I am very sure I saw Death itself. I was getting a new horseshoe for my master’s stallion– the one he purchased merely a day ago. I knew an Arab near the grand bazaar, who makes strong horseshoes from rawhide and woven plants; I told that to my master. He immediately ordered me to get one, and so I went to the bazaar.

That’s when I saw her.

She wore a veil– a black hood with a velvet cushion. A paper-white face, with sharp, beautiful teeth, almost melancholy in her appearance. She seemed somewhat angry to me– I knew right away, she came here for me. I must run. 

I rushed from the bazaar, panting from exhaustion, as I entered my master’s court. 

“Master, I beg your mercy– please lend me a horse, for I need to run from this city and hide in a place where she won’t find me. I will go to Samarra!” I exclaimed. 

Perplexed, my master of 11 years, granted my wish. I didn’t spend another second, and jumped on the horse, galloping away as fast as a khamsin.

The Master, a trader, was very curious– what had happened to Ahmed, eh? Whom did he see? 

So he went to the grand bazaar himself, and easily identified the lady-in-veil in the crowd. 

“Why would you scare my servant ?” The master asked, “Why did you threaten him a while ago?” 

“I didn’t threaten him at all,” said Death, “I was only very surprised to see him here in Baghdad, for tonight, I have a rendezvous with him in Samarra”. 

Appointment in Samarra is an ancient Mesopotamian tale, first appeared in the Babylonian scripture. William Somerset Maugham, the British maestro of short stories retold this in his 1933 short fable, An Appointment in Samarra. This is my reincarnation of that fateful appointment in Samarra.