by Mika Waltari
I felt pity for Andy in his anguish, and did my best to console him.
“You never laid a finger on her. She perished otherwise, for her evil-doing, and it will be best to speak no more about it. One thing only you must know. She was a designing woman who deliberately entangled you, and it was she, remember, who tempted you to drink wine and forget your pious resolutions.”
He gave a deep sigh of relief, squeezed a few tears from his swollen eyes, and said, “So I’m left a widower. Poor creature! She was in the prime of life, a faithful wife and a fond mother. And we shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, though truth to tell she was not altogether free from evil desires. Well, I hope you and all good people may feel for me in my sorrow, and not judge me overstrictly, even though I’ve sought to drown my troubles in wine and so committed a great deal of foolishness.”
He regarded us hopefully, but Abu el-Kasim said with a sigh, “Alas, Antar my slave, you slew the Sultan’s Aga and stole his turban. If you’ve anything to say in your defense, say it now. Otherwise you must be taken before the cadi, and then hanged, quartered, burned, and thrown to the dogs.”
Andy flung out his hand and said, “Do with me as you will. I’ve deserved all these penalties, and should feel the better for losing this aching head. Though indeed I deserve punishment only for the first draught of wine; everything else followed of itself. I killed the Aga as a result of a brawl-a common thing among soldiers-but it was no punishable offense, for we were not then at war, and the articles of war had not been read. I know more about these things than you. Therefore I shall appear before my judge with a clear conscience, and yours will be the shame and not mine if I am sentenced to flogging for such a trifle.”
Andy regarded us with an air of great assurance, and seemed persuaded of the justice of his cause. When I had translated his words-for he had spoken in Finnish-Khaireddin could no longer contain himself. Bursting into a shout of laughter he went up and clapped Andy on the shoulder, saying, “You’re a man after my own heart, and because of your astute defense I forgive you your crime.”
Andy shook off Khaireddin’s hand angrily and asked me, “Who’s this fellow and what’s he doing here? I’ve had enough of their unseemly pawings.”
Aghast at his indiscretion I told him who his visitor was. But Khaireddin took it in good part and said, “I will give you new clothes and a saber. You shall serve me, and I fancy you’ll be useful in many ways.”
But Andy answered bitterly, “I’ve been led by the nose long enough, and care nothing for your saber. I shall go out into the wilderness and end my days as a holy hermit. Indeed, if you give me clean clothes and a crust or two to gnaw, you may leave me alone in this hole with a good conscience.”
Nevertheless we persuaded him to climb up out of his cell, and while he washed himself in preparation for his long-neglected prayers, Khaireddin sent him fine clothes and so splendid a scimitar that Andy could not resist testing its edge on his nail, after which he buckled it round him with a contented sigh. I then told him all that had happened during his absence, and ended, “You can see for yourself that for once mercy has prevailed over justice. Khaireddin might well have been angry with you for upsetting all the plans that Abu el-Kasim and I had laid with such care during the winter.”
But Andy retorted, “If my head didn’t ache so damnably I might begin to suspect that I’ve been basely swindled. By marrying Amina I should have become the most powerful man in Algiers. With luck I might have had a son by her, who would have been sultan here. But you in your blue-eyed innocence have let Khaireddin reap where I have sown, and I’m not at all surprised that he should seek to appease me with a fine saber and an expensive kaftan.”
But now I longed more than ever for my own reward, and after we had eaten I asked Abu where Giulia might be. He exchanged glances with Sinan the Jew and sighed, “Allah forgive me if I’ve done wrong, but the great Khaireddin wanted her to gaze into the sand for him, and so I left them alone together. But that was some time ago, and I begin to wonder what they can be doing.”
These words filled me with foreboding, and with a black look at Abu el-Kasim I said, “If anything has happened to Giulia I shall strangle you with my own hands, and I think no one will blame me.”
