On the darkest day of winter they set something of summer
there. In the saddest moment they proclaim the fact that there is joy
in the world, that there was joy in the hearts of creative artists years
upon years ago. If you are ever in Cairo, and sink into depression, go
to the "Blue Mosque" and see if it does not have upon you an uplifting
moral effect. And then, if you like go on from it to the Gamia El
Movayad, sometimes called El Ahmar, "The Red," where you will find
greater glories, though no greater fascination; for the tiles hold their
own among all the wonders of Cairo.
Outside the "Red Mosque," by its imposing and lofty wall, there is
always an assemblage of people, for prayers go up in this mosque,
ablutions are made there, and the floor of the arcade is often
covered with men studying the Koran, calmly meditating, or prostrating
themselves in prayer. And so there is a great coming and going up the
outside stairs and through the wonderful doorway: beggars crouch
under the wall of the terrace; the sellers of cakes, of syrups and
lemon-water, and of the big and luscious watermelons that are so
popular in Cairo, display their wares beneath awnings of orange-colored
sackcloth, or in the full glare of the sun, and, their prayers
comfortably completed or perhaps not yet begun, the worshippers stand to
gossip, or sit to smoke their pipes, before going on their way into the
city or the mosque.
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