The Root of Wild Madder

Chasing the history, mystery, and lore of the persian carpet
AP correspondent Brian Murphy describes his exploration, geographic, historical and cultural, of persian carpets.

He is able to have a conversation with a not-yet-married 15-year-old weaver in in Bagdis, in northern Afghanistan:

"How do you see your future?"
"Why do you ask these things?" She shrugged. "God decides, not me."
"But you have some role, don't you?" I pressed.
"Maybe in your country there is planning like this," she replied again, looking me square in the eye. "Here, there isn't."


"Asli", I said. "Do you know that some people think there is something very sacred about carpets - "

"If you mean do I think I am special in God's eye, then no. That is not right," she cut me off, clearly becoming tired of my odd questions. "If you mean do I sometimes sense God while I'm working, then the answer is yes. There are times when I finish a difficult border or gul and must stop just to look at it. It is like a small world all alone and separate: perfect and peaceful. God must be guiding our hands, I think. This is how he gets us to look beyond this world. This is what I feel sometimes."