The Wren:Chapter Advanced 1.1 -Yunus Emre
- 8 May
- 2 dakikada okunur
My name is Feride, though throughout the
labyrinthine journey of my childhood, I was seldom
addressed by it. Instead, I was universally known as
"Çalıkuşu"—the Wren. This moniker was far from a
mere coincidence; it was a living testament to an
untameable, almost frantic energy that defined my
early existence. While my peers were content
playing with porcelain dolls within the manicured,
silent confines of our family gardens, I could
invariably be found at the precarious summit of an
ancient acacia tree. From that height, I would
navigate the swaying branches with a fearlessness
that both terrified the servants and amazed the adults
observing from the marble terraces below. To me,
the sky was not a distant limit, but a personal
sanctuary—a vertical realm where the rigid, often
suffocating conventions of the late Ottoman adult
world simply could not reach me.
My father was a distinguished cavalry officer whose
life was dictated by the rhythmic, uncompromising
discipline of the imperial army. His uniform always
smelled of leather, gunpowder, and the distant dust
of the provinces. Consequently, my upbringing was
a fragmented mosaic of different cultures and
landscapes as we relocated frequently across the
vast, aging territories of the Empire. I remember the
heat of the southern sands and the sharp winds of the
northern borders, each place adding a new layer to
my restless spirit.
However, this vibrant, nomadic tapestry of my youth was
abruptly and cruelly severed when my mother passed away.
The loss was not merely a domestic tragedy; it left a profound,
echoing void in my soul that no amount of childhood mischief
could truly mask. I felt like a bird whose nest had been torn
down by a sudden storm. My father, grappling with a silent
grief he could not articulate and a career that demanded his
absolute devotion, concluded that the only logical recourse for
a motherless girl was a formal, structured education. Thus, he
enrolled me in Notre Dame de Sion, a prestigious French
boarding school in the heart of Istanbul.
This is my territory