Un chiodo per Mussolini (Mismār li-Mūssūlīnī)

Ali Mustafa al-Misrati is one of the most eclectic and well-known contemporary Libyan writers. His wide and rich literary activity includes historical, political and social novels, essays and short stories, most of which reveals his civil commitment against colonialism in the Arab world and his support for Arab nationalism and unity of Libya. The short story that we have translated and presented here takes place in Libya under the Italian colonization. The plot arises from the Duce‟s visit to Tripoli in 1937 and tells the story of Far'as, an artisan who was asked to make an elegant Arabic horse-saddle to be given to the Duce as a special gift for his visit. But Far'as was a mujahid. His father and brother had been killed while fighting the jihad against Italians, so he would rather have died than not make that horse-saddle for the Duce. Since he could not refuse to do it, he decided to hatch a plan to avenge the death of his father and brother. He hid a nail inside the saddle and when the Duce mounted the horse, the nail pierced his flesh. The Duce started crying and screaming hysterically and the crowd, who was gathered around him and who was completely unaware of what was going on, started imitating him. The whole story is permeated with irony and sarcasm; the language is icastic and incisive and through the sacrifice of the protagonist, Far'as, al-Misrati seems to wants to redeem the whole Libyan people from the oppression of colonialism.