GÜL-BEJÁZE--THE WHITE ROSE.
The booth of Halil Patrona, the pedlar, stood in the bazaar. He sold
tobacco, chibooks, and pipe-stems, but his business was not particularly
lucrative. He did not keep opium, although that was beginning to be one
of the principal articles of luxury in the Turkish Empire. From the very
look of him one could see that he did not sell the drug. For Halil had
determined that he would never have any of this soul-benumbing stuff in
his shop, and whenever Halil made any resolution he generally kept it.
Oftentimes, sitting in the circle of his neighbours, he would fall to
discoursing on the subject, and would tell them that it was Satan who
had sent this opium stuff to play havoc among the true believers. It
was, he would insist, the offscouring of the _Jinns_, and yet Mussulmans
did not scruple to put the filth into their mouths and chew and inhale
it! Hence the ruin that was coming upon them and their posterity and the
whole Moslem race. His neighbours let him talk on without contradiction,
but they took good care to sell as much opium themselves as possible,
because it brought in by far the largest profits. Surely, they argued
among themselves, because an individual cuts his throat with a knife now
and then, that is no reason why knives in general should not be kept for
sale in shops? It was plain to them that Halil was no born trader. Yet
he was perfectly satisfied with the little profit he made, and it never
occurred to him to wish for anything he had not got.
Consequently when he now found himself the possessor of five thousand
piastres, he was very much puzzled as to what he should do with such a
large amount. The things he really desired were far, far away, quite out
of his reach in fact. He would have liked to lead fleets upon the sea
and armies marshalled in battle array. He would have liked to have built
cities and fortresses. He would have liked to have raised up and cast
down pashas, dispensed commands, and domineered generally. But a
beggarly five thousand piastres would not go very far in that direction.
It was too much from one point of view and too little from another, so
that he really was at a loss what to do with it.
His booth looked out upon that portion of the bazaar where there was a
vacant space separated from the trading booths by lofty iron railings.
This vacant space was a slave-market. Here the lowest class of slaves
were freely offered for sale. Every day Halil saw some ten to twenty of
these human chattels exhibited in front of his booth. It was no new
sight to him.
In this slave-market there were none of those pathetic scenes which
poets and romance writers are so fond of describing when, for instance,
the rich traders of Dirbend offer to the highest bidder miracles of
loveliness, to be the sport of lust and luxury, beautiful Circassian and
Georgian maidens, whose cheeks burn with shame at the bold rude gaze of
the men, and whose eyes overflow with tears when their new masters
address them. There was nothing of the sort in this place. This was but
the depository of used up, chucked aside wares, of useless Jessir, such
as dry and wrinkled old negresses, worn-out, venomous nurses, human
refuse, so to speak, to whom it was a matter of the most profound
indifference what master they were called upon to serve, who listened to
the slang of the auctioneer with absolute nonchalance as he
circumstantially totted up their years and described their qualities,
and allowed their would-be purchasers to examine their teeth and
manipulate their arms and legs as if they were the very last persons
concerned in the business on hand.
On the occasion of the first general auction that had come round after
the departure of Janaki from Halil, the pedlar was sitting as usual
before his booth in the bazaar when the public crier appeared in the
slave-market, leading by the hand a veiled female slave, and made the
following announcement in a loud voice:
"Merciful Mussulmans! Lo! I bring hither from the harem of his Majesty
the Sultan, an odalisk, who is to be put up to public auction by command
of the Padishah. The name of this odalisk is Gül-Bejáze; her age is
seventeen years, she has all her teeth, her breath is pure, her skin is
clean, her hair is thick, she can dance and sing, and do all manner of
woman's handiwork. His shall she be who makes the highest bid, and the
sum obtained is to be divided among the dervishes. Two thousand piastres
have already been promised for her; come hither and examine her--whoever
gives the most shall have her."
"Allah preserve us from the thought of purchasing this girl," observed
the wiser of the merchants, "why that would be the same thing as
purchasing the wrath of the Padishah for hard cash," and they wisely
withdrew into the interiors of their booths. They knew well enough what
was likely to happen to the man who presumed to buy an odalisk who had
been expelled from the harem of the Sultan. Anyone daring to do such a
thing might just as well chalk up the names of the four avenging angels
on the walls of his house, or trample on his talisman with his slippers
straight away. It was not the act of a wise man to pick up a flower
which the Sultan had thrown away in order to inhale its fragrance.
