‘As to my fate, in time I settled into al-Andalus and accepted my losses. How did I keep myself busy? I introduced the first conservatory of music. I created the fifth string for the lute. I introduced the flavoursome cuisine of Baghdad to this region. I set the fashion for changing dress according to the four seasons of the year and I introduced toothpaste and quilted gowns for mountain nights. I helped make everyday life a little more beautiful, a little more practical, a little more sophisticated, a little more luxurious, a little more learned. This is how great civilizations are created, by little men like myself.’

What have you invented, Mr Stanley?

Unsure as to whether he was asking the question of himself, or being asked it by his visitor, he realized that the man’s voice was somehow indistinguishable from his own thoughts. It was a most disorienting experience.

‘Don’t make me laugh!’ he blurted out defensively. ‘Mr Stanley fits into the system, or he did until recently. A cog in a wheel, etc. I’m not the guy to invent a new wheel.’

‘Then you can become such a man. Our motto was “Know Thyself”. We were true seekers of knowledge and therefore seekers of Our Creator. My time was an era of conquering, building and consolidating. The complacency that precedes the downfall of all great civilizations was still many centuries away. As yours is but a century away.’

There was another pause. He studied Zaryab’s dignified face, like that of an exiled king who still feels responsible yet is helpless to protect his beleaguered kingdom.

‘When Granada finally fell to the Christians in 1492, the same year Mr Columbus sailed to another old world, I witnessed our capitulation and I was devastated. Everything we had built up – ah! Soon after, the Moors were expelled from Spain by Queen Isabella, and the light went out for centuries.’

Zaryab began to sing, his voice falsetto and rich in coloratura:

Weep for the splendour of Cordoba, for disaster has overtaken her, Fortune made her a creditor and demanded payment of the debt.

She was at the height of her beauty; life was gracious and sweet, Until all was overthrown and today no two people are happy in her streets.

Then bid her goodbye and let her go in peace, since depart she must …

Opening his eyes, Stanley saw that night had draped itself completely over this part of the world. A part of the world where the fingers of one continent reached out so tantalizingly towards the tips of another.

What was he supposed to do with these time-travelled tales?

A full moon laid out a path on to the sea.