UNDER  THE  JASMINE  TREE

Deep in the Rif mountains, a small town  layed undisturbed between two steep faces. Appearing to sit in the middle of two horns, Chefchaouen was completely guarded from the western world. Christopher Smith, a noble British gentleman fascinated by aviation, began using his inheritance to experiment with building his own civilian aircrafts in order to explore the rest of the world. In early spring of 1914, John’s aeroplane had passed all of his own test runs and was ready for it’s first long distance flight. Travelling over Southern Spain, he spotted a change in landscape up ahead. With enough fuel for another hours worth of flight, he headed over for a closer look. While flying between the mountain range, he noticed waterfalls and tiny settlements amongst the trees. As he admired the beautiful terrain, one of the plane’s warning alarms started. An engine was failing. Knowing there was no chance he could land accurately on the mountain side, he spotted a small farmers field and prepared for a crash landing.

A kilometre away, Jasmine walked her mule along the track leading to one of her father’s fields. A humming noise in the sky caught her attention, and looking up, she spotted a strange flying object. The object got closer, al­lowing her to see the smoke billowing out from one of it’s sides, and be­gan to drop suddenly, heading straight for the field ahead of her. Without knowing what the object was, her instincts told her that something terrible was happening. Her instincts were confirmed as the object hit the field with a bang. Despite the huge amount of smoke and the distinct possibility she could be heading straight for danger, she ran with the mule to the source of the sound. Parts of the object had spread several meters away, and as she got closer she was alarmed to realise that she could hear the sounds of a man in pain. A man lay in grass, trying to move whilst his legs remained motionless. Though he was covered in dirt and dust, she instantly recognised his white skin; the man must have been a Christian from the Western world. Knowing the danger that the man would face if he was caught in a town where foreigners were never allowed to enter, she made the split decision to help him. Despite his groans of agony, she lifted him onto the mule and covered him with a blanket.

Tying the mule near her house on the side of the hill above the town she ran inside to her mother and father. After pleading with her parents to save the man’s life, they agreed to help her hide him in their home only until he was healed. Jasmine’s father was a skilled carpenter, and he disguised hiding spots for the man around the house in case anyone were to visit the house. As the beautiful girl nursed him back to health, Christopher began to feel himself fall in love with her kind and brave nature. During the day the girl would help her parents with the upkeep of the grounds around the house, then return back to him where they would spend the evenings together. Despite their difference in culture and language, he told her about his life back in England and how he hoped to keep flying to explore the rest of the world. When he was just about able to walk again, he covered his head and ventured outside. Being careful not to stray too far away from the house he walked towards a sprinkling of delicate white flowers that had caught his eye. Picking a few from their stems, he went back in to the safety of the house and waited for the girl to return.

When the girl came back in to his hidden room that evening his held the flowers out for her, and using the small amount of her language that he had picked up, he told her how the pure white beauty of the flowers had reminded him of her. His heart melted as she smiled back at him. With a tiny giggle, she reached out and took his hand. Leading him out the door they walked outside in to the remaining light of dusk. They trod carefully down a tiny pathway until they reached an entire garden filled with the same flowers he had just given her. Overwhelmed with love and emotion, he turned to look into her large chocolate brown eyes, and kissed her. As darkness fell they carefully made their way back to the house.

As Christopher regained his strength, Jasmine knew she was fast approaching the time where she would have to say goodbye to him. The thought filled her with dread; she had fallen deeply in love with the handsome gentleman, but she knew that she could not risk his life by letting him stay with her. A knock at the door from a curious local who thought they had seen a strange man outside the house was the final straw. She persuaded her father to help fix what she now knew was Christopher’s airplane, from the small pieces of his stories that she had understood.

When Jasmine’s father returned with the news that he had finished fixing his airplane, Christopher knew he would reluctantly have to leave his love. Though he couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing her again, he knew that he could never stay if it meant putting her in any danger. Saying goodbye, he promised he would come back for her when it was safe, and returned to the sky once more. Just days after he returned to England, news began to spread of war starting. Christopher knew that apart from jasmine, he could devote himself entirely to helping his country, putting his knowledge of aircraft building to the service of the Air Force. Over the next four years, he sent letters to Jasmine regularly, never being completely sure if they would reach her, or if she would understand when he wrote how much he loved and missed her. When the war finally ended, Christopher was devastated that Chefchaouen was still as guarded as it always was. With a newly built airplane he decided to begin his travels around the world, with the hope of being able to tell Jasmine about the places he was discovering.

