Samir And The High King

By John Peace

Long, long ago in a land at the edge of a desert that howls against the walls of the village, a poor young boy named Samir is sent to work for a strange old man who stays up all night listening to the stars. In his curiosity to find out why, Samir stumbles upon a secret and is swept up in an epic journey across the ancient world. It is up to him and his brother Hamdan - with a lot of help from Munira, the camel - to deliver a very special treasure to a king and perhaps rescue their land from disaster. Can they overcome thieves and a sandstorm to reach their destination in time?

This imaginative reconstruction of the tale of the Magi will appeal to children aged five and over, and draws on real astronomical research into the real Christmas Star. The story is set in the ancient Middle East, in which region the author lived for many years - although at a much later date, of course!

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Peace
• Release date: Dec 18, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301016679

John Peace

Originally an engineering graduate from the UK keen to become an astronaut, somehow I ended up working in community development overseas for some years. Did I take a wrong turn? I don't think so. I have very few regrets. In between, I've worked in a soup factory, driven a taxi in London, served refreshments in Regents Park and a few other odd jobs. Last year I settled with my Canadian wife and our two sons in Ontario, where we enjoy the great outdoors, Finnish pancakes and blueberries, preferably all three at once. I confess to a lifelong fascination with science and science fiction, ever since watching Dr. Who and Blake's Seven on the BBC as a boy. I'm even old enough to have fuzzy memories of watching the Apollo 11 landing on TV. Whew! That's hard to believe. At the time of writing I'm working on a series of science fiction novels for pre-teens (8 to 12 year olds) called Beyond The Elder Stars. The first one is named 'The Calling'; it's published on Amazon Kindle and in print with CreateSpace. See my blogs for links to the book and for extra free content. I welcome correspondence. To contact me, spell out the following (the address isn't given complete to evade the dreaded spam spiders...) rj + peace (snail shell thing) 123mail (dot) org

Book preview

Samir and the High King

A Christmas Story for Children

John Peace

Copyright 2012 John Peace

Smashwords Edition

Discover other titles by John Peace at Smashwords.com

John Peace drip-feeds a couple of blogs at: http://johnmpeace.blogspot.ca/

ISBN: 9781301016679

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

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CONTENTS

Title Page

SAMIR AND THE HIGH KING

Afterword

About The Author

Chapter One

Many, many years ago in a distant land of camels, donkeys and palm trees, incense and spices, there lived a boy named Samir. He was born in a small village at the edge of a huge desert, where the wind whistled a lonely tune over the sand dunes and rocky land, and the sun beat down every day. His father kept an old sword above the door to protect his family from desert raiders. His parents had so many children to feed that they finally had to send Samir and his older brother Hamdan away to his great-uncle's house in the town, down on the coast. It broke their parent's heart, and the boys missed their family terribly, but in the spring, Great-Uncle Nasir found Samir work as a servant in the house of a great man, saying, He is the wisest man who ever lived. He travelled across the world to Persia, to study there, and now he's come home again. If you serve him well, he will treat you well.

The Great Sage Al-Thazir Al-Hakiim seemed to be an ancient old man to Samir, as he stood before his new master that first day, although he was perhaps forty. His beard was black, not grey, and his eyes were sharp and seemed to stare right through Samir's skin. He wore a long robe of grey and blue, and fine leather sandals. On windy days a glittering silver scarf hung around his neck and wound around his head. He cleared his throat loudly and said, A boy will be a boy, but in my house you will grow into a man. I won't abide with laziness or trickery.

Samir assured him that he would always do his best.

In return for his work, Samir received a mat to sleep on, meals in the kitchen with the other household servants, and every year a bag of coins to take back to his family in the village.

Al-Thazir Al-Hakiim lived in a large, dignified house built of mud bricks, covered in plaster. The servants' quarters, the kitchen and storerooms were on the ground floor, with a room for the sheep, goats and chickens to sleep in at night. A wide flight of steps led up to the front door of the upper floor, where the great man lived with his wife. There was also a narrow stairway that led from the kitchen to the upstairs hallway. Their six children had grown up and moved away, but his