You have lost a camel, O Friend, and everyone gives a clue to where to find it. You know not where the camel is but you know that the clues are wrong.
-The Masnavi 2:2975, Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273)
Every other day KhairAllah and Rabih ran the herd through their counting gauntlet, knowing the number they’d set out with from Al-Nahud and wanting to arrive in Binban with the same. Wahid, Ithnayn, Thalātha…One, Two, Three…but everything they counted past ‘Ashara, Ten, went off the rails. Hid’ashar, Ithna’ashar, Thalāth’ashar, Thalāthawa‘ishrīn, Thalāthawathalāthīn…Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Twentythree, Thirtythree…decimal arithmetic always stumped them.