The Frankincense Trail (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

• Alia: Princess in the small Arabian kingdom of Teloum. Alia is 15 years old, and has never been far beyond Teloum. She dreams of travelling the incense road, and leading a trading caravan as the Queen of Sheba did. She knows how to fight, but not necessarily how to survive...
• Kardal: Kardal is the leader of the trading caravan. From the moment they first meet, there is friction between him and Alia. As the leader, he expects his orders to be obeyed, and doesn't like being questioned. Alia wonders if he suspects who she really is... but if so, then why did he let her join the caravan? Is he on her side, or against her?
• Jumo: Jumo is one of the caravan traders, and the tension between Alia and Kardal is nothing compared to Jumo's loathing of Alia. She knows he didn't want any strangers to join the caravan... but is that because he mistrusts all strangers, or does he suspect who she really is?
• Safiy: Alia's servant and best friend. Safiy tries to reason with Alia, and talk her out of her plan, but ultimately she will help her.
• Yashir: Yashir is Alia's 18 year-old brother. They used to be great friends but lately he seems to consider her beneath his notice.
• Tariq: Tariq is Alia's younger brother - a "spoiled, overfed brat" according to her. But even though Tariq shows more cruelty than maturity, the fact he's male means that her father and older brother are starting to mentor him, while Alia has little to do.
• Tahir: Tahir is a young boy making the desert crossing with his father. Like Alia, his mother has died, making Alia feel a bond with him. "So this is what it would be like to have a younger brother who is actually nice."
• Asim: Asim is a mystic who owns an incense shop in Teloum. Besides selling the precious resins, he can also read omens and foretell the future.
• Toumani: Toumani is the only one of the caravan men who is kind to Alia. He tells her why this caravan is such a small one... giving away some secrets that shock Alia. But it's too late for her to turn back now!

Quotes edit see section history

• “Behind him was another curtain. He pulled it aside and disappeared through the opening. Alia stood up. She was either going to sit and have tea, or be robbed and have her throat cut. Or perhaps be drugged and kidnapped. The latter, she reasoned, would at least take her out of Teloum.”

  narrator

• “But as she reached her right hand across her body to clasp the bracelet, she suddenly thought, 'not the snake one'. It has been her mother’s, and she couldn’t bear to part with it, not now. Instead, she pulled the thick gold bracelet off her right wrist and handed it to Kardal, hoping this would do instead. Numbly, she watched as he turned it over to examine it. And then, as her eyelids lowered and exhaustion spun her head, she realised that she had not eaten or slept for ages, and top of that, she was emotionally drained. Her head slumped, and Kardal caught her before she fell.”

  (narrator)

• “Whatever her reason, she vowed that this tiny being, having managed to survive all alone in such an inhospitable wasteland, was not about to have its life cut short by superstition and a rusty knife.”

  (narrator)

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Rub al Khali: The Rub' al Khali, or Empty Quarter, is one of the largest sand deserts in the world, encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula, including southern Saudi Arabia, and areas of Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The desert covers some 650,000 square kilometres (250,000 sq mi). Desertification has increased through the millennia. Before desertification made the caravan trails leading across the Rub' al Khali so difficult, the caravans of the frankincense trade crossed now virtually impassable stretches of wasteland, until about AD 300. The traces of camel tracks, unidentifable on the ground, appear in satellite images. More recently, tribal populations were also present in certain parts of the Empty Quarter, with the largest in the Najran region.
• Dhofar: (Arabic name Zufar) - the incense-producing region of Oman. While the regions around it are desert climate, Dhofar, benefiting from a southwest monsoon between June and September, receives heavier rainfall and has constantly running streams, which make the region Oman's most fertile area.
• Samhar / Sumharam: the ancient name of Khor Rori, a sea port located on the southern coast of Oman. From Wikipedia: Khor Rori is an Early South Arabian archaeological site near Salalah in the Dhofar region of modern Oman. The small fortified town was founded as an outpost for the kingdom of Hadramawt in modern Yemen around the turn of our era, but the site shows signs of Hadrami settlement back to the third century CE. One of the Queen of Sheba's palaces was located here. Dhofar was the main source of frankincense in the ancient period, and it seems likely that the foundation of the settlement was in part motivated by a wish to control the production of this valuable commodity. Most scholars identify Khor Rori with the frankincense exporting port of Moscha Limen.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

List the chapters of this book.