 

Every 6 months or so, Jasmine had received a letter from England. The address was disguised in her local language, but once she opened them she would discover Christopher’s words. Though the years had passed and her parents had urged her to move on, she could never bear the thought of marrying another man. Just over four years since she had said goodbye to Christopher, she received a postcard inside an envelope. He told her that when the war had ended he had travelled to India. She read how he had arrived in India and found the same white flower that he had picked for her all those years ago, and had decided to plant the same flower in every country he visited so that a part of her would still be with him until the day he could return and make her his wife. The postcards continued. Christopher had now been to China, Greece, Madeira, America, Australia, southern Asia, and was in southern Africa when the Spanish arrived in Chefchaouen. Westerners were entering the town freely, and Jasmine saw the first chance at her life with Christopher. In the belief that he might still be in Africa, she sent a letter that hope would make his way to him so he would know it was safe to return to her. News of Spanish troops in Morocco had reached Christopher while he was in South Africa, and he had immediately began travelling to be reunited with his love after all this time. Walking towards the house, he laid eyes on her, and found that she was just as beautiful as he had remembered.

Two years after they were married, the War of the Rif forced the Spanish troops back out of Moroccan mountains. With her father’s permission, Chris­topher left the country alongside his wife to show her all the places he had told her about in his postcards. Travelling around the world from country to country, Christopher showed Jasmine the now fully blooming spots where he had planted her flowers. From each country they had left the flower, they col­lected beautiful local objects so they would always remember the places they had been together. After their last country, they returned to England to settle in to married life, only to find a letter waiting for them. Jasmine’s parents had passed away. Not wanting to tell their daughter whilst she was away living the life she had always dreamed about, they did not write to her before, but had left the house on the hill above the small mountain town in her name, for if she should ever wish to return.

 

In the hopes of feeling closer to her parents now knowing that she would never see them again, Jasmine asked Christopher if they could return to her home in Chefchaouen, now that the Spanish had returned. Taking the items they had collected from around the world, the couple made their way back to the over grown, deserted home, knowing they would be spending the rest of their lives together in the place where their forbidden love had first blossomed.

UNDER  THE  JASMINE  TREE

Deep in the Rif mountains, a small town  layed undisturbed between two steep faces. Appearing to sit in the middle of two horns, Chefchaouen was completely guarded from the western world. Christopher Smith, a noble British gentleman fascinated by aviation, began using his inheritance to experiment with building his own civilian aircrafts in order to explore the rest of the world. In early spring of 1914, John’s aeroplane had passed all of his own test runs and was ready for it’s first long distance flight. Travelling over Southern Spain, he spotted a change in landscape up ahead. With enough fuel for another hours worth of flight, he headed over for a closer look. While flying between the mountain range, he noticed waterfalls and tiny settlements amongst the trees. As he admired the beautiful terrain, one of the plane’s warning alarms started. An engine was failing. Knowing there was no chance he could land accurately on the mountain side, he spotted a small farmers field and prepared for a crash landing.

A kilometre away, Jasmine walked her mule along the track leading to one of her father’s fields. A humming noise in the sky caught her attention, and looking up, she spotted a strange flying object. The object got closer, al­lowing her to see the smoke billowing out from one of it’s sides, and be­gan to drop suddenly, heading straight for the field ahead of her. Without knowing what the object was, her instincts told her that something terrible was happening. Her instincts were confirmed as the object hit the field with a bang. Despite the huge amount of smoke and the distinct possibility she could be heading straight for danger, she ran with the mule to the source of the sound. Parts of the object had spread several meters away, and as she got closer she was alarmed to realise that she could hear the sounds of a man in pain. A man lay in grass, trying to move whilst his legs remained motionless. Though he was covered in dirt and dust, she instantly recognised his white skin; the man must have been a Christian from the Western world. Knowing the danger that the man would face if he was caught in a town where foreigners were never allowed to enter, she made the split decision to help him. Despite his groans of agony, she lifted him onto the mule and covered him with a blanket.

 

Tying the mule near her house on the side of the hill above the town she ran inside to her mother and father. After pleading with her parents to save the man’s life, they agreed to help her hide him in their home only until he was healed. Jasmine’s father was a skilled carpenter, and he disguised hiding spots for the man around the house in case anyone were to visit the house.

