Armand Sillègue and Henri d’Aramitz left behind the Hotel Chez le Pacha. They walked unhurriedly towards the Draa River. In each step they felt the throbbing desert presence and even the M’Hamid Mosque displayed a unique melancholy silence. The atmosphere of M’Hamid El Ghizlane was impregnated with an indescribable glow – poetry. This night promised to be even more special. The day before they had heard the aromatic music of Génération Taragalte; they had been enraptured, lying on the sand of the desert, idyllically stargazing, but they had felt, above all, how it is exhilarating to listen to the legends of the Sahara told around the campfire – a paradise on earth.
They stopped near a tree that guarded at its feet an Al Khayma. They led themselves in through the south entrance and sat next to the host, Isaac de Porthau, a Frenchman, captivated by the charms of the desert, who had invited them to a ‘night of magical discoveries!’
Sitting on a carpet composed of symmetrical geometric patterns, they inhaled, from a hookah, the aromatic tobacco smoke. The peach smell deodorized the environment. The eyes scrutinized the only object that dazzled, with an illogical gold inside the Al Khayma, a lamp.
The magical silence that could be felt was broken by Isaac de Porthau.
‘It is said that the tale of Aladdin was placed in One Thousand and One Nights by Antoine Galland to outwit the curious. Aladdin’s story is true and his magic lamp is this one that our eyes see.’
‘If that is so, why did you invite us?’ asked Henri d’Aramitz.

[… an excerpt …]