Glossary edit see section history

• abbaye, or abaya: a large cloak, worn either loose and flowing or wrapped around the body. The modern-day abaya is part of Islamic clothing, but it is important to remember that Alia’s story takes place long before the advent of Islam, and that clothing in the desert was based on comfort and practicality rather than any religious reasons.
• Aila: a northern port in Egypt, located where the modern port city of Aqaba is today. At the time of Alia’s story, it would have been an important stop on the incense trading route. (Not to be confused with the character name Alia!)
• allufah: mandrake, a plant called by the Arabs luffâh, or beid el-jinn (‘djinni’s eggs’). It was much used in the past for its anodyne and soporific properties.
• ameera: princess
• Aribi: At the time this story was set, no such nation as Arabia existed; there were many kingdoms in the Arabian peninsula. I used the term ‘Aribi early on in the text to help orient the reader. No one is sure when the term ‘Arab’ came into existence, but there are references as early as 800 BC, such as “the Assyrian king Salmanasser’s account of a battle in 853 BCE and in the reports about a kingdom named Aribi”
• baetyl: a sacred stone, or monument of stones.
• bikr: leader, or firstborn
• Bilqis: Bilqis is one of the Arabic names by which the Queen of Sheba (Saba) is known. A great deal of myth surrounds this character. She is mentioned in both the Old Testament and the Qur’an, and the imperial family of Ethiopia claims its origin directly from the offspring of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (named Makeda in their tradition). According to the Bible, she travelled to King Solomon with a large retinue of people and camels, sometime around 900 B.C. One theory about her identity suggests that she was a noblewoman from the kingdom of Saba (in the southern Arabian peninsula) who paid visit to King Solomon not for any religious regions, but as a trade emissary.
• caravanserai, or caravansary: a resting place for the overnight accommodation of caravans. This might be an inn with stables, or an empty structure, as long as there is some kind of shelter, and water for the animals.
• cassia: a tree bark very similar to cinnamon, but subtler, and more suited for use in incense.
• Damascus: The capital and largest city of Syria, it is thought to be among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Because of its location, Damascus was an important trading location; Damascus’s importance as a caravan city was evident with the trade routes from southern Arabia, Palmyra, Petra, and the silk routes from China all converging on it.
• dhow: any of various types of sailing vessels used by Arabs on the east African, Arabian, and Indian coasts, generally lateen-rigged on two or three masts.
• djinni: djinni (singular), djinn (plural) – In pre-Islamic Arabian mythology and in Islamic Culture, a jinni (also “djinn” or “djini”) is a member of the jinn (or “djinni”), generally thought to be a race of supernatural creatures. They form any of a class of spirits, lower than the angels, capable of appearing in human and animal forms and influencing humankind for either good or evil. The different spellings jinn, jinni, djinni, djinn are translated to the English word ‘genie’.
• frankincense: a resin produced by certain species of tree in the Boswellia family. Once dried, the resin is burned as an incense. Frankincense has been one of the world’s most treasured commodities since the beginning of written history. At its peak, its value rivalled that of gold, the rarest silks, and the most precious of gems.
• hulafâ: ally
• Zufar: Arabic name for Dhofar, the incense-producing region of Oman.
• khanjar: the traditional dagger of Oman. The khanjar is curved, and sharpened on both edges. It is carried in a sheath decorated in silver, on a belt similarly decorated in silver filigree.
• luban: the sap that comes from the frankincense tree (Boswellia sacra) when the bark is cut. The sap runs out and hardens into pebble-like pieces, which are then cured for several months before being sold as incense.
• malik: king
• Macedon: an ancient kingdom, occupying what is now Greece and extending into Eastern Europe.
• mounting block: anything a person can stand on to mount their horse. In the 3rd century BC, stirrups were not in common usage (leather toe stirrups were invented in India somewhere between 500BC and 200BC; it is unknown when these came to Arabia) so mounting a horse without a mounting block was more difficult.
• myrrh: Myrrh is a red-brown resinous material, the dried sap of the tree Commiphora myrrha. It is a constituent of perfumes and incense.
• Najran: a walled city on the ancient Frankincense Road. “The oasis of Najran has been inhabited for about 4,000 years. Najran’s most prosperous trading time was during the first and second centuries B.C.” – http://nabataea.net/najran.html
• Nabatean / Nabatu: The Nabataeans were an ancient trading people of southern Jordan, Canaan and the northern part of Arabia. They were greatly involved in trading, particularly in the incense trade. Their capital was Petra.
• Nubia: An ancient name for the land that is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan. (During Alia’s time it was known as Kush rather than Nubia, but I wanted to use a term that readers would be more familiar with.)
• oud: The oud is a pear-shaped, stringed instrument similar to a lute used in traditional Middle Eastern music and East African music.
• Petra: Petra is an ancient city and archaeological site in Jordan. It was the capital city of the Nabateans, and the centre of their caravan trade. At the height of its trading significance, Petra controlled the main commercial routes, which passed through it to Gaza in the west, to Bosra and Damascus in the north, to Aqaba and Leuce Come on the Red Sea, and across the desert to the Persian Gulf.
• qaid: An Arabic word that can be applied to a guide, the leader of a raid on another tribe’s camels, or a military commander.
• Saba: One of the principal kingdoms of ancient Arabia, located in what is now Yemen. adjective: Sabaen
• sari: a dress made of one long piece of fabric that is wound around the body.
• sirwal: The sirwal is a traditional trouser-like garment worn from the hips down to the ankles. For women, it is worn underneath the thobe.
• Samhar / Sumharam: the ancient name of Khor Rori, the sea port that the Greeks called Moscha, located on the southern coast of Oman.
• Sayin: one of the principal gods of Hadramaut, one of the regions Alia passed through.
• thobe: a loose, long-sleeved, ankle-length garment. For women, the neck and front can be embroidered and decorated with beads.
• Ilumqah: one of the principal deities of ancient southern Arabia. The ancient Arabian kingdoms were pantheistic, meaning they worshipped many gods.
• ‘ud: an aromatic wood, burned as an incense in the Middle East. In the English-speaking world today, the most common terms for ‘ud are aloeswood or agarswood.
• vizier: A king’s advisor or counsellor.
• wadi: the bed or valley of a river or stream that is usually dry except during the rainy season, and that often forms an oasis.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

