The box of wonders also known as the box of stories or the box of the world is an Arabic adaptation of the 17-century Raree Man box (peepshow). From what I’ve read about the history of the device, there is no description about how did it move to the middle east. my guess is the Ottomans used it and then the Arabs. The tool was used in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt.
Trapped in a box:
As wanderer myself, I draw on the journey of the wandering storyteller to tell the story of the walking tree. “The walking tree is a wandering tree with moving roots and no place to plant them.” I’m a city seeking refuge within a city; I’m Damascus within Toronto.
I’m trapped within the memories of a country that was never mine to call Watan. I’m jailed as the bird on my passport. I can never pass. I walk the map as trying to hold on to every line before finding myself forced to let go. I’m a walking tree wandering around to find a place to plant my roots like a storyteller with a box, within a box, looking for children to listen to her stories. I leave my roots behind ...... I leave my stories behind. I wander again. My story is trapped in the box of stories.
According to my grandparents and a few Arabic documenting blogs, A wandering storyteller (box-men) would carry the wooden box on his (mostly men inherited this profession from their fathers). He’d come along with a few chairs and stop in front of villages or schools mainly in Eids (Muslim celebrations) to tell his stories in exchange of eggs, wheat or corn or later on qurush (100 qurūsh = 1 Lira (Syrian pound). The stories are mostly about Arabic heroes (Antara –Ablaa – Alzaher Berbars), traditional folktales or war victory stories. His Audience is children from all ages who are looking forward to listening to his narratives about heroism and morals. The Storyteller is a professional in utilizing rhymes and songs; He is a performer, a director, a marketer and an artist. He has the tasks of drawing the stories on a roll of paper and acting these stories to keep his audience engaged. My personal history with this device is related to my grandparents’ stories about their childhood and the disappearance of the profession in the face of cinema and film. It seemed to me as this wandering storyteller just lost his way in the threads of time.
