This lyrical story has the feel of a legend, and it is accompanied by the most beautiful of illustrations that enhance the grace of the whole. Issa is an old man, a renowned guide of desert travellers, and he and his donkey are much in demand. After a terrible desert storm, he happens upon a camel protecting something in a cave, and this turns out to be a baby girl. Taking the child and the camel home, Issa brings the girl up as his granddaughter, Mariama, and together they guide people through the desert until Mariama is as skilled as her grandfather. As Issa gets older, he becomes totally blind, and he then depends on Mariama to help him in his guiding. Together they make an unbeatable team, When they are approached by three men who need to take a perilous journey through the mountains, Issa at first accepts the men's proposal and the payment in priceless pearls, but when the men discover he is blind, they refuse to use his services and go on their journey alone. It is Issa's knowledge of the mountains and his use of Mariama as his eyes that saves the three men from certain death in another sand storm. The discovery is made that Mariama is the sister of one of the men, a prince of a kingdom near the sea, and she and Issa are assured of a refuge for life in splendid riches in the king's palace. A fairy tale it may be, but a beautifully produced one that deserves the care that has been taken with both word and picture. A transcendent production that teaches us that blindness can be a way of living normally when approached positively.