Ignoring the protesting eunuchs we passed through the golden door into the harem, and there we found Khaireddin seated on a mat with a dish of sand before him and beside him, gazing into it, was Giulia. Khaireddin’s eyes bulged in amazement, and on seeing us he exclaimed, “This Christian woman has seen the strangest things in the sand. If I told you all, you’d think I was out of my mind; but so much I can say: she beheld the waves of the sea sofdy kissing my tomb in the city of the great Sultan, on the shores of the Bosphorus. And she vowed that this tomb shall be revered and honored by all, so long as the name of Ottoman survives on earth.”
While he was speaking Giulia forgot her feminine modesty and pressed herself against him. But the lord of the sea surveyed her with indifference, and I flared up and said, “Giulia, Giulia! Remember your behavior. And know that from now on you belong to me, as my slave. But if you do your best to please me I may one day take you for my wife.”
I could contain myself no longer, but caught her hands and drew her eagerly toward me to embrace and kiss her to my heart’s content. But she struggled like a wildcat until I was forced to release her. Her eyes glittered with fury as she burst out, “Take away this lunatic slave and send him to the mosque hospital, to be thrown in chains and have the madness whipped out of him. Sinan the Jew gave me to the Deliverer, to gaze into the sand for him; I will gladly obey him in everything, as soon as he has grown used to my unfortunate eyes.”
So intense was her rage that the smile faded from Sinan’s face and he mumbled hesitantly, “Allah forgive me, but Michael el-Hakim is right. I swore by the Koran and by my beard that you should be his slave, and I can’t break such an oath. You’re now his slave, beautiful Delilah, and are bound to obey him in everything. This I declare here and now in the presence of the necessary witnesses.”
He repeated the first sura rapidly, to clinch the matter, but when he would have laid Giulia’s hand in mine she recoiled, thrust her hands behind her, and gasped in a stifled voice, “Never! Tell me, you blackguards who bargain away a woman’s honor behind her back, why is this miserable slave allowed to insult me? Is this the love you swore you felt for me, Abu el-Kasim, with such sighs and lamentations?”
Sinan the Jew and Abu el-Kasim raised their hands with one accord and pointed at me, saying, “No, no, we’re innocent! It was Michael who plagued and tormented us into it. And anyhow we were sure that he would fall into the hands of Selim ben-Hafs, and perish long before the Deliverer arrived in the city.”
Giulia stared at me incredulously. She came forward and brought her face close to mine and said, pale with fury, “Is this true, Michael? Then I’ll give you a foretaste of the joys awaiting you!”
With that she dealt me a resounding box on the ear, which deafened me and brought tears to my eyes. Then she broke into violent weeping, and sobbed, “I can never forgive you for this, Michael. You’re like a vicious boy who bites his mother’s hand. And what service did you render the Deliverer that can merit reward? I, by foretelling the future to the women of the harem, have done more than anyone. Indeed it was I and no one else who by this means slew Selim ben-Hafs as certainly as if I had done it with my own hands.”
Thinking that rage had bereft Giulia of reason, I strove to calm her, and begged the others to pay no attention to what she said. But she stamped her foot. Blue and yellow lightnings flashed from her eyes, and she screamed, “I chose Amina for the work, because she was the most wanton of all in the harem, and the most ambitious. It was at her orders that the black wrestler came down to the market place to challenge Antar. Everything went as planned and Antar won the match, as I had foretold in my sand gazing. It was through my soothsaying alone that he was enrolled in the palace guard. Then I saw in the sand that Amina’s son
would be sultan, as indeed it was, though for a very short time. If there’s to be a reward for removing Selim ben-Hafs, I am indeed the only one who can fairly claim it.”
I listened to her open mouthed, marveling at the skill with which she had played the part of an innocent, while in reality fully aware of the secret plot. She stormed and raved, Abu exclaimed, Andy expostulated, and she sank her teeth in his hand until at length he quelled her with a sharp slap on the hinder parts. By this time Khaireddin was weary of the scene, and ordered me to remove my property and trouble him no longer.
“You’ve made your bed,” he said. “Now lie on it. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
There was nothing for it but to go. Hesitantly I held out my hand to Giulia and said, “Don’t you understand that I love you, Giulia? It was to win you that I toiled and strove so long, and risked my life.”
But Giulia’s shoulders were like lead beneath my hand, and she answered sourly, “Don’t touch me, Michael, or I won’t answer for the consequences. You’ve wounded me deeply.”
