Janizaries -- Fiction; Turkey -- History -- Mahmud I, 1730-1754 -- Fiction
"Truly it _is_ Damad Ibrahim. Of course, of course. Death hath
disfigured his face so that I scarce knew it."
"Did I not tell thee that thou shouldst make sport with the heads of
those who made sport with thy heart? Dost thou want yet more?"
"Oh, no, no, Halil. I am afraid of these also. I am afraid to look upon
these dumb heads."
"Then cover them over with flowers, and thou wilt believe thou dost see
flower-baskets before thee."
"Let me have them buried, Halil. Do not make me fear thee also. Thou
wouldst have me go on loving thee, wouldst thou not? If only thou
wouldst come with me to Anatolia, where nobody would know anything about
us!"
"What dost thou say? Go away now when the very sun cannot set because of
me, and men cannot sleep because of the sound of my name? Dost not thou
also feel a desire to bathe in all this glory?"
"Oh, Halil! the rose and the palm grow up together out of the same
earth, and yet the palm grows into greatness while the rose remains
quite tiny. Suffer me but gently to crouch beside thee, dispense but thy
love to me, and keep thy glory to thyself."
Halil tenderly embraced and kissed the woman, and buried the three
baskets as she desired in the palace garden beneath three wide-spreading
rosemary bushes.
Then he took leave of Guel-Bejaze, for deputies from the people now
waited upon their leader, and begged him to accompany them to the mosque
of Zuleima, where the Sultan's envoys were already waiting for an
answer.
In order to get to the mosque more easily and avoid the labour of
forcing his way through the crowd that thronged the streets, Halil
hastened to the water side, got into the first skiff he met with, and
bade the sailor row him across to the Zuleima Mosque on the other side.
On the way his gaze fell upon the face of the sailor who was sitting
opposite to him. It was a grey-bearded old man.
"What is thy name, worthy old man?" inquired Halil.
"My name is Manoli, your Excellency."
"Call me not Excellency! Dost thou not perceive from my raiment that I
am nothing but a common Janissary?"
"Oh! I know thee better than that. Thou art Halil Patrona, whom may
Allah long preserve!"
"Thou also dost seem very familiar to me. Thou hast just such a white
beard as had Damad Ibrahim who was once Grand Vizier."
"I have often heard people say so, my master."
On arriving opposite the Zuleima Mosque, the boatman brought the skiff
ashore. Halil pressed a golden denarius into the old man's palm, the old
man kissed his hand for it.
Then for a long time Halil gazed into the old man's face.
"Manoli!"
"At thy command, my master."
"Thou seest the sun rising up yonder behind the hills?"
"Yes, my master."
"Before the shadows return to the side of yon hills take care to be well
behind them, and let not another dawn find thee in this city!"
The boatman bent low with his arms folded across his breast, then he
disappeared in his skiff.
But Halil Patrona hastened into the mosque.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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