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• Water: Water symbolizes emotion. The book starts out in a desert town, where even the wells are drying up. In an emotional scene that spurs Alia to leave home, she kneels down next to a small pond and wishes she could dive in and be pulled through to another world, like the magical ponds in her childhood stories. When she sets out across the desert, water is scarce. The caravan comes across a pond, and Alia does not want to go in but has to -- and this almost gives away that she is female. Then two of the springs are dried up. When Alia finally mourns her mother's death, she cries for the first time in years, then later immerses herself in a crystal-clear pond.
• Hand: The hand symbolizes action or willpower. Alia's is confused about her purpose, and this is reflected in all the injuries to her hand. When Alia visits a mystic, he makes her hold a heated stone as part of a ceremony; Alia feels the burn in her hand, but there is no scar. Her brother bruises her arm in a fight. On the journey, Alia grazes her hand in an effort to maintain her disguise. And then more injuries follow: her hand is cut in a sword fight; she burns her palm on an incense censer; she cuts her hand when she kills a snake with a dagger. A mystic later tries to read her palm, but can't because it is covered with so many cuts and scars. He tells her this means she has chosen a path that is not easy.
• Color Symbolism: In this book, green symbolizes life, and violet/purple symbolizes death. The story begins in a desert town where there is hardly any greenery. Alia's mother died some years ago, and her favorite color was violet. Her bedroom draperies are all this color. Reflecting this are the violet curtains in Alia's room - when she closes them 'the room is bathed in a violet glow'.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jody Kihara (Author)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: JUV016020 JUVENILE FICTION / Historical / Ancient Civilizations
• Dewey: Add the Dewey Classification.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Children's Books › History & Historical Fiction › Fiction › Ancient Civilizations
• Books › Children's Books › Literature › Action & Adventure

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• The Frankincense Trail Website: Website for The Frankincense Trail. Learn about the history of the Frankincense Road and see photos of locations in the story. You can also read reviews, interviews with the author, and more.
• Jody Kihara's Website: More information about author Jody Kihara and her other books.
• Frankincense Trail book trailer - YouTube: Video trailer for the book
• Frankincense Trail book trailer - Vimeo: Video trailer (same trailer, different site)

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books Cited by This Book edit see section history