Kader Abdolah - The King

When the special guards appeared on the embassy square the air became electric. Jamal Khan, still in his imam disguise, left the embassy through a back door and entered a house on a side street.

Eyn ed-Dowleh lined up his men and began to speak. ‘In the name of the shah I am asking you to leave the embassy.’

‘Ya marg, ya qanun, death or the constitution!’ cried the crowd in the garden.

‘People, listen! I do not want to use violence. I am asking you in a friendly way to leave the embassy.’

‘Ya marg, ya qanun!’ was the answer.

‘People! It is a disgrace to rise up in revolt against your own king under the flag of a foreign power. I am giving you a chance. I am letting you go unharmed.’

‘Ya marg, ya qanun!’ the crowd shouted at the ayatollahs.

Eyn ed-Dowleh fired a shot into the air and cried, ‘Everybody out of here!’

The demonstrators didn’t move.

‘Sword!’ cried Eyn ed-Dowleh. The horsemen drew their swords. ‘People! This is my final warning. Leave the embassy!’

‘Qanun! Majles! Edalat! Constitution! Parliament! Court of justice!’ shouted the crowd.

‘Attack!’ cried Eyn ed-Dowleh.

Eyn ed-Dowleh rode straight into the mass of demonstrators who were standing on the pavements. When the square in front of the embassy was empty the horsemen blocked all the side streets. Eyn ed-Dowleh turned to the demonstrators in the embassy once again: ‘I’m giving you one more chance to leave the embassy without the shedding of blood.’

‘Qanun! Qanun! Qanun!’ shouted the crowd.

He returned his sword to its sheath, seized his gun and cried, ‘In the name of the shah, I am asking you to open the gates or we’ll shoot you all down!’

‘Majles! Majles! Majles!’ shouted the crowd.

‘Stand to!’ shouted Eyn ed-Dowleh to a row of horsemen directly behind him.

He aimed his gun at the embassy. Not a sound could be heard behind the fences. The ayatollahs stood motionless on the roof and the women fell silent. Edward Granville Browne waited breathlessly at the window on the embassy’s upper floor.

‘Fire!’

A few people behind the fences fell and suddenly all hell broke loose. The gates swung open and the crowds threw themselves onto Eyn ed-Dowleh and his horsemen. The square became a scene of battle. Jamal Khan, a rifle on his back, had climbed onto the roof of one of the houses on the square. He stretched out on the edge of the roof and took aim at Eyn ed-Dowleh. The bullet hit the man’s shoulder so that his gun flew into the air and he fell from his horse. Three soldiers hurried him away.

Suddenly the soldiers found themselves under fire from every corner. They couldn’t tell where the bullets were coming from. They let their dead lie where they fell and helped remove the wounded. Now that the people had a whiff of power they moved on to the palace.

Eyn ed-Dowleh was badly wounded, so a senior officer took his place. He rode straight to the palace to make his report. Kneeling before the shah he said, ‘Your Majesty! The kingdom is in danger. We have done everything to avoid it, but an armed mob is on its way to the palace.’

‘How did they come by these weapons?’ asked the shah.

‘We haven’t any idea. Suddenly our men were being shot at from the rooftops. A couple of soldiers have been killed and dozens have been wounded, including Eyn ed-Dowleh. But many of the army’s guns have ended up in the wrong hands. I fear the demonstrators have mounted an attack on our arsenal.’

‘We’ve walked into a trap,’ the shah said. ‘My father always warned us about England’s dirty tricks.’ He ordered that a row of cannons be placed in front of the palace gates, and that the entrances to all the streets leading to the palace square be blocked.

When the officer had gone the shah called in the head of the guards. ‘Bring out our cannon!’ he ordered.

The shah put on his military uniform, slipped his revolver into his belt and waited for the vizier. He heard a horseman come into the courtyard. It was Mostovi Almamalek. The shah tried to remain impassive. ‘I assume you have achieved nothing with your negotiations.’

‘Your Majesty is right. Nothing. I come with empty hands!’

‘We knew you would. They’re traitors.’

‘Your conclusion is incorrect, Your Majesty,’ responded the vizier. ‘The shah sent me without room to negotiate because Your Majesty does not believe in negotiations. The shah wants to solve this complicated matter with violence.’

‘It does not become the vizier to speak in this fashion,’ the shah remarked.

‘Your Majesty, you have jeopardised the safety of the country.’

‘It does not become the vizier to speak in this fashion,’ said the shah more forcefully.

‘The throne is in danger. The ramifications of Eyn ed-Dowleh’s intervention are incalculable. The palace is surrounded by armed men. They are no longer ashamed of facing their own king with a gun in their hands.’

It was unusual for the shah to let his vizier speak like this without interrupting him. He poured the vizier a glass of water. ‘We understand the vizier’s difficult position. What is your advice now?’

‘I have a message from them for Your Majesty.’

‘From whom?’

‘From the leaders of the opposition.’

‘Who are they?’

‘The shah does not know these people, but they include two ayatollahs, one of whom you met during the tobacco revolt.’

‘What is his name?’

‘Ayatollah Tabatabai.’

‘And the other?’

‘Ayatollah Behbahani.’

‘Did we meet him before?’

‘I don’t think so. He is an older cleric who came to Tehran from Qom with a delegation. He is the envoy of the clerics of Qom.’

‘What is their message?’

‘They are presenting you with an ultimatum.’

‘They are too insignificant to present us with an ultimatum!’ the shah spat out.

‘They are giving you until tomorrow afternoon, until the first afternoon prayer, to agree to their demands.’

‘What are their demands?’

‘They want a constitution, a court of justice and a parliament.’

‘A parliament?’ roared the shah. ‘What do those mouldy old ayatollahs know about a parliament?’

‘Your Majesty, the whole country has risen up in revolt. I’m worried. I’m thinking about you, Your Majesty. As vizier I am convinced that our homeland needs the shah. If the shah were to fall, the unity of the country would collapse.’

‘What can we do?’ asked the shah.

‘I have a feeling that our opponents expect a gesture of reconciliation from the shah. To defuse the unrest, the shah can agree to some of their demands.’

‘But which ones?’

‘A parliament. It will take at least a year before such a parliament is created. Within that year peace will return to the country and you will have given us some room to think.’

‘A parliament? Who will represent this illiterate people in the parliament? The mullahs? What do they know about governing a country?’

‘Your Majesty, this is not the time for such a discussion.’

‘The ayatollahs are nothing but British puppets!’ shouted the shah. ‘But we have faced far greater enemies than England. All right, we authorise our vizier to discuss this subject with them.’

The shah went straight to his study, took up his pen and wrote a short note. He folded the paper, put it in an envelope and sealed it with wax. A messenger took the note to the Russian embassy.

Soon the messenger returned, accompanied by another horseman. It was a Russian official with whom the shah had exchanged ideas on many occasions. They strolled together through the garden, and after a brief discussion the shah arranged for the official to be taken back to the Russian embassy.