‘Is it possible,’ cried I, ‘that you receive any pleasure from a conjunction so beastly and unnatural?’
‘What innocence, my dear, what childishness!’ replied the libertine. ‘Do you not know that the men consider every part of us formed entirely for their pleasures; one enjoys us one way, one another, each man according to his lechery. You may rely upon it one of these days the dey will instruct you in this way and rectify your ideas on the subject.’
This conversation, and other matters which this Italian informed me of and which I could not drive from my thoughts, threw a considerable gloom over my feelings. In the evening the dey visited me, and immediately saw by my countenance that something had disordered me. After considerable persuasion he contrived to extract what had caused my distress.
‘And why should this, dearest Zulima, give you any uneasiness?’ said he, tenderly taking me in his arms and kissing me. ‘I can see no reason why it should have raised a cloud on this lovely face; nor could I for a moment have supposed, if I had requested my sweet slave to have administered to my joys in that way, there would have been any denial. I hid my face in his bosom, and told him in our country it was considered the most degrading crime that could be committed, that it was punished with death.
‘I am aware,’ replied he, ‘that the English nation consider it a crime, but I was not acquainted with the magnitude of the punishment. But, Zulima’ (I forgot to mention before that I received a new name from the dey, as is customary with all captives), ‘your country is the only one in the world that either considers it a crime or punishes it. Besides, Zulima, you are not in England now, nor are you likely ever to go there again. You are mine until one of us shall shake off this mortal form; therefore, you must submit to everything that I conceive will be an addition to my pleasures. Does not the English law direct that the wife shall be obedient to the husband in all lawful desires?’
‘Yes,’ I replied.
‘Well, then, although you are not my wife in fact, still you are, according to our laws, considered the same. To become my married wife you must change your religion. But still you are considered my wife, therefore must submit to my lawful desires. By our laws we are permitted to enjoy our wives or concubines in any way that adds to our luxuries; in other words it is lawful that I may enjoy, and you must resign your second virginity whenever I require you to do so. After all, dear Zulima, how can it possibly be construed into a crime? It is true that the seed which I have so often distilled within you with such dissolving pleasure is given by nature to multiply our species, so to divert its natural course may in some measure be construed as an offence against nature by those who do not give it any consideration. Put the case thus: to divert and cast away seed is a crime. Now it is clear that the seed, even when deposited in its natural receiver, is entirely lost forty-nine times out of fifty. For instance, immediately sufficient seed is injected into the womb, the female conceives; then the mouth of the womb closes, and until the delivery of the child does not open again. If the female is fruitful, and properly enjoyed, she will conceive to a certainty in three months; it is six months more at least ere she will be delivered of her burden; consequently at every embrace the female sustains after conception, the seed that is shot within her is entirely lost or misused. Now what difference can there be as to where the seed is lost if it be lost? Where is the offence or crime? What difference whether the seed is uselessly deposited in the grotto of Venus, or injected in the temple below it? None in the world, lovely slave! My Grecian and Corsican slaves submit to any kind of enjoyment as a matter of duty and submission, in which they are instructed from their infancy. I have two Italians who think it no kind of crime; to my French slave it is a mere bagatelle. I was aware of the prejudices of your nation, and from the joys I found in your embraces did not like even to broach the subject to you.’
‘Then,’ cried I, throwing my arms round his neck and fondly kissing him, ‘let the pleasures you confess I have afforded you save me from what I consider would be the greatest disgrace I could possibly experience.’
‘This is folly,’ cried the dey, ‘I can make no promise of the kind.’
‘But you must,’ I replied.
‘How?’ he demanded. ‘You have sworn by your holy Prophet to grant me any favour I choose to request; you recollect your sacred oath?’
‘I do certainly.’
‘Well, then, the favour I request is that I may be spared the pollution we have been discoursing of.’
‘Can Zulima think that any act of Ali would pollute her?’ cried he, rising from the couch with great heat and indignation. It was the first unkind word he had used to me since he had me. My heart sank within me whilst he continued, ‘It is true I made the oath, and must religiously observe it. I shall leave you to reflect, foolish slave, on your childishness in thus attempting to bind my pleasures by an oath made in a moment when your deceitful blandishments had softened me into a belief that your love and devotion to me was as sincere as your person is beautiful. When you have altered your opinion you can inform the chief eunuch. I may, perhaps, then pardon this insult, and restore you to favour.’ He then left me, muttering the word ‘pollution,’ unmindful of my tears, which quickly began to flow at his angry looks.
As he went out of the room my spirits failed me entirely. I sank on the couch overwhelmed with grief, railing against the mischance that brought me acquaintance with this Italian, whom I considered as the cause of my rupture with the dey. My tears continued for nearly an hour after his departure, which no doubt considerably relieved me. However, I began to comfort myself with the hopes that his anger would not last. But, indeed, I did not properly estimate his character. The next day passed without my seeing him; a second, third, fourth passed in anxious, I may say almost breathless anguish, watching and listening for the approach of his well-known footstep. Guess the cruel suspense I suffered. Habituated to the sweet pleasure of his embraces, my desires began rapidly to overpower the scruples which early precept had instilled in me. My unsatisfied feelings became every hour stronger and stronger, until on the fifth day I was again visited by Honoria, the Italian, who entertained me with a long account of her happiness, having passed two nights running with the dey; her transports went like daggers to my heart, but gave the decisive turn to my wavering indecision. I instantly resolved to submit to the dey’s desires, and wrote him a letter accordingly.
