부산대학교 도서관

Mrs. K. Ahmad's short story "Spartan Hearts" was first published in Saogat, an early twentieth-century Bengali women’s journal. In this fascinating story, she tells about the bravery and courage of the women of Sparta (ancient Greece). The references to the trans-Islamic framework of the story debunk myths about the knowledge, education, and understanding of the early Muslim women authors who, more often, are stereotyped as merely complaining of domesticity and patriarchy in Muslim societies. In “Spartan Hearts,” Ahmed describes how the women of Sparta had sturdy, adamantine hearts. When their husbands and their sons went out to war, they bade farewell to their men with these words: “You must come back victorious, or you must die fighting.” She also narrates how in the Battle of Leuctra, fought in 371 BC, the Greeks defeated the Spartans. When the news of the defeat reached the court of Sparta, the ephors conveyed the message to the families of the deceased. However, the women did not mourn the deaths of their men. The narrative ends with a question that she posits to the readers of the story.