"From that time on the child was all alone. According to his official record he was six years old, but in fact he was eleven. His parents, thinking that if he reached the age of twenty after his parents had turned sixty, the child would not be conscripted into the army, waited five years before registering the child's birth. Also, since he was raised deep in the mountains, he could not understand the people of the village when they spoke to one another, though in reality he was quite clever and bright. At the doctor's house, he continued as before eating three raw eggs a day, convinced that this was helping him produce excess blood which would make up for that which would be lost during his forthcoming operation. He did sob from time to time, but since his brother had admonished him not to cry, he managed to keep from breaking down completely.

"At the daughter's request the boy was invited to eat his meals with the rest of the family, but he would crouch in a corner of the room and gnaw on a bit of pickled radish.