For the first ten years of his life, he saw things only in black and white. His mother passed on in childbirth, as was common among women in poor households. But she did leave in him a pair of eyes …

Four little heads petalled around a torch erected in the middle, each with a pencil and a piece of paper, scribbling something. Heads turned one way then another, looking for ideas to steal. …

The young man woke up in a ragged armchair to the flicker of a candle lantern—an abrupt awakening of one who had fallen asleep against his will. It had been…