The Hero Schliemann

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Almost two hundred years ago, in Germany, a boy scratched his initials on a linden tree.

He was small for his age, with brown eyes and a head that looked too big for the rest of him. He was fifth in a family of nine children, and the oldest living son. Two and a half months after he was born, his older brother died and he was given the dead boy’s name: Heinrich. The first initial, H, was two slashes and a crosspiece. He gripped the penknife tightly, trying to make the lines straight.

The next initial, S, was tricky. He knew that from experience: he had carved his initials dozens of times before, and the curves of the S were hard to control. Nevertheless, he wanted to make his mark. He started on the S of his last name.

His last name was Schliemann, and in the center of that German name is the English word lie. Perhaps now is as good a time as any to consider the subject of lying, because the boy Heinrich did not grow up to be a truthful man.

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