The gazelle

Since I've been in Morocco, I keep running into references to gazelles. There are insurance agencies with the word in the name, women have the term as part of their user names online, and there's even gazelle-logo'd brand of chocolate -- a gift I received from Hanan when I went to Casablanca last month.

My neighbor who is a rare books cataloger explained that not only is the gazelle a sacred animal in Islam, but it also is the preferred hide used in Muslim medieval book-making. There are some Korans where each page is gazelle skin from the chest of a different animal -- indeed, these are the most expensive and the most precious of these rare and special books.

Moroccans are very generous, and since I've been here, I've received a lot of gifts besides the chocolate. I've received a beautiful two-volume commented Koran translated into French from a student, I've received trinkets and even socks from Fatima, and Hanan bought me these little tagines where I put spices along with a a main de Fatma from the medina.

I'm very lucky to be surrounded by such generous and warm people, and I'm also glad to have finally found the explanation to the question of the Moroccan gazelle. I'll be visiting the BNRM with my students at the end of next week, and am really looking forward to seeing some of these rare books in the national library\s collection for myself.