1. The woman sitting on the ground in front of me was a real woman,
and the voice filling my ears with its sound, echoing in a cell where the
window and door were tightly shut, could only be her voice, the voice of
Firdaus.
2. “All my life I have been searching for something that would fill
me with pride, make me feel superior to everyone else, including kings,
princes and rulers.”
3. “Do you prefer oranges or tangerines?”
4. “My work is not worthy of respect. Why then do you join in it with
me?”
5. Her voice continued to echo in my ears, vibrating in my head, in
the cell, in the prison, in the streets, in the whole world, shaking
everything, spreading fear wherever it went, the fear of the truth which
kills, the power of truth, as savage, and as simple, and as awesome as
death, yet as simple and as gentle as a child that has not yet learnt to
lie.
