Romance of a Harem

Chapter VI

For a whole week the palace of Keurfesse resounded with cries, tears and oaths of vengeance from the women of the harem. They found themselves very uncomfortable, for the place was only furnished after the Turkish ideas, and they much missed all the luxury of Choubra.

Accustomed as they were to soft rich carpets, here the floors were covered with matting the colour of ripe wheat, and the sofas miserably furnished in faded cretonnes, and thin white curtains to the windows. Their teeth chattered with cold, and they rolled themselves up in woollen coverings, walking up and down the large corridors to try to keep warm. Also they suffered a good deal from the change of climate.

The eunuchs superintended the installation with a sad air, employing Armenian servants. They, being new, offered at least some slight distraction to the women, who amused themselves watching them.

These servants are generally fine men, and in rich households are magnificently dressed in embroidered garments, with beautiful cashmere shawls round their waists. Round their necks, which are bare, are massive silver chains, to which are attached watches in several tortoise-shell cases. It is a fine sight to see them enter the harem with large dishes on their heads, with high metal coverings, and a purple silk cloth thrown over the whole. As they walk in in single file, they have the appearance of gigantic poppies.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

The Prince had in his service the inevitable Miss, who taught French and English to the children and those of the slaves who merited this distinction. I was one of these, and Miss B- owned that I was intelligent, but intractable. Nevertheless I profited considerably from her lessons.

I was never far from the Prince, and from the first moment attached myself to his footsteps, always ready to hand him cigarettes, and offering to run on commissions for him. If I were absent long, he invariably sent for me, making me sit beside him on the sofa, and taking my face between his hands he would kiss me and wind my long yellow hair round his neck.

"Where have you been, my child?" he would say gently. "Some day some brigand will steal you when you go through the bazaars and are out of sight of the slaves."

"Never," I answered, "for everyone knows me and loves me, and they like me to please you, for they know that later I shall be your wife, and you will be King of Egypt."

He smiled gently and patted my head with his slender fingers, whilst I could not take my eyes off him - the eyes already of a woman who loves.

Nevertheless that insatiable desire for wandering was strong in me, and, followed at a distance by a slave, I visited the harems of all the great personages; and having a reputation for being amusing and pleasant, I was welcomed everywhere. Sometimes I danced for the poor boatmen, and on leaving them, I would enter the harem of Cheik ul Islam, and pray with the fanatical old ladies who read the Koran without understanding it. During the Ramazan I would break the fast, sometimes with an aide-de-camp of His Majesty, sometimes with the wife of a poverty-stricken fisherman. Or I followed the funeral of a Greek who was being carried to the grave with an uncovered face; or guided by Cocona Elenco, I would go with her and drink the water of a sacred spring of the Blessed Virgin. On entering the palace I would glide into the priest's chamber and await the hour for the summoning of prayer. How beautiful he was, that singing priest, with his Indian muslin turban, white as the snow in the mountains! He was an Arab from Hedjaz, of pure race, and on seeing him pass, the women looking at him through the gratings would become pale with emotion. When, wrapped in his white linen cloak and wearing a black caftan, he walked along the front of the palace chanting "Allah u Ekber," and calling the faithful to prayer, there was an absolute silence; for Mussulmen and Christians alike were moved by that voice, for its sweetness and caressing charm surpassed all other music. The Prince himself would forget his dreamings and listen with delight, and would say to those near him, "Ah! if the celebrated Patti had heard Mollah Izzedin, she would understand what a human voice really was, and would never sing another note herself."

Being on terms of great intimacy with the Minister of War and his harem, I came back one day with the present of a small carbine, and I asked the Prince that I might be taught how to use it. He sent me up to the top of a neighbouring hill, under the charge of an aïvasse and two eunuchs. There I found Demir Aga Couroudje, the agent of the property, sitting on a carpet. Demir Aga was a hero who had been in many engagements, having originally been a leader of a band of brigands, and bore in his body several bullets, and many a wound on his face. Demir Aga had very magnificent manners, and was fond of recounting interminable stories of his father's doings, who had been a Greek by birth. He himself had become a Mussulman in his youth, and the only custom he had retained of a Greek brigand was the relieving of passers-by of their purses. But since he had entered the service of the Prince, he contented himself with guarding the property instead of attacking.

To reach him we were obliged to follow a long path edged with cypresses, and the eunuchs became much alarmed.

"Ela Hanem, our lamb," they said trembling, "what will become of us if this brigand should become angry?"

"I have no fear, my lions," I answered, "you will see he will receive us well."

