Mustafa is 13. His mother tells him a story about a girl who is tempted by stories of the riches in the sultan’s palace. When she sneaks into the palace, her life is ruined. Mustafa tries to interpret her story but is unsure what lesson she is trying to teach him. His mother tells him, “Everything has already been lived and everything has been told. If only if we listened to the stories” (53).

A couple of years later, when the governor of Azemmur refuses to pay tax to the Christians, Mustafa’s father is proud and confident of victory. He feels certain that the sultan will send troops from Fes to defend them. His father’s brother is skeptical. Azemmur falls, the Christians build a fort, and “the white flag of the infidel king was hoisted over the tower” (58). Mustafa’s father becomes depressed.

Mustafa graduates from school and disappoints his father by insisting that he wants to become a merchant instead of a notary. His father warns that “trade would open the door to greed and greed was an inconsiderate guest; it would bring its evil relations with it” (60).

Despite his concerns, Mustafa’s father agrees to let him apprentice to a family of successful merchants.