"escape fate?"

"Original" introduction to a Novel by John O'Hara (No reference to location implied)​

"Appointment In Samarra"​

DEATH SPEAKS : There was a merchant in Bagdad who sent his servant to

market to buy provisions and in a little while the servant came back, white and

trembling, and said, "Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was

jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that

jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me

your horse, and I will ride away from this city and avoid my fate. I will go to

Samarra and there Death will not find me." The merchant lent him his horse,

and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as

the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-

place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and he said,

"Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this

morning?" That was not a threatening gesture, I said, it was only a start of

surprise. I was astonished to see him in Bagdad, for I have an appointment

with him tonight in Samarra.​

-W. Somerset Maugham

 

Re: Escape Fate?

Moral of the Story.....Don't go to a Market in Iraq.............




Cochise,

 

It just goes to show you that you can't escape the fickled finger of fate.

 

Just a reminder, this is apparently an old joke and the 'market-place' can be anywhere in the world, so do not turn this thread into a political discussion.

snap