Transformers

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Upper Egypt is full of exciting and terrifying folk legends, legends that have stood the test of time and become ingrained in people's minds, but they are often absent from the literary scene and from novelistic treatment. In the governorates of Upper Egypt, especially if you live in a small, remote village or center, closer to rural life than to urban life and civilization, if you are blessed with twins, your biggest concern will not be providing sufficient quantities of milk, clothes, or the expenses of doctors, treatment, and care for them. This will not be all that occupies your mind, but rather the attention of mothers, grandmothers, and older aunts will be focused on a more serious and important point for them. They will strive to provide protection for the two newborns who came together into the world in one womb! They will tell you that you must take them to one of the well-known shrines to perform a strange ritual, a mixture of religious rites and folk practices of unknown origin called "al-Tahseeb." They will tell you that you must not wake them at night under any circumstances, and that when they grow up, you must be careful not to leave raw fish or strong-smelling food within their reach. Most importantly, they will tell you never to chase a cat at night, especially a tailless one. Do you know why? Because if you do any of this, you risk causing great harm to one of your children, or even losing one or both of them! You will learn that any stray cat that wanders onto your roof, or the roof of a neighboring house, at night, might be nothing more than the wandering spirit of your child that has left their body! You laugh a bitter laugh and don't believe this nonsense, these superstitions. Don't cling to this certainty too much; leave room for reflection and to absorb the surprise. It could be one of us, you or me, in the end.