We set off for home, the dog slinking behind us with his nose to the ground. When we came to the door of our house I put the key into the lock, but it jammed, and struggle as I would I could not turn it. At last in a rage I forced the door and tumbled inside. The dog yelped with fright and a cudgel came down on my head with such violence that all went black and I knew no more until next morning. Giulia and the deaf-mute carried me to bed; it was this blockhead, faithful to his charge, who had dealt the blow. He had felt me tugging
and rattling at the door, and in the darkness mistook me for a thief.
Such was my bridal night, and I have no more to say of it. I will therefore begin a new book to tell of how I captured the Spanish fortress, and how a notion of Mustafa ben-Nakir’s led to my entering the service of the ruler of all the faithful-the great Sultan in Constantinople.
BOOK 3.
Giulia
I CAME to my senses in a soft bed, and was aware of a continuous din as of thunder that shook the room and caused cups and dishes to rattle together. At first I thought the noise came from my own aching head, and I wondered where I was. I seemed to see two angels, a white one on my right hand and a blade one on my left, both engaged in recording my good and evil deeds in their books. But the white angel had seemingly little to write, while the black one was so busy that his head wagged with the exertion. I besought them in piteous tones to bring water that I might wash myself and say my prayers. The room vibrated to renewed thunder, but just then my dear dog jumped up onto my chest and licked my face. With tears in my eyes I said, “Bis- millah and inshallah! Allah is merciful indeed to allow my dog to keep me company in hell. Rael is many times more deserving of Paradise than I am, but I know he would turn his back upon it to follow me into the abyss.”
The white angel lifted my head, causing such acute pain that the scales fell from my eyes and I saw that I lay in Giulia’s bed. Giulia herself was anxiously bending over me. To my left sat the deaf-mute, mixing eggs and honey together into a paste. Ashamed of my distracted fancies I said sharply, “Leave my head alone, Giulia. If it has not already split it soon will.” I pushed away the dog pettishly and asked what the noise was, and whether Giulia had hit me on the head the night before. Giulia wept and stroked my cheek.
“Ah, Michael, are you really alive? Although I was angry with you I don’t want you to die. The noise you hear is gunfire; the Moslems are besieging the Spanish fortress. And it was not I who struck you, but this faithful slave.”
I felt my head cautiously and found it still upon my shoulders, though because of the many bandages it felt twice its usual size. I sighed feebly and whispered, “Giulia, send at once for a cadi and four witnesses. Take the purse from my kaftan and pay them, and keep the remainder for yourself. My intentions weren’t so base as you supposed; I never wanted you as a slave, though I said so to tease you. I meant to send for a cadi and the necessary witnesses and give you your freedom; that was why I claimed you in reward for my services. It seemed the only way to set you free.”
I hardly know whether this was the truth. Perhaps it only came into my head when I regained consciousness. Yet I had toyed with the idea before, so it seemed natural to me. But Giulia, thunderstruck, stared at me blankly and stammered, “I don’t understand you, Michael. If you give me my freedom you can no longer force me to obey you. I thought you wanted to possess me, but now I’m at a loss to know what it is you do want.”
I was already repenting of my excessive benevolence, and retorted angrily, “Nonsense, Giulia! If I set you free, it’s to be rid of your incessant nagging. I always meant to let you choose whether to stay with me or go. I’m not such a fool as to try and force you to love me. And just now you seem to me about as seductive as an old shoe. Praise be to Allah, my love is quenched!”
Giulia stood weighing the purse in her hand and staring, shaken now and then by a sob. The deaf-mute made desperate attempts to feed me with the mixture of eggs and honey, and though it revolted me I forced myself to swallow it. In a gentler tone I said, “Why so doubtful, Giulia? Why are you sniveling? Aren’t you glad to be rid of me so easily? It has always been your dearest wish.”
She answered crossly, “I am not sniveling. My nose tickles.” But next moment she burst into wild weeping and cried, “You must still be delirious and I’m not so base as to take advantage of that, though you seem always to expect the worst from me. Where should I go in this heathen country, and who would protect my innocence? No, Michael, you may think to revenge yourself in this way, but you shan’t be rid of me so easily.”
