Felâtun Bey and Râkim Efendi

by Ahmet Mithat Efendi

  MR. ZIKLAS: I know my dear boy, I know.

  RKIM (without interrupting): They also love me, yet I swear on my faith and honor that I’ve never heard a single syllable, never seen a single move from them that would substantiate what you’re saying.

  DOCTOR: We, I mean the whole family, know this, my good friend. We don’t doubt you. Yet, this girl suffers from love. And this love is for you. Left in this condition, she’ll die. Her only chance is if you agree to provide the cure.

  RKIM: How can I help?

  DOCTOR: We are doing our best to save this young girl from the dark claws of death, so please don’t reproach us for what we’re about to propose. Mr. Ziklas wants to make you Jan’s groom.

  RKIM (with trepidation and palpitation): Who? Me?

  MR. ZIKLAS (crying): Yes, my son, you! What else can I do? Nobody is to blame here . . . not me, not you, and certainly not the girl. Who wouldn’t love an angel like you, my son? Your beauty, education, wisdom, righteousness, and noble attitude! All of these would make a girl fall for you.

  RKIM (with increased anxiety): Please, Mr. Ziklas!

  DOCTOR: This is how we’ll do it. I suppose that your religion also permits it, and Mr. Ziklas is a liberal man.

  MR. ZIKLAS: What are you saying for God’s sake? I am ready to agree to my girl’s conversion to Islam. Is there anything bad in Islam? Don’t we all pray to one God? Is there any difference between our beliefs? Jesus and Mary would allow her to change her religion and convert to Islam in order to save her from death.

  RKIM: Sir, these are all details. But . . .

  DOCTOR: No need for any “but’s.” You should make this sacrifice for us. Though I have to say that becoming a groom in the Ziklas family is not a sacrifice, it’s an honor. It would even work in your favor!

  RKIM: Of course, all that is true. I wouldn’t even deem myself suitable for such an honor. However, there is something else. I’m already married.

  MR. ZIKLAS: Married?

  RKIM: Yes, see, the female slave you met happens to be my wife.

  MR. ZIKLAS: I would like your permission to doubt what you’re saying is true, Monsieur Râkım.

  RKIM: No, Sir, please believe me when I say it’s true.

  MR. ZIKLAS: Râkım Efendi! Râkım Efendi! I am offering you half of my fortune because all I have belongs to my two daughters and nobody else. If you save this girl from her impending death, I’ll offer you a fortune of around 300,000 British liras, not to mention kinship ties with me.

  (Janan’s ears must be ringing!)

  DOCTOR: What joy!

  MR. ZIKLAS: That girl, that female slave of yours can’t be more than a concubine anyway.

  DOCTOR: What would be the problem even if she were his lawfully wed wife? The Ottomans can easily divorce their wives and marry another.

  RKIM (after having listened to these words with great astonishment): Mr. Ziklas! I’m a poor man. I earn my bread and butter by writing petitions and other kinds of documents and by tutoring. What I’m trying to say is that the offer you’re making to a man like me is a dream. Especially since I wouldn’t give up your friendship if I were offered millions! However, I’ve lost my heart to Janan. When she was a slave in the house, I was happy making her happy. How could I possibly make Janan cry for lack of money or other sorts of happiness? I beg you Sir, let me kiss your hand! Release me from this offer. If you order me not to come to your house again, I won’t.

  Do you know how surprised Mr. Ziklas and the doctor were upon hearing Râkım speak these words? The doctor wanted to attribute Râkım’s contentedness to stupidity. He thought, “What a fool! At least pretend to accept Ziklas’s offer, and then go have fun with your Janan.”

  Are you astonished to hear this? If so, then there is more: The same idea also occurred to Mr. Ziklas. He said, “At least take my daughter but continue to love Janan in secret and hide it from my daughter!” Now, if you want, you can feel more astonished. Or if you really want, you can also interpret this as Râkım’s stupidity. But Râkım didn’t accept this proposal and said, “Mr. Ziklas, you’re making me such an offer that, if it weren’t coming from the pain and sorrow that’s been plaguing you, I’d take that as an insult. I couldn’t indulge in deceit and dishonesty even if I were offered this whole world as a reward. How on earth could I lie to Jan and say, ‘I love you?’”