As a point of fact with a certain dignity he told the eunuchs to tell the Prince that he would carefully watch over the child. "On my head, I will be answerable for her," he added.

Nevertheless they were ill at ease, and hurried back down the hill, having made him innumerable profound bows.

"My child," said the old hero, fixing me with his eagle eye, "you have beautiful golden hair, and velvety eyes."

 I sat down close to him on the carpet, on which were laid out symmetrically, on his right, his pipe, his arms and various necessaries, whilst on his left on the turf were his shoes. A magnificent umbrella pine shadowed us, and all round us were still larger trees, which somewhat softened the rays of the sun.

The Bosphorus lay stretched out at the foot of the hill, and I watched the old man, who recounted to me a long story, to which I fear I did not listen much. He passed his hand over his eyes, murmuring "Machallah"; and evening came slowly, covering the ground with its long shadows, and the grey wings of the little bats fluttered in the mystery and silence of the growing night.

The old man had a tender heart, and seeing that I was saddened, he spread a napkin over my knees, and opening a covered dish, he took a dolma and put it in my mouth, and then with little bits of bread gently wiped the oil from the corners of my lips, saying: "You see how you please my soul since I gave you becquee with my own hand. Don't cry, little one, do as the birds do over our heads, cover yourself and sleep."

He combed my hair with a six-toothed comb, and then wrapping me up in a sheep-skin laid me down on the carpet. But the stars which sparkled in the sky seemed so extraordinarily brilliant that night, that I pointed them out to the brigand. He seemed indifferent, and only answered, "My lamb, it is time to sleep." He sat near me and began singing to send me to sleep. His song was on five notes only, and was in praise of his own brilliant fighting. He had arrived at the point of describing the tenth head he had cut off, when I said to him, "My father, I am asleep."

When the sun was up, I awoke and found before me, laid out on a fig leaf, a cake and three black olives, which I ate.

Then the cleansing operations took some time. First of all the carpet had to be thoroughly brushed, the stockings were washed, and the night-coverings shaken out and rolled round a piece of wood, and feet, hands, ears and nostrils, all washed whilst muttering religious sentences.

The rest of the day was spent in doing nothing and sitting still without moving. Why, indeed, agitate oneself when one has nothing to say or do. That is what is called kief.

Like the preceding night, I had to listen to the song about the heads that were cut off, one of which it seems began to move its eyes after decapitation, which offended the Aga - it was the head of a Greek - whereupon the Aga told it that if it continued to open and shut its eyes, he would cut out its tongue, and this threat had the effect of making the eyes close once and for all.

The next day I said softly to the Aga, "Sir brigand, I am beginning to be bored, please conduct me back to the Palace."

So I walked down the hill followed by the Aga, who had put on his most magnificent clothes and made a very fine appearance. On leaving him he called down on me Allah's blessing, and I kissed his hand, as is the custom to do when with those who teach you.

Romance of a Harem

Chapter V

The Prince had decided that the fête given in honour of the Khedive should take place in the division of the palace where the Vice-Queen Dowager, his mother, lived.

The widow of Méhémet Ali was still imposing and beautiful, and had the grand air of an autocratic sovereign, and Ismaël never felt quite at his ease in her presence. She was widow of the chief of the dynasty, and blamed the Khedive openly for his tyranny towards the fellahs, and warned him repeatedly of the inevitable difficulties which the disorder of his government would bring.

The day before the fête, the first lady of the household, who always arranged the functions, summoned the treasure-keepers, those who brought coffee, and chibouk-bearers, the singers and musicians and waiting-servants, and the role of each group was carefully made out according to custom. The eunuchs (important personages - for they are the sole intermediaries between the harems and outside life) walked watchfully about the apartments. They looked on at all these preparations, smiling and making fun of the airs and graces of the women. The chief of them, Billal Agha, looked carefully after the jewels, and was much exercised in his mind as to whether he ought to receive the Vice-Queen on the second or third step of the grand staircase. The fear of possible exile for his Prince inspired a new humility in this proud man. The chief eunuch of the Imperial Palace has a rank equivalent to that of a grand vizier, and all ministers are doubtful and a little afraid of his intrigues. In forty or fifty years they will no longer fear them, as there will be no more eunuchs, not even in the Sultan's court, for it is a luxury which is already beginning to pass away.

