Death Speaks

Rarely does a person come across a story that has the power to haunt him forever. I found the story Death Speaks in a collection of short stories by Jeffrey Archer. He does not claim the story to be his, the Preface to his book To Cut A Long Story Short clearly mentioning that it was translated from Arabic, Anon being the name of the original author. Archer himself is a renowned storyteller, a fact that can be gauged from the fact that all his novels and short stories have been worldwide bestsellers. As much as I would like to share some his gems, my respect for his brilliance prevents me from pirating my collection. If you like this story, you will love the rest of his works. Here is the complete story, as it appears in "To Cut A Long Story Short":


There was a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to market to buy provisions. In a little while the servant came back, white and trembling. The servant 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 saw me standing in the crowd. He came to me and 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 Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."