From the novel: Since I turned fifteen and my master (Askar) felt confident sending me alone with the caravans, there was not a merchant who did not know me, nor a shop I did not enter. They pitied me on the first journeys when they learned my story, but that pity turned to respect, and then to trust. I no longer cared about profit or loss, because all of them—knowing my passion for reading, copying, and buying books, scrolls, and manuscripts—would eagerly purchase what I brought from Baghdad, ensuring I made a profit. They would also offer me their finest goods without overcharging, granting me the time to indulge my obsession with books and manuscripts. It was as if they were all conspiring to alleviate the guilt of a crime they did not commit, but which was perpetrated by a band of slave traders who brought me to my current state! Despite the distance separating the island of (Qais) from (Baghdad), I never felt far from my (family)! I consider many of the island's inhabitants to be my brothers or uncles; how numerous are the relatives of a stranger! I have breakfast in a shop, lunch on a boat, drink rose water in a library, and dine in a mosque. If sleep overcomes me, I rest where I am. And if fortune smiles upon me and I find a book copied by a famous calligrapher, I fly with it to my secluded hut on the shore, light the lantern, place it on the floor, and lie on my stomach. With my head by the lantern and the book's pages directly before my eyes, I gaze at them, read them, and turn them with delectable pleasure until my head falls onto the book, and I fall asleep on my stomach!

• Category: Novels & Stories
• Author: Ghassan Ismail Abdul Khaliq
• Publisher: Fadaat Publishing House
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Edition: First
• Number of Pages: 166
• Dimensions: 14 x 22 cm