Letter V
Emily to the Dey
Oh, Ali, is it possible that you, who have so often sworn that it made you unhappy to be for a day absent from your Zulima, can it be believed that for a whole week you would thus desert her? Your cruelty makes me suffer more than words can speak. You know I had no intention to give offence in what I uttered at our last interview. How could you leave me in the way you did? Oh, Ali, I am with child; hasten to comfort your miserable slave. You cannot doubt my love. Since the day you overpowered my innocence (the day I consider the happiest of my existence, although truly it was a painful one), how many proofs have you received of my love and devotion? Hasten then to do me justice, I conjure you. Surely I need not remind you of what I lost in becoming yours—my native country, innumerable friends, virtue. Oh, Ali, do not longer punish me; I am all devotion to your every desire, your submissive slave,
Zulima
Letter VI
Ali to his slave Zulima
I have received your letter. I was aware of your being with child. Were it possible to increase my love for you this would be the cause, but lovely as you are, and dote upon you as I do, I am determined to tear myself from your tempting arms until I find your submission perfect.
You write about your loss of virtue, country and friends by falling into my power. Recollect the pleasure I have taught you and caused you to experience—have they not sufficiently rewarded you for the virginity you brought me? You say you are all devotion and submission to my every desire—be more explicit. Have you made up you
r mind to absolve me from my oath? Mark me! never more will these arms enfold you until by resigning your second maidenhead I have put it out of your power to dispute with me on this point. Write to me more explicitly—say you meant to absolve and submit to my embraces in the way I wish, and then you will meet with a return of my most ardent affection.
Ali
My veins were on fire—I could deny him nothing, and wrote the following note:
Letter VII
Emily to the Dey
I submit—I absolve you from your oath—fly to the arms of your longing,
Zulima
Directly he was assured of my wish to absolve him of his oath, he appointed the same day to receive the last proof of my entire submission. In the evening when he entered my chamber I could not help flying to his arms. Unconsciously my eyes were filled with tears; but I did not consider them tears of sorrow, but rather of the pleasure I felt at feeling myself pressed in his arms again. He gave me a long and thrilling kiss, but seeing I was about to reproach him for his neglect, he stopped my mouth by informing me that he could not have his joys dampened by any silly upbraidings, but should instantly proceed, to prevent a repetition of our quarrel, by at once removing its cause; and he began immediately to undress me, which from the nature of my Turkish attire was soon accomplished. From the ardent caresses he placed upon my neck and breasts, and indeed every other part that became exposed, I felt assured the power of my attractions had not diminished. When he had stripped me naked he disrobed himself, then taking me in his arms, placed me on the couch, my stomach underneath, on two round pillows, one of them coming against the lower part of my belly, so as to elevate my bottom considerably.
Having placed me thus, he divided my thighs to their utmost extension, leaving the route he intended to penetrate fairly open to his attack. He now got upon me, and having, as he thought, placed himself securely, he encircled my body round my loins with both his arms, and strove to penetrate the obstacle nature had placed in his way; but so largely is he proportioned that his efforts were at first without effect. Again he attempted, but again failed, and making a desperate lunge, his arrow, instead of piercing where he intended it should, slipped into the shrine of Venus, and before he found out his mistake, to my inexpressible delight it was nearly buried in its proper sanctuary. But he was not to be foiled in that way; he instantly withdrew it and again fixing its head proceeded with great caution and fierceness; in short, he soon got the head entirely fixed. His efforts then became more and more energetic. But he was as happy as the satisfying of his beastly will could make him. He regarded me not, but profiting by his success, soon completed my second undoing; and then, indeed, with mingled emotions of disgust and pain, I sensibly felt the debasement of being the slave of a luxurious Turk.
I was now, indeed, wretched and oppressed with mental anguish, until at last my outraged feeling could no longer sustain the shock. A delirious fever seized me. Bereft of my senses, I know not what further took place at that time. The dey has since informed me that a considerable time elapsed ere he found out my loss of reason, but immediately he ascertained the state I was in, he was compelled to desist by his religion, for it is sacrilege to touch or injure any person, Turk or Christian, who is deranged. Every advice and medical assistance were immediately procured to restore my senses, which was soon effected; and when my health was again sufficiently reestablished to enable me to receive his visits, again was I compelled in silence to resign myself to his infamous desires, until by repeated engagements I became accustomed to his proceedings. But the only result is, if anything, an augmentation of my disgust and horror. By my submission I was reinstated in his affections, and everything proceeds as usual. But the charm is broken. It is true he can, when he pleases, bewilder my senses in the softest confusion; but when the tumult is over, and my blood cooled from the fermentation he causes-when reason resumes its sway, I feel that the silken cords of affection which bound me so securely to him have been so much loosened that he will never again be able to draw them together so closely as they were before he subdued me to his abominable desires.
