Shrine Of His Holiness

Sattar, an indigent peasant farmer from the New Place, a village on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, is a perfect example of man's inability to challenge divinity.

Sattar ties strings to the branch of a tree to mark it for cutting in the next spring. He plans to turn it into a cane or a walking staff for sale. The strings tied to the branch mislead a few women of the village into believing that a new saint has been discovered. Sattar returns to his branch to realize that the tree has become the target of the villagers' worship. Sattar cuts the branch, which commences his own tragic ending. The story does not end with Sattar's calamitous demise. Once invented, the saint takes a life of its own to lead the naï ve villagers to actions that are even more asinine than murdering the impoverished young farmer.

In literary circles around the world, Nima is respected for his style and applauded for his fresh new approach to poetry. "Shrine of His Holiness" is Nima's only work in prose. In an extraordinary form of a narrative prose, Nima uses his own unique brand of poetic expression to tell a tragic story. The story posses a universal appeal and is not intended for any particular group of readers.