One day before dawn, Hamed mounted his father’s great white stallion and rode to the west to seek new grazing ground for the sheep. Nadia stood with her father at the edge of the oasis and watched him go.

Hamed did not return.

Nadia rode behind her father as he traveled across the desert from oasis to oasis, seeking Hamed.

Shepherds told them of seeing a great white stallion fleeing before the pillars of wind that stirred the sand. And they said that the horse carried no rider.

Passing merchants, their camels laden with spices and sweets for the bazaar, told of the emptiness of the desert they had crossed.

Tribesmen, strangers, everyone whom Tarik asked, sighed and gazed into the desert, saying, “Such is the will of Allah.”

At last Tarik knew in his heart that his favorite son, Hamed, had been claimed, as other Bedouin before him, by the drifting sands. And he told Nadia what he knew— that Hamed was dead.

Nadia screamed and wept and stamped the sand, crying, “Not even Allah will take Hamed from me!” until her father could bear no more and sternly bade her to silence.

Critical Viewing: Design How does the artist capture the pain of Tarik?