I threw out my hands helplessly and said, “Whatever I propose seems wrong and I shall never please you. At least leave me alone now, for my head’s going round and round and this egg mess has made me queasy. Stay if you want to; go if it suits you better. I care nothing either way while my head aches so atrociously.”
With this Giulia was content, and to her credit be it said that she nursed me well and silently, and moved about the room as quietly as she could. Yet it was of little help to me, for the guns roared incessantly, sand sifted through the cracks in the roof into my eyes, and the whole room shook. After the noon prayer Abu el-Kasim and Sinan the Jew could no longer master their curiosity and they paid me a visit, bringing wedding presents with them. When Abu el-Kasim saw me lying pallid and bandaged in Giulia’s bed he struck his hands together and exclaimed, “What is this, Michael el-Hakim? Was it so hard to tame the woman? I could never have believed that one night in her company could reduce you to so pitiful a condition.”
Sinan the Jew remarked that with so fiery a creature beside me I should need no other wives, and life would be cheap for me. I had no strength to reply to their sallies, but lay there silent. When Abu el-Kasim learned what had really happened he was genuinely concerned. He examined me and mixed me a strengthening medicine, and I soon fell into a pleasant sleep, to awake later much refreshed.
My first thought was for Andy, and when I asked after him, Abu el-Kasim tore his beard and cried, “The curse of Allah on your stupidity, Michael el-Hakim! Why did you never so much as hint that your brother’s a trained artilleryman and can even cast cannon? This important fact was discovered quite by chance; for today when he heard the sound of firing he went down to the shore to cure his headache-so he said-with the wholesome smell of gunpowder. There Khaireddin saw him thrust aside our men and lay the guns himself, soon displaying his skill by shooting the Castilian flag from the tower, to the fury of the Spaniards. Khaireddin gave him the turban of a master gunner and ten gold pieces, and I fancy he’ll soon have sweated the poisons from his wine-sodden body.”
I was horrified to hear of Andy firing on his Christian brothers. Later, when the bombardment ceased for the noon prayer, he came to see me and his face was blackened with powder. I rebuked him for what he was doing, but he answered, “Guns are my music, and I ought never to have left them. You mustn’t scold me for returning to my proper trade like the s
hoemaker to his last, as they used to say in Rome.”
“But my dear Andy, how can you bring yourself to fire on men redeemed by the blood of Christ-men who are doing their utmost under extreme difficulties to serve the Emperor under whose colors you yourself have fought?”
Andy replied, “Remember I bear a grudge against the Spaniards. In Rome they behaved more like wild beasts than men, and I needn’t remind you of their treatment of women. Not even Moslems would do as they did.”
“But they’re Christians! How can you bear arms against them with Mussulmans, when in your heart you’re not a Moslem at all?”
Andy glared at me angrily and said, “I’m as good a Moslem as you are, Michael, even if I don’t know as much of the Koran by heart. But the whole matter was clear to me when I discovered that Islam means submission to the will of God, and that the God called Allah is the same as the Frenchmen’s sang dieu, the Germans’ Herrgott or Donnerwetter and the Latins’ Deus or Dominus.”
My reproaches rolled off him like water off a duck’s back. He insisted that guns were his music and that pay was pay whether the coins bore the Emperor’s head or an Arabic flourish. He sat in thought for a time with his head on his hand, and when he spoke again it was on a note of tenderness.
“I never knew how fond I was of guns until I smelled the hot metal again, and the stinging smoke. I couldn’t help stroking them-and believe me, not the most opulent woman can compare with the burning touch of a cannon after the fifth shot. When Mustafa ben-Nakir saw my eagerness he told me that the Sultan of Turkey had found a new way of transporting even the heaviest pieces; where the roads are bad he loads gun metal onto camels, so that the cannon can be cast at the place where they’re to be used. No one has ever thought of doing that before, and I should like to see for myself how they manage it. Mustafa couldn’t tell me, but his account made me long to visit Istanbul, the Sultan’s capital. And he has promised to recommend me to the artillery commander there.”