==========【原文】==========

As the morning sun shines on the Golden Gate Palace, brother and sister Hisham and Asma prepare for the journey of a lifetime. It is 791 CE, and the Abbasid Caliphate is at the height of its power, stretching from India to North Africa. With over half a million inhabitants, its capital city of Madinat al-Salaam, also known as Baghdad, is the largest in the Islamic Empire, possibly the world. And it's only 30 years old.?

Asma and Hisham will leave at sunset for the hajj, the holy pilgrimage to Mecca. Most people make the journey when they’re older and wealthier, but Hisham and Asma have wanted to make this journey together since they were children.?

They intend to travel with the big hajj caravan that is protected by the caliph soldiers. The caliph Al-Rashid himself is also traveling with the caravan this year. The hajj caravan is like a massive mobile city, with soldiers, cooks, doctors and merchants, servants and enslaved people. The journey is long, with dangers like disease, robbery, and dehydration. Because of these perils, Hisham and Asma want to travel with the larger group— but a last-minute mishap threatens to undo months of careful planning.?

When the siblings visit the market to check on the supplies they’ve purchased, the merchant tells them one of their camels has fallen ill, and he doesn't have any replacements.?

Without the camel, the siblings won't be able to depart with the caravan. They search the marketplace, bustling with people from different ethnic backgrounds, such as Persians, Arabs, Turks, Africans, and Indians, and following different religions like Islam, Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism. The market sells everything from locally made pottery, Egyptian glass, and paper from Samarkand, to Chinese silk, gold from Africa, and fox fur from the distant north. But with the caravan leaving tonight, no one has a camel available.?

Though the hajj is primarily a religious journey, the siblings have other, personal hopes for it. Hisham and Asma come from a wealthy family and both had tutors as children.?

Hisham is studying to become a scholar, progressing from Arabic grammar to Islamic law and Persian love poetry, then to Indian-inspired mathematics and Greek philosophy and medicine. With scholars from all over the empire traveling to Mecca and important intellectual centers on the way, the hajj is a great learning opportunity.?

Asma, meanwhile, has literary ambitions. As a woman, a life of formal scholarship is not available to her. Instead, she is honing her skills as a poet. She hopes to compose poetry about the journey that will catch the attention of important women in the city, and maybe even Queen Zubayda.?

The siblings split up to search for a camel. Hisham heads toward the library complex to ask the scholars’ advice. An elderly scholar studying Galen and Hippocrates tells him how to treat a wound. An Aramaic translator from Damascus shares a list of useful herbs for upset stomach on the road. A Persian poet wants to share his latest poetry, but Hisham doesn’t see how that will get him the camel for tonight, so he kindly refuses. As he says goodbye, they give him the names of important theology scholars to visit in Medina, on the way to Mecca. But to get there, he’ll need a camel.?

Meanwhile, Asma visits an older, married cousin. An enslaved girl opens the door, and takes Asma to the women’s quarters, where men cannot enter. Her cousin wants to hear Asma’s latest poetry, but Asma tells her she’s in a hurry and explains their predicament. She’s in luck— her cousin’s husband has a camel to offer them.?

With their arrangements secure at last, they make their final preparations. At the designated times for men and women, each performs a ritual ablution at one of Baghdad’s many public bathhouses.?

As the sun sets, the city’s criers announce the caravan’s departure, and the townspeople flock to watch the pilgrims leave.?

==========【譯文】==========

當(dāng)晨曦照耀在金門宮殿上時(shí)，希沙姆和阿斯瑪兄妹正在為一生的旅程做準(zhǔn)備。此時(shí)是公元791年，阿拔斯王朝正處鼎盛時(shí)期，從印度一直延伸到北非。Madīnatas-Salām（和平之城）的首府擁有50多萬(wàn)居民，也被稱為巴格達(dá)，是伊斯蘭帝國(guó)最大城市，可能也是世界上最大的。只有30年的歷史。阿斯瑪和希沙姆將在日落時(shí)分出發(fā),前往麥加朝圣。多數(shù)人都在年紀(jì)稍大、更富裕的時(shí)候才踏上這段旅程，但希沙姆和阿斯瑪從小就想一起踏上這段旅程。

