Kapelis- The Hatmaker

by Andreas Kappa

  The men discussed the way ahead for the society. It had been established only for a few months when Andreas had arrived.

  There was much to do, and Skoufas quipped, using a proverb, ‘The camel must kneel before it can be loaded.’

  That afternoon, the men and Andreas met again.

  ‘Without a system in place, any enterprise will fail,’ said Skoufas.

  The difficult journey had just begun for the young man. The society was formed by the three men, and its membership remained as three, plus Andreas. Xanthos said to Andreas that the society had limited funds.

  It would be an appropriate cover for Andreas to commence his hat-making in Odessa as soon as possible, as there were Ottoman infiltrators and spies still living in Odessa.

  Andreas purchased the tools he needed as a hat-maker from a Russian sailor at the port of Odessa. He took a spare room and set it up for hat-making and general millinery.

  Andreas carefully observed the facial features of the three men. It took him a whole week to make hats befitting his new friends. Andreas made a trilby for Xanthos, a fedora for Tsakalov and a homburg for Skoufas.

  During the evening meal, Andreas announced to the men that he had a gift for each of them to thank them for their hospitality and warm welcome. He went upstairs to his workroom and returned with the hats. Andreas gave each of the men their hats.

  The men received the hats with great enthusiasm and thanked Andreas. The men placed the hats upon their respective heads and looked at each other with delight.

  Xanthos said, ‘Andreas, these hats are magnificent. You need to introduce your craft to the people of Odessa. I am sure, in your future here, you will sell many hats.’

  Andreas said, ‘But I want to be part of the resistance. I did not travel all this way to make hats.’

  Skoufas said, ‘Every hat you sell will bring much-needed income for the society to fund the revolution.’

  Andreas understood clearly what was being said.

  Tsakalov then added, ‘Like your father, you will also be able to gather information from the inner sanctum of society here in Odessa, so I advise you to learn Russian as quickly as possible.’

  Andreas then began to make hats. The news quickly spread in Odessa that there was a young Greek man living with the Greeks who could make hats—beautiful hats—for any occasion.

  Andreas charged the equivalent of half a gold sovereign for each hat. Andreas gave all the money he made as a hat-maker to the society in aid of the cause. The three men were delighted with this stream of steady income funding the society.

  After a year in Odessa, Andreas could speak elementary Russian and could read and write in a basic way. The Russian alphabet was similar to the Greek alphabet, so Andreas read in Russian quite quickly.

  Most importantly, Andreas was fast becoming a favourite of the ruling class of Odessa and was requested, particularly by ladies, to make ornamental hats for the opera or other celebratory or special occasions.

  Andreas was not a particularly religious man; however, after his first year in Odessa, Andreas commenced to attend the Orthodox church known as St Nicholas the Wonderworker.

  Andreas loved his Sunday masses as the liturgy was preached in Byzantine Greek. The sounds of the beautiful choir, accompanied the bishop’s sermon. The mass reminded him of home.

  True to his word, he sent letters to his father and received letters in return as mutual updates on how the father and son were living in their lives apart.

  On one occasion during a mass Andreas attended on a Sunday, he looked up at the choir singing, and in the second row, there was a most beautiful girl. She had the features of an ancient goddess, a muse, a nymph. He struggled to think of words or thoughts to describe her splendour.

  All women attending church wore a scarf to cover their hair, respecting the sanctity of the Orthodox Church and its dogmas.

  As the choir always left last, Andreas positioned himself on the other side of the road to the church. As the choir left the front door of the church, Andreas waited patiently to see this beauty.

  The young lady exited the door of the church and stopped to take off her scarf. She swept her hair loose and let her hair down. The young man’s heart stopped. He was breathless for a moment and simply stared at her loveliness. The appetite of his eyes for beauty had been completely satisfied by this exquisite woman.