The women, ready for the part they are to play, group themselves in the apartment of the Queen Dowager. The musicians tune their instruments, whilst the leader of the orchestra, a beautiful Circassian woman aged twenty-five, tells them the names of the pieces that are to be played. The musical memory amongst Turkish women is remarkable, and they can easily reproduce any piece they have heard three or four times; but an European professor, who would teach them according to his methods, would never succeed in making anything of them, and they are best left to their primitive methods and to their natural gift. The chibouk-bearers fill the pipes with amber mouth-pieces, covered with jewels. Those that are studded with big rubies are to be presented to the Viceroy and Vice-Queens, and those with diamonds to the Princes and Princesses of the second rank.

The salvers on which were carried the long chibouks were of marvellous beauty. On each awas a representation of a garden; in the centre stood a palm-tree, round which twined a snake in emeralds and diamonds, the dates on the palm being rubies, and at the base of the palm there glittered a stream of diamonds. Amongst the treasures of the Prince there were twelve of these dishes.

Already the chibouk-bearers, according to their rank, followed each other, preceded by a eunuch who made a way through the crowd of slaves. The coffee-bearers arranged their silk cloths embroidered with pearls and gold and diamond dust, and their gold trays thickly studded with sapphires. Each cup placed on one of these trays must be carried a distance of at least thirty paces without spilling a drop.

The dancers bent themselves backwards as low as possible, giving their whole bodies a little tremulous movement. All the jewels of the treasury were scattered over them, and they looked like living flowers.

The singing women were silent, with the idea of strengthening their contralto voices. They were dressed in pure white, shot with silver thread, and on their bare necks wore strings of fine pearls. Over their hair they had white tarlatan veils embroidered with jasmine.

One by one the great silver palm-trees were lit up, and at the base of the white marble columns one could see the pious slaves at prayer on their orange velvet carpets. The immense fountain gave a gentle murmur with the water that flowed into it from mouths of marble lions and strings of amber chained silver goblets to the jaws of the lions, where young slaves came and drank furtively, looking with large eyes at their own reflection in the fountain. A long day passed in the bath having given a new freshness to their satin skins; and their eyes, carefully enlarged with rastec and sarmé, sparkled with extraordinary brightness. The fear of making some slight error in presenting the coffee to the princes, made them tremble slightly.

Suddenly a eunuch passed close to them crying "Destour!" "Destour!" ("attention"), and then twenty or thirty eunuchs followed running and uttering the same cry, and the slaves drew themselves up in line, with their arms crossed on their breasts.

The sais, the runners of the Vice-Queens, stopped abruptly at the foot of the grand staircase, their resin torches covering the façade of the palace with a purple glow. One heard the noise of their heavy breathing, and one of them, with his mouth open, with mad eyes and convulsed face, fell fainting; he was quickly carried away, and a stain of blood was on the floor.

Crushed with the weight of their jewels, the Vice-Queens, supported by the eunuchs, made their entry into the Salle des Fêtes. The first twelve women were wearing the finest jewels of the treasury, and wore high white satin boots, each button of which was a large single diamond - a detail when being later reported to the Sultan, he decided to increase the taxation he had already imposed on the Viceroy of Egypt.

Ismaël escorted by the princes then came, and the women's orchestra received him with a beautifully played piece, followed by the songs of the Arab and Turkish singers.

Dinner was announced by twenty-four young women with gold-embroidered napkins on their arms, and served French fashion. On the table were massive gold centre-pieces set with jewels, and the slaves, with their long hair down their backs and bare shoulders served the feast.

Prince Halim, who was decidedly a gourmet, had a famous French chef called Bernard, who on this occasion surpassed himself. Everything was perfectly carried out, and dinner was prolonged slightly beyond the limits prescribed by etiquette.

The illuminations in the gardens of Choubra for a short time amused the Khedive, who showed considerable impatience to see a young Circassian dancing-girl called Cehere, whom it was said Prince Halim had recently bought.

She was to dance for the first time, and though she was not exactly pretty she had a great charm about her. She had many hopes of pleasing the Khedive, and thought that if this were so, her master would offer her as a present to Ismaël. She entered the Salle du Divan in charge of a eunuch, who pointed out to her the Khedive, the princes and princesses who were in the centre of a brilliant circle. She stood still, apparently both agitated and nervous for a moment, and everyone looked at her with considerable curiosity, her breast rising and falling tumultuously, making the sequins and jewels with which she was covered sparkle in the light. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and shaking her shoulders, she advanced with the undulating movement of a snake to the very feet of the Khedive, and throwing her body backwards with wonderful grace, she inundated the carpet with her beautiful hair, which floated out and sank round her like a shadow.

Ismaël let fall the ashes of his cigar into the silver cup, and looking fixedly at the dancer, said to her, "Afferim kez" ("brave girl"), which surprised everyone.

