When Abbas Hussein al-Hilw, a thin, white-haired 15-year-old from eastern Iraq, was born, the labour was so fast, and the boy was so small, the doctors thought he was a genie.
"One day when I was pregnant, doctors at the hospital said there was no sign that I was in labour, though I felt that I was. But I suddenly jumped out of the bed and 'Abouji' was born," his mother told the German Press Agency dpa.
Al-Hilw, who hails from the village of al-Kut on the bank of the Tigris River, is only 45 centimetres tall. He hopes to be recognized as the world's shortest man able to walk.
Known as Abouji to his family and friends, the boy plans to travel to Beirut soon to be measured by employees of the Guinness Book of Records.
Al-Hilw has five brothers, and is popular in his neighbourhood of al-Azza al-Qadima, some 160 kilometres south-east of Baghdad.
But while his neighbours have come to see him as a local celebrity, some originally reacted to his unusual appearance with fright, calling him a genie. His family says some of his best friends still believe he has magical powers.
One of his friends asked him to travel to space on a broom stick, his father, Hussein al-Hilw, recalls.
In fact, despite his unusual appearance, Abouji is a normal adolescent boy. His mother says he likes to play video games on his Playstation and that he loves milk.
"Abouji is very naughty," his mother says, adding that he was always wrestling with other neighbourhood kids.
But officials at the social welfare foundation stopped the payments the boy used to receive, his mother says, because his thumb was too small for the fingerprint scanning machine for the new "smart" ration cards.
Al-Hilw's father works in al-Kut's textile factory and earns 250,000 Iraqi dinars (about 215 US dollars) a month. He says it is not enough to support a family of eight.
The boy and his family hope that if he is recognized as the world's shortest man, his celebrity will help them survive.
The current record-holder, He Pingpin, a 74.6-centimetre man from the northern Chinese province of Inner Mongolia, achieved global celebrity status and was the subject of numerous television documentaries before his death in Rome last month.
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