The public crier remained in the middle of the bazaar alone with the
slave-girl; the chapmen had not only retired into their shops but barred
the doors behind them. "Much obliged to you; but we would not accept
such a piece of good luck even as a gift," they seemed to say.
Only one man still remained in front of his shop, and that was Halil
Patrona. He alone had the courage to scrutinise the slave-girl
carefully.
Perchance he felt compassion for this slave. He could not but perceive
how the poor thing was trembling beneath the veil which covered her to
the very heels. Nothing could be seen of her but her eyes, and in those
eyes a tear was visible.
"Come! bring her into my shop!" said Halil to the public crier; "don't
leave her out in the public square there for everybody to stare at her."
"Impossible!" replied the public crier. "As I value my head I must obey
my orders, and my orders are to take her veil from off her head in the
auction-yard, where the ordinary slaves are wont to be offered for sale,
and there announce the price set upon her in the sight and hearing of
all men."
"What crime has this slave-girl committed that she should be treated so
scurvily?"
"Halil Patrona!" answered the public crier, "it will be all the better
for my tongue and your ears if I do not answer that question. I simply
do what I have been told to do. I unveil this odalisk, I proclaim what
she can do, to what use she can be put. I neither belittle her nor do I
exalt her. I advise nobody to buy her and I advise nobody not to buy
her. Allah is free to do what He will with us all, and that which has
been decreed concerning each of us ages ago must needs befall." And with
these words he whisked away the veil from the head of the odalisk.
"By the Prophet! a beauteous maid indeed! What eyes! A man might fancy
they could speak, and if one gazed at them long enough one could find
more to learn there than in all that is written in the Koran! What lips
too! I would gladly remain outside Paradise if by so doing I might gaze
upon those lips for ever. And what a pale face! Well does she deserve
the name of Gül-Bejáze! Her cheeks do indeed resemble white roses! And
one can see dewdrops upon them, as is the way with roses!--the dewdrops
from her eyes! And what must such eyes be like when they laugh? What
must that face be like when it blushes? What must that mouth be like
when it speaks, when it sighs, when it trembles with sweet desire?"
Halil Patrona was quite carried away by his enthusiasm.
"Carry her not any further," he said to the public crier, "and show her
to nobody else, for nobody else would dare to buy her. Besides, I'll
give you for her a sum which nobody else would think of offering, I will
give five thousand piastres."
"Be it so!" said the crier, veiling the maid anew; "you have seen her,
anyhow, bring your money and take the girl!"
Halil went in for his purse, handed it over to the crier (it held the
exact amount to a penny), and took the odalisk by the hand--there she
stood alone with him.
Halil Patrona now lost not a moment in locking up his shop, and taking
the odalisk by the hand led her away with him to his poor lonely
dwelling-place.
All the way thither the girl never uttered a word.
On reaching the house Halil made the girl sit down by the hearth, and
then addressed her in a tender, kindly voice.
"Here is my house, whatever you see in it is mine and yours. The whole
lot is not very much it is true, but it is all our own. You will find no
ornaments or frankincense in my house, but you can go in and out of it
as you please without asking anybody's leave. Here are two piastres,
provide therewith a dinner for us both."
The worthy Mussulman then returned to the bazaar, leaving the girl alone
in the house. He did not return home till the evening.
Meanwhile Gül-Bejáze had made the two piastres go as far as they could,
and had supper all ready for him. She placed Halil's dish on the
reed-mat close beside him, but she herself sat down on the threshold.
"Not there, but come and sit down by my side," said Halil, and seizing
the trembling hand of the odalisk, he made her sit down beside him on
the cushion, piled up the pilaf before her, and invited her with kind
and encouraging words to fall to. The odalisk obeyed him. Not a word had
she yet spoken, but when she had finished eating, she turned towards
Halil and murmured in a scarce audible voice,
"For six days I have eaten nought."
"What!" exclaimed Halil in amazement, "six days! Horrible! And who was
it, pray, that compelled you to endure such torture?"
"It was my own doing, for I wanted to die."
Halil shook his head gravely.
"So young, and yet to desire death! And do you still want to die, eh?"
"Your own eyes can tell you that I do not."
Halil had taken a great fancy to the girl. He had never before known
what it was to love any human being; but now as he sat there face to
face with the girl, whose dark eyelashes cast shadows upon her pale
cheeks, and regarded her melancholy, irresponsive features, he fancied
he saw a peri before him, and felt a new man awakening within him
beneath this strange charm.