She raised herself slowly and danced gradually further away with wonderful undulations, sometimes letting her head rest on her shoulder, and with gestures that seemed to say "Come - follow me!"

Suddenly she stopped, and with a quick movement of her castanets, she fled with all the lightness of a gazelle. In an instant she was back again, dancing feverishly with an ever increasing movement, which had a great effect on hhea onlooking princes, who all, as a sign of admiration, drew their fezes lower over their eyes.

But what was fated was bound to happen, and the truth is that Cehere - who was exerting herself to her best that she might be given as a present to the Khedive - was, at the same time, examining her master, Prince Halim, with curiosity, whom till this moment she had never seen; and, with the real Circassian temperament, she instantly changed her mind, and was quite convinced that she had fallen madly in love with him. These sudden passions, which are not uncommon amongst Turkish women, often change their ambitious dreams into quite modest realities. It was otherwise with Cehere, who was unable to realise her passionate caprice, for she had captivated the Khedive, and the Prince begged him to accept her; and being hastily covered with a blue silk haick, was taken off to the Khedive's palace.

The dancer thus given over to the service of the Khedive, took from the moment of her entry into the harem her turn of night duty. But she swore to herself that she would resist as much as possible this man whom she did not love, little thinking that unconsciously she was deciding the exile of the Prince for whom she had conceived so great a passion.

To the first questions put to her by Ismaël, who was inspired by a great fancy for her, she answered that she could never love any other man than Prince Halim.

This annoyed the Khedive, and this jealousy, added to a good many former ones, resulted in a thousand vexatious acts against the Prince, to which one day he answered by a letter which has since become famous.

The next day he was forced to quit Choubra and become an exile, leaving behind him his mother, his children, and their mothers, and a legitimate wife to whom he was devoted.

Ismaël behaved infamously to those poor women, who in their misery only wished to die. He gave orders that the bare necessaries of life should be denied them. The mother of the Prince died, killed more by sorrow than privations, and before death prophesied the future exile of the persecutor of her son.

On disembarking at Constantinople the Prince installed himself in a house at Stamboul, which house, thanks to the persistent anger of the Khedive, took fire. But the Prince and his suite escaped this third generous attempt of Ismaël. They were then obliged to seek a palace big enough to lodge the Egyptian Prince, and that of Keurfesse was chosen.

The impossibility of ruining the Prince made the Khedive a little more reasonable, and by degrees things arranged themselves in Egypt. A soi-disant polish Prince, a spy in the pay of Ismaël, attached to the person of Prince Halim, persuaded him that it were better to renounce all idea of returning to. Cairo, and to accept an income of sixty thousand pounds a year which Egypt agreed to pay.

The loss of his Choubra property was the most cruel blow to the Prince, and he hesitated for a long time in accepting the proposition. At last the Khedive had the pleasure of seeing the affair terminate in the way he wished, and he presented the Pole with one hundred and twenty thousand pounds as backseesh.

A crowd of slaves and mamelukes therefore left Choubra, some of them joining their master in his palace in Stamboul, and others going to establish themselves in a palace in Cairo, inhabited by a divorced wife of the Prince, but for whom he still kept up an establishment.

When the royal yacht which brought the eldest daughter of the Prince, followed by all those who had the happiness to share the exile of their master, dropped anchor in the little gulf, the band on board played the Egyptian March, which brought tears to the eyes of the master and the slaves.

The unhappy Princess, whose beauty, elegance, and generosity were proverbial throughout Egypt, notwithstanding her great pride, could not play the part of a sovereign on leaving the ship, and cried like the humblest fellahine.

This disembarkation of the entire harem and the immense cases containing the clothes and treasures was a curious sight; it lasted three days.

Romance of a Harem

Chapter IV

"What does Your Highness think of doing with his conquest from the bitter waves?" asked an old French gentleman, with the manners and appearance of a grand seigneur.

"You know what are my plans," answered the Prince. "The Armenians who found the child believe her to be English, and I shall leave her absolutely free till she is twenty-one. At that time, she shall choose for herself her manner of life and religion. Till then she will be in the harem, whence she can go out at her pleasure. I wish her to be free, strong, vigorous and independent."

"It is exile that gives you such republican ideas, Monseigneur," said the old Frenchman, smiling. 

The Prince looked towards the Bosphorus, and shaking the ashes of his cigar into a silver cup placed by him on the sofa, said simply, "I hope to survive the pain of leaving Egypt and Choubra."

His cruel exile had already lasted six months, and suddenly losing all hope of its ceasing, the Prince was trying to create for himself a new existence. When he received at Cairo the imperative order or obey. He was the youngest son of Méhémet Ali, and the better part of Egypt belonged to him. His name was synonymous for power and grandeur; the charm of his conversation, his loved sciences, of art and letters, which he protected as a generous Prince, had made him celebrated.

