Abu Hanna, or Ishoc, is a noble Christian man, one of the best men in
Syria. He has suffered very much for Christ's sake. The Greeks in the
village on the hill have tried to poison him. They hired Nusairy
Mughlajees to shoot him. They cut down his trees at night, and pulled up
his plantations of vegetables. They came at night and tore up the roof
of his house, and shot through at him but did not hit him. But the
Mohammedan Begs over there always help him, because he is an honest man,
and aids them in their business and accounts. When the Greeks began to
persecute him, they told him to fire a gun whenever they came about his
house, and they would come over and fight for him. They even offered to
go up and burn the Greek village and put an end to these persecutions.
But Ishoc would not let them. He said, "Mohammed Beg, you know I am a
Christian, not like these Greeks who lie and steal and kill, but I
follow the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, who said, 'Love your
enemies,' and I do not wish to injure one of them." The Begs were
astonished at this, and went away, urging him if there were any more
trouble at night to fire his gun and they would come over from Halba at
once.
I love this good man Ishoc. His pure life, his patience and gentleness
have preached to these wild people in Akkar, more than all the sermons
of the missionaries.
Would you like to see Im Hanna make bread for our supper? That hole in
the ground, lined with plaster, is the oven, and the flames are pouring
out. They heat it with thorns and thistles. She sits by the oven with a
flat stone at her side, patting the lumps of dough into thin cakes like
wafers as large as the brim of your straw hat. Now the fire is burning
out and the coals are left at the bottom of the oven, as if they were in
the bottom of a barrel. She takes one thin wafer on her hand and sticks
it on the smooth side of the oven, and as it bakes it curls up, but
before it drops off into the coals, she pulls it out quickly and puts
another in its place. How sweet and fresh the bread is! It is made of
Indian corn. She calls it "khubs dura." Abu Hanna says that we must eat
supper with them to-night. They are plain fellaheen, and have neither
tables, chairs, knives nor forks. They have a few wooden spoons, and a
few plates. But hungry travellers and warm-hearted friendship will make
the plainest food sweet and pleasant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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