There were 19 students except for Selim in the classroom and he helped all of his classmates.In the meantime,it was finally the noon.No student could take a break.Zulfikar told his students,that they would only rest after listening to the history lesson.He asked the boys to be all ears.All of them were wondering,what story would they listen.The muderris initiated after making sure that everyone was listening to him:
-Today,I want you to know what happened to one rebel who refused to obey our late sultan Mehmed III.There was a Georgian King,called Simon who had been torturing Ottomans with his rebellions.He was the king of Kartli in 1578-1599.After returning from Persian captivity in 1578,he was fighting against us in order to steal our lands!Can you imagine his insolence?He dared to attack our fortresses and kill our troops!Unfortunately,he managed to defeat Ottomans many times.His siege of Gori(City in eastern Georgia) in 1579 got our janissaries killed from hunger when our pasha was on his way to that city with supplies.In 1582,he snatched the village called Mukhrani away from us.At that time,our empire was at the zenith of its power and it was the greatest shame for the entire empire.People believed,that Ottoman army was invincible and thanks to the battle of Mukhrani,our population and our enemies no longer believed in our invincibility.Our sultan Mehmed III was so outrageous,that he ordered all of his viziers(Highest ranking members of the Ottoman imperial council) to divise the perfect plan to capture Simon.We attempted everything,but the sultan's wish didn't come true for a long time.For 16 years,Simon was torturing us with his victories against us.In 1598,Gori was again in our hands and Simon snatched it away from us.Mehmed III,could not stand anymore Simon's impertinence and sent army to Kartli.The commander-in-chief Jafar pasha led the troops.Simon didn't try to escape and faced us at village of Nakhiduri in Kvemo Kartli.Georgians were fighting fiercely against us and they almost won this battle.There was a very narrow valley and there was swamp close to Simon's army.We were far away from that swamp,because his archers and swordsmen were fighting us so fiercely,that we couldn't even get closer to Simon,whom Ottomans called as Simon the mad.But,one Georgian soldier who was coming from the very place where Simon was informed Jafar pasha loudly.Even Georgians heard what he told our commander-in-chief:
-King Simon is trapped in the swamp with his horse!Come with me and capture him at once!
As soon as Jafar pasha heard this,he rided swiftly towards Simon with the janissaries(Ottoman soldiers).He commanded his soldiers to put the iron cage above Simon and send him to Tavriz.Finally,that rebel was captured and after 1 month he was sent to Istanbul.Our sultan ordered to exhibit carpets in all of his empire and celebrate Simon's imprisonment in the fortress of seven towers.The sultan offered many gifts and honour of Ottoman official in case he would convert to Islam.But he constantly had been refusing and never granted sultan his wish.He died imprisoned in 1611 in the fortress of seven towers,the prison that was full of mice and dirt.His grandchildren were sent in Istanbul as hostages.
Selim burst into tears while listening to this tragic story of Simon I,who sacrificed himself for his kingdom and people and never bowed to Ottoman conquerors.Seven year-old boy realized,that this empire's goal was to make every person who came here as a slave forget his origin and make him rootless person,who would not have his own birth name,surname and nationality.At this very moment,Selim made up his mind,that no matter what,he wouldn't let himself forget his real name,surname,family and nationality.
Zulfikar told the boys that lessons were over.Selim and his classmates came out of the madrassie.