needed help in displaying my talents, though I was well able to read Arabic texts. On the recommendation of the noble Kislar-Aga, an exception had been made in my favor and I was to be allowed to answer the examiners through an interpreter.
It was of course most gratifying to hear the high opinion the learned doctor had formed of my attainments after so short a conversation. The
Several times in the course of the examination the
Immediately after the morning prayer the eunuchs led me back to Sultana Khurrem’s pavilion, and the gleaming copper gates seemed as familiar to me as if I had been a daily visitor to the forbidden gardens. Prince Jehangir lay in a deep sleep on his bed beside the monkey’s cage, and his plain little face bore traces of tears. The dog lay with his head across the boy’s legs and wagged his tail in greeting as I approached.
But Koko had had a hemorrhage during the night, and her little heart was so worn out with fever that she had barely strength to hold my finger. A faint moan came, then a convulsion, and she was dead. What should I have done now, I reflected, if little Jehangir had been my own son? First I dressed the dead monkey in its fine clothes, drew the bedcover over it and carried it, bed and all, out into the garden. The eunuchs kept close beside me. I ordered an old gardener who was working there to dig a grave at the foot of the big plane tree. He obeyed, and having laid my burden in it I filled the hole, raised a little mound above it and told the gardener to plant a flowering shrub there before Prince Jehangir awoke. I then returned to the Prince’s room and sat cross legged on the floor beside his bed. Only once did the Sultana appear in the doorway, signing to the eunuchs to let Prince Jehangir have his sleep out. I sat immersed in thought until my legs grew numb and time began to drag interminably. But Prince Jehangir, having been awake until very late the night before, was exhausted with grief and slept long and soundly, to the delight of his servants.
He awoke about noon, and as he rubbed his eyes with his thin hands the dog with wagging tail crept up to lick his fingers. A faint smile overspread the boy’s face. Then he started and looked toward the cage, to find it empty. His face twisted, and fearing another outbreak of weeping I said hastily, “Noble Prince Jehangir, you’re the Sultan’s son. Face like a man that One who severs the bonds of friendship forever, for gentle death has freed your friend the monkey from pain and fever. Think of Koko as setting forth now upon a journey to a far country. Just as we have a Paradise, so I think have little monkeys and faithful dogs-a Paradise with rippling water brooks.”
Prince Jehangir in his sorrow listened to my words as to a beautiful story, and pressed Rael to his breast. I went on, “My dog was a good playfellow for your monkey, and though today you’ve lost one friend you have gained another. I think Rael will serve you well, though just at first, like the faithful beast he is, he may miss me.”
While I was speaking Prince Jehangir allowed himself to be washed and dressed, after which the servants brought in many delicate dishes and set them before him. He refused to eat, and the slave girls were beginning to weep for fear when I said to him, “You must feed your new friend and eat with him, that he may know you for his master.”
The pampered Prince looked at me suspiciously, but I began at once to hand him such morsels as I knew my dog would like. The boy obediently bit a piece from each and gave the rest to Rael, and Rael understood that from now on he would be fed by Prince Jehangir instead of me. He looked at me in wonder, but ate avidly of the good food; and if the truth must be told I tasted a few of the dishes myself, for they were indeed excellent and I was hungry. So Prince Jehangir, Rael, and I shared that meal, while the slave women laughed and clapped their hands, blessing me in the name of Allah because the Prince wept no longer and ate like a man.
When we had finished he put his hand trustfully into mine and I took him into the garden to show him the monkey’s grave at the foot of the plane tree. The gardener had planted an early-flowering cherry on the mound, and though Prince Jehangir understood little of graves and death he beheld the tree with delight. Then to divert his thoughts I showed him how to throw a stick for Rael to fetch and lay at his feet, how to make Rael walk on his hind legs, or guard anything that the Prince had dropped. In his wonder at Rael’s intelligence Prince Jehangir forgot his grief and even laughed now and again, though timidly.
His ill-shapen body soon wearied, and when I had taken him back to the pavilion I felt it best to go. I kissed his hand when I took my leave of him, and bade my dog farewell, charging him to protect his new master as faithfully as he had protected and guarded me in years gone by. With head and tail drooping Rael stood obediently beside Prince Jehangir, gazing after me with longing. When I had come out into the garden I could no longer restrain my tears, though I told myself that I could not have found a better master for my dog. His life under Giulia’s iron rule had become unendurable.
The eunuchs led me to the Kislar-Aga’s door, where I had to wait some hours before he was pleased to receive me. He sat fat and flabby on his cushion, having kicked off his slippers, and with his chin on his hand he scrutinized me closely for a long time without uttering a word. Then he addressed me quite cordially, saying, “You’re a riddle to me. You’re either sincere in your simplicity, or else a very dangerous and guileful man whose intrigues I cannot fathom, accustomed though I am to every sort of roguery. They tell me you’ve won Prince Jehangir’s friendship by giving him your dog, that you’ve asked nothing in return and stayed no longer in the Sultana’s pavilion than was necessary, though by delaying you might have claimed princely gifts. I also hear that the Sultana was much pleased at the way in which you took her hint and poisoned that dirty monkey. But in speaking a good word on your behalf to the Sultan I might harm myself by commending a man whose aims are mischievous. Then again, if I speak ill of you, as I should like to do, I might offend the Sultan, because he pities Prince Jehangir for his deformity and thinks only of his welfare. But some reward I can obtain for you, for it would be most unbecoming for a slave to serve the Sultan unrecompensed.”
He gazed abstractedly at the ceiling, rubbing his soft, hairless chin, and went on, “You will of course realize that the value of your reward depends entirely on my favor, since the Sultan has faith in my discretion. I’ve made inquiries about you, and know that since arriving in Istanbul you’ve lived a regular life, performed all your religious duties, and not sought to form secret connections with Christians. Yet all this may have been cunning on your part. You have been watched at your work at the Cartographer’s Office, and no one has caught you copying secret documents. But if I tell the Sultan that you earn twelve aspers a day your reward will be proportionate, and cannot exceed two hundred aspers. If I speak in your favor and praise your talents, and in every way emphasize that through some mistake you’ve been given far too low an appointment, you may receive a fistful of gold and the opportunity to display your capabilities in some other field. You’re therefore entirely dependent on my favor, and without me are worth no more than dung in the yard.”
“I well understand this, of course,” I replied, “but I’ve already promised Dr. Solomon half of whatever I receive. I hope that you’ll be good enough to accept a quarter, so that something may be left for me. It would be a little hard if my trouble proved my only reward.”
The Kislar-Aga stroked his chin and looked at me with his head on one side.
“The Seraglio is a strange garden,” he said, “where a seed sown in secret may put forth unexpected flowers. There’s no one so lowly but that chance, under Allah, may raise him to a lofty position. For the same reason death reaps a bounteous harvest in the Seraglio, and should a man be compelled to chastize another he would be wise to do it with noose or block, lest one day he find his victim placed in authority over him. If I allow you to live I must make a friend of you, so that your advancement may profit me. And to speak truly I am so amazed at your candor that with equal honesty I will do what I can for you.”
I perceived from this that I had indeed won the favor of Prince Jehangir and his mother, so that for the time being my life was safe. Nevertheless, the good will of the exalted Kislar-Aga would also be of the greatest value to me. I said, “Let me be your friend, then, and first of all point out certain things which may be useful to you. If you’ve made inquiries about me, you must know that my wife has eyes of different colors and can therefore gaze into the future. Only allow her to display her talents before you, and as a shrewd man you will at once perceive the
