And they think they've got a juvenile delinquency problem back home, I thought to myself wryly. I made a mental note to look further into what Teska had told me if I got the chance. It might have some relationship to the Mohammedan practice of exercising boys sex organs through manipulation from infancy until they were old enough to be taught how to do it themselves. It certainly seemed likely that urging a child towards sex from birth might result in such violent explosions after he'd entered puberty.
"That's terrible," I said aloud.
"Only because of the brutality," she said frankly.
"Most women do not mind the sex. Indeed, they enjoy it."
“Enjoy being raped?"
She smiled. “In Syria we have a proverb: ‘One cannot thread a moving needle.’ No woman can be raped unless she cooperates at some point. Indeed, some women prefer their sex to be violent. For myself, I prefer it to be more tender."
“But you do enjoy sex?" I said sitting beside her on the bed.
“Oh, yes. Of course. That's why I ran away and came here."
“What did you run away from?”
"Can I trust you?" She looked at me narrowly.
"Yes. Of course."
"I ran off from the harim of Sheikh Taj-ed el Atassi.”
“You mean you were in a harem?"
"Yes. You know about harems, don't you? I mean, I've met some Americans who believe they're ancient history. They don't know they still exist in Syria."
“I know they exist. It's just that I've never met anyone who’s actually been inside one before. I've a special interest in this sort of thing, you see. Would you tell me how you came to enter a harem?"
“I was tricked into it."
“Tricked how?"
“It's a long story, but if you really want to know -"
“Yes. Please."
“All right." She sighed. “I was born into the Druze sect. Do you know what that is?"
I nodded. About 70 percent of the Syrian people are Sunnite Moslems. The rest are divided among three other Moslem cults, of which the Druze is one. They are famous for training their women for sexuality from birth and Druze girls are in great demand among Sultans and other upper-class connoisseurs of sex.
“Like all female Druze infants," Teska continued, “tebzzir was performed on me before I was a few months old.”
I nodded again to show that I understood that by “tebtzir" she meant circumcision of the clitoris. This simple operation, similar to the circumcision of the male, is designed to remove the flesh which usually covers the female’s clitoris so that it will be more sensitive and have freedom to grow. The Druze believe, and for sound medical reasons, that this will make their women much more responsive during the sex act.
“As is our custom," Teska went on, "I was introduced to sex on my third birthday. An uncle, a very gentle man, took me upon his lap and opened his pants so that I might feel his manhood against the stem of my even then responsive blossom. Ever so carefully, he penetrated me a fraction of an inch. This was repeated many times during my childhood and the depth of penetration increased. By the time I was eleven, I could swallow all that was offered and a year later knew enough to draw its honey. I took great pleasure in this. It is our way, you must understand. But by the time I reached sixteen, there was no man of our family endowed with largeness enough to satisfy me. This is a frequent complaint of Druze girls. I suppose it is because we know such bigness while we are ourselves so small that later, when we are ourselves large, the very lack of disproportion results in constant disappointment and frustration. There is a way to overcome this, but I did not know that yet. Anyway, men found pleasure with me, for I was very knowing as to the ordinary ways of sex, having mastered bodily movements and muscular control to a very high extent. But I found little pleasure for myself. And that's why I ran off with Abdul."
“Who is Abdul?"
“As far as I knew then, he was merely the largest and handsomest Shiite I'd ever seen. You know the Shiites?”
“Yes.” They were another of the three minor Moslem cults of Syria.
“You see, he showed me his manhood. It was only a quick look, but it was the largest I have ever seen. I should have investigated more closely. You'll see why in a moment. Anyway, after he showed it to me, he asked me to run off with him and I was so impressed that I quickly agreed. I never guessed that he'd been specially sent to lure me to the harim of Sheikh Taj-ed el Atassi."
“You mean he didn't want to make love to you himself?"
“Not only didn't want to. Couldn't. You see, Abdul is a eunuch. When he gave me that quick look at his sapling, I'd been so dazzled that I didn’t notice that the roots had been removed. Even so, we did manage one fantastic night of love-making before we reached the harim.”
“How could you if he was a eunuch?"
"You have a common Western misconception," she told me. “A eunuch may set as straight a branch as any man. It's just that he can no longer generate the sap for it. In one way, this makes him a superb lover, for being incapable of attaining release, he can make love for hours on end without becoming tired. On the other hand, it is frustrating for a woman to be assailed by a machine unable to respond no matter how frantically it is driven. Such, at least was my final judgment of Abdul. Any inanimate object of the proper size and shape would have served as well."
“What happened when you got to the harem?"
“I learned all then. But what could I do? I had disgraced my parents by running off with a Shiite. I couldn't go home. Besides, I had no way of leaving even if I'd wanted to. We'd come on a camel that Abdul had rented, and if I wanted to leave, it meant crossing perhaps forty miles of desert alone. So I did the only thing I could do. I stayed.”
“What was it like there?"
"Dull. That is the only way I can describe it. I am a girl who has been trained to sex from infancy. Thus I was a delicacy to the Sheikh. But even so, he could not begin to satisfy me. You see, he is bound by the Book of Revelation in the Science of Copulation to follow a strict routine. He must service each member of his harem at least once a week. But every other night he is bound to rest. The Sheikh had eighteen concubines, including myself, and that meant that every other night he must make love to six of them."
“How does he ever manage to keep it up?" I wondered, intending no pun.
"He merely goes a few strokes with one and then another, saving his final effort for the last, who is usually his favorite. Only she received the juices of his passion, I was so blessed as a rule, but even so grew almost feverish with frustration. At his most aroused, the Sheikh was still too small to really stir me. And even when I discovered the secret from one of the other girls for obtaining enjoyment from a man who is small, his attentions were too infrequent to appease my hunger."
“What secret are you talking about?"
"You shall see for yourself soon.” Her tongue flicked at my ear.
"How did you finally escape?" I asked.
"I hid myself in a crate aboard a camel train that had stopped at the oasis adjoining the Sheikh's harim. It was bound for Damascus, and so here I am."