fast and strong. His uncle
was often angry.
‘Hey, Yusuf! You’ll
never be a soldier if you
fight like that! I can’t
use you as you are. Go
and try to understand
how the law works from
Governor Nuradin. I
don’t want to see you
here again until you can
do something better than
this! Work hard or you’ll
go back home.’
Yusuf did what his
uncle said. He thought,
‘I’ll never be a soldier.
What will my father say
if I have to go home? Learning the law is so boring, but Uncle
Shirkuh thinks I can’t do anything else. Oh, I want to be strong
like other boys!’
Now he stood for long hours in the governor’s rooms in
the castle watching people asking Nuradin for help. At first
everything was hard to understand, but soon Yusuf saw that
Nuradin was a great man. The governor always listened to
everybody – poor people, and women and children, too – not
just rich and strong men. The governor studied the law and