People liked to hear him talk, and I loved the evenings when guests visited. We would sit on the floor around a long plastic sheet which my mother laid with food, and eat with our right hand as is our custom, balling together rice and meat. As darkness fell we sat by the light of oil lamps, batting away the flies as our silhouettes made dancing shadows on the walls. In the summer months there would often be thunder and lightning crashing outside and I would crawl closer to my father’s knee.

人们喜欢听他讲话。傍晚访客云集时，是我最高兴的时刻。我们会围着母亲铺在地板上的塑料布席地而坐。塑料布上摆满食物。我们按照习俗，用右手把米饭和肉捏成小团放进嘴里食用。夜晚来临，我们点起油灯，赶苍蝇的手在墙上留下舞动的剪影。夏天的时候，屋外常常电闪雷鸣，我就会更紧地靠在父亲的膝头。

I would listen rapt as he told stories of warring tribes, Pashtun leaders and saints, often through poems that he read in a melodious voice, crying sometimes as he read. Like most people in Swat we are from the Yousafzai tribe. We Yousafzai (which some people spell Yusufzai or Yousufzai) are originally from Kandahar and are one of the biggest Pashtun tribes, spread across Pakistan and Afghanistan.

我总是全神贯注地倾听父亲讲那些关于部落间的战争、普什图领袖和圣人的故事。他常常以悦耳的音调朗读诗词来阐述这些故事，有时会令我潸然泪下。像大多数斯瓦特人一样，我们来自优素福扎伊族。优素福扎伊族人源自坎大哈，是普什图部落中最大的一支，分布在巴基斯坦和阿富汗各处。

Our ancestors came to Swat in the sixteenth century from Kabul, where they had helped a Timurid emperor win back his throne after his own tribe removed him. The emperor rewarded them with important positions in the court and army, but his friends and relatives warned him that the Yousafzai were becoming so powerful they would overthrow him. So one night he invited all the chiefs to a banquet and set his men on them while they were eating. Around 600 chiefs were massacred. Only two escaped, and they fled to Peshawar along with their tribesmen. After some time they went to visit some tribes in Swat to win their support so they could return to Afghanistan. But they were so captivated by the beauty of Swat they instead decided to stay there and forced the other tribes out.

我们的祖先16世纪时从喀布尔来到斯瓦特。在喀布尔时，因为帮助一位帖木儿君王夺回王位，我们的祖先获得宫廷中与军队里重要的职务。但君王听信谗言，认为优素福扎伊族日渐庞大，终会篡夺他的王位。于是便在一个晚上举办了一场宴会，邀请所有的族人头目赴宴，并设下埋伏。大约有六百个头目被屠杀，只有两人逃过此劫，跟着族人一起逃到了白沙瓦。过了一段日子，他们来拜访斯瓦特的几个部落，寻求支持，以便返回阿富汗。但是，他们被斯瓦特的美景深深吸引，于是改变心意，决定留下，并把其他部落赶出此地。