human
They were called, he intoned,
gpt
Ai, breathed one of the older men.
human
As were the Tuareg before the coming of the cursed Franzawi and the other Nazrani.
gpt
But in time, Crawford pursued,
human
Ai,
gpt
And so, he said,
human
Wallahi!
gpt
Never has tribe fought as did the Cheyenne. Never has the world seen such warriors, with the exception, of course, of the Ahaggar Tuareg. Never were such raids, never such bravery, never such heroic deeds as were performed by the warriors of the Cheyennes and their women, and their old people and their children. Over and over they defeated the cavalry and the infantry of the newcomers who would change the old ways and bring the new to the lands of the Cheyennes.
human
And then...?
gpt
The new ways taught the enemy how to make guns, and artillery, and finally Gatling guns, which today we call machine guns. And once a brave warrior might prevail against a common man armed with the weapons of the new ways, and even twice he might. But the numbers of the followers of the new ways are as the sands of the Great Erg and in time bravery means nothing.
human
It is even so, someone growled.
gpt
They are as the sands of the erg, and they have the weapons of the djinn, as each man knows.
human
And what happened in the end, O El Hassan?
gpt
They perished, Homer said.
human
Today in all the land where once the Cheyenne pursued the game there is but a handful of the tribe alive. And they have become nothing people, no longer warriors, no longer nomads, and they are scorned by all for they are poor, poor, poor. Poor in mind and spirits, and in property and they have not been able to adjust to the ways of the new world.
gpt
This is verily the truth, El Hassan?
human
My head upon it,
gpt
And why do you tell us of these Cheyenne, these great warriors of the plains of the land of your birth? The story fails to bring joy to hearts already heavy with the troubles of the Tuareg.
human
Because there was no need, O Amenokal of all the Ahaggar, for the Cheyenne to disappear before the sandstorm of the future. They could have ridden before it and today occupy a position of honor and affluence in their former land.
gpt
And give up the old ways? Guémama demanded.
human
Become no longer nomads, no longer honorable warriors, but serfs, slaves, working with one's hands upon the land and with the oil-dirty machines of the Roumi?
gpt
No! Never! In our great conferences, my viziers and I decided that the Tuareg could never so change. The Tuareg must die, as did the Northern Cheyenne before he would become a city dweller, a worker of the land.
human
Bismillah!
gpt
Too often, Crawford explained,
human
I do not understand you, El Hassan, Melchizedek grumbled.
gpt
There is no room for the Tuareg in this new world of bringing trees to the desert, of the great trucks which speed across the erg a score of time the pace of a _hejin_ racing camel, of larger and ever larger oases with their great towns, their schools, their new industries. If the Tuareg remains Tuareg, he cannot fit into this new world, it destroys the old traditions, the old way which is the Tuareg way.