Chapter 6: A Journey into Literacy

Dan lived in Nana's luxurious mansion. They gave him a room in the garden, and they took turns teaching him the language of the plains.

The big city dazzled him with its white buildings, green-domed palaces, minarets of its mosques and temples, and its wide streets crowded with shops, people, animals, and carts carrying silk-covered carriages, inside of which sat beautiful women. He was overwhelmed by the scents of perfumes, spices, and delicious foods, and his ears were filled with the sounds of bustling markets crowded with goods and the luxurious clothes of men and women.

He was always curious and questioning. Once he entered Nana's room while she was reading a book and asked her what she was doing. She couldn't explain to him that she was reading. So she told him that there was someone in the book talking to her.

He took the book from her, opened it, and searched through its pages for the supposed person. When he couldn't find it, he thought she was teasing him and laughed.

He returned the book to her and asked, "Where is this person who talks to you?" When she told him that he died a hundred years ago and this was his words, he laughed again.

Then he jokingly asked her, "What does this dead person say to you?" She started reading to him from the book while he looked into her eyes following the lines and to her delicate finger tracing the words.

She read a page to him, explaining it to him sentence by sentence, and the magic of what he heard struck him! He sat in front of her, focusing his eyes on her lips, and he began to understand. What she read was about righteousness towards parents, and being kind to them in their old age and days of inability to work and earn, and how God punishes those who do not show kindness to their parents in the afterlife.

Dan took the book from her and started staring at the lines, hoping to see what she saw, or hear what she heard. He brought the book closer to his eyes and then farther away, and he touched the lines but did not discover the secret.

He returned the book to Nana, not believing what she said about the dead man speaking! She took out a piece of paper and a pen, wrote the word "Dan," and read it to him. Then she gave him the pen, held his hand, and helped him write it.

His mother called her, so she left him to write and went out.

Her brother, Manu, entered and found him writing his name. He read it aloud, and Dan looked at him in astonishment, pointing to the word and then to himself, saying "Dan!" .

Manu wrote another word for him, "Manu," and pointed to it and to himself, saying, "Manu."

And so Dan entered the world of writing and reading, and left the ranks of the illiterate within three months!