  His mind described her features. She was tall, lithe and had long golden hair like the sun, sharp Slavic facial features, and slightly curly hair draping to her tiny waist. She had green eyes, long legs, and the most beautiful hands and fingers with a soft powder-pink nail polish to complement her nails. She wore an Orthodox golden cross as a sign of her belief in Orthodox Christianity.

  Andreas was paralysed and could not stop staring at her as she stood there waiting for her parents. She looked across and saw Andreas. His blue eyes were speaking to her. She tried unsuccessfully to avoid him casting a spell on her.

  Her parents came, and they left together. Her mother looked at Andreas disapprovingly, and the father was paying no attention to this prying man.

  Andreas now had a reason to attend church each week, and he did so. There were times the young lady would attend, and there were other times she would not.

  Each time he attended and the young lady was there, he would look at her with the eyes of a man mesmerised by the deepest of love. He was anxious to speak to her but did not want to offend her parents or the young lady.

  Also, he did not want to promote a reputation that he did not respect the people of Odessa like her parents. He had thought of thousands of ways to approach her but did not carry out his plans.

  One morning, there was a knock at the door of the house of the society. Xanthos opened the door.

  Andreas was upstairs, making hats. He could hear the voice of a woman and the exchange of conversation between Xanthos and the woman.

  Xanthos yelled out, ‘Andreas! There is a woman with her daughter here to order hats. Could you please come downstairs? They are waiting.’

  Andreas came downstairs. As he took the last step, he saw the young lady and her mother in the entrance hall, waiting with Xanthos.

  Andreas tripped on the last step and came crashing to the ground.

  Xanthos said, ‘Quite a spectacular entrance.’

  ‘I hope your young man can make hats better than he walks downstairs,’ the woman said, laughing.

  Xanthos introduced Andreas to the two women.

  The mother said, ‘My name is Inna Mihalovich, and this is my only child and daughter, Katerina.’

  Andreas introduced himself and focused his attention on Katerina.

  Inna said, ‘We are attending the opera and then a grand ball following the opera on the same night. We need you to make a grand hat for both me and Katerina. Can you do it within two weeks?’

  Andreas said, ‘Of course, I will. I need to take a fitting if you have time today, and it will be done on time.’

  He took both ladies to his fitting room. The mother agreed, and he led both ladies to his small fitting room. Andreas fitted the mother and then fitted Katerina for their hats. The mother then left the room and went downstairs, leaving Katerina alone in the room with Andreas.

  He trembled like leaves in the wind when he was fitting Katerina.

  Katerina was a very tall young lady, almost as tall as Andreas, who stood at five feet, eight inches. He then built up the courage to speak to her. He did not know how to start, but his conversation was natural and from the heart.

  He started in the very best Russian he could speak. He said ‘You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen in my life. You are angelic and regal. Please don’t be offended by my comments. It is the way my heart feels.’

  Katerina responded in a mix of both Russian and Greek, ‘You are a hard-working man. I can see that. You are not
from here from your accent, and you are gentle. I can tell that from your hands and the way you speak. I am not offended.’

  Andreas finished the fitting.

  She was staring at Andreas in the eyes. She said, ‘May I be blunt too? Your blue eyes are soft on my soul and the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen in a man. I would love to have children in the future with blue eyes like yours.’

  Andreas melted. He was gasping.

  Andreas and Katerina went downstairs, and the mother and daughter left.

  Xanthos said, ‘Andreas, she is a beautiful woman, and it seems to me we have lost you forever in the journey to her heart. Good luck and enjoy your adventure.’

  Andreas then went ahead in the task of making hats for Katerina and her mother. He devoted his entire time in the two weeks before the event to craft the hats. When finished, he put the hats in separate decorative boxes and went to the house where they lived to deliver the hats personally.

  The mother’s hat was powder blue in its fabric; it covered the entire head and tied around the chin. Katerina’s hat was more a bonnet style in very light powdery pink, ballooning towards the back of the head and clipped to the hair for stability.

  Once he had arrived at the door of a modest house at the outskirts of Odessa, Andreas knocked at the door. A very tall, slightly balding man with dark-brown hair and piercing black eyes opened the door. He was quite solidly built.

