by Mika Waltari
Khaireddin stood beaming under a gold-fringed canopy to receive the manifold welcome. His once-red beard was now venerably gray, and reached, with some artificial aid, to his belt. He had painted wrinkles on his face and shadows about his prominent eyes, so as to vie in age with the Sultan’s sea pashas, though I believe he was then not a day over fifty.
The inhabitants of Istanbul had much to divert them during this time. On the third day after his arrival Khaireddin set off in ceremonial procession to a reception at the Seraglio. He was attended by janissaries in red and gold, and a hundred camels followed laden with gifts for the Sultan-bales of silk and brocade and such curiosities as an uncultured pirate would collect in the course of years. Worthless trash and priceless treasures lay higgledy-piggledy together. The greatest sensation was aroused by two hundred lovely young girls bearing gold and silver dishes in which lay purses filled with gold and silver coin. These slaves had been selected for the Sultan’s harem from every known land, though the greater number were from Sicily, Italy, and Spain. When with faces unveiled they bore their treasure into the Sultan’s presence even the staidest Moslems were dazzled by their beauty; they were obliged to hold their hands before their faces and only peep through their fingers, lest they be brought into a state of impurity before the hour of prayer.
In the hall of pillars with its starry roof, Sultan Suleiman received Khaireddin, first allowing him to kiss his foot, which rested on a cushion covered with diamonds, and then stretching forth his hand in token of special favor. It was certainly the proudest moment in the life of the erstwhile potter, the spahi’s son from the island of Mytilene. When first he spoke he stammered and shed tears of joy, but the Sultan smilingly encouraged him, bidding him tell of Algeria and other African lands-of Sicily, Italy, and Spain, and above all of ships, seafaring, and the sea. Khaireddin needed no second bidding and spoke in bolder and bolder fashion, not forgetting to mention that he had brought with him the Prince of Tunis, Rashid ben-Hafs, who had fled from his bloodthirsty brother Muley-Hassan and come under Khaireddin’s protection to seek comfort and help from the Refuge of all Nations.
To my way of thinking Khaireddin acted unwisely in so promptly revealing his own selfish aims. He would have done better to speak of Doria and his big guns, the carrack of the Knights of St. John, and such things as had won him the honor of an audience with the Sultan. I believe that his childish boasting did him more harm than the slander of his bitterest enemies; in the middle of the ceremony Isken- der-tseleb’s scornful laugh was plainly heard. Khaireddin, drunk with
good fortune, responded only by a broad smile, but the Sultan frowned.
Despite the princely gifts he brought with him, Khaireddin therefore made by no means so good an impression as he fancied. The Sultan allotted him a house to live in, as the custom was, but let him wait in vain for the three horsetail switches that had been promised him. Meanwhile Zey-pasha and Himeral-pasha vied with one another in spreading tales of his unseemly way of life, his conceit, untrust- worthiness, cruelty, and greed. These stories were the more dangerous in that they contained a grain of truth. Yet Khaireddin’s greatest error had been to stay too long at sea, for when at last he came to Istanbul, Grand Vizier Ibrahim had already started for Aleppo to open the Persian campaign, whereby Khaireddin lost his strongest support in the Divan.
But my account of Khaireddin has led me to anticipate. Between the dispatch of his invitation and his arrival, negotiations with Vienna were brought to a favorable conclusion, and having thus secured a lasting peace and permanent frontiers in the West, the Grand Vizier set his face toward the East. Many Persian noblemen who had sought the protection of the Porte accompanied him to Aleppo, the assembly point for the campaign.
I should mention that Khaireddin ignored me in a most ungrateful manner, and in his blindness seemed to think that he now needed neither my help nor the Grand Vizier’s. Hurt though I was, however, I knew the Seraglio and bided my time. Only a few days later I observed-and not without a certain malicious pleasure-that his house stood unvisited and that silence had fallen upon his name, while the townspeople began uttering ever louder complaints of his seamen. For these renegades, Moors, and Negroes, who during the summer had fought and plundered afloat and in the winter roistered and brawled in Algiers, knew nothing of the well-mannered customs of the Sultan’s capital and assumed that they could behave there as they did in their own harbors. They even went so far as to stab two Armenians who did not get out of their way quickly enough-an unheard-of occurrence in the Sultan’s city where even to bear arms was an offense and where the janissaries who kept order carried nothing but light bamboo canes. At first Khaireddin would not hear of executing the culprits, explaining that Armenians were Christians, to slay whom was an act pleasing to Allah. Only when he found that his reputation suffered and that the Sultan remained inaccessible and silent within the Seraglio did he climb down and have three men hanged and ten flogged.
