A stange story covered in the mists of time

A strange story covered in the mists of time.

It was one of those glorious, peaceful and tendered summer evenings when all is still and nature is preparing for nightfall. The leaves on the trees showed fatigue after a long day in the hot sun. Even the birds were silent, enjoying the last rays of sunlight. Georges was on his evening walk enjoying this rare moment when one feels in harmony with your surroundings. He felt a great sense of peace after semi-retiring from several years on the London foreign exchange market.

He was just passing the village’s rubbish dump when his right eye caught a flash of light promoted by a ray of sun shining on some metal object hidden amongst the rubbish. He looked more closely. It was an object partly covered in a cloth. He picked it out of garbage, unwrapped the cloth and found himself looking at a dagger of extraordinary beauty. On its handle it had a cross and some writing that he could not read. The handle and sheath were covered in precious stones. He pulled out the blade and again found writing in a language he did not understand. Surely nobody had thrown this away; they must have been trying to hide it. As he looked more closely at it he had the impression that the dagger would have had a significant meaning to some people. He had a strange feeling of religion and prayer. As he was walking past the village church he decided to take it to his friend the vicar and see if he could shed any light on what I had found.

“Richard, I'm glad to see you. I see you have just finished the evening song.” He was always pleased to see Richard, a man very well liked amongst the villagers. His round smiling face had that uncommon quality of allowing one to have complete confidence in him.

“George, I thought you were still in America.”

“ I just got back yesterday after an exhausting trip. I came to see you as on my evening walk last night I found this in the local rubbish heap. Dear Richard, please don't think it is my habit to salvage things from the garbage. In passing it was a reflection of light that made me notice it. As I showed him the dagger. Richard immediately recognized it.

“How odd, the last time I saw this magnificent object was in the collection of various artefacts acquired over centuries by the Granfield family. You may remember three years ago Lord Granfield opened a small museum at the hall in an endeavour to attract more visitors. The museum was full of pictures and objects the family had accumulated over the centuries. I believe it has been quite successful. You know most of these old estates have to find ways of financing their upkeep. If my memory is correct this dagger goes back to the crusaders period as you see the writing is in Arabic.

I suggest we go and see his Lordship tomorrow and return the dagger. I am most interested to know how it got into the village rubbish heap. Now if you will excuse me I have a period of confession to attend to. I will ring you later as to the time of our meeting with his Lordship. In the meantime I suggest you leave the dagger with me. I will hide it in one of the many secret places these churches are furnished with.”

As Richard started his evening confessional period his thoughts occasionally drift to the mystery concerning the dagger. It was on the third confessor that the dagger came into focus. In the confession box was a man of foreign origin denoted by the voice.

“Pardry, I have not come here to confess but to reclaim an object that somebody gave you a few minutes ago. Late last night I was on Lord Granfield’s property when I heard the sound of a broken window. I silently creeped up to the broken window and saw a youth steal the dagger. I was totally confused as it had been my intention to try and steal it. I withdrew to let the youth escape so that I could follow him at a distance. He must have sensed he was being followed and decided to temporarily hide the object. As I was still tracking him minutes later I then saw a man enter your church with what appeared to be the dagger. This person left your church empty handed. I come from a small community not far from Jerusalem. This dagger has great significance in our village. It was stolen by the crusaders. For centuries the villagers and their offspring have sent out messages to the Arabic community to try and find it. When Lord Granfield opened his museum for all the world to see there was our dagger. The villagers asked me to retrieve it by fair or foul means .”

“Give me your name and where I can contact you. I have a meeting with Lord Granfield tomorrow. He might not even know that the dagger has been stolen.”

Richard heard two more confessions. He then called Lord Granfield and gave him a summary account of why he was calling. His lordship asked him to hold the line for a minute while he checked on the museum. He came back with the announcement that in fact a window had been broken and the dagger was missing. They arranged to meet the next day at 11.00 o’clock in the hall’s museum. Richard told his lordship he would bring George with him. Next he called George confirming tomorrow's meeting at the hall. He told him that his lordship had verified the dagger had been stolen. He also told him about the conversation in the confessional booth with a foreigner who was searching for the dagger. The next morning as he left the church with George and the dagger he told him somebody had visited the church during the night as many objects had been displaced.

Lord Granfield was a tall distinguished looking man with white hair, a high forehead and attentive brown eyes. He resembled an old owl calmly awaiting to pounce on a prey. We related in detail all our known information about the stolen dagger. Just as we were finishing the phone rang. It was the police They told his lordship they had Frank Burns son in the station claiming he stole the dagger last night from his lordship's museum. The youth told them at the time there was another man in the property that saw him and chased after him. He said he was frightened and ran, throwing the dagger in the villagers’ rubbish heap. Early this morning the dagger was no longer there. He claims the dagger belongs to his family; as proof there is an inscription about it in their old family bible. His lordship asked the constable to immediately bring the boy up to the museum. He then turned to Richard.

‘’As you have the contact number for the foreign gentleman in your confession booth contact him and tell him I would like to meet him this morning at the Hall’s museum.

At 12.30 that morning a group of seven people were gathered in Lord Granfield museum. A priest and his friend George, Frank Burns and his son, Thomas, his father holding their family bible, the village's head policeman and the foreign stranger. His lordship opened the proceedings.

Young Burns, what was your reason for stealing the dagger?

“Your lordship when you opened this museum of objects collected over the centuries to the public you displayed the dagger. About two years later my father did some carpentry in the museum and saw the dagger. It was the dagger depicted in our old family bible; he could not believe his eyes. Over the years my family has handed down many rumours about this dagger. I just felt it was my duty to recover it.”

Frank, please read out the inscription in your old family’s bible. I know your family has been in the district as long as we have. I think our families both go back to the 10th century, possibly further.

Above is a drawing of a dagger. The most exquisite craftsmanship and beauty I have ever seen. The priest in the village of Bethany tells me it has special powers. I am a crusader under the command of captain Granfield. I took in an act of pillaging much to the fury of the priest and a few of his congregation present. Later I showed it to my commander. He told me to give it back, then he quickly changed his mind and said he would give it back. He never did.

His lordship spoke. Over the centuries there have been countless objects of great value and beauty stolen in the acts of war. The vast majority are untraceable. You only have to look around this museum. But Thomas smashing windows and stealing is not our modern peaceful way of conducting ourselves. I will not press charges against you on the condition you spend a month of your free time in my garden helping the head gardener. Frank please mend the window at your cost. Now let me turn to our foreign visitor. Your name please and where do you come from.”

“ My name is Mojid Abbas from Bethany”

“ Why were you on my property the night Frank’s son stole the dagger.”

“For the same reason. He got there first. For centuries our village ancestry had tried to locate the dagger as it was originally given to the village as a sign of peace with special powers. Finally a couple of years ago your Lordship exhibited it in this museum. It took time for the news to travel to our village. I was mandated to bring it back.”

“Before I make a final decision about returning the stolen dagger to your village I need to make a couple of enquiries. You have my word if all is satisfactory, which from the discussions today appear very probable I will send you the dagger. It will be with regret as I prize it as an object of great beauty. Gentleman I believe that concludes the meeting. Richard and George please stay for lunch.

David Nutt June 2025