Halil could never remember the time when his heart had actually throbbed
for joy, but now that he was sitting down by the side of this beautiful
maid it really began to beat furiously. Ah! how truly sang the poet when
he said: "Two worlds there are, one beneath the sun and the other in the
heart of a maid."
For a long time he gazed rapturously on the beauteous slave, admiring in
turn her fair countenance, her voluptuous bosom, and her houri-like
figure. How lovely, how divinely lovely it all was! And then he
bethought him that all this loveliness was his own; that he was the
master, the possessor of this girl, at whose command she would fall upon
his bosom, envelop him with the pavilion, dark as night, of her flowing
tresses, and embrace him with arms of soft velvet. Ah! and those lips
were not only red but sweet; and that breast was not only snow-white
but throbbing and ardent--and at the thought his brain began to swim for
joy and rapture.
And yet he did not even know what to call her! He had never had a
slave-girl before, and hardly knew how to address her. His own tongue
was not wont to employ tender, caressing words; he knew not what to say
to a woman to make her love him.
"Gül-Bejáze!" he murmured hoarsely.
"I await your commands, my master!"
"My name is Halil--call me so!"
"Halil, I await your commands!"
"Say nothing about commanding. Sit down beside me here! Come, sit
closer, I say!"
The girl sat down beside him. She was quite close to him now.
But the worst of it was that, even now, Halil had not the remotest idea
what to say to her.
The maid was sad and apathetic, she did not weep as slave-girls are wont
to do. Halil would so much have liked the girl to talk and tell him her
history, and the cause of her melancholy, then perhaps it would have
been easier for him to talk too. He would then have been able to have
consoled her, and after consolation would have come love.
"Tell me, Gül-Bejáze!" said he, "how was it that the Sultan had you
offered for sale in the bazaar."
The girl looked at Halil with those large black eyes of hers. When she
raised her long black lashes it was as though he gazed into a night lit
up by two black suns, and thus she continued gazing at him for a long
time fixedly and sadly.
"That also you will learn to know, Halil," she murmured.
And Halil felt his heart grow hotter and hotter the nearer he drew to
this burning, kindling flame; his eyes flashed sparks at the sight of so
much beauty, he seized the girl's hand and pressed it to his lips. How
cold that hand was! All the more reason for warming it on his lips and
on his bosom; but, for all his caressing, the little hand remained cold,
as cold as the hand of a corpse.
Surely that throbbing breast, those provocative lips, are not as cold?
Halil, intoxicated with passion, embraced the girl, and as he drew her
to his breast, as he pressed her to him, the girl murmured to
herself--it sounded like a gentle long-drawn-out sigh:
"Blessed Mary!"
And then the girl's long black hair streamed over her face, and when
Halil smoothed it aside from the fair countenance to see if it had not
grown redder beneath his embrace--behold! it was whiter than ever. All
trace of life had fled from it, the eyes were cast down, the lips
closed and bluish. Dead, dead--a corpse lay before him!
But Halil would not believe it. He fancied that the girl was only
pretending. He put his hand on her fair bosom--but he could not hear the
beating of the heart. The girl had lost all sense of feeling. He could
have done with her what he would. A dead body lay in his bosom.
An ice-cold feeling of horror penetrated Halil's heart, altogether
extinguishing the burning flame of passion. All tremulously he released
the girl and laid her down. Then he whispered full of fear:
"Awake! I will not hurt you, I will not hurt you."
Her light kaftan had glided down from her bosom; he restored it to its
place and, awe-struck, he continued gazing at the features of the lovely
corpse.
After a few moments the girl opened her lips and sighed heavily, and
presently her large black eyes also opened once more, her lips resumed
their former deep red hue, her eyes their enchanting radiance, her face
the delicate freshness of a white rose, once more her bosom began to
rise and fall.
She arose from the carpet on which Halil had laid her, and set to work
removing and re-arranging the scattered dishes and platters. Only after
a few moments had elapsed did she whisper to Halil, who could not
restrain his astonishment:
"And now you know why the Padishah ordered me to be sold like a common
slave in the bazaar. The instant a man embraces me I become as dead, and
remain so until he lets me go again, and his lips grow cold upon mine
and his heart abhors me. My name is not Gül-Bejáze, the White Rose, but
Gül-Olü, the Dead Rose."