The Moor's Account

326 Pages·2017·1.37 MB·English

by  Laila Lalami

PRAISE FOR The Moor’s Account
“A beautiful, rousing tale that would be difficult to believe if it were not
actually true. Laila Lalami has once again shown why she is one of her
generation’s most gifted writers.”
— REZA ASLAN, author of Zealot
“¡Qué belleza! Lalami has given us a mesmerizing reimagining of one of
the foundational chronicles of exploration of the New World. The style
and voice of sixteenth-century crónicas are turned upside down to
undermine subtly our understanding of race and religion, now and then.
The Moor’s Account is a worthy stepchild of Don Quixote de la Mancha.”
— ILAN STAVANS, author of On Borrowed Words: A Memoir of Language
and general editor of The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature
“A novel of extraordinary scope, ambition, and originality. Lalami has
given voice to a man silenced for five centuries, a voice both convincing
and compelling. The Moor’s Account is a work of creativity and
compassion, one that demonstrates the full might of Lalami’s talent as a
writer.”
— AMINATTA FORNA, award-winning author of The Memory of Love,
Ancestor Stones, and The Devil That Danced on the Water
ALSO BY LAILA LALAMI
Secret Son
Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Laila Lalami All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Pantheon
Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
Pantheon Books and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lalami, Laila, [date]
The Moor’s account/ Laila Lalami.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-307-91166-7 (hard cover : alk. paper). ISBN 978-0-30791167-4 (e-book).
1. Narváez, Pánfilo de, –1528—Fiction. 2. Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez, active 16th century—
Fiction. 3. America—Early accounts to 1600—Fiction. 4. America—Discovery and exploration—
Spanish—Fiction. 5. Morocco—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3612.A543M66 2014 813′.6—dc23 2013045255
www.pantheonbooks.com
Jacket design by Oliver Munday
v3.1
FOR MY DAUGHTER
Contents
Cover
Other Books by This Author
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue
1. The Story of La Florida
2. The Story of My Birth
3. The Story of the Illusion
4. The Story of Azemmur
5. The Story of the March
6. The Story of the Sale
7. The Story of Apalache
8. The Story of Seville
9. The Story of Aute
10. The Story of Ramatullai
11. The Story of the Rafts
12. The Story of the Island of Misfortune
13. The Story of the Three Rivers
14. The Story of the Carancahuas
15. The Story of the Yguaces
16. The Story of the Avavares
17. The Story of the Land of Corn
18. The Story of Culiacán
19. The Story of Compostela
20. The Story of México-Tenochtitlán
21. The Story of the Palace
22. The Story of the Hacienda
23. The Story of the Guesthouse
24. The Story of the Return
25. The Story of Hawikuh
Acknowledgments
A Note About the Author
In the name of God, most compassionate, most merciful. Praise be to
God, the Lord of the worlds, and prayers and blessings be on our prophet
Muhammad and upon all his progeny and companions. This book is the
humble work of Mustafa ibn Muhammad ibn Abdussalam al-Zamori,
being a true account of his life and travels from the city of Azemmur to
the Land of the Indians, where he arrived as a slave and, in his attempt
to return to freedom, was shipwrecked and lost for many years.
Because I have written this narrative long after the events I recount
took place, I have had to rely entirely on my memory. It is possible
therefore that the distances I cite might be confused or that the dates I
give might be inexact, but these are minor errors that are to be expected
from such a relation. In all other ways, I testify here that I have
described these events as I have witnessed them, including those that, by
virtue of their rarity, may seem to the reader to be untrue.
I intend to correct details of the history that was compiled by my
companions, the three Castilian gentlemen known by the names of
Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and
especially Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, who delivered their testimony,
what they called the Joint Report, to the Audiencia of Santo Domingo.
The first was my legal master, the second my fellow captive, and the
third my rival storyteller. But, unlike them, I was never called upon to
testify to the Spanish Viceroy about our journey among the Indians.
I consider the three Castilian gentlemen I have mentioned to be men
of good character, but it is my belief that, under the pressure of the
Bishop, the Viceroy, and the Marquis of the Valley, and in accordance
with the standards set by their positions, they were led to omit certain
events while exaggerating others, and to suppress some details while
inventing others, whereas I, who is neither beholden to Castilian men of
power, nor bound by the rules of a society to which I do not belong, feel
free to recount the true story of what happened to my companions and
me.
What each of us wants, in the end, whether he is black or white,
master or slave, rich or poor, man or woman, is to be remembered after
his death. I am no different; I want to survive the eternity of darkness
that awaits me. If, by a stroke of luck, this account should find its way to
a suitable secretary, who would see fit to copy it down without any
embellishment, save for those of calligraphy or, in the manner of the
Turks and the Persians, colorful illumination, then perhaps, someday, if
that is to be the will of God, my countrymen will hear about my
wondrous adventures and take from them what wise men should: truth
in the guise of entertainment.