Hidden Stories of Morocco

The Djinn in the Skull: Stories from hidden Morocco by Samantha Herron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Samantha Herron is an author who has spent considerable time in Morocco. From her experience in Morocco she has been exposed to many stories. A portion of those has landed in the book. The stories are much like faery tales sometimes containing spirits and Jinn , other times they contain humor with a moral. The stories are set in modern times which means that these little tales will have cell phones , cars and other modern devices. I read this book in one morning.

The book is 102 ages long so it is a bit short. I will summarize about two or three tales here to give you a taste . In the first tale a man does not want to trade his donkey for a peddlers merchandise , so he says the donkey is dead. Later when the peddler sees the donkey roaming about he thinks it has escaped from its grave so he buried it again in the person's front yard. Another tale has a person named Ali and his wife taking in a stranger named Muhammed. They feed him then give him money to see his family after eid. Months later they will see in the news that he disappeared and his family is searching for him. The title tale , djinn in the skull, has a boy finding a skull in the dried out river bed. He disturbs the skull and has a very bad experience.

The book was way too short and the stories were simplistic. But then again these are tales told by the camp fire or souk. The author merely recorded them. For a glimpse into the Moroccan mind this book might be interesting .

View all my reviews