Lambs To Slaughter

Sad to say we had lamb last night. We eat succulent, melting, diabolically spiced pieces of lamb. And I was punished later by the sight of a whole baby lamb carcass, again magnificently cook, brought to an adjourning table and dissected for the consumptive delight of the guests. I felt sad and horrified and of course small and hypocritical. We should have passed on. The meal was just so huge, so relentless, so overwhelming, it was hard to get our bearing. And the place, La Yacout, was as huge and as overwhelming as the meal. The many guests who came with their cameras and their raggedy hiphopity children, gave the place an unfortunate Disney World character. On a bit of merciful refection I have to say if we must have Disney Worlds, they should all be done like Yacout but still why must we have Disney Worlds?

Just came across a pice of info in a guidebook (TimeOut, excellent guide) about where the slave souk used to be and what the prices for slaves were. Apparently you traded livestock for slaves and the valuation start at 2 slave for a camel up to 40 for a civet cat. I began playing in my head with that last piece of info. 40 lives for a civet cat, 40 souls for a civet cat, but that last phrase does not allow for the civet cat’s soul. And then there was a wonderful piece about the jinn and how prevalent belief in jinn are in Morocco. Jinn in this system are bodiless souls, and come from men, and like in other islamic systems are prone to malice. In the battle against jinn, numerology and astrology are important tools. The one eyed Kandicha, a female spirit with a donkey’s tale, who “plagues men” is mentioned. I wonder what the nature of the plagues are.