In the year 1852, Arthur, a clever and eccen­tric boy, grows up in the impov­er­ished Sew­ers and Slums beside the Riv­er Thames. By age five, he has learned the details about all his neigh­bors, even pick­ing up Yid­dish from a Jewish–Russian fam­i­ly at eight, along with an abil­i­ty to repli­cate the sounds and sights of his com­mu­ni­ty with remark­able pre­ci­sion. Enrolled in a ragged school aimed at edu­cat­ing des­ti­tute chil­dren, Arthur finds him­self among peers who come from back­grounds of pover­ty, crime, and neglect. The con­di­tions at the school are grim, and stu­dents often leave, seek­ing bet­ter alter­na­tives, yet Arthur per­sists, ben­e­fit­ing from the dai­ly food and the chance to learn.

Despite being over­shad­owed by more bois­ter­ous class­mates, Arthur, now twelve, is hard­work­ing and ded­i­cat­ed, quick­ly mas­ter­ing lessons and assist­ing his teacher, Mr. Hop­kin. His intro­vert­ed nature and ten­den­cy to day­dream, paired with his disheveled appear­ance, often ren­der him invis­i­ble. One fate­ful day, while arriv­ing late due to tak­ing care of his unwell moth­er, Arthur is con­front­ed by a strict sub­sti­tute teacher. This teacher, dis­miss­ing Arthur’s expla­na­tion about his absence, belit­tles him and pre­pares to dis­ci­pline him for assert­ing that a math assign­ment had been mis­cal­cu­lat­ed.

After endur­ing a phys­i­cal­ly pun­ish­ing encounter with the head­mas­ter, Arthur’s intel­li­gence is inad­ver­tent­ly acknowl­edged, reveal­ing his excep­tion­al mem­o­ry and apti­tude for learn­ing. Although he faces severe pun­ish­ment, Arthur con­veys to the head­mas­ter a mem­o­ry from his past, show­cas­ing not only his aca­d­e­m­ic abil­i­ty but also an aware­ness of the world – a world beyond the slums where his­to­ry and cul­ture exist.

As Arthur leaves the school for the last time, he grap­ples with fear and hunger but finds him­self inex­plic­a­bly drawn to the British Muse­um. There, he is cap­ti­vat­ed by the sight of immense stone sculp­tures being trans­port­ed, his­tor­i­cal arti­facts that embody the ancient civ­i­liza­tion of King Ashur­ba­n­i­pal. His encounter with Dr. Samuel Birch, the muse­um’s Keep­er of Ori­en­tal Antiq­ui­ties, leaves him with a pro­found sense of curios­i­ty and a taste for knowl­edge, ignit­ing aspi­ra­tions beyond his cur­rent impov­er­ished state. The chap­ter clos­es with Arthur feel­ing a kin­ship with the bound stone beasts as they, too, strug­gle with their new exis­tence in an unfa­mil­iar land.

Wait­ing ai