Paul Bowles - Midnight Mass

One of the finest short story writers, novels such as Let it Come down are pretty cracking too:

re-occurring themes of wealthy 'liberal' westerners immersed and at odds with an exotic, savage North Africa.
Of communities, the desert, superstitions, folklore and corruptions.


From 'Mejdoub' -

A man who spent his nights sleeping in cafes or under the trees or wherever he happened to be at the time when he felt sleepy, wandered one morning through the streets of the town. He came to the market place, where an old mejdoub dressed in rags cavorted before the populace, screaming prophecies into the air. He stood watching until the old man had finished and gathered up the money people had offered him. It astonished him to see how much the madman had collected, and having nothing else to do, he decided to follow him.