  The tears running down Râkım’s cheeks proved that he was completely serious in his sentiments. Mr. Ziklas and Monsieur Z—— thought desperately for a while. The looks on their faces suggested that none of the possibilities that had crossed their minds were feasible. They all stood up and began pacing about the room. Finally, Râkım broke the silence by saying, “Mr. Ziklas, I ask for your forgiveness if I have committed any impertinence. With your permission, I’ll take my leave.” Mr. Ziklas hugged Râkım, kissed him, and said, “Where are you going, my son, where? You didn’t commit any impertinence. We did! You didn’t show us anything but your good morals, contentedness, honor, loyalty, valor, bravery, and generosity. You are and will always be my greatest friend in this world.” Even the doctor was moved when he saw the old man in this state. Finally, the doctor proffered another possibility that just crossed his mind and changed the mood in the room:

  DOCTOR: There is one last resort.

  MR. ZIKLAS: What Monsieur Z——, what is it?

  DOCTOR: I don’t know what Monsieur Râkım will say to this.

  RKIM (with great sorrow): Go ahead, Monsieur Doctor.

  DOCTOR: Let’s go tell the girl the good news that you love her. In fact, let’s go and inform her that you and her father have been having this conversation and if she pulls herself together soon, he’ll marry her to you. From what I’ve seen, the most important challenge for a girl in this condition is the inability to tell anyone about her trouble. If we bring it up ourselves, we’ll raise her boldness and her hopes.

  MR. ZIKLAS: What do you say, Râkım Efendi?

  RKIM: If it were up to me, I wouldn’t agree to this. However, if this measure will do any good, then I won’t object.

  DOCTOR: You shouldn’t object. We know what good will come from it.

  Upon the doctor’s suggestion, the doctor and Râkım stood up and went to her bedside without Mr. Ziklas. As usual, an invigoration, a joy was observed in the girl when she saw Râkım.

  They asked after each other’s health. In fact, Jan even asked after Janan. Do you suppose that Râkım gave her the correct answer after the words they had exchanged in the other room? If you suppose that he gave Jan a clue about his love for Janan, you’d be making a mistake. With all the sincerity in his heart, he told her that Janan was in good health. In the meantime, the doctor spoke briefly with great sincerity.

  DOCTOR: Mademoiselle Jan! I’ll tell you something only if you assure me that you won’t be surprised.

  JAN (turning a little pale): What is it, Monsieur Doctor?

  DOCTOR: Monsieur Râkım told me about a secret of his. As you know, doctors and priests know about all sorts of secrets, but keeping those secrets is also . . .

  JAN (with a slight change in her expression): I don’t understand what you’re saying, Sir.

  DOCTOR: This is only youthfulness, not a dishonor! For you, Râkım Efendi has a . . .

  JAN (changing all together): I understand. But I’m surprised. Râkım Efendi loves me like a sister . . .

  DOCTOR: No, no, amorous love is stronger than the love felt for a sibling. Isn’t that right, Monsieur Râkım?

  RKIM (with an obligatory expression): Oh! It is, Doctor, it is! I’m unable to bring myself to say it, I can’t say a word, and I can’t express myself. You say it for me then. If she hasn’t noticed what happens to me when I see her in the sickbed like this, then you tell her.

  JAN: How strange! Râkım Efendi, are you telling the truth?

  RKIM: I am indeed!

  JAN: Until now, I never supposed that you were afflicted with this illness.

  DOCTOR: Yes, yes. Since the day you entered yo
ur sickbed, his illness has gotten worse. Yet, this is not really what we’re here to tell you, Mademoiselle.

  JAN (gathering her strength considerably): Wait, there’s more?

  DOCTOR: There’s more, Mademoiselle. We’ve also told your father about this situation.

  JAN (more agitated than before): My father?

  RKIM: Yes, your father!

  DOCTOR: At Râkım Efendi’s insistence, I informed him about this. Islam allows you to get married and still keep your own religion. Your father consented to it. He accepted Râkım Efendi’s many merits. In fact, he was going to come and make the marriage proposal himself; however, you know how it is to be a father; in case you’d feel embarrassed or he’d feel embarrassed, he assigned this honorable duty to me, trusting my knowledge of this secret.

  JAN (with a bitter smile that could pierce a person’s heart): How strange! But how could you believe all this?

