In this enchant­i­ng chap­ter titled “By the Riv­er Tigris, 2014,” Nar­in, a curi­ous child, engages in a dia­logue with her grand­moth­er about the myth­i­cal lamas­sus the lat­ter men­tions. Grand­ma explains their dis­ap­pear­ance from their home­land, hint­ing at their cur­rent exis­tence in for­eign muse­ums, a tale that Nar­in strug­gles to believe ful­ly. Yet, Grand­ma clar­i­fies the impor­tance of sto­ry­telling, call­ing it a vehi­cle for truth, which stirs Narin’s respect and curios­i­ty.

Grand­ma con­veys wis­dom steeped in her cul­ture, cit­ing rev­er­ence for the earth. She stress­es that they hold the land sacred, advis­ing Nar­in to treat it gen­tly, empha­siz­ing that their peo­ple abstain from mar­ry­ing in April due to its sig­nif­i­cance as a time of fer­til­i­ty for the land. She also shares an anec­dote about a Yazi­di woman shocked by the bathing prac­tices in Ger­many, illus­trat­ing cul­tur­al dif­fer­ences in respect­ing water.

As the con­ver­sa­tion deep­ens, Grand­ma shares her rit­u­als of hon­or­ing celes­tial bod­ies with prayers at dawn and dusk, attest­ing to the hid­den won­ders of nature, from trees to insects. The Tigris riv­er holds a spe­cial place in her heart, treat­ed with the utmost dig­ni­ty. Describ­ing her heal­ing prac­tices, Grand­ma dis­cuss­es the sacred­ness of ash and the num­bers that guide them, par­tic­u­lar­ly the num­ber sev­en. For her, time man­age­ment con­cern­ing emo­tions and deci­sions is para­mount, urg­ing Nar­in to allow a week to pass before act­ing on feel­ings.

Sym­bol­i­cal­ly, rivers embody per­son­al­i­ties, and through dia­logue, Grand­ma illus­trates the con­trast­ing natures of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, sug­gest­ing that tran­quil­i­ty demands a fierce inter­nal strug­gle. Ulti­mate­ly, she declares respect for the Euphrates, valu­ing gen­tle­ness over strife, which aligns with her spir­i­tu­al teach­ings.

Through ten­der exchanges, Grand­ma imparts lessons on humil­i­ty, well­ness, and life­long learn­ing, using analo­gies of water and nature to enrich Nar­in’s under­stand­ing. The pro­found con­nec­tion of knowl­edge to water encour­ages Nar­in to appre­ci­ate the wis­dom that flows through their lin­eage. The chap­ter beau­ti­ful­ly encap­su­lates cul­tur­al prac­tices, envi­ron­men­tal respect, and famil­ial bonds through the lens of sto­ry­telling.