Mika Waltari - The Wanderer

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.

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.”