rock and roll.
Some of the men joined in, and turned on the light, the fire transformed every one into torches.
Fatima!!! Please wake me up I am their witness, the story has just began.

Fatima wakes up, she says

FATIMA: Oh beautiful creature, you just woke me up.
THE GUUL: Al-Sammha.
FATIMA: My Guul.
THE GUUL: Who deserves you?
FATIMA: Take me away with you.
THE GUUL: Same birds fly together, Fatima.



Hand in hand, they leave the war