Gholamhoseyn Sa'edi, also known by his pen name Gowhar Morad, is one of the two or three most prominent writers of prose fiction in Iran today. His first published work appeared in 1956, and since then he has published some twenty volumes of short stories and plays, and several monographic studies of rural Iranian communities. Initially trained as a physician, Dr. Sa'edi has for some years now devoted himself almost wholly to writing. Most recently he edited four volumes of a new literary journal, Alifba, for the publishing house of Amir Kabir.

The present story is the first in a collection of three, entitled Gūr va Gahvārah (“Cradle and Grave“), that was first distributed some seven years ago and later confiscated.

When we got off the bus, the old man said, “Here we are.” There was a big rectangular square, and at each corner a long street like a hallway that stretched off into the darkness. The old man leading the way, we walked down the street across from us until we reached an open space and a long concrete bridge.