But it was too late. With growing dismay he noted how abrupt were the turns of fortune in this city, and he took to dictating childish letters to the Sultan in which he alternately groveled and threatened to leave his service for that of the Emperor. Fortunately Khaireddin’s tseleb was intelligent enough to destroy these letters at once.
As a last resort, the puffed-up sea captain humbled himself and sent for me to discuss certain matters. To make clear to him my rank and standing I sent him word again that my door stood open if he wished to consult me, but that I could not spare the time to go running all round the harbor looking for him. After tugging his beard for three days he came, bringing with him my old friends Torgut and Sinan the Jew, who were as shocked as himself at the Sultan’s behavior. He looked about him with wonder at the marble steps of my landing stage and at my splendid house that rose dreamlike from terraces ablaze with flowers, though the autumn was far advanced.
“What a city!” he exclaimed. “Slaves live in gilded mansions and wear kaftans of honor, while a poor old man whose whole life has been devoted to increasing the Sultan’s honor on the high seas must creep in rags to the throne without winning so much as a kind word for all his labors.”
To give outward expression to his injured feelings he had put on a plain camlet kaftan, with only a little diamond crescent in his turban in token of his dignity. I attended him with all due honor into the house and bade him be seated. Then I set the cooks to work and summoned Abu el-Kasim and Mustafa ben-Nakir, that we might all confer together as in the old days in Algiers. They came promptly. Khaireddin sent for the wares he had brought from his ship and lavished on us presents of ivory, ostrich feathers, flowered gold brocade, and silver vessels adorned with Italian coats of arms. Sighing heavily he followed these up with a purse of gold for each of us.
“Let all discord between us be forgotten,” he said. “After bestowing these presents I’m a poor man and hardly know where my next meal is to come from. Forgive me for failing to recognize you when you came aboard my ship to greet me. I was already dazed by all the rejoicings-and then you’ve grown so much handsomer!”
When we had all eaten and drunk, Khaireddin at last came to the point and asked the meaning of the Sultan’s silence. I therefore told him frankly all I had heard in the Seraglio and reminded him that he had needlessly aroused the resentment of the sea pashas and offended even the gentle Piri-reis by deriding his model ships and his sandbox. And he had come too late, I said: the Grand Vizier was in Aleppo and in his absence the pashas gave the Sultan no peace. They told him he stained his honor by taking into his service a ruffianly pirate, when in the arsenal and Seraglio there were many experienced pashas who had served him long and faithfully without thought of reward. Khaireddin ought not to be trusted with war galleys, for he would only make off with them as his brother had done and fight less for the glory of Islam than for his own temporal profit.
I enlarged upon this and did my best to mimic the whining tones of the pashas until Khaireddin flushed, tore his beard, and sprang up excl
aiming, “What foolish and wicked accusations! I have never done anything but labor for the greater glory of Islam. These raises in their silken kaftans who sit on dry land and play at battles with their maps and compasses and sandboxes! It would do them good to smell powder and burning pitch now and then. But thanklessness is all our reward in this world.”
At this point Giulia drew aside the curtain and stepped in, wearing her lovely golden-brown velvet dress and a pearl-sewn net over her hair. She feigned alarm, made as if to draw her diaphanous veil across her face, and exclaimed, “Oh, Michael, how you all startled me! Why did you not tell me we had guests-and such welcome guests, too! I couldn’t help overhearing something of what you were saying, and I shall therefore give you a piece of advice. Why do you not appeal to a certain exalted and sympathetic lady who has the Sultan’s ear? If you wish I can speak a word to her on your behalf, provided Khaireddin will beg forgiveness of her for his most wounding and inconsiderate behavior.”
