Short Fiction · Chapter
A Story from Jerusalem explained
In the El Aksa mosque, the old fortune-teller Mesullam broods over a humiliation after being barred from seeing a visiting monarch.
What happens
In the El Aksa mosque, the old fortune-teller Mesullam broods over a humiliation after being barred from seeing a visiting monarch. A stranger arrives and recounts two vivid dreams—one of seeing Christ's mosaic revealed in the Hagia Sophia, another of passing through the sealed Golden Gate led by Christ—seeking interpretation. Mesullam, suspicious and bitter, dismisses the dreams as mere dreams, only to realize too late that he has twice let fortune slip away.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Falling action.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
The emotional and psychological peak occurs when the bee, having been created to gather honey, is directly con…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Deception and Truth
Mesullam suspects the stranger of mocking him, while the stranger's dreams reveal hidden truths beneath surfaces—the Christian mosaics under paint and the opening of the sealed gate.
- Nature and the Supernatural
The stranger's trance-like vision in the mosque and his dream of passing through the walled-up Golden Gate blur the line between reality and the supernatural.
Characters to notice
- Old Mesullam
A soothsayer and dream-interpreter sitting in El Aksa, grieving over a humiliation and refusing to engage with the stranger's visions.
- Jesus
Appears in the stranger's dream as the figure who opens the Golden Gate and as the revealed Christ in the Hagia Sophia vision.
Key passages
“I could not help but close my eyes as I stood leaning against a pillar. Soon sleep, or rather insensibility, overcame me. Probably it did not last more than a minute, but during this interval I was entirely removed from reality.”
The stranger briefly lost consciousness while in the mosque, entering a dreamlike state.
Describes the onset of the vision in the Hagia Sophia.
“It was Christ , soothsayer, Christ once again.”
The stranger identifies the figure who opened the Golden Gate as Christ.
Key revelation in the second dream.
“Allah, Allah! Twice on the same day Fortune has passed by me without my having captured her. What hath thy servant done to displease thee?”
Mesullam laments that he missed two opportunities to gain fortune and renown.
Mesullam's final realization of his error.
