The Steel Seraglio
“Hakkim was not in the first instance a scholar by his own choosing, but he seemed predestined by nature to pursue such a calling—he puzzled and alarmed his parents, an elderly shoemaker and his much younger wife, by refusing to speak until his fifth birthday, and even thereafter could seldom be coaxed into uttering more than two or three words together; but it was clear even to the casual observer that Hakkim’s silence was not the silence of vacancy. On the contrary, he would spend hours in sil...ent reverie, or tracing abstract figures in the dust by the door lintel with the end of a stick.
This thoughtful demeanour was accompanied by a singular aversion to action. When his older siblings bullied or berated him, which was often, Hakkim would stand with head bowed and face grimly set, as if he hoped by extreme stillness to merge into his surroundings and be forgotten. His retaliations, such as they were, would come later, when a favourite tunic, or doll, or stick-and-ball, belonging to one of his tormentors would be found mangled and broken, the subject of some sublimated assault.MoreLess
This thoughtful demeanour was accompanied by a singular aversion to action. When his older siblings bullied or berated him, which was often, Hakkim would stand with head bowed and face grimly set, as if he hoped by extreme stillness to merge into his surroundings and be forgotten. His retaliations, such as they were, would come later, when a favourite tunic, or doll, or stick-and-ball, belonging to one of his tormentors would be found mangled and broken, the subject of some sublimated assault.MoreLess
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