Rare and moving letter from Isabelle EBERHARDT to her husband Slimane.

Isabelle EBERHARDT (1877.1904)

Autograph letter signed to her husband Slimane Ehnni.

Three pages in-8°, in Arabic, on letterhead from the Algerian newspaper Akhbar.

Slight marginal lack without damage to the text.

Algiers. December 23, 1902.

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

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 considerations relating to his journalistic work. She ends her missive with a superb poem with oriental scents tinged with fatality.

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Praise be to God, My dear love,

Receive the most sincere greetings from your love and all the girls. I inform you that I have arrived safely in Algiers and that our friends are doing well but by leaving you sick, my heart is not at peace.

I ask you to quickly inform me of the true state of your health, my beloved, and to take care of my love. If you have any, send me some money to buy what you asked me because I have a lot of expenses with Ramadan among Christians. I also inform you of my concern about the affair of the newspaper called “Azzaman” [newspaper Le Temps], they have still not accepted that we send responses from Algiers and we are waiting for their return . However, in Ténès, do not repeat this to anyone and send me reliable information regarding the situation of the well-known man of the Beni Merzoug tribe regarding the matter of his property in Algiers. If he has made a request and the boss has no objection, this is the opportunity for us to take care of his matter. Once Ramadan is over, I should go to the shrine of the Saint to obtain his blessing and you should be able to accompany me to this shrine. I end this letter, may complete peace be upon you, with the most sincere greetings from your faithful orphan. Like I told you, tell this man that he needs to give us a guarantee on what he told us about and if he wants us to end his affair without a guarantee in hand, we can do it.

I questioned them, they kept silent

I cried, they made fun of me

I explained their concerns to them but they didn't understand anything

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 you nothing, O Most High.

Apart from extraordinary patience

Patience and time are remedies for the sick heart

Be patient until death comes to you

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

If your heart doesn't heal If it still doesn't calm down

The grave is the cure for the wounded heart

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An extraordinary and avant-garde character, 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, unique from her origins, fell in love very early with an unhindered life: “…I thirsted for freedom and I did not find freedom in our libertarians” and discovered the spells of Muslim lands, in 1897, in Bône, Algeria.

His meeting, in 1900, with Slimane Ehnni, quartermaster of the Spahis (traditional army corps integrated, during the occupation, into the French army) would change his destiny. Victim of an assassination attempt by a member of a brotherhood opposed to that of the latter, in 1901, Isabelle, accused of being the source of unrest among the indigenous tribes, was expelled from Algeria by the colonial authorities. . His return to the Maghreb lands of his heart, in 1902, thanks to his marriage to Slimane Ehnni, opened the doors to the deserts and nomadic life. She collaborates with the Arabophile newspaper Akhbar directed by Victor Barrucand.

In October 1904, the small Algerian oasis Aïn Sefra was hit by a furious storm. The wadi is submerged by the waves. 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 his works, found in his house after the tragedy of Aïn Sefra, were published posthumously by his friend Victor Barrucand.

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Original version :

الحمد لله

يا ويحة العزيزة علي

السلام عليك التام من ويحك قويتة ومن جميع الابنات وبعد نخبرك بأن ت إلى الجزاير بخير ووجدت احبابنا بخير ولكن قلبي ليس له من الهنا كت ركتك مريضًا والمطلوب منك أن تخبرني أجلا وتكتب بها الحق في صويحة العز يزة مطلوب إذا كان عندك دراهم ترسل لي نصيب لنشري لك الأمانة التي ذكرتها لي لأجل عندي مسروف كثير مع رمض ان عند نصارى وأيضا نخبرك بان راني خايف على دعوة الجريدة المسمية ان» بان راهم مازال ما قبلوا منا ان نكتب الجوابات من الجزائر ورانا نوا 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 المعل م وقذا اجلاً لنخدموا له قاضيته وكيكمل رمضان فيلزم لي نمشي لمقام السي د 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

والسلام

وقل لهذا رجل كما قلت لك يلزم له ان يعطي لنا دمانة في الذي قال لنا علي ه 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