All illustrious men passing through Egypt begged the honour of being received at Choubra, and left enthusiastic with his reception of them. Prince Halim was the type of the purest Bedouin race, with the perfect distinction of the oriental grand seigneur. His splendid eyes of striking beauty, his finely-cut nose with slender nostrils, his white teeth and brown moustache, his small arched foot, always booted by the best of London makers, made him a type of rare grace and elegance.

He spent royally his immense income, and Choubra being in the very heart of Egypt, the Viceroy Ismaël soon became uneasy of his being so near. Matters between the Prince and the Viceroy quickly became more than strained. Up till now Halim had always miraculously escaped the famous attempts against princely heirs.

From a bridge broken in advance by the orders of the Khedive, the train which was bringing all the princes invited to a Khedivial fête was hurled into the Nile. Not only did Halim save himself, but also seized from the jaws of death his favourite mameluke.

The Viceroy oppressed with taxes the people of the Prince, and he, wishing to make one last conciliatory effort towards his nephew Ismaël, offered him a fête at Choubra. It must be explained that the throne returning to the eldest of the princes of the Royal Family, Halim Pasha could only reign after the death of his nephew Ismaël and of Prince Mustapha Fazil. This latter did not survive his exile.

At this fête at Choubra all the princes were invited with their harems. The most beautiful women of the kingdom found themselves together that evening.

The harem of Prince Halim was composed of five hundred women, all living in the palace.

There was the division of the Queen Dowager, the wife of the founder of the dynasty of Méhémet Ali, the division of the princesses, and that of each child of sufficient age to have a household.

These immense apartments were entirely distinct, each having their own slaves, eunuchs, baths, and carriages, making several houses in the same palace. The sitting-rooms were so vast that sometimes newly bought little slaves lost their way and fell asleep in tears at the feet of immense silver candelabra, shaped like palms and arranged in avenues.

The princesses called on each other ceremoniously once or twice a month, being formally announced with rigid etiquette. The ladies of the palace had very formal ideas and magnificent manners, and rarely any close intimacy was known to exist between the various divisions.

The following will give some idea of how the Prince lived at Choubra in the midst of his feminine world. 

As to the princesses, the Prince visited them in their own apartments - and the women who have attained the rank of odalisques are on duty about his person in turn. Twelve of them do day duty for a week at a time, and these are then replaced by twelve more. Night duty is performed in the same way, but by one only for a week, who sleeps each night on a satin mattress across the doorway giving on the room of the Prince. What is peculiar is, that sometimes this guard is kept by some slave who is not popular with the Prince, but each one who has been bought for this service has the right of eight days' guard, and the master submits to this order of things. The week of duty of each of these ladies is arranged with regard to their state of health. They take their baths regularly, and four or five hours is not considered too long for beautifying purposes.

When one of them becomes a mother, she does not appear for a whole year before the Prince after the birth of the child. If she gives birth to a boy, she takes the title of Oumil Bey, or should it be a daughter, she is called ever afterwards Ouma Hariem. And the new state in the household arouses no hated or jealousy, all the children being legitimate. The same customs are observed in the palaces of the Sultan and Imperial Princes. 

Romance of a Harem

Chapter III

But the day came when I resolutely escaped, and I returned no more to sing on the tables of the Greek wine-shops. I left those simple-minded men, with their hands rough from the ropes, with their curly hair on their fine heads, who deprived themselves of necessities to increase my childish amusements - I said to them quite simply, "Adieu, mes amis." And that was all. I went to find Hussein the boatman, and told him it was my heart's desire to go in his boat near the villa of the Egyptian Prince, and Hussein, who could refuse me nothing, took me.

The Prince and his suite were at that moment preparing to start in their six-oared boats as our caíq entered the little gulf of Keurfesse. Hussein passed respectfully at some distance, but I, quickly tearing off my dress, tied a large gaily-coloured cloth round me and jumped into the sea. I could swim like a flying fish, and whilst cleaving the water, I promised a thousand presents to poor horror-stricken Hussein. "If the Prince adopts me, you shall be my first boatman," I cried to him.

I kept on swimming, my heart beating violently in my breast, frozen by the cold. The Prince and his suite watched with curiosity this child that approached them, and he asked me gently if I were not tired.

"No, since I see you, son of the King," I answered, blushing like a fine sunset.

"Help the child out of the water, and bring her to me," ordered the Prince, who then turned, and quickly entered the courtyard of the palace.

