Nikola Tesla Books
The First Fear of Little Nikola
When Nikola was a child of three to four years old, he was very afraid of a gander. This aggressive gander did not give him peace. As soon as it noticed little Nikola, it would stretch its long neck and, with a kind of hoarse hissing, rush after him; sometimes it even pecked his butt with its beak.
But it wasn’t just this gander that disturbed the joy of his early childhood days. The same was done by a neighbor’s dog, Sultan, who enjoyed running after and barking at little Nikola, who would run away terrified.
Indeed, in his eyes, there was nothing more terrifying than that gander and dog. He was so scared of them that it was enough for someone to say, “Now I will take you to the gander or Sultan,” and little Nikola would not utter a sound.
But he soon experienced an even greater fear. One day, his uncle, old priest Alagić, who had a gray beard, long until
