Imam ash-Shafi’i’s Childhood.

Imam ash-Shafiʿi {May Allah have mercy upon him} said:

“I grew up in Sham and my mother would prepare me to seek knowledge in Mecca from the age of ten.

She didn’t own anything, so I had to use bones of animals as pen and paper.”

{Siyar A’lam an-Nubala}