The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
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The Life and Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Volumes 1 and 2
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de
Busbecq, Ogier Ghislain de, 1522-1592
Two of my servants crossed over to Pera without Janissaries, either
because they were all out, or because they did not think they required
their escort. One of them was my apothecary and the other my butler.
Having finished their business in Pera, they hired a boat to return
to Constantinople; but scarcely had they taken their seats in it,
when there came a boy from the judge, or cadi, of that place, who
ordered them to get out, and give up the boat to his master. My
servants refused, and pointed out there were boats enough about for
the cadi to cross in, and told him this one had already been engaged
by them. However, he persevered, and tried to get them out by force.
My men resisted, and that right stoutly, so that they soon came to
blows. As all this was going on before the eyes of the judge, who was
approaching, he could not restrain himself from running down to help
the boy, who was a great favourite with him for reasons that need
not be explained. But while he was carelessly rushing down the steps
leading to the sea, which were slippery with ice (for it was winter),
he missed his footing and would have tumbled into the sea—his feet were
already wet with the water—had not his companions assisted him. The
Turks gathered from all Pera, and an outcry was raised that Christians
had laid violent hands on the judge, and all but drowned him in the
sea. They seized my servants, and with great tumult dragged them before
the voivode, or judge who tries capital charges. The sticks were got
ready and their feet were inserted in the posts, for the purpose of
administering the bastinado. One of my men, who was an Italian, being
in a furious passion, never stopped shouting the whole time ‘_Vour,
chiopecklar, vour_. Strike us, you dogs, strike us! ‘Tis _we_ who have
been wronged, and _we_ have deserved no punishment. We are servants of
the Emperor’s Ambassador. You will be punished by your Sultan when he
knows of this.’ All this, in spite of his speaking in broken Turkish,
his hearers could quite understand. One of the Turks among the rioters
was amazed at his boldness and exclaimed, ‘Do you think this one-eyed
fellow a human being?’ (for he had lost one eye), ‘believe me, he is no
such thing, but belongs to the race of oneeyed Genies.’ The voivode
however, who was himself struck by such courage, that he might not do
more or less than was right, decided on sending them to Roostem unhurt.
They went to him, accompanied by a great crowd of false witnesses,
who had been procured to crush by their evidence those innocent men.
The Turks think it an act of great piety to bear witness against
a Christian; they do not wait to be asked but come unbidden, and
obtrude themselves of their own accord, as happened on this occasion.
Therefore they all exclaimed with one voice, ‘These robbers have dared
to commit a most atrocious crime, and have knocked the judge down with
their fists, and if they had not been stopped, they would have thrown
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