The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams

Monkey tells his audience that he would make a perfect servant since he will never steal, can pray, read, and write, and doesn’t need a lot of food. He ends his plea by insisting that he would never turn on a new master like he turned on Samir.

As the group recovers, they agree to not tell the innkeeper the truth about who the dervish was. The furrier and the jeweler leave, and Samir, who has lost everything, manages to trade his pack mule for a low-quality camel. Rasseem, Smithy, and Mara stay because their goods are largely untouched. Monkey also suspects that although Rasseem hates Samir, he also loves him and needs to stay near him. He has no idea why Smithy and Mara stay.

Exhausted and defeated, the ever-smaller party travels into the desert. They stop at an outpost for water and rest. Smithy and Mara sort their remaining supplies while Monkey shelters under a statue with “two vast and trunkless legs of stone” (114). Samir announces that he is doomed because of Cid and the loss of his wool, although he is briefly cheered up that Monkey managed to con the metal teatray from the innkeeper. They agree that Monkey has saved Samir’s life again and has earned another bolt of silk toward his freedom.

Monkey claims to not believe that Samir is truly sad about his losses, since it is just another lie from a liar. Samir then says that he is sad the furrier left, since they were family, which Monkey harshly repudiates. When Samir expresses that he’d be happier if God didn’t exist so that Samir won’t have disappointed him, Monkey finally tears his robe in disgust. Monkey begins to plot something—implied to be Samir’s death—until Samir finds him and hands him his bronze eyeshades to protect him from the sun.

After waking up from a nap during which he dreamed Samir was scared, Monkey runs back to camp, concerned that Samir left him the eyeshades because he was planning to die by suicide. Mara brushes off his concerns, and Samir finds him soon after, cheerful as ever. 

They set out across the desert, with Samir unconcerned that Rostam, a donkey, would have problems traversing the sand. The desert is hard on all of them, forcing them to rest during the day and travel at night. They eventually reach a series of gorges, where Monkey spots a lizard, the first living thing he has seen in days, and it gives him hope to carry on. As they travel, he sees the lizard several more times. Now, with two bolts out of six to his name, Monkey decides to talk to Samir about marrying Mara when he is free. However, before he can do so, something explodes on the ground in front of them, scaring their camel away. The gunner, a Mongolian man standing on the ridge, throws explosive pots at the group as they run for cover behind the rocks. 

Despite their temporary shelter, they are at risk when the moon rises high enough to expose their location. Samir tears his caftan to bandage Monkey’s knee. They observe from the explosives that the gunner is not very experienced with using the bombs yet, but he is skilled with arrows—one lands right between Monkey’s toes. Smithy and Mara admire the gunner’s business sense, agreeing that it is likely he is hiring himself out cheaply to get more practice with bombs.

Monkey gets an idea. They use the remainder of Rasseem’s birds to distract the gunner, then Monkey runs to the camel and grabs the metal tea tray, which he tosses to Mara. He then runs to the base of the plateau and begins a slow, treacherous climb upwards. He eventually reaches the rock shelf right below the gunner; he ties on Samir’s eyeshades and signals to Mara, who blinds the man with the moon’s reflection off the tea tray. Monkey then grabs the man’s belt and hurls him off the face of the cliff, shouting an apology down at his body.

The little group struggles to gather the remainder of their belongings. The camel regains consciousness and flees with most of Samir’s belongings, except the cherry paste, leaving him with only Rostam. They are destitute; Samir promises to get money in the next town, and they agree to stay together, saying that it is safer than being hunted separately. They see a large caravan approaching at a distance.

The caravan catches up with them, and Samir quickly befriends a huge ex-pirate named Gracus Ghuldor. Gracus has a large piece of coral. Samir quickly begins to flatter him, asking him where he got the coral; Monkey says that coral is made from Gorgon’s blood. 

Samir immediately capitalizes on this to ask Gracus how many ships the Gorgon will sink while looking for her coral, which makes him nervous. Before Samir can make an offer, Gracus splits the coral and gives Samir half, intending to put half the “blame” on him. Monkey convinces Gracus to give them the bigger half so that he is in less danger. This pleases Samir, although Monkey feels slightly remorseful when he sees Gracus lost in thought.