A long time ago, two sisters lived in the heart of the Kasbah of Algiers. The first was very pious, while the second was more of a fickle and libertine temperament.
One evening, while the pious was behind the stove preparing dinner (a delicious couscous garnished with meat), a neighbor who was pregnant up to her neck knocked on the door.
Obviously attracted by the tantalizing scent of “t’âam”, she claims to need a little black pepper. Five minutes later, she is back again, arguing this time that she was lacking salt.
The fickle sister is not fooled. ”Our neighbor is a pregnant woman. Let’s share our dinner with her ”she suggests to her sister. But the latter categorically refuses. However, her sister insisted so much that she eventually gave in. “So on one condition” she tells her. “You must agree to bequeath your share of the inheritance on this house to me.”
The deal is thus concluded. Witnesses are summoned the same evening to take note of this promise, while waiting to notify all of this at the Cadi’s the next morning. At the first light of day, the pious sister jumps out of bed, says her prayer and rushes straight to wake her sister. She pushes open the door to her bedroom and remains petrified. She is in front of a dead woman.
The young woman lies inert on her bed, draped in a white shroud. Her lips are colored with walnut bark (swek), kohl in her eyes and like a strange smile on her lips. Angels have been there. A serene atmosphere emanates from this room where she was buried.
Her tomb still exists in this house, dating from the Ottoman period, at No. 5 rue Laid Bensaid (Kasbah).
Translated by Hope from : https://jazairhope.org/la-mysterieuse-legende-de-dar-al-maakra-la-femme-fardee/
