ABSTRACT
"I will tell you everything that happened to me in France, and God will bear witness to its truth," Moulay Abedsalem said. "During the time of the Sultan Moulay Yusuf, the French were fighting a great war in their country. They needed men in Bordeaux. They stationed an Algerian in the Jma' el Fna in Marrakech. I used to go to his office every day and tell him I wanted to sign up, but when he would ask my name, I'd tell him I wasn't crazy. I'd never go to France. Then, on the day that Allah willed it, ten of us went to the Algerian's office. We had decided to sign up the night before. We didn't tell our fathers. Early that morning we went to the sanctuary of Sidi Belabes, and there, before the saint, we all vowed to carry out our decision. Then we went to the Algerian's. His name was Meshmasha. It means apricot. It was very hard for us to answer all his questions. We didn't know our house numbers. There were none in those days. We only knew the name of our streets.
