The prince and the condor

Though the harsh Saudi heat was present all year round, the Andean condor of golden wings, in remembering, would feel the cold breezes of the Aconcagua brush through its plumage. It would feel the distant Argentine winter in its bones every year and though its feet were tied and the walls of the cage which secured its position were narrow, rendering a full extension of its wings impossible, the condor could feel the pressure of the gusts press under its wings, holding it high in the skies, and with each dream would relive the former life of a free bird prior to its captivity.

The man of the Saud lineage on a trip to the continent of South America was met with faith in the moment that changed his life when exchanging a glance with a bird and in its eye seeing his reflection and the bird’s in that of his own, binding their souls. He witnessed the awe of a condor with its spread wings, stretched many meters on both sides, flying over his head and fell in love with the nostalgia of their shared freedom. Abdullah Bin Mishal was the great-grandson of a man of the same name but upon his royal birth, a sand storm ravished the deserts of Saudi Arabia and in its chaos, the great-grandchild was stolen by a servant of the house of Saud and placed under the charge of one of the house’s directors of acquisitions, which was responsible for finding and acquiring items of artistic interest for within the walls of the house, from all corners of the globe.

Abdullah grew up a nameless child-servant of the house with no knowledge of what was owed to him. The food was limited and any disobedience was punished with further starvation. The nights, in the early days, were filled with the muffled cries of his fellow servants in the sleeping quarters and would stare at the changing moon through his barred window, momentarily feeling a sense of liberty. His feet were blistered to stone as the sands brushed between the leather of his sandals and his skin. But the struggle that pained him most was of serving free men. The joy that came with their laughter would make him feel invisible, walking through them all with a silver tray of food which he was to only touch the bottom of. Searching, in the eyes of his masters, acknowledgment of his human life. The unreachable horizons where the blue sky touches the golden sand were the same as the closed quarters which were locked during the night to prevent escape, the sands were endless and an escape would be futile. In his dreams, he felt strange sensations of wearing silk and eating from the silver tray but would ultimately awake when the saddened servant serving him was himself. The hot winds would suffocate him just as his physical confinement did and eventually, all hope was abandoned and he stopped dreaming of his liberty and even lost its concept. The parents of this lost child one day, through the whispers of the palace, found out that one of the children amongst the young workers were of Saud lineage and decided to test them in their conduct to see which of them held in their being, the traits of the family. The grandfather and father took all of the children, which they suspected could be of possible royal blood, and tasked each of them to find something so precious that it could not be held, to be placed in the centre of the main garden of the palace. At that time, Abdullah went by no name and did not yet know that in him, he held the same gift in his eye that his great grandfather and grandfather possessed. The child, yet to be discovered, was allowed one question, as were all children, to ask the prince’s of the house of the nature of their materialistic desires so that they may find the perfect centrepiece for the garden. The children all asked if the princes wanted large, expensive, luxurious items made of gold and precious stone but the destined child, a prince to be, did not ask a question but instead looked into his grandfather’s eyes without knowing of their shared blood and saw in him his deepest desire, to fly, to be free. He saw his grandfather and himself in the infinite reflections created in that moment of perfect symmetry between the eyes. 

The child acted as a compass and lead his assigned servants to the Andes of South America and traversed the entire continent in search of his gift to the house. In the humid jungle of the three frontiers of which Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina share, the child looked up at the shaking of a palm tree as they sailed through the rivers. He orders the men to stop rowing so that he may see the cause of the rattling tree. At the top stood a tall, majestic condor with its wings completely spread seeming to reach both horizons, casting a shadow over the entire boat, blocking the sun and appearing to be of a divine golden brown. This particular condor was facing another and was said to be male as it was presenting to the female. The child chose that bird as the gift he would present but upon a servant climbing the tree, the condor shifted the winds with the flapping of its wings and fled, swooping the boat as to make eye contact with the child and in its eyes, he saw its destination. This bird was more than his grandfather’s perfect gift but it represented the freedom which the child never experienced up until those moments in his life. 

When the royals were in the process of selecting the children to send on the quests, the child began to have dreams which were not his own. After he looked into the eyes of his grandfather, he began to walk in the shoes of a young man during the Saudi nights. The dream was of an immense gold-barred enclosure with exotic birds of all sorts, flying the limits of their false sky. The symphony of chirping and singing was to wake him for many a night to come. 

In the eyes of the condor, after it disappeared into the clouds, he began to dream of a snowy peak with an array of condors painting the skies and of one of golden plumage and awoke with his internal compass guiding his eyes. He began to head west until they reached the Andes and once again was able to hear the symphony of his dreams but now in his awakened state. 

The grandfather of the child, before the presenting of the gifts, recognized Abdullah as blood as he mentioned that he saw himself in his dreams, serving him food on a silver tray. The condor stood firm in the centre of the palace’s garden behind golden bars. The child was given his original name, Abdullah Bin Mishal and was gifted with his royal luxuries which extended to every corner of their lands beyond the golden sands, beyond the eye’s reach but would spend his days looking into the saddened eyes of the condor, feeling in his dreams, the cold breezes of the Aconcagua pressing under his wings and with the Argentine winters, his dreams were of flocks of condors flying the peaks of the majestic Andes. 

Many a winter passes as the condor and Abdullah begin to share dreams and fly together through the mountains but were also unified in their sadness. On a day like yesterday, or the day before, there is commotion at the sight of an empty gold-barred cage in the centre of the garden of the palace and of a missing Abdullah Bin Mishal. Far through the sees of the Mediterranean, sails a once again nameless being accompanying the forces of the ocean and of the winds under a condor of golden plumage, heading west towards the land of the Andes. On one of the choppy nights of the Mediterranean, the man falls into the water and before drowning, awakes with wings, flying by the side of a golden conder, feeling the wind carry him through the Andean skies.