THE TURK.
"What a beautiful long necklace, Mrs. Bunker! May I have it for
Lonicera?"
"You may play with it while you are here, Missie, if you'll take
care not to break the string, but it is too curious for you to take
home and lose. It is what they call a Turkish rosary; they say it
is made of rose-leaves reduced to a paste and squeezed ever so hard
together, and that the poor ladies that are shut up in the harems
have little or nothing to do but to run them through their fingers."
"It has a very nice smell," said Lucy, examining the dark brown beads,
which hung loosely on their string, and letting them fall one by one
through her hands, till of course that happened which she was hoping
for: she woke on a long, low sofa, in the midst of a room all carpet
and cushions, in bright colors and gorgeous patterns, curling about
with no particular meaning; and with a window of rich brass
lattice-work.
And by her side there was an odd bubbling that put her in mind of
blowing the soap-suds into a froth when preparing them for bubble
blowing; but when she looked round she saw something very unlike
the long pipes her big brother used, or the basin of soap-suds.
There was a beautifully shaped glass bottle, and into it went a
very long twisting tube, like a snake coiled on the floor, and the
other end of the serpent, instead of a head, had an amber mouth-piece
which went between a pair of lips. Lucy knew it for a hubble-bubble
or Turkish pipe, and saw that the lips were in a brown face,
with big black eyes, round which dark bluish circles were drawn.
The jet-black hair was carefully braided with jewels, and over
it was thrown a purple satin sort of pelisse over a white silk
embroidered vest, tied in with a sash, striped with all manner
of colors; also immense wide white trousers, out of which peeped
a pair of brown bare feet, on which, however, were a splendid pair
of slippers curled up at the toes.
The owner seemed to be very little older than Lucy, and sat gravely
looking at her for a little while, then clapped her hands. A black
woman came, and the young Turkish maiden said, "Bring coffee for the
little Frank lady."
So a tiny table of mother-of-pearl was brought, and on it some exquisite
little striped porcelain cups, standing not in saucers, but in silver
filigree cups into which they exactly fitted. Lucy remembered her
Chinese experience, and did not venture to ask for milk or sugar, but
she found that the real Turkish coffee was so pure and delicate that
she could drink it without.
"Where are your jewels?" then asked the little hostess.
"I'm not old enough to have any."
"How old are you?"
"Nine."
"Nine! I'm only ten, and I shall be married next week---"
"Married! Oh, no, you are joking."
"Yes, I shall. Selim Bey has paid my father the dowry for me, and I
shall be taken to his house next week."
"And I suppose you like him very much."
"He looks big and tall," said the child with exultation. "I saw him
riding when I went with my mother to the Sweet Waters. 'Amina,' she
said, 'there is your lord, in the Frankish coat--with the white horse.'"
"Have you not talked to him?" asked Lucy.
"What should I do that for?" said Amina.
"Aunt Bessie used to like to talk to nobody but Uncle Frank before
they were married," replied Lucy.
"I shall talk enough when I am married," replied the little Turk.
"I shall make him give me plenty of sweetmeats, and a carriage with
two handsome bullocks, and the biggest Nubian black slave in the
market to drive me to Sweet Waters, in a thin blue veil, with all
my jewels on. Father says that Selim Bey will give me everything,
and a Frank governess. What is a governess? Is it anything like
the little gold case you have round your neck?"
"My locket with Mamma's hair? Oh, no, no," said Lucy, laughing; "a
governess is a lady to teach you."
"I don't want to learn any more," said Amina, much disgusted; "I
shall tell him I can make sweetmeats, and roll rose-leaves. What
should I learn for?"
"Should you not like to read and write?"
"Teaching is only meant for men," replied Amina. "They have got to
read the Koran, but it is all ugly letters; I won't learn to read."
"You don't know how nice it is to read stories all about different
countries," said Lucy. "Ah! I wish I was in the schoolroom, at
home, and I would show you how pleasant it is."
And Lucy seemed to have her wish all at once, for she and Amina stood
in her own schoolroom, but with no one else there. The first thing
Amina did was to scream, "Oh, what shocking windows! even men can
see in; shut them up." She rolled herself up in her veil, and Lucy
could only satisfy her by pulling down all the blinds, after which
she ventured to look about a little. "What have you to sit on?" she
asked with great disgust.
"Chairs and stools," said Lucy, laughing and showing them.
"These little tables with four legs! How can you sit on them?"
Lucy sat down and showed her. "That is not sitting," she said, and
she tried to curl herself up cross-legged.
"Our teacher always makes us write a long grammar lesson if she sees
us sitting with our legs crossed," said Lucy, laughing with much
amusement at Amina's attempts to wriggle herself up on the stool
from which she nearly fell.
"Ah, I will never have a governess!" cried Amina. "I will cry and cry,
and give Selim Bey no rest till he promises to let me alone. What a
dreadful place this is! Where can you sleep?"
"In bed, to be sure," said Lucy.
"I see no cushions to lie on."
"No; we have bedrooms, and beds there. We should not think of taking
off our clothes here."
"What should you undress for?"
"To sleep, of course."
"How horrible! We sleep in all our clothes wherever we like to lie
down. We never undress but for the bath. Do you go to the bath?"
"I have a bath every morning, when I get up, in my own room."
"Bathe at home! Then you never see your friends? We meet at the
bath, and talk and play and laugh."
"Meet bathing! No, indeed! We meet at home, and out of doors,"
said Lucy; "my friend Annie and I walk together."
"Walk together! what, in the street? Shocking! You cannot be a lady."
"Indeed I am," said Lucy, coloring up. "My papa is a gentleman. And
see how many books we have, and how much we have to learn! French, and
music, and sums, and grammar, and history, and geography."
"I WILL not be a Frank! No, no! I will not learn," said the
alarmed Amina on hearing this catalogue poured forth.
"Geography is very nice," said Lucy; "here are our maps. I will
show you where you live. This is Constantinople."
"I live at Stamboul," said Amina, scornfully.
"There is Stamboul in little letters below--look."
"That Stamboul! The Frank girl is false; Stamboul is a large, large,
beautiful place; not a little black speck. I can see it from my
lattice. White houses and mosques in the sun, and the blue Golden
Horn, with the little vessels gliding along."
Before Lucy could explain, the door opened, and one of her brothers
put in his head. At once Amina began to scream and roll herself in
the window curtain. "A man in the harem! Oh! oh! oh! Were there
no slippers at the door?" And her screaming awoke Lucy, who found
herself at her Uncle Joe's again.