At this Giulia lost all patience; she tore the veil from her face and stamped upon it, crimson with fury, as she cried, “Sinan the Jew, you’re a spiteful man and I won’t endure your insolence. Look me in the eyes if you dare, and see something you have never seen before!”
Sinan the Jew bent forward and stared, so that his one eye almost started from its socket. His jaw dropped, revealing his rotten teeth, and he gazed unwinkingly into Giulia’s eyes until at last he hid his face in his hands and cried hoarsely, “Is she a specter, a witch, a jinni? Or am I dreaming? For her eyes are of different colors: the one blue and sinister, the other brown and false.”
Torgut seemed put out at his words but defended himself stubbornly, saying, “Your eyes do not deceive you. Did I not say that I had brought you a treasure whose like had never before been seen? One eye is a sapphire and the other a topaz, and her teeth are faultless pearls.”
“Did you say a treasure?” exclaimed Sinan incredulously. “What wonder that you lost one of your good ships, for this girl if anyone has the evil eye, and I tremble at the very thought of the misfortune you may have brought upon my house. Allah! The costly rosewater
I must sacrifice to purify the floor and the doorposts! And you call her a treasure!”
When Torgut saw his last hope vanishing, his lips trembled and his eyes moistened as he said resolutely, “So be it. I will put out one of her eyes, and no one can then be offended, though I doubt whether I shall get a good price for a one-eyed woman.”
My anxiety for Giulia was keener than ever, but at that instant I had what seemed to me an inspiration. I stepped forward boldly and having obtained permission to speak, I said, “Bismillah-irrahman-irrahim. I have often heard it said that nothing happens contrary to the will of Allah, and that all is predestined. Why then do you so stubbornly oppose his will? for he clearly intended that Captain Torgut should bring all three of us before you. Therefore instead of putting out her eye, you should seek the hidden meaning in her coming.”
These words made a deep impression on Sinan. He stroked his thin beard slowly and reflectively, but found it unbefitting his dignity to reply. After a while he ordered the holy book to be brought. It was a large volume, ornamented with gold and silver, and it lay open on an ebony stand so that he could turn the pages without altering his position. Having bent his head and murmured a few verses, he said, “I will follow the guidance of the holy book.” He drew out of it a long gold pin which he handed to Giulia. “Unbeliever though you are, take this golden pin and thrust it between the pages, and I will read the lines to which it points. May those lines be my guide, and determine the fate of you and your companions. I take you all to witness that I will submit to the judgment of Allah, the Almighty.”
Giulia held the pin as if she would rather have driven it into Sinan’s body, but she obeyed and thrust it defiantly and at random between the leaves of the Koran. Sinan opened the volume reverently, read the passage indicated by the needle’s point, and exclaimed in wonder, “Allah indeed is great, and marvelous are his ways. This is the sixth sura, called Alanam-cattle-which is plain enough, for what are you three slaves but cattle? The needle stopped at the seventy-first verse, which reads:
“ ‘Say, shall we call upon that, besides God, which can neither profit nor hurt us? and shall we turn back on our heels, after that God hath directed us; like him whom the devils have infatuated, wandering amazedly in the earth, and yet having companions who call him to the true direction, saying “Come unto us”? Say, the direction of God is the true direction: we are commanded to resign ourselves unto the Lord of all creatures.’“
He looked up amazed, and surveyed Giulia, Andy, and myself in turn. Torgut too was impressed and said, “Truly Allah is Allah and I made no error in bringing this girl to your house.”
I cannot say whether Sinan the Jew was really pleased with the Koran’s decree, but he said, “I take back all I said in my foolishness. Who am I to doubt the judgment of Allah? Yet I cannot tell what to do with these slaves. I’ll take them, Torgut, but only at a fair price. In the presence of witnesses I will give you thirty-six ducats which, with the horse you’ve already had from me, is a good sum for these useless, ignorant creatures.”
But Torgut was incensed, and cried, “Cursed be you, Sinan the Jew, for seeking to swindle me! The girl is almost a virgin, the gray-eyed Frank is a powerful fellow, and the third has the same name as the angel who rules the night and the day. Furthermore he is a skilled physician and a learned man, speaking all the Frankish languages, and Latin, too. Ten times that sum would leave me the poorer, and I should never even consider so bad a bargain were you not my father and my friend.”
Sinan the Jew became annoyed in his turn, and said, “The sun has dried your brains. A moment ago you were ready to kill the girl, or at least to put out one of her eyes; now you exaggerate her nonexistent charms in order to rob me. If you reject a fair offer, sell these slaves in the open market, and I’m ready to make the highest bid, so long as you swear by the Koran not to bribe anyone to force up the price.”
Torgut scowled.
“As if anyone in the bazaar would dare to outbid you! And you would certainly spread slander about these wretched slaves and so lower their price. The Koran has revealed their true value to you, and I submit to its ruling, though I lose by it. Was it not the seventy-first verse of the sixth sura? Together that amounts to seventy-seven gold ducats-an auspicious number which in itself emphasizes Allah’s intention. Or would you prefer us to add the numerical values of the letters?”
By this time Sinan was tearing his beard, and now he cried out, “No, no-perish the thought! It would be waste of time, as not even scholars are agreed on those values. In any case there was no mention of gold in the sura.”
“It is unbecoming in you to struggle against the will of Allah. Were I a more learned man I could point out plenty of characters signifying gold; but it is enough for me that the Koran is more precious than gold and that each letter contains ten benedictions. Therefore let us dispute no longer. I will be content with seventy-seven gold ducats.”
The end of it was that Sinan the Jew counted out the ducats, sent Giulia to the harem, and ordered Andy and me out of his sight. We returned to the outer court, where huge dishes of mutton and rice cooked in fat had been brought out for Torgut’s men. These had squatted down in order of rank round the dishes, and were picking morsels of meat from them, and pressing the rice into neat balls which they put in their mouths. But the slaves and prisoners had gathered behind them, and with famished looks followed every mouthful as it disappeared. The sight depressed me very much, but as we drew near Mussuf at once made room for us beside him, and offered Andy a fine piece of meat, dripping with fat. I urged Andy to accept this as a peace offering.
The food in the dish now began to dwindle rapidly, and I had difficulty in keeping up. The others, seeing Andy’s prowess, looked askance at us and called on Allah, and when the dish was empty one of the renegades remarked, “He’s no true Moslem. See what manners-to sit on his bottom and stuff his mouth with both hands!”
Andy was offended by these words, but I said to the speaker, “We have but now found the right road, and stumble along it like blind men, having no one to lead us. Explain to us the points of good behavior.”
Sinan the Jew must after all have been well disposed toward us; I cannot otherwise account for the fact that the wrinkled eunuch appeared in the courtyard in response to Andy’s roars for more to eat, and ordered the servants to refill our dishes. I bade Andy hold his tongue while the Moslems taught us proper table manners and good behavior. Delightedly and all talking at once they began their instruction. We must always wash our hands before eating, they said, and bless the food in the name of Allah. We must sit cross legged before the dish, on the left haunch, using only three fingers of the right hand to take food. No knife was to be used, as all was cut beforehand into pieces of suitable size, and no more was to be put in the mouth than it would comfortably hold. The rice was to be kneaded together in small lumps, and not shoveled into the mouth like porridge. A well- bred man did not stare at his companions but looked straight before him and was content with what he had. Finally they recited a phrase or two from the Koran and said, “Ye who believe, eat the good things which God hath given you, and offer your thanks to Him.”