他們打算加入由哈里發(fā)士兵保護(hù)的大型朝圣車隊(duì)，哈里發(fā)拉希德（Al-Rashid）本人今年也隨大篷車同行。朝圣車隊(duì)就像一座巨大的移動(dòng)城市，有士兵、廚師、醫(yī)生和商人，還有仆人和奴隸。旅途漫長(zhǎng)，充滿疾病、搶劫和脫水等危險(xiǎn)，因此，希沙姆和阿斯瑪想和更大的團(tuán)隊(duì)一起旅行，但最后一刻出現(xiàn)的意外可能會(huì)破壞幾個(gè)月的精心計(jì)劃。

當(dāng)這對(duì)兄妹去市場(chǎng)檢查他們購(gòu)買的物資時(shí)，商人告訴他們，他們的一只駱駝生病了，而且他沒(méi)有備用駱駝。

沒(méi)有駱駝，這對(duì)兄弟姐妹就無(wú)法和商隊(duì)一起啟程。他們?cè)诩猩蠈ふ?，那里擠滿了不同種族背景的人，有波斯人、阿拉伯人、土耳其人、非洲人、印度人等，信仰也五花八門，有伊斯蘭教、猶太教、基督教和瑣羅亞斯德教等。市場(chǎng)上有各種商品，從當(dāng)?shù)氐奶掌鳌＜安Ａ?、撒馬爾罕的紙張，到中國(guó)絲綢、非洲黃金和遙遠(yuǎn)北方的狐皮。但商隊(duì)今晚就要出發(fā)，商人的駱駝都賣光了。

雖然麥加朝圣主要是一次宗教之旅，但兄妹倆還有其他私心。希沙姆和阿斯瑪出生于富裕家庭，小時(shí)候都有家庭教師。

希沙姆讀書的目標(biāo)是要成為學(xué)者，從阿拉伯語(yǔ)法到伊斯蘭法律和波斯愛(ài)情詩(shī)，然后學(xué)印度數(shù)學(xué)、希臘哲學(xué)及醫(yī)學(xué)。由于帝國(guó)各地的學(xué)者都會(huì)前往麥加，再加上去麥加途經(jīng)的重要知識(shí)中心，朝圣是一個(gè)很好的學(xué)習(xí)機(jī)會(huì)。

而阿斯瑪也有文學(xué)抱負(fù)，作為一名女性，她無(wú)法體驗(yàn)正規(guī)的學(xué)術(shù)生活，因此，她正在磨練自己的詩(shī)人技能，希望創(chuàng)作以這次旅行為主題的詩(shī)歌，以吸引城市中重要女性的注意，甚至可能是女王祖巴伊達(dá)。

兄妹分頭去找駱駝，希沙姆走向圖書館大樓，向?qū)W者們尋求建議。一位研究蓋倫和希波克拉底的老學(xué)者告訴他如何治療傷口；來(lái)自大馬士革的阿拉姆語(yǔ)翻譯分享了一份有用的草藥清單，用于治療旅途中的胃部不適；一位波斯詩(shī)人想分享他最新的詩(shī)歌，但希沙姆覺(jué)得無(wú)助于今晚找駱駝，所以他婉拒了。告別時(shí)，他們提供了麥地那的一些重要神學(xué)學(xué)者的名字，以便他在麥加朝圣路上去拜訪。但要去那里，他需要一頭駱駝。

與此同時(shí)，阿斯瑪拜訪了一位年長(zhǎng)的已婚表姐。一位女奴打開(kāi)門，把阿斯瑪帶到女人們的居所，那里男性禁入。表姐想聽(tīng)阿斯瑪?shù)淖钚略?shī)歌，但阿斯瑪告訴她自己趕時(shí)間，并解釋了他們的困境。她很幸運(yùn)，因?yàn)楸斫愕恼煞蚩梢运徒o他們一頭駱駝。

終于安排妥當(dāng)后，他們開(kāi)始做最后的準(zhǔn)備。在指定的時(shí)間，男人和女人都要在巴格達(dá)眾多公共澡堂之一進(jìn)行洗禮。

太陽(yáng)落山時(shí)，城市的廣播員宣布商隊(duì)離開(kāi)，鎮(zhèn)上的人成群結(jié)隊(duì)地目送朝圣者離開(kāi)。