Summary
The narrator’s grandfather wakes up, jumping to his feet and walking toward the sacks of dates with the other men. Masood makes his way over with extreme slowness, as if he wants to retreat but his feet continue forward regardless.
The men form a circle around the sacks and examine the dates, picking them up and eating a few. The grandfather gives the narrator a fistful of dates, which the narrator munches on. He sees Masood fill both palms with dates and smell them before returning them to the sacks.
Next the men divide up the sacks between themselves. Hussein takes ten, while the rest of the men take five each. The narrator doesn’t understand what is happening, but he looks at Masood and sees his eyes darting left and right like mice that have lost their way home. The grandfather announces that Masood is still fifty pounds in debt to him, and that they will discuss the matter later.
Hussein calls his assistants over. They bring donkeys and camels and load the dates onto the animals' backs. As the animals make sounds of complaint at the weight, the narrator feels himself drawing close to Masood; he feels his hand stretching out as though he wants to touch the hem of Masood’s garment.
Masood makes a sound in his throat: it is like the rasping of a lamb being slaughtered. Upon hearing this, the narrator experiences a sharp and painful sensation in his chest; he doesn’t know why he feels this way.
The narrator runs away into the distance. He hears his grandfather calling after him, which causes him to hesitate, but he continues running. The narrator feels that he hates his grandfather. As he quickens his pace, the narrator feels as though he carries a secret of which he wants to rid himself.
The narrator reaches the riverbank near where the water bends behind the acacia trees. Without knowing why he is doing it, the narrator puts his finger in his throat and spews up the dates he has eaten.
Analysis
The third section of the story begins with an instance of situational irony: Having earlier accused Masood of indolence (laziness), the grandfather sleeps through the date harvest, waking only to collect his debt from Masood.
Salih returns to the motif of the narrator being able to read people’s genuine feelings from their body language when the narrator comments on Masood’s slowness in approaching the sacks of dates. Masood’s visible reluctance to join the men circling his dates foreshadows the revelation that Masood owes the dates to his creditors, including the grandfather, and that he still owes the men even after all of his dates have been harvested and allocated.
The theme of greed arises when the grandfather informs Masood that he is still fifty pounds in debt to him, and that they can discuss it later. In this moment, it becomes clear that the grandfather is less interested in the dates than in the power they represent. Delighting in Masood’s insufficient harvest, the grandfather mentions the amount of outstanding debt in front of everyone gathered, ensuring Masood is humiliated before his creditors and other villagers.
As the merchant’s assistants load the sacks of dates onto pack animals who strain under the weight, Masood—likely feeling both his own suffering and pain at the sight of the overburdened animals—makes a sound akin to a lamb being slaughtered. The chain of empathy reaches the narrator next, and he responds to Masood’s rasping sound with a sharp pain in his chest. As with his other instances of visceral empathy, the narrator doesn’t know why he feels this pain.
The story ends with the narrator feeling the sudden need to distance himself from Masood’s public humiliation and from his grandfather’s avarice. The narrator runs toward the river, stopping where the water bends around the acacia trees. Earlier in the story, it was at this sight that he projected fantasies of grandfather-like giants hiding behind the trees. Now, having lost his innocence and realized that he hates his grandfather, the narrator is compelled to stick his finger down his throat and bring up the dates his grandfather took from Masood’s harvest.
With this symbolic act, the narrator disavows his grandfather’s greed. Ultimately, the story demonstrates how the narrator’s inability to ignore his own moral compass—expressed through his visceral understanding of the world and his instinctual empathy—forces him to shed his innocence and develop a new identity apart from his grandfather.
