My Favorite Monologue :) Enjoy

Jackal In The Garden

By: Deborah Ellis

"I was born to die. Born into a harem of beautiful faces, mine was twisted and misshapen. Dark, red blothes stained my features, like wine spilled on my skin. Wine belongs in a cup, not on a girl's face. My lumpy body caused my mother to pass out during birth. "This child is cursed, her birth was a mistake." the midwife said, holdong me up to the Master. "She is of no value!" the Master, my father declared. I was a girl, an ugly girl. Worth less than a donkey too lame to work. "To the jackals with her." M father said. His word was law.My unconscious mother could not protest. A servant carried me through the streets of Mashad and into the desert, my destined cradle and grave. I was told he kissed me. Why kiss something so ugly? - There I stayed 3 days, 3 nights. When my mother recovered, she reached for me. She saw heads hang, eyes look away. "It was not a dead birth, I heard it cry!" My mother said in tears. No one replied. "It was a girl, wasn't it? There was something wrong?" she asked. My mother knew the practice. "The Master ordered it." other wives said. "And you raised your voices in protest I am sure!" Mama looked especially hard at Shalia, the wife whose third child was sent to the jackals but not until my mother put gouges in four servants. Which she got away with for being the first wife. She was accorded his protection. "She was a mistake." said Shalia. "A girl them\n" declared my mother. "Take me to her." "It's been three days!" said the manservant. Everyone knew a fully grown man could not survive in the desert let alone a baby. They left in the safety of the nighttime and climbed the hill where I was left. I was still alive."

This may be a little inaccurate, all from memory. However, I recommend this book to anyone who is one of the following: Looking for a book that enlightens, is interested in the arts, is interested in culture or history, any one with an insecurity about just about anything :), interested in something different, likes stories about kick-ass girls, enjoys a good read :)