Khaireddin demanded wrathfully how he could have offended Khurrem. He had presented her with ten thousand ducats’ worth of ornaments and fabrics-enough surely for the most pampered and exacting woman. But Giulia shook her head with a smile.
“How stupid you men are! One of Sultana Khurrem’s gowns alone costs ten thousand ducats, and she receives ten times that amount yearly in pin money from the Sultan. Your present is neither here nor there, but she was greatly incensed at the two hundred girls you sent, as if there were not already enough of the useless creatures in the harem, without your pock-marked, squinting scarecrows! The Sultana was obliged to distribute them among the governors of remote provinces. For many years past the Sultan has had no eyes for any woman but Khurrem, so you may fancy how you have hurt her. However, I have spoken on your behalf and assured her that being an uncultured seaman you’ve not yet learned how to behave in the Seraglio.”
Khaireddin was scarlet in the face and his eyes goggled as he cried, “I put my faith in the one God! With the eye of an expert I chose each one of those girls myself; they were lovely as the virgins of Paradise and as pure-that is, generally speaking. Even the most devoted husband may weary of one wife and whet his blunted desires elsewhere, only to return to her with the greater ardor. Yet if Khurrem- sultana is really able to keep her husband’s love to herself alone, then indeed I believe in her power and I’m sure that she can help me to the three horsehair switches that have been promised me.”
“But it was Ibrahim who summoned you hither!” I exclaimed in dismay. “It would be altogether wrong for you to be indebted to Sultana Khurrem for your advancement, and I suspect in this a subtle intrigue to humiliate the Grand Vizier.”
Giulia shook her head and there were tears in her eyes as she replied, “Ah, Michael, how little you trust me, though I’ve told you a thousand times-the Sultana bears no ill will to anyone! She has promised to speak to the Sultan on Khaireddin’s behalf and is willing to receive Khaireddin from behind the curtain. Let us go at once to the Seraglio, that the Kislar-Aga may prepare a reception for Khaireddin and his senior captains-for it would be well for Khaireddin to arrive at the Seraglio with a brilliant retinue, that all may witness the favor he enjoys.”
As Khaireddin’s former slave I went with them to watch developments on the Grand Vizier’s behalf. Our arrival at the Seraglio was unpromising, for the janissaries made scornful gestures and the eunuchs turned their backs, but by the time we took our departure the news had spread. Blessings now rained upon us and the janissaries sitting by their cooking pots sprang up and cheered. It was a plain indication of the influence that Sultana Khurrem now exerted in the Seraglio.
She spoke with Khaireddin from behind the curtain and laughed her rippling laughter. But having flattered him and told him that he was the only adversary worthy of Doria, she chattered on about trivial matters, to my great relief, and ordered her slave women to serve us with fruits preserved in honey. Nevertheless she promised to speak for Khaireddin to the Sultan.
“But,” said she, “the sea pashas are irascible old men, and I would not hurt their feelings. All I can do is to tell my lord of the excellent impression I have of you, great Khaireddin. I will chide him gently for so long neglecting to give you the reward you deserve. He may reply, ‘It was the Grand Vizier’s suggestion, not mine, and the sea pashas in the Divan opposed it.’ Then I shall say, ‘Let the Grand Vizier decide! If having seen Khaireddin he is of the same mind, then bestow at once on the great man the three horsehair switches you promised him, and show him honor.’ The Grand Vizier has full powers and not even a unanimous Divan can reverse his decision.”
I could hardly believe my ears. She was renouncing in favor of the Grand Vizier all the advantages she would have gained had Khaireddin been indebted to her for his promotion. Charmed by her voice and her purling laughter I began to think that jealousy alone had inspired the Grand Vizier’s opinion of this lovely woman.
Accordingly, Khaireddin left for Aleppo, and shortly afterward Abu el-Kasim came to me and rubbing his hands together in some embarrassment he said, “Your enchanting daughter Mirmah is getting her teeth and no doubt will soon cease to suck at that opulent breast. I have a great favor to ask of you, Michael el-Hakim. Will you sell me that round-cheeked nurse and her son? for I feel old age creeping upon me and would gladly have so soft and white a pillow for my head. The boy shall be my heir.”
