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Chapter FOUR

Part 1  -  Part 2  -  Part 3  -  Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7

Women from the nomadic Turkman tribes.
many months. I think that in mother's mind was hope for the cure of Ismail, who had contracted tuberculosis by this time, as well as general prayers for the well-being of the children, beginning with her stepdaughters Sakineh and Khanum Sultan. Some of the passengers on the coach burst into tears at the sight of the lights of the shrine. They were from rhany different cities - Tehran, Tabriz, Zanjan, Ardabil - and some villagers were also with us who had saved for years in order to make this pilgrimage. But the desires and hopes of the people differed: a woman from Ardabil was going to pray that her son, a soldier, might return safely from military service; while other peasants were hoping that their prayers to Imam-Riza would bring to them the offer of some land for cultivation. A man from Zanjan was taking his wife, who was ill and could not bear children, in the hope that she would become fertile and produce them. I was the only one who wanted to have a bicycle, but I didn't know how Imam could provide me with this bicycle. That was a mystery. As the days passed, I imagined that he might order some of his servants to deliver the bicycle to our house in Mashhad,