Read Jean P Sasson - [Princess 02] for Free Online

three camels and twenty-two sheep. In addition, two of the six sons were handicapped from difficult births. One son's legs were twisted and he could not walk; the other jerked in a strange motion and could do no work. For these reasons, Reema's father strove to sell his sought-after daughters to the highest bidder. During the summer months, the family would travel through high mountain passes, along narrow, tortuous roads into the city, and a deal would be struck for the daughter who had reached marriageable age according to Islam.
    The year before, at age twelve, Reema had reached puberty. She was her mother's favorite child, and the girl attended to her handicapped brothers. The family had pleaded with her father to let her remain with them a few more years, but he sadly confessed that he could not. There were two sons after Reema, and the sister closest in age was only nine years old. Reema's younger sister was small and undernourished, and her father feared the girl might not reach puberty for another three or four years. Reema's family could not exist without the marriage money.
    Reema was taken to San'a to be wed. While her father scouted the city for a suitable bridegroom, Reema remained in a small mud house with her sisters and brothers. On the third day, her father returned to the hut with the agent of a rich man from Saudi Arabia. Reema said her father had been very excited, for the man represented a wealthy Saudi Arabian who would pay much gold for a beautiful girl.
    The Saudi agent insisted upon seeing Reema before he paid the money, a request generally met with the blade of a Yemeni sword rather than humble compliance from a Muslim father. The gold in the agent's hands overcame the religious convictions of the family. Reema said she was inspected in the same way her father inspected the camels and sheep at market. Reema confessed she did not protest the shame, for she had always known she would go to another family, as the purchased property of another man. But she squirmed and pushed when the man insisted upon viewing her teeth.
    The agent pronounced Reema satisfactory and paid a portion of the agreed sum. The family celebrated by killing a fat sheep, while the agent had Reema's documents prepared to fly to Saudi Arabia. Reema's father happily announced that the family could now wait out the four years until Reema's younger sister reached the proper age, for the man from Saudi Arabia had paid a large sum for Reema.
    Reema herself forgot her anxieties, even becoming excited, after her father told her that she was the most fortunate of girls. Reema was going to a life of leisure, she would eat meat every day, have servants at her beck and call, and her children would be educated and well fed. Reema asked her father if the man might purchase her a doll, one like she had seen in a discarded European magazine the children had discovered in the trash bins of San'a.
    Her father promised that he would make Reema's request a high priority.
    When the man returned a week later, Reema first learned the terrible truth, that the marriage would not be honorable, that it was a marriage of mut'a, a temporary union. Her father became angry, for his honor was at stake, his daughter should not be treated in such a lowly manner. He pleaded with the man from Arabia, saying that it would be difficult to find another husband for his daughter, who would no longer be considered fresh and clean. He might be forced to provide for Reema for many years while seeking a man who would accept her as a second, less honored wife.
    The man sweetened the deal with a bundle of bills. He said that if Reema's father refused, he would be forced to insist upon the return of the money already paid.
    Reluctantly, Reema's father relented, admitting that he had already spent a portion of that sum.
    Ashamed, he turned his face to the ground and told Reema that she must go with the man, that it was God's will. Reema's father asked the Saudi man to find Reema a