  ‘Yes. Who are you?’ said the man in a very deep, booming voice.

  ‘I am Andreas Kapelis the hat-maker with a delivery of hats for your wife and daughter,’ said Andreas.

  He took the boxes and asked the costs of the hats without a thank you.

  ‘There is no cost. I was pleased to make them.’ Andreas caught Katerina peering through the window at him.

  ‘No cost?’ said the man. ‘Don’t come back and ask for any favours because none will be given. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes, sir. None will be asked.’

  The man seemed pleased with that response and almost slammed the door in Andreas’s face. Andreas knew that he had an uphill battle to win over the confidence of the father before he could enter the pathway to his daughter, Katerina’s heart.

  But it would truly be worth the battle. If he was in Odessa to fight the Turks, he would also fight for the heart of Katerina.

  Arriving back at the house, Skoufas advised Andreas that he had made inquiries about the Mihalovich family. The father was a retired, highly decorated Cossack officer and army captain from Kiev. Also, the second Duke of Moldovia had approached the mother of Katerina with a view to marry Katerina.

  Andreas now had to formulate a plan and strategy to demonstrate his honourable intentions for Katerina’s beautiful hands. He also had a rich and powerful competitor to contend with for Katerina.

  After the opera and ball attended by Katerina, her mother, and her father, the compliments were plentiful regarding the dresses and, in particular, the hats worn by Katerina and her mother.

  A few days after the ball, there was a knock on the door of the house of the society. Andreas was at the bench downstairs, drinking warm mountain tea with honey. He opened the door, and Katerina’s mother stood there without Katerina.

  Inna said, ‘Andreas, thank you for the hats as gifts. The gesture was unnecessary. The hats were magnificent and the talk of the ball. I do not want you to go unrewarded. You are invited to my home on Friday for a meal made by me. I trust you will accept.’

  Andreas accepted the invitation without a pause. He spent the next few days, grooming his hair, buying a new suit, cramming to learn more Russian, and sleeping very little.

  Friday arrived, and Andreas left the house to travel to Katerina’s home.

  As he left, Tsakalov left him with this thought: ‘Every gift, even though it is small, is valuable if you give it with a kind intention. Please take Katerina’s father a small gift.’

  There were a few bottles of dendura left from Andreas’s voyage to Odessa. He wrapped a bottle with some splendid fabric he used for hats and put a blue ribbon on the top.

  Andreas went to the home and was greeted once more by Katerina’s father at the door. On this occasion, he was much more friendly.

  Boris said, ‘I am Boris Mihalovich, young man. Welcome to my home. Please show respect and honour here. Otherwise, you will suffer my wrath.’

  Andreas replied, ‘Thank you, sir, for the invitation. I present you with a bottle of liquor that is made in my homeland of Greece. Your home will be respected today and always. I am from a very decent and respectful family in Athens.’

  Andreas was shown to the dinner table, where Boris sat at the head of the table. The mother was to the left side of Boris, Katerina was to the right side, and Kapelis was facing Boris at the far side of the table.

  Katerina’s mother made the meal, supported by Katerina. It was a traditional Russian meal comprising of meat and fresh vegetables. There was talk at the table. The table was then cleared by the ladies.

  Katerina smiled at Andreas many times during the meal under the watchful eye of her father.

  Boris said, ‘Andreas, shall we retire to the lounge room? The ladies can bring us sweets and coffee, and we can try some of your liqueur.’

  Andreas did what he was told. The ladies shortly followed and sat down in front of the open wood fire to join the men.

  Boris said, ‘I have one precious daughter. I was a Cossack captain. I fought many battles, and I am still here. I do not suffer fools. There is a duke from Moldovia who is a second cousin to Catherine the Great. He has sought her hand in marriage, and I threw him out after he told me how many women he had made love to and had conquered. I am not interested in riches or men that boast. That would be to sacrifice my daughter. I want a man with courage and heart and, above all, a man with honour.’