My depression of spirits made me quite the laughing stock of the Italian woman and the French woman, who were perfectly acquainted with the cause. They affected to despise my feelings. The only consolation I received was from the Grecian girl, with whom I had become extremely intimate and to whom I was much attached. She was a beautiful girl, tall and slender; her face was rather pale and languid, overcast with a melancholy resignation, but her light-blue eyes were mild and expressive as the soft ray of an autumnal moon tingeing a fading evening sky. With the help of books I had been able to teach her the English language, and her progress in attaining it was almost incredible. We could now converse freely together, and mourn over our misfortunes and captivity. I shall narrate her distressing history in nearly the same words as she stated it to me.
History of Adianti the Grecian Slave
My name is Adianti. I was born in the delightful island of Macaria, where my father was a merchant, called Theodoricus. I am his only child. Like all Greeks or Christians who reside under the power of Turks, my father was obliged to live in a style of the utmost simplicity. It was only by stealth he ventured on any little luxurious indulgence, well knowing that the governor of the district was upon the watch to pounce upon him the moment he made a show of property. Slavery, the most powerful agent in the degradation of mankind, has given to the modern Greeks a melancholy propensity to indulge in all kinds of gloomy presages and forebodings. I was not exempt from the feelings of my countrymen, and my very name, being that of one of the Danaides, whenever I heard it mentioned, always carried an ominous feeling to my heart.
In our neighbourhood resided a youth named Demetrius, the only son of an aged and infirm widow. He was born for a land of freedom, and one might have predicted from his appearance that he was destined to chafe and struggle not a little under the restraints and mortifications which ever fall to the lot of those who show the least spirit of independence. His stature was tall; he carried his head higher than a Bashaw; he was of easy carriage, and his body as straight as a palm; active and graceful in his walk, clear in his eye, and impatient of insult to the last degree. He was eloquent, poetical, romantic, enterprising and a lover of the arts—he could have achieved great things had his lot been cast in a more happy age and country. Were he now living he would be foremost among the heroes who are defending our religion.
An ancient intimacy had subsisted between our families, and we were much together. Demetrius had never exhibited any particular marks of affection for me, yet I cannot deny that I had for some time cherished a growing preference for the handsome, high-spirited companion of my youth. It was the superstitious feeling I have before mentioned that induced me to consult the Oracle of the Sweet Waters as to how my young passion for Demetrius would thrive; and I returned from my enquiry disconsolate and overpowered, as all the answers of the oracle turned out unfavourable to my hopes. Under the dominion of a long cherished superstition, handed down from generation to generation, and sanctioned by the examples of all around, I would as soon have thought of counteracting the declared decrees of providence as of cherishing a hope in opposition to the oracle. You may suppose my agitation on being informed by my father that he was going to the governor to request permission for our marriage. With trembling anxiety I waited the result. Our governor was a Bashaw of three tails who, although a native of Stampalier and originally a Latin Christian, had long ago changed the cross for the crescent Ali Ozman was the Turkish name he assumed. It is usual, in asking a favour of our governors, to accompany it with a present. The one my father carried with him in support of his petition did not exactly please Ozman (for, of course, my father was afraid of exciting suspicions of his wealth by being too liberal), and Ozman received it with contemptuous indifference. Though he had turned Turk, he had enough of the Latin Christian in him to hate one of the Greek church mortally. My father prostrated himself
three times as he presented his offering. ‘Is thy daughter handsome, Christian dog?’ asked Ozman. At this, a French renegade, who had insinuated himself into the confidence of Ozman, whispered to him that I was the fairest virgin in the isle. Ozman considered a few moments, and said with a smile, ‘I accept thy present, and permit thy daughter to wed the young Greek on condition that thou grant a feast before the marriage, and bid me be a guest.’
My father returned home in a melancholy mood, and gave direction for the preparation of the feast and the reception of the cruel Ozman. From a sudden recollection of the disastrous omen of the oracle, darker and more dreary became my thoughts than they had ever been since the hour I became convinced Demetrius loved me. He also all that day seemed labouring under a depression, and departed early in the evening oppressed by vague forebodings he could not define. The feast was, however, prepared, the company bidden and, after waiting a considerable time for the arrival of Ozman, who did not appear, the ceremony proceeded with Demetrius and myself each choosing a godfather to attend us. At the altar we were met by the aged papa, or Greek priest, who, after blessing two crowns of foliage intertwined with ribbons and laces, placed them on our heads. He then in like manner blessed two rings, one of silver, the other of gold, placing the former on my finger, the latter on that of Demetrius. After these rings had been exchanged and we had taken our vows, the old priest was preparing to distribute the bread and wine which was to conclude the ceremony when a light strain of Turkish music at a distance caught our attention. In a little while Ozman was seen advancing at the head of twenty or thirty of his guards. Demetrius earnestly besought the priest to finish the ceremony before the barbarians should arrive to interrupt it, but the old man trembled so that the wine was spilled and the consecrated bread fell from his hands. In a few moments Ozman and his train entered the church with their scimitars drawn and scattered the bridal train, leaving me, my father, Demetrius and the priest alone at the altar.
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