As the beautiful girl nursed him back to health, Christopher began to feel himself fall in love with her kind and brave nature. During the day the girl would help her parents with the upkeep of the grounds around the house, then return back to him where they would spend the evenings together. Despite their difference in culture and language, he told her about his life back in England and how he hoped to keep flying to explore the rest of the world. When he was just about able to walk again, he covered his head and ventured outside. Being careful not to stray too far away from the house he walked towards a sprinkling of delicate white flowers that had caught his eye. Pick­ing a few from their stems, he went back in to the safety of the house and waited for the girl to return.

When the girl came back in to his hidden room that evening his held the flowers out for her, and using the small amount of her language that he had picked up, he told her how the pure white beauty of the flowers had reminded him of her. His heart melted as she smiled back at him. With a tiny giggle, she reached out and took his hand. Leading him out the door they walked outside in to the remaining light of dusk. They trod carefully down a tiny pathway until they reached an entire garden filled with the same flowers he had just given her. Overwhelmed with love and emotion, he turned to look into her large chocolate brown eyes, and kissed her. As darkness fell they carefully made their way back to the house.

As Christopher regained his strength, Jasmine knew she was fast approaching the time where she would have to say goodbye to him. The thought filled her with dread; she had fallen deeply in love with the handsome gentleman, but she knew that she could not risk his life by letting him stay with her. A knock at the door from a curious local who thought they had seen a strange man outside the house was the final straw. She persuaded her father to help fix what she now knew was Christopher’s airplane, from the small pieces of his stories that she had understood.

When Jasmine’s father returned with the news that he had finished fixing his airplane, Christopher knew he would reluctantly have to leave his love. Though he couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing her again, he knew that he could never stay if it meant putting her in any danger. Saying goodbye, he promised he would come back for her when it was safe, and returned to the sky once more. Just days after he returned to England, news began to spread of war starting. Christopher knew that apart from jasmine, he could devote himself entirely to helping his country, putting his knowledge of aircraft building to the service of the Air Force. Over the next four years, he sent letters to Jasmine regularly, never being completely sure if they would reach her, or if she would understand when he wrote how much he loved and missed her. When the war finally ended, Christopher was devastated that Chefchaouen was still as guarded as it always was. With a newly built airplane he decided to begin his travels around the world, with the hope of being able to tell Jasmine about the places he was discovering.

 

Every 6 months or so, Jasmine had received a letter from England. The address was disguised in her local language, but once she opened them she would discover Christopher’s words. Though the years had passed and her parents had urged her to move on, she could never bear the thought of marrying another man. Just over four years since she had said goodbye to Christopher, she received a postcard inside an envelope. He told her that when the war had ended he had travelled to India. She read how he had arrived in India and found the same white flower that he had picked for her all those years ago, and had decided to plant the same flower in every country he visited so that a part of her would still be with him until the day he could return and make her his wife. The postcards continued. Christopher had now been to China, Greece, Madeira, America, Australia, southern Asia, and was in southern Africa when the Spanish arrived in Chefchaouen. Westerners were entering the town freely, and Jasmine saw the first chance at her life with Christopher. In the belief that he might still be in Africa, she sent a letter that hope would make his way to him so he would know it was safe to return to her. News of Spanish troops in Morocco had reached Christopher while he was in South Africa, and he had immediately began travelling to be reunited with his love after all this time. Walking towards the house, he laid eyes on her, and found that she was just as beautiful as he had remembered.

Two years after they were married, the War of the Rif forced the Spanish troops back out of Moroccan mountains. With her father’s permission, Chris­topher left the country alongside his wife to show her all the places he had told her about in his postcards. Travelling around the world from country to country, Christopher showed Jasmine the now fully blooming spots where he had planted her flowers. From each country they had left the flower, they col­lected beautiful local objects so they would always remember the places they had been together. After their last country, they returned to England to settle in to married life, only to find a letter waiting for them. Jasmine’s parents had passed away. Not wanting to tell their daughter whilst she was away living the life she had always dreamed about, they did not write to her before, but had left the house on the hill above the small mountain town in her name, for if she should ever wish to return.

 

In the hopes of feeling closer to her parents now knowing that she would never see them again, Jasmine asked Christopher if they could return to her home in Chefchaouen, now that the Spanish had returned. Taking the items they had collected from around the world, the couple made their way back to the over grown, deserted home, knowing they would be spending the rest of their lives together in the place where their forbidden love had first blossomed.