Egypt -- History -- Mohammed Ali, 1805-1849 -- Fiction; Muhammad Ali Basha, Governor of Egypt, 1769-1849 -- Fiction
"Prove this to the people of Cairo; see whether you will be
recognized as master there; whether those who formerly flattered you
will now raise a finger to liberate you, or restore you to the
throne. And when you find that they will not, then remember,
Cousrouf Pacha--that, too, is a part of Mohammed Ali's revenge--had
I slain you, all your sufferings would have been at an end! But you
shall live and suffer for many a long year to come! For Cousrouf
Pacha caused Mohammed Ali to suffer for long years. Then suffer,
Cousrouf; and, let me tell you, from this hour I shall suffer no
longer--from this hour my wounds are healed, for your wounds bleed.
And now go to Cairo humiliated, covered with disgrace, the prisoner
of Mohammed Ali!"
CHAPTER X
THE RETURN TO CAIRO.
Joy and exultation reign in Cairo. The united forces of the
Mamelukes, Albanians, and Armenians, have returned home crowned with
victory. Damietta and Rosetta have fallen, and the Turks have
everywhere retreated; a miserable remnant only have found safety in
Alexandria, where Courschid Pacha rules.
The people throng the streets to witness the grand entrance of the
victorious troops.
There, at the head of four thousand Mamelukes, surrounded by a body
of beys and kachefs, comes Osman Bey Bardissi, the hero of so many
battles. How sparkling his eyes, how radiant the smile with which he
greets the populace that hails him with shouts of enthusiasm!
He passes by, and now come the Albanians and Armenians. At their
head rides the sarechsme, Mohammed Ali; around him his bim bashis,
in their glittering uniforms. But who is it that rides beside him on
the splendidly-caparisoned ass--who is the man in the long green
caftan, trimmed with fur, the green turban on his head adorned with
its glittering crescent? He is unarmed, and yet he rides beside the
sarechsme. His countenance is pale, and his lips are firmly
compressed, as if to keep back a cry of rage that struggles for
utterance. Who is this man? Can it be Cousrouf Pacha? Yes, it is he,
the viceroy, the prisoner given to Mohammed Ali by Bardissi. In his
magnanimity Mohammed had grasped Bardissi's arm, uplifted for the
deadly stroke, and had thus saved his enemy's life. And now he
generously allows the man whose life he has saved to ride into Cairo
at his side. The people relate this to each other, and are loud in
their praises of the sarechsme's magnanimity.
Was it magnanimity? Ask Cousrouf, who feels that the favor shown him
by his enemy is worse than death, who feels with anguish that he is
merely an object of contempt, while the air resounds with the
people's enthusiastic greeting to the accursed Mohammed Ali. Him the
people had never saluted thus; upon his head the sheiks and cadis
had never invoked Allah's blessing.
Now the citadel looms up before them; the sarechsme's countenance is
radiant; smilingly he turns to Cousrouf.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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