A very good morning to you.

I am the invisible Safiya. My real name, is Safiya, but I am usually invisible. That is, I am anonymous in stories and folk tales. I am invisible: no name, no identity. I am the old woman who appears in folk tales and stories from the Thousand and One Nights. I am the one who deceives Ni’am, the wife of Ni’ma, and lures her out of her husband’s house, only to offer her for sale in the slave market.

I am also the nanny who helps Sit el-Husn (the beautiful lady) escape from a fate worse than death. My role is always short and small. I appear and disappear very quickly. But, it is a grand and important role in complicating the plot. I can never be the heroine, or play a major role in the tale.

What is it that makes me special, and why am I always invisible? The most important thing, I guess, is my old age, or may be my wisdom and wide experience. As a matter of fact, my most important characteristic is that my significant years have passed. I am referring to my significant years as a source and object of passion and desire.

A long time ago, I too played the role of Sit el-Husn. I had a major role in the tale: I would run away from the son of the Sultan, or flee from my father and brother; sometimes I would be turned into a bitch, and another time I would just surrender to my fate and say: it doesn’t really matter. At that time, I seemed visible, but was still actually invisible. Invisible, with no name, no identity. I was moved and blown away, like a leaf in a storm. In other words, the more things change, the more they stay the same. What mattered most at the time, was my physical beauty, that is, I was visible but in actual fact, totally invisible.

Now that my significant years are over, I have become formally invisible. It is a comfortable condition, which comes with many benefits. I come and go as I please. I have access to houses, and can sleep in many castles.

I wish I were always the real Safiya. I wish I could be me, the real me. I wish I could hear my name, Safiya, so that people would know me, see me and recognize me. I wish I were present and visible in the world. I wish… enough of this. We have come to the end of the story.