A Handful of Dates by Tayeb Salih

This is a a coming-of-age story. The boy (protagonist) first adores his grandfather because he is tall and looks great. The boy knows how to please him “by bringing his prayer rug and fill the ewer for his ablutions.”

His grandfather despises Masood, owner of a vast land of dates palms, because he is indolent. Masood inherited his land.

His grandfather had nothing first but gradually buys dates palms and now he has two-thirds of the land.

Mashood looks sad and vulnerable when the dates were collected and divided among his grandfather and the dealers. The boy feels sympathy with Mashood. After selling his dates, the boy “heard him make a noise in his throat like the rasping of a sheep being slaughtered.”

At the end of the story the boy spewed up the dates he had eaten. He hated his grandfather and everything he touched, even the handful dates he gave the boy.

The change of the boys attitude toward his grandfather is well written. The ending is very good.