I heard a camel’s frightful groan, that awesome, existentially discontented noise. The souls of the damned speak through the throats of camels. The camel debates life’s miseries with the sun. Etc. Etc.
-To Asmara, Thomas Keneally
Keneally’s protagonist spews every camel cliché he has ever heard, and by the time I was in Sudan for more than five minutes I had heard plenty and could even have added a few of my own. Trust in God but tie your camel…He who steals an egg will steal a camel…If he is idle, buy him a camel…The camel limped because of its [split] lip. Or as KhairAllah once called out to a troublesome one, O Donkey!