A rare and moving letter from Isabelle EBERHARDT to her husband Slimane.

Isabelle EBERHARDT (1877.1904)

Autographed letter signed to her husband Slimane Ehnni.

Three octavo pages, in Arabic, on letterhead of the Algiers newspaper Akhbar.

Minor, marginal flaw that does not affect the text.

Algiers. December 23, 1902.

"I went out into the deserts, and I spoke to the wind… a tear rolled down my cheek."

A rare and moving letter from the French explorer, written in Arabic, to her husband Slimane Ehnni. Back in Algeria during Ramadan, Isabelle Eberhardt inquires about her husband's health and informs him of some matters concerning her journalistic work. She concludes her letter with a beautiful poem, imbued with oriental flavors and a touch of fatalism.

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Praise be to God, my dear love,

Receive the sincerest greetings from your love and all the girls. I'm letting you know that I arrived safely in Algiers and that our friends are doing well, but leaving you ill leaves my heart heavy.

I ask you to inform me quickly of your true state of health, my beloved, and to take care of my love. If you have the means, send me some money to buy what you asked for, as I have many expenses related to Ramadan with the Christians. I also want to inform you of my concern regarding the matter of the newspaper called "Azzaman" [Le Temps newspaper]. They still haven't agreed to let us send replies from Algiers, and we are awaiting their response. However, in Ténès, don't repeat this to anyone, and send me reliable information concerning the situation of the well-known man from the Beni Merzoug tribe regarding his property in Algiers. If he has submitted a request and the owner has not objected, this is an opportunity for us to take care of his case. Once Ramadan is over, I need to go to the shrine of the Saint to receive his blessing, and you must be able to accompany me there. I conclude this letter, peace be upon you, with the sincerest greetings of your faithful orphan. As I told you, tell this man that he must give us a guarantee regarding what he has spoken of, and if he wants us to settle his matter without a guarantee, we can do so.

I questioned them, they remained silent

I cried, they laughed at me

I explained their problems to them, but they didn't understand

I went out into the deserts, and I spoke to the wind

Do you know a gazelle, the most beautiful in the desert?

I questioned them, and they remained silent

A tear rolled down my cheek

I ask nothing of you, O Most High

Apart from extraordinary patience

Patience and time are remedies for a sick heart

Be patient until death comes to you

If you get nothing, take it upon yourself , calm your heart

If your heart does not heal, if it still does not find peace

The grave is the remedy for the wounded heart

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An extraordinary and avant-garde figure, adventurer, poet, journalist and explorer, Isabelle Eberhardt embodies, through her fascinating destiny, the breath of freedom.

From a Genevan youth tinged with Slavic anarchism, the young woman, singular from her origins, fell in love very early with a life without constraints: "... I thirsted for freedom and I did not find freedom among our libertarians" and discovered the enchantments of Muslim lands, in 1897, in Bône, Algeria.

Her meeting in 1900 with Slimane Ehnni, a quartermaster sergeant in the Spahis (a traditional army corps integrated into the French army during the occupation), would change her destiny. In 1901, Isabelle survived an assassination attempt by a member of a brotherhood opposed to his. Accused of inciting unrest among the indigenous tribes, she was expelled from Algeria by the colonial authorities. Her return to the Maghreb, the land she loved, in 1902, following her marriage to Slimane Ehnni, opened the doors to the deserts and nomadic life. She contributed to the Arabophile newspaper Akhbar, edited by Victor Barrucand.

In October 1904, the small Algerian oasis of Aïn Sefra was struck by a violent storm. The wadi was submerged by the floodwaters. Isabelle's body was found there, lifeless, under the rubble, six days later. She rests in the Muslim cemetery of Aïn Sefra.

Isabelle Eberhardt published little during her lifetime. The scattered pages of her works, found in her house after the Aïn Sefra tragedy, were published posthumously by her friend Victor Barrucand.

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Original version:

Praise be to God

يا ويحة العزيزة علي

السلام عليك التام من ويحك قويتة ومن جميع الابنات وبعد نخبرك بأن وصلت إلى الجزاير بخير ووجدت احبابنا بخير ولكن قلبي ليس له من الهنا من كتركتك مريضًا والمطلوب منك أن تخبرني أجلا وتكتب بها الحق في صويحة العزيزة علي وتستحفظ لي بويحتي وبعد المطلوب إذا كان عندك دراهم ترسل لي نصيب لنشري لك الأمانة التي ذكرتها لي لأجل عندي مسروف كثير مع رمضان عند نصارى وأيضا نخبرك بان راني خايف على دعوة الجريدة المسمية “Process” is used for the operation of the device. ورانا نستنوا في جوابهم ولكن ما تقول شي حتى لواحد في تنس وارسل لي خبر صحيح على دعوة رجل المعروف في عرش بني مرزوق في يد من القاضية متاعه في الجزاير وإذا كان عمل طالبة متاعه وما قال فيها المعلم وقذا اجلاً لنخدموا له قاضيته وكيكمل رمضان فيلزم لي نمشي لمقام السيد ينفانا ببركته ودبر راسك باش تمشي معى ذاك المقام وبعد السلام التام من لسان خديمك

قويتة الياتيمة

وعلواني بالفرنساوية اسم الحبيب ومن فوق اسمي بالعربية

Peace be upon you

وقل لهذا رجل كما قلت لك يلزم له ان يعطي لنا دمانة في الذي قال لنا عليه واذا كان يحب نفضيوا شغله بلا دمانة فليد نقدروا على هذا

سالتهم سكتوا علي

بكيت و دخكوا علي

فهمتهم في همهم وما فهموا شي

وخرجت الصحاري وقلت للهوا

تعرفوا شي غزالي احسن غزال الصحرا

سالتهم وسكتوا علي

دمعة على خدي تسيل

وما نطلب منك المولى

الا صبرا جميلاً

الصبر وزمان دوة لقلب المريض

واصبر حتى تنال المنى

 صبر سكت قلبك

واذا ما تنال شي دس في خاطرك

واذا ما قلبك ما براش سكت حتى