The boy Sinan was not even eight years old when his master, who was a carpenter, saw the extraordinary talent in him. He was the first to see the light burning on his forehead and the fire in his heart, that his small hands were created to accomplish great things. His master immediately went to his father. He didn't even need to consult his father if he wanted to. It was enough to show Sinan to the "Janissary Sergeants", but he wasn’t willing to it. First, he wanted to get his father's consent. He said that Sinan had to be handed over to the Janissary Sergeant in order to become a devshirme. His father did not accept this offer. He wanted his son to stay with him.
Sinan was standing in the middle of his ancestor and master. He was equidistant from both his ancestor and his master. “How alike they are,” he thought to himself.
They were standing with him in a way that could form a complete triangle. He closed his eyes and began to watch his father and master, who stood like two minarets on either side, from a bird's eye view. He didn't understand much of what was said, but he felt that he was connected to both of them with unwavering strength. Just like mosques holding minarets together…
When Sinan descended from the sky that he had risen to the earth and opened his eyes, he saw his master, who had come to convince his father, leaving and convinced that Sinan should’ve stayed in the country. As time passed, Sinan was growing and his talents were developing with the same rate. The drawings that he made and the way he worked fascinated his master. However, there was a small problem. In Ottoman tradition, boys who reached a certain adulthood were no longer considered devshirme. Boys between the ages of 12-15 were preferred because they were easier to be trained in the Janissaries. Sinan, on the other hand, was almost 17 years old and if a little more time was lost, he would no longer be considered as a devshirme. His master had duly fulfilled his duty as a master and trained the apprentice to surpass him. Now, he was not willing Sinan to be wasted in this small town. He made his decision and took Sinan to the Janissary Sergeants to be accepted as a devshirme. The devshirme boys were chosen among healthy, decent, intelligent and talented children. Orphans, those who knew only one art, those who spoke Turkish and those who were married were not accepted. Seeing his talents, the Sergeant immediately accepted Sinan and recorded it in the notebook with the line: "Sinan Ibn Abdulmennan, Seyfülislâm Sultan Selim Han İbni Sultan Bayezid Han alaijrahmeti ve'l gufran came to be devshirme during their reign". To put it in modern Turkish:
“Sinan, the son of Abdulmenan, was accepted as devshirme during the reign of Sultan Selim Han, the son of Beyazid Han”. His father Abdulmenan Efendi was also aware of his son's ingenuity. He didn't want him to be distracted here with simple duties any more. And finally, Sinan set out from the Ağırnas district of Kayseri to arrive at the capital, Istanbul, with about 150 devshirme boys.
