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 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."