Romance of a Harem

Chapter II

Having said thus, I will begin the true story of my life and adventures in the harem. I write English so badly that you must attribute the responsibility to a Miss, who flirted with the eunuchs young and old. She filled them with admiration with a series oh high kicks to initiate them into the mysteries of the cancan.

Under the magnificent sway of Sultan Abdul Aziz in the year 1864, there came into the outskirts of the village of Stenia a little girl of four or five years old, led by a poverty-stricken old woman, who, going up to a boatman who was mending his caïq, proposed that he should look after the child whilst she entered the village to buy bread.

"You should give back the child to those you have stolen it from," said the boatman. "I shall take you to the Kadi if you do not at once tell me where you stole it."

"I swear to you I found this English girl on the road," said the woman stolidly, and she turned and, leaving the child, walked into the village.

"Machallah!" said the boatman, looking at the girl, "the rays of the sun are in your hair, and the velvet of Damascus in your eyes."

In a little while, as the woman did not return, Hussein the boatman ejaculated once more "Machallah!" and taking the little girl by the hand he led her to the village.

The child was dressed in a shabby garment of yellow silk trimmed with sable fur; on her head a gauze fichu embroidered with silk flowers, and on her feet little shoes with rose-coloured pompons.

"I am hungry," she said to Hussein.

He immediately bought her a cake, which she ate with avidity.

"You are an English girl, are you not, my lamb?" he asked.

The child said "Yes," and then "No."

Hussein had the idea that everything that was very fair and pink and white must have English blood in its veins, so thought the answer was "Yes."

With the delicacy innate amongst the Islamites he would not take the child into a Mussulman household; so he knocked at the door of a Christian, by name Cocona Elenco.

Like the greater part of the Greeks of Constantinople she was a gossip and liar; so had no hesitation in calling all the saints of her religion ( and Allah knows how many Greek ones ) to witness how great a marvel was the child.

"Ah! Kaïmeni, Kaïmeni," she repeated, "may the Blessed Virgin protect her! That beggar-woman has gone by - she will never come back."

And then, as nothing tends so much to solidify Greek friendship as little thefts, she took the gold thread embroidered handkerchief that was in the child's sash, and advised Hussein to take that lamb of God to some other roof than hers.

Hussein then led the child to the cottage of Doudou Artine, an Armenian woman, who lived by the sea. She received the girl with a smile, saying that they were already a large family, but would keep her. She offered her bread and olives, which the child ate with much appetite.

The cottage which Doudou and her girls inhabited was face to face with a mill belonging to a Frenchman, by name Pigeon, an extremely vulgar man but a good sort.

The Greek captains with black beards and fiery eyes brought the wheat for the mill, and girls used to glide languorously in front of the cottage, with their white veils folded back like the wings of tired birds.

It gave the virtuous daughters of Doudou a great deal of pleasure to watch the Greek captains, which was quite contrary to the projects of their mother. She held the Greek race in abhorrence, and in default of Armenians she would have preferred to see them marry Mussulmen. For Armenians and Turks, though differing in religion, have the same patriarchal tastes; and the father of a Turkish family, like that of an Armenian, is a model of devotion and goodness for his children. He likes a peaceful life, and is faithful to his creed, does not drink or gamble, and only finds pleasure amongst his own family.

From all times the Turks, recognising the quality of the Armenians, have given them posts of confidence. The best jewellers and agents are nearly always Armenians. Certain intriguers, members of the higher Armenian clergy, work hard to raise troubles in Armenia. It is said that they are paid by an European nation, but it is doubtful whether these adventurers, will succeed in their endeavours.

Doudou Artine, like the greater part of Armenian women, was of austere morals, for she had respect for fine traditions, and lived in the fear of evil, like the Mussulmen her neighbours.

Amongst these honest surroundings the little girl grew up, without their being able to conquer her wandering instincts. Doudou was very poor, and worked hard to keep her house together, whilst her daughters embroidered brilliant flowers on muslin handkerchiefs called Yemeni, which they sold for a livelihood.

But the child could never keep still long. She wandered into the streets where the Greek sailors drank raki. She jumped on the tables in front of wine shops - she sang- she danced - she kissed her hands to the rough sailors. She harangued them with pretty gestures, crying to them, "Ah, my fine captains with black beards and fiery eyes, what have you brought me back from your voyages?"

