There’s a place. A place that is as magical as it is dangerous. In this place, this island, there’s but one living creature. A bird. A giant bird. He’s old, old as the mountains are old, and grand. He’s mean, mean as an earthquake is mean, and as powerful. I don’t think he remembers the times before he was alone. I think he no longer knows how to be kind. When you are that old, when for so long you have been the only one, it’s easy to lose your heart.

Rukh,

The Island of the Djinn (or genie, as these supernatural beings are commonly called in western literature) appears in the ancient Arabic story of Zein Ul Asnam and the King of the Jinn, in which the main character travels “days and nights in the foulest of deserts” before encou...

Please subscribe to keep reading.