  Andreas nodded his head in agreement.

  Boris said, ‘Do you hunt?’

  Andreas said, ‘Of course.’

  ‘Then we will ride out sixty miles from Odessa into the forest next Friday morning. We will hunt for two days in the forest and return on Monday.’

  Andreas again agreed.

  Boris said, ‘Pour me a glass of dendura, wife, and our guest, and we will finish the evening. I trust you enjoyed our hospitality.’

  Andreas said it was most enjoyable and then left. He reported what had happened to Xanthos.

  Xanthos made it clear that the Cossack wanted to test the riding and shooting skills of Andreas. He wanted to spend time with him to assess his character and finally to see if he was worthy of his daughter, Katerina.

  Boris and Andreas then left early on the Friday for the hunting trip as planned. Andreas was a competent rider. He rode horses when visiting his father’s village in the Peloponnese. The men spent two days together, talking and hunting.

  The Sunday night before their return to Odessa, Andreas and Boris were camouflaged behind a tree, waiting for a hare to take a track they had found so they could shoot it.

  As they were waiting, suddenly Andreas felt excruciating pain above his left ankle. A wild jackal had bitten into his leg with a strong grip and would not let go of his leg. As Boris watched, waiting for Andreas’ next course of immediate action, Andreas grabbed the jackal by the tail and inserted his thumb into the animal’s rectum.

  This caused the jackal to instinctively turn to get rid of the foreign object from its rectum, and it let go of Andreas’s leg. Andreas then kicked the animal, reached for his gun, and shot the jackal dead. Boris observed the series of events and looked pleased.

  The men then returned to Odessa. Andreas had the wound treated by Boris upon his return to Odessa.

  After their hunting trip together, Andreas was invited every Friday to Katerina’s house for a meal. Andreas’s heart danced with joy that he was forming a wonderful relationship with Katerina, her mother,
and above all, her father, who was a hard man.

  After two months, Andreas invited Katerina and her parents to the house of the society. He asked that the three men leave the house when he hosted Katerina and her family. The men did so, given the importance of the occasion.

  Andreas prepared the meal, which was chicken soup with egg and lemon (a traditional Greek delicacy), chicken, a beautiful tomato-and-fresh-vegetables salad, and oven-baked okra. Andreas had also prepared walnut pie for dessert.

  The Mihalovich family came to the house. Andreas presented the meal, and the parties ate the food with delight.

  Katerina’s mother said, ‘You are a hat-maker, a good cook, a fine hunter. You have won the favour of my husband, who is an impossible man to please, and you are a decent man. What do you exactly want from my family?’

  Andreas said, ‘With your parent’s permission, Katerina, all I wish to give you is a vase with the reddest of roses. Do I have that permission?’

  Boris said, ‘That request seems innocent to me. Wife, what do you think?’

  Katerina’s mother agreed. Boris was most pleased that Andreas had asked for her parents’ permission. Andreas presented the vase with the roses but deliberately presented a rose crooked in the vase. The mother tried to position the rose that was not straight.

  She said to Katerina, ‘Katerina, please take the rose out of the vase then put it back in straight. Men are not very good in details.’

  When Katerina took out the rose, at the bottom of the stem was a pink ribbon, and tied to the ribbon was a gold wedding ring. Andreas looked at Katerina, and when she lifted her eyes to look at him, he said, ‘My precious Katerina, I love you exclusively with all the blood running through my veins. You are my universe and my stars. I am asking for your precious hand in marriage in the presence of your honourable parents. What say you?’

  Katerina’s response was simple: ‘Andreas, my soul is yours.’

  The reaction of the parents was next. Katerina’s mother did not say a word until Boris spoke.

  Boris said, ‘I know why you are really here, young man. Anyone who is a patriot and wants to rid the Ottomans from his country is a worthy man. You have my holy blessing. Love my daughter and be her hero. Even if you are killed protecting your country, we will always be here for her.’