  DOCTOR: I fear that you don’t want to accept Râkım Efendi.

  JAN: Just wait and call my father!

  Râkım quickly exited the room and summoned Mr. Ziklas. Before they came back, the doctor managed to say, “I’m telling the truth, mademoiselle. This man is going crazy with his love for you. Your father has shown mercy to Râkım and agreed to your marriage. It’s all up to you now.” Mr. Ziklas and Râkım arrived.

  JAN (with remarkable embarrassment): My dear father, Monsieur Doctor is saying certain things!

  MR. ZIKLAS: Yes, my dear daughter. Go ahead and say whatever you want. There are no strangers here.

  RKIM: If you want, I can step out.

  JAN (again, with a bitter smile): No need. (to herself): How will it remain hidden, that secret that is the subject of gatherings?

  When Râkım heard this line, he trembled with an incomprehensible sorrow.

  JAN (continuing): Yes, Father dear! The doctor said what needed to be said. I didn’t believe this whole thing to be possible. And then he asked whether I love Râkım Efendi or not. However, when he left the room, he added that Râkım Efendi was going crazy with love for me.

  MR. ZIKLAS: That’s good, my dear! What’s your answer?

  JAN: Okay, so here is my answer: I love Râkım. He loves me, too. He does; however, the way he loves me is not the way I love him. He loves me like a sister. I love him the way his female slave Janan loves him. I love him, but, oh, what’s the use?

  As the poor girl said these words, everyone’s eyes filled with tears: the poor girl’s, her father’s, the doctor’s, and Râkım’s.

  JAN: Râkım, Râkım! If you place your lips on my lips, I’ll receive eternal life / At the moment I give up the sweet ghost through my lips.

  Upon hearing this couplet, Râkım burst into a flood of tears. Seeing Râkım cry, the old father began crying, too. The doctor, on the other hand, froze like ice and stood fixed to the spot.

  JAN: Dear Father, if there were a way to carry out the decision you made, I’d return to life and rise. Hear me when I say, Râkım doesn’t love me as I love him. He loves me like his sister. If he loved me the way I love him, he definitely would have shown a sign of it by now. Even when girls talk about such private matters among themselves, they would utter words that would make one another blush. But Râkım never uttered any such words when he was with us. I never spoke a word to him about it. I only thought to myself: With your stony heart, will it ever take effect one night / My predawn fiery sighs and burning laments.

  MR. ZIKLAS: See, that’s good, my dear. Just like you, although Râkım loved you, he didn’t say anything. Isn’t that so, Râkım Efendi?

  Râkım had no strength left to answer the question.

  JAN: It’s useless, my dear father! With Janan in the picture, whatever you do will be useless. In fact, even if Râkım, out of pity for me, were to agree to do what you are asking, I wouldn’t agree. If I’m going to die, then let me die. I can’t agree to cause the death of a desperate girl for the sake of my own happiness.

  The atmosphere in the room changed and even the doctor started sobbing. Fortunately, the girl’s mother wasn’t present. If she had been, there would undoubtedly have been more scenes. As for Jan, she stopped crying. Looking at Râkım, she said,

  JAN: “The soul that is at the end of its rope plans to see you, shall it hold out or shall it let go. What is your command?” What I mean to say, my dear father, is I am grateful for the compassion you showed me, and to you also Monsieur Doctor. Thank you, too, Râkım Efendi, for you probably had a big battle with your heart in order to accept to take part in such a ruse. The sacrifice you made means a lot to me. Oh, I’d face up to any shame in order to get a single kiss from you right now. However, I’ve decided to go to heaven longing and yearning for your kiss. I hope to receive God’s compassion this way.

  No one had the strength to endure the gathering any longer. The doctor was the first one to manifest his weakness and leave. Râkım followed him out of the room and Jan’s desperate father looked at her face forlornly for a while. When he left, he sent for her mother and younger sister to join her.

  All right, they all exited the room but did they begin another conversation? Was that even possible! They all just stared at one another like mutes, expressing their wishes silently. Each of them communicated their agony silently with their eyes. What did Jan’s mother and sister talk about at her bedside?

  Well see, we don’t know about that. We only know that Râkım realized that he didn’t need to stay in this mournful house any longer, so at some point he snuck out and left. On the verge of crying with Jan’s anguished condition on his mind, he started down the Kumbaracı Yokuşu with his head lowered.