And the sailors, with their thick hair and strong necks and bright-coloured shirts, we're delighted and laughed back, "My soul - my pretty little girl, here is what we have brought back from Odessa; we have not been further, come take them, they are for you," and they showered gilded sweetmeats on her, which were said to come from Paris. The child happy, and with sparking eyes, accepted all as an offering that was due to her. She also had a very business-like friendship with a non-commissioned officer and the soldiers of the Ottoman Guard. She tyrannised over these brave soldiers, and her tyranny made itself heavily felt on their purse, for they received their pay very irregularly - but when the payment had been made a certain instinct seemed to warn her, and she claimed immediately her imperious desires. She wanted mahalebi or friandises, and the simple soldier paid for the caprices of this little pillaging soul. In the month of Ramazan she used to glide like an adder into the little low room where the humble iftar was laid out, the hors-dœuvre with which the fast was broken. At the first sound of the cannon which announced that the sun was set and the fast over for the day, she swallowed everything, and the slices of pasterma disappeared down her young greedy throat. The rough soldier, who could have easily crushed her like a fly between his strong fingers, looked at her with big stupid eyes and said, "Machallah," ("Glory to God").

On days when she was good, the child, who was now definitely called Ela, helped Artine Effendi to split open freshly-caught fish and spread them out in the sun, with a laurel leaf carefully placed under each. 

When night came she slept on the floor on a mattress beside Doudou, who kept her warm and promised her cabbage and rice on the morrow. But these marrows became rare, and she thought more and more of escaping to a neighbouring village where an Egyptian Prince, whom they said was rich and beautiful like the Caliph Haroun-al-Raschid, had settled for the winter.

This indomitable child - this capricious Ela, was the author of this true story. Many years have passed since these rememberances of childhood, but I still see clearly those village streets, those little cabarets where the Greek sailors used to quarrel - the house of poor Doudou whom in my unconscious cruelty I martyrised by my caprices and ingratitude.

Weary of living in such poverty, I left one day with Cocona Elenco, who was going to sell scents in the harems of the grand vizier Fuad Pasha. The grandson of the Pasha noticed my pretty face, where sparkled eyes with a brightness surprising for my age. He brought me before the vizier, whom my gestures and manner much amused, and he promised that the family which had adopted me should be looked after; but I spoilt it all by saying to him, "Why do you have so ugly and old a wife? You would do better to marry me." That made every one laugh; and the son of the house, who spoke French fluently, said, "Cette petite ira loin, j'en donne ma parole!"

That was only a first incident without any consequences. Very soon I succeeded in penetrating, thanks to Cocona, into the harem of K...... Bey, who presented ambassadors. I created some little sensation, and they resolved to keep me as a playmate for the children of His Excellency. At the end of the week the eldest son of the Pasha took a fancy to me, and they sent me back to Doudou. I returned with my eyes full of tears and my arms filled with dresses given me by F...... Hanem, the eldest daughter of the Bey, a charming woman, who also was smitten with a desire to taste the education and life of Europeans. She went to pass a winter in Paris with a lady of the highest Parisian society, and returned with joy to the harem, much disillusioned on the subject of progress.

Doudou with deep sighs took me in her arms, and lifting her eyes to heaven said, "Lamb of God! you must have Circassian blood in your veins to wish so much to be sold." And I - I kissed her hands, begging her to sell me to the Palace, crying, "You will see, Doudou, I shall be Sultana, and you will be able to hang big emeralds in your ears and wear sables."

I did not then understand how much the poor Doudou loved me. I saw nothing of the beauty of the soul of those people, so honest, so good, who never lied or had an evil though, and lived with peace amongst them.

Romance of a Harem

I found this book at the back of a book shop. I fell in love with the story. I can't find it anywhere. I can't let the world lose this story.

"Romance of a Harem

Translated by Clarence Forestier-Walker 

Greening & Co., Ltd., London

20 Cecil Court, Charing Cross

1904

Preface to Second Edition

In answer to innumerable letters from known and unknown correspondence, as to how much of "The Romance of a Harem" is true; it has been thought advisable by the publishers (Messrs Greening) that in the issue of this, the second  edition, I should acknowledge that it is an absolutely true story.

The authoress's father (when the writer was a small child) was sent by the French Government on a mission to the Sultan, who received him and his family on terms of the greatest intimacy, and who had a profound respect for the distinguished French gentleman.

It was with her father and mother that the authoress learnt the Turkish language, and visited during her youth, before marriage, all the leading Turkish families, and thus gained what is so rare among Europeans, an intimate knowledge of the little-known private life of great harems.

This true story, as given to the public, was known and approved of by the children of Prince Halim, who plays so large a part in the romance.

It was on reading this story, and its successor, "La Courtisane de la Montagne," * in the original! that His Majesty, the present Sultan, issued an irade, forbidding the employment of European governesses in Turkish harems.

