"If any of you really wants to know how this story ended, he will have to ask the moon when it is full. I now lay before you the book, the inkwell, and the pens."
這是書裏的最後一句話。
「祕密就在這裡面,就在這些紙張裡,由音節和影像所編織而成。」當書中每個說書人都以類似的主觀敘述呈現摩洛哥中下階層社會的隱痛與悲哀時,作者班哲倫(Tahar Ben Jelloun)成功地營造了讀者對於真相的困惑。造成這樣的困惑,在於一層一層說書人以意識或潛意識拼貼的不同圖像,在於遙遠撒哈拉沙漠的異國風情,也在於班哲倫詩性的文字帶來的想像空間,以及作者刻意營造的幻想與幻象的氛圍。
雖然貧苦,社會主義的影響力還是不敵回教,因為它給予人民「天堂的期望」,成立Justice and Welfare association 的女性 Sheikh Abdessalam Yassin說, ” They realize that Islam is about people. Our aim is to gain power peacefully, by persuasion and education. We are against violence."