I was astonished, for from motives of thrift Abu el-Kasim avoided feminine society almost entirely. Nor was I sure whether I could grant his request. I said, “Giulia may not agree to this. And there is another point. I would be loath to hurt your feelings, Abu el-Kasim, but you are after all a dirty, skinny, stringy-bearded old man, while the nurse is in the flower of life. My conscience forbids me to sell her to you against her will.”
Abu el-Kasim sighed and wrung his hands and enlarged upon his passion, and when I asked how he meant to pay for the woman and her son he suggested hopefully that we might effect an exchange.
“I will give you my deaf-mute whom you’ve always coveted. That scar on your head should remind you how conscientious a watchman he is, and you will never regret the bargain.”
I burst into a fit of laughter at this idiotic proposal, until it occurred to me that he would never have made it unless he believed me the greatest simpleton Allah ever created. My laughter ceased and I replied with asperity, “Not even on the strength of our friendship should you suggest such a thing. I’m no pander and I refuse to hand over this woman to your senile lust for so paltry a return.”
Abu el-Kasim hastened to explain further.
“But I was in earnest, for my deaf-mute is a treasure of whom I alone know the value. Have you not often seen him sitting among the yellow dogs of the Seraglio and observing all that goes on? When you lived in my house you must also have noticed how queer strangers came to visit him and converse with him. He is not the fool you take him for.”
I did indeed recall a couple of powerful Negroes who sometimes sat with him in the courtyard making rapid signs to him with hands and fingers. Yet such visitors in no way enhanced the value of Abu el- Kasim’s feeble-minded slave, and again I refused sharply even to consider the matter. But Abu el-Kasim, looking about him cautiously, bent forward and whispered, “My slave is a treasure, but only in the neighborhood of the Seraglio. To take him back with me to Tunis would be to bury a diamond in a dunghill. He is as faithful to me as a dog because I’m the only man in the world who has shown him kindness, but you too would gain his devotion by a friendly word or two and a pat on the shoulder. Now you must often have seen three deaf-mutes pacing through the courts of the Seraglio. Their clothes are blood red, and over their shoulders they wear silken nooses of different colors. No one looks them in the face, for their striking dress gives passers-by enough to think about. There are seven in all, and when on duty they walk about in threes. They bring a silent death and even the most exalted pashas tremble at their blood-red clothes and dragging footsteps. Being deaf-mutes they cannot utter a
word about their work, but such men can converse among themselves in a language understood by deaf-mutes in all lands. My slave is on good terms with these fellows and they chatter together in sign language to an extent altogether unsuspected by the Sultan. I have taken pains to learn their signs and have acquired much terrible knowledge, though in my position I can make no use of it. But you have won to a high position and the day may soon come when knowledge of what the deaf-mutes say to one another may be of inestimable value.”
I had noticed certain incidents that bore out what he said, yet I still did not fully appreciate his offer, for the deaf-mute inspired me only with repugnance. Nevertheless a quite unexpected impulse of generosity caused me to answer, to my own surprise, “You’re my friend, Abu el-Kasim, and a man of my rank and standing should show liberality to his friends. Take the Russian, if she consents to go with you, and her son too; you shall have them as a present from me, in the name of the Compassionate. And I will take care of your slave. He shall sleep in the porter’s hut or under the boathouse, but had better keep out of sight during the day. The less Giulia sees of him the better.”
“Believe me,” said the old rogue piously, “you won’t regret the bargain. But never hint the reason for it to your wife. Learn the deaf-and- dumb language secretly; if Giulia seems inquisitive, blame me and say I persuaded you into this foolish bargain when you were in your cups. This she will readily believe.”
In the course of the winter Khaireddin returned from Aleppo, much shaken by his long ride. Ibrahim had received him with all honor, confirmed his appointment as beylerbey in Algeria and other African countries, and decreed that he should take precedence before all governors of similar standing. This alone was a high honor and carried with it membership in the Divan, but the Grand Vizier also dispatched a letter to the Sultan, having first read it aloud to Khaireddin to leave him in no doubt as to where thanks were due for his promotion.