Clarence Forestier-Walker

* English Edition entitled "The Woman of the Hill."

Romance of a Harem

Chapter I

For many a long year I lived in a harem, and of that time I have the sweetest remembrances. Comparisons that I have been able to make since the chances of fortune led me to share the life of European women, only strengthen the tender melancholy of those souvenirs.

The natural sentiments of women - affection, devotion, and the decency of life - become strongly developed in the warm and favourable atmosphere of a harem. What a peaceful charm! What a profound calm there is in those vast rooms half-filled with shadow!

Sitting on her cushions, with her bare feet crossed beneath her, she sees through the carved grating the boats that glide past on the Bosphorus. She slowly smokes a scented cigarette, and sips languidly her coffee from a tiny cup.

On her white brow, which no care wrinkles, the beautiful Circassian arranges her sequins, and sings to herself in a minor key; she thinks only how to preserve her beauty, and rests after the complicated soins of the bath, and slowly tastes the joy of pleasing; she plays with the children, and to amuse herself has a thousand puerile incidents which fill the hours. I have known all that; but if I grew up in the peace of the harem, loved and respected, I also have seen only too closely the dramas of oriental politics and peaceful existence of the sultanas and odalisques upset by the so-called progress of European morals. The death of the last of the real great Mussulmen - the man to whom I owed the most profound respect, has delivered me from the promise I gave that I would never write for publication during his life-time, and I shall be glad if I can show how false are many of the ideas of life in a harem.

Nearly always the repose and dignity of the harem is broken by the English or French governess, whom it is the fashion to employ to initiate the young Turkish girls into the beauties of European education. Happily the influence of the Miss or Madame or Mademoiselle is of an ephemeral duration. These governesses shock the oriental women who have regard for their proper dignity, and seldom succeed in inoculating them with their ideas. They come from Paris, or more often from Marseilles. Their doubtful morality has generally left them little chance of honest employment in their own country. I remember one of them whose influence was fatal to a charming young woman. This Mademoiselle had originally been a singer in a cafe'-concert, and being furnished with a letter from a celebrated Armenian archbishop, easily installed herself in the house of this young married lady, inducing her to commit a thousand foolish actions, which ultimately forced the husband, who was aide-de-camp to His Majesty, to get a divorce.

Amongst all these governesses in search of adventures, I must mention one exception in favour of Miss Albert, whom I knew during my childhood, and who brought up the daughters of the Egyptian Prince M...... F........ . She had been recommended  to His Highness by a member of the English royal family. She left behind her a reputation for European honesty, and was much loved and respected. Therefore let us put in upon record that there was once a respectable European governess in Turkey - and she was English. Nevertheless, this education only brought disorder in the ideas of the young Turkish women. The Princesses - the pupils of Miss Albert - were far from happy. One of them, the widow of the famous K....... Pacha, celebrated in Paris under the Second Empire, gravely compromised herself with an immensely rich Jew; she was obliged to leave Constantinople for Cairo, where, since the occupation, she has laden the English with her favours, though she is over fifty years of age.

For the matter of that, Europeans seem very much to appreciate the beauties of other days.

One - a rich and amiable diplomat of a little country in the north - recently eloped with a much compromised and somewhat matured beauty, which caused the Khedive to say: " Thank Heaven! When our foolish women become old, some European is always ready to relieve us of them."

All this is very unfortunate, but difficult to avoid, and the rich harems will for a long time be given up to this false education, the Turks being in an impossible position for obtaining true knowledge about the governesses that are sent to them.

It is a mistake to believe in the possibility of any real education being given to the oriental women - a mistake spread by the few European women who are occasionally admitted for an hour or two into the harems. They have never really understood the true character of the family, or of Turkish households. Mademoiselle introduced doubtful novels or undertook the delivery of billets doux to the attachés at the embassies, which without her assistance were entirely deprived of oriental distraction.

The wise man understands that there is little real love outside the harem, and is afraid of the unknown. He has married a Circassian slave, beautiful and healthy; with her he has the odalisques, and if he chooses a slave of the harem who does not come under the title of odalisque, he would be obliged to instal her in a house apart - which would mean that the peace of the household would be compromised, and his own repose lost. Also the guardianship of the harems is wonderfully well carried out, and the virtue of a young woman is safer there than in any other form of life.

Then all the children are legitimate, and one of the most touching things in harem life is the love that all the women bear for the children of the master, even if they were born of a negress. As to the Miss or the Mademoiselle, I defy her to seduce the master or the son of the house."