Arabian Bazaar

Arabian Bazaar

Canvas tent flaps flutter in the desert wind. Merchants entreat passers buy to sample their wares: silks from the East, Spices from the South, figs and dates from the North, and stranger wares from more foreign climes. Hawkers claim the virtues of their goods in Arabic, Greek, and Pahlavi. Ox-driven carts heavy with goods and gold trundle through the packed streets. Street performers, poets, fire-eaters, musicians and dancers, compete with the stall-keepers for the attention of the crowd. The *klink* of coin falling into an upturned hat or cup indicates their success. All the while the assembled shoppers haggle and swap gossip under the blazing arabian sun.

(Illustration copyright (c) 2010 Lars Lunde. Used here with permission of the artist; unauthorized use prohibited.)