In those filthy alleys where the air is brewed with the breath of death, among those worn-out houses where the wicked hide their crimes in curtains of darkness, and in those crooked turns to the right and to the left the twisting of black snakes, I walked with fear and reverence behind a boy whose youth and purity of heart had an incomprehensible courage Who was expert in the machinations of the people in a city that the easterners call the bride of Syria and the jewel of the crown of the sultans, until when we reached the outskirts of the neighborhood, the boy entered a despicable house of which there were only years left of a crumbling side, so I entered behind him and my heart beat faster as I approached.