  Chapter 10

  POOR JAN LEFT RKıM feeling extraordinarily sad. So much so that although Râkım had no amorous feelings for Jan, it seems as though they were on the verge of emerging. “What happened to this poor girl? She has begun to look almost ghostly. Honest to God, it’s hard not to like her. Reading Persian is her particular skill. Ah, see, isn’t it Hafez’s poetry that brought her to this state? I couldn’t predict that it would have had such an impact. How she listened to and absorbed the most passionate couplets with a fire in her heart! Now I realize she was poisoning herself with them. Alas, poor Jan, alas! If something happens to her, I swear I’ll die.” Thinking these thoughts, he went all the way down to Hendekbaşı.

  Who do you suppose he ran across there?

  Felâtun Bey!

  Oh, no, put that waster aside!

  How can we? How can we abandon the fellow who is a partner to half of our story?

  We should never have included him in this story in the first place.

  We shouldn’t have . . . but we already did. Besides, where is this animosity towards Felâtun Bey coming from? Is it that you can’t stand his alafranga ways? If Felâtun Bey didn’t exist, how could the mayonnaise incident have occurred? What about Hotel J——? Would it be able to host such a rich alafranga Ottoman if not for Felâtun Bey? Would the two bands have played in front of the lady’s carriage in Kağıthane?

  What good is it if he’s going to rack and ruin?

  It’s all right! We assure you that he is not going to go rack and ruin anymore. He can’t anyway!

  We fear that his money . . .

  Instead of worrying, listen to this:

  FELTUN: Well, well, brother! God bless you! Gentility changes a person! One stops seeing old friends.

  RKIM (at a loss for words due to his sorrow): Not at all, brother! I am very distressed today. You know Ziklas’ girl, right? I mean the elder one, Jan?

  FELTUN: Yes, Jan, who makes one want to steal her heart, right? That impossible beauty, if only I hadn’t made the mistake of embracing her mother in the dark!

  RKIM: Stop it, for God’s sake! The poor girl is fighting for her life.

  FELTUN: What’s wrong?

  RKIM: How should I know what’s wrong? Maybe she has tuberculosis. Doctors say it is lovesickness.

  FELTUN: There, you see? This is as good as philosoph
ers like you can do. You say, “we should protect our honor, we should protect our decency,” and give such young girls tuberculosis and then abandon them. Would she have gotten tuberculosis if she’d been interested in me? She’d be fit as a fiddle!

  RKIM (lethargically): My good man, let’s leave this aside. The poor girl will be a goner one of these days. Tell me, what are you up to? How are things with Pauline?

  FELTUN: Since you made me stop talking about Jan, I also propose that you stop talking about Pauline.

  RKIM: Oh? Why is that?

  FELTUN: Because I broke up with her.

  RKIM (anxiously): How come?

  FELTUN: Stop talking about that slut, for God’s sake!

  RKIM: So that coquettish Pauline is a slut now?

  FELTUN: Malicious courtesan! She left after robbing me blind and ruining me.

  RKIM: Robbing you blind?

  FELTUN: That’s right!

  RKIM: At least it wasn’t more than a couple thousand liras, huh?

  FELTUN: A couple thousand? More like sixteen thousand!

  RKIM (alarmed): What? How much was your whole fortune anyway?

  FELTUN (tearily): She took everything I had! Oh, my friend, you told me the right thing to do but what’s the use now? If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve known what to do.

  RKIM: So . . . what are you going to do now?

  FELTUN: Now I am crying over spilled milk . . . but there is no point. I also fell out with my brother-in-law. I tell you, now I understand how things work in this world! Now I see that brothers-in-law do not accept penniless in-laws, and sisters do not accept penniless brothers. (More tears welled in his eyes.)

  RKIM: It can’t go on like this, right? You’ve surely thought of a solution.

  FELTUN: I realized that I have only one true friend in this world. All the favors I’ve done finally bore fruit. You know our —— Bey, right?

  RKIM: Yes!

  FELTUN: Well, I’ve taken refuge in his mercy. He’ll be able to arrange for me to be appointed as a provincial governor. I am really hoping and counting on it to work out.

  RKIM: God bless you, brother! That would make me happy, too. Please tell me if I can do anything for you, but . . .