Part 15 (1/2)
?Yes,? said thehimself to the whole assembly: ?Everybody knows your several merits The Shah particularly (who by the by has studied the art of killing as well as any of you) is frequently expressing his delight, that of all the monarchs which Persia ever had, he is the best served; and with that feeling he talks of carrying his aria
If the Russians once hear that you are going a hiin to make their accounts clear in this world, and prepare for the next?
?What are the Russians?? said the executioner, with half a shrug and half a shi+ver; ?they are dust--they are nothing--the possession of Georgia by the Russians is to Persia what a flea which has got into ave myself the least trouble, I would hunt it out in a ? Then, as if he were anxious to waive the subject, he turned to ree to take you into the service, provided you are as fond of the sth of a Rustaer? Then looking at me from head to foot, he seeo to his _naib_, or lieutenant, ould equipall the duties I should have to perform
I found the Naib to be in thehis orders, and receiving the reports of those under his command As soon as he was informed that I was the man appointed to succeed the deceased officer, he put ave reatest care of it, and informed ht back its tail and the mark peculiar to the royal horses, which is burnt on its flank My stipend was fixed at thirty tomauns per annum, with food for myself and horse I found myself in dress and arms, except a small hatchet, which indicated overnment
But before I proceed further, it is necessary that I make my reader acquainted with the person and character of Namerd Khan, my new master
He was a tall, square-shouldered, bony h to be still called a _khub juan_ (a fine youth) The features of his face were cast in a deep mould, and shaded by black and thick eyebrows, as well as by a jet black beard and e and muscular; and from the black hairs that curled out from the crevices of his shi+rt, it was evident that his fur was of the thickest quality Altogether he was of a figure coreatly to the advantage of the peace of the city, for the very sight of him was sufficient to awe the evil-uzeran_ (sensualist) in Tehran He drank ithout compunction, and freely cursed the ions below for holding the injunctions of the Prophet so cheap His house was the seat of revelry; the noise of singing and ta He kept men dancers and women dancers; and was the protector of every Luti,[64] however iht be But with all this, he did not in the least relax in the severities of his office; and one ht frequently hear, aroans of so under the torture of the bastinado on his feet He was an excellent horseh there was everything in his appearance to make one believe that he was a soldier and a man of prowess, yet in fact he was a most arrant coward He endeavoured to conceal this defect of his nature by boasting and big words; and succeeded in persuading those who did not know his real character, that he was a the ancient
His lieutenant, a ent officer: he understood the ement of his chief, whom he flattered into a belief, that, besides the Shah and himself, no one orthy to be called apassion was avarice; for when he found that I was to be installed inhim a present, there was no end to the difficulties which he threw in ue which nature had givenhim, in his turn, that he was the cream of lieutenants, and the very best of materials for the future executioner in chief, he relaxed in his dislike, and even flatteredof Allah, the benign and the merciful, he believed that I should not fail to become in tiing at the doctor?s house until the period of the Shah?s departure, and filled upfor the journey
The very circuave me consequence in the bazaar, and I found no difficulty in procuring everything I wanted upon credit During ed to set myself up with a small capital of necessaries, which I had procured either in presents from patients, or by happy contrivances of my own As for instance, I wanted a bed, a quilt, and a pillow: a poor e, I assured his relations, whooted of Mussulmans, that his death could be no fault of ours, for no one could doubt the skill hich he had been treated, but that the bed upon which he lay must be unfortunate; for in the first place, the quilt was of silk;[66] and in the next, the foot of the bed had not been turned towards the Kebleh,[67] as it ought to have been: this was enough for the falass was necessary to my toilet: a mirza, sick of the jaundice, looked at himself in one which he possessed, and was horror-struck at his colour I assured hilass, for that in fact he was as fresh as a rose He threw it away, and I took it home with me
No one was stricter than Mirza Ahion, and scrupulous to a fault about things forbidden as unclean I was in want of a pair of _yakhdans_, or trunks, and a pair belonging to the doctor, which were lying idle in an unfrequented room, were frequently the objects of e to becoht I: had I but half the invention of Dervish Sefer, I should already have been packing up ht struck hout Tehran, had just pupped under a ruined archway, close to our house
Unseen, I contrived to lodge the whole litter within one of the trunks, and to make a deposit of old bones in the other When they came to be moved, preparatory to the doctor?s journey (for he always accompanies the Shah), the puppies and their mother set up such a confusion of yells, that the servant who had disturbed them ran breathless with the information to the doctor, who, followed by his household, including myself, proceeded to the spot As soon as the state of the case had been ascertained, ularity of the circuood to the doctor?s house One said, ?This coive him a houseful of _harem zadehs_?
Another said, ?The puppies are yet blind: God grant that we and the doctor may not become so likewise!? The doctor himself was only vexed by the loss of his trunks; he pronounced them to be _nejes_ (unclean) from that moment, and ordered them, puppies, bitch and all, i them; and very soon assu trunks, which also is worthy to be put into theether a sufficient quantity of effects to be able to talk big about e; and when preparations for our departure were e of squabbling with the king?sit
CHAPTER xxxIII
He accoht into his profession
At length the day of departure for Sultanieh was fixed by the astrologers The Shah left his palace just half an hour before sunrise, on the 21st _Rebbi el evel_,[68] and travelled without drawing bridle, until he reached his palace of Sulimanieh, which is situated on the banks of the Caraj, at a distance of nine parasangs fro the army to be collected at Sultanieh were ordered to iven tiuard, his careat officers of the court, with the viziers, and those employed in the public offices, departed at about the same time, and thus the city was bereft, almost in one day, of nearly two-thirds of its population Everything and everybody were in ht that all the inhabitants, like bees hiving, by one co, and were about to settle in sos ofutensils, tents, horse furniture and provisions of all sorts, were soonan iled their cries with the various toned bells which decked their beasts
On the ate to keep order, and to prevent any i provisions to the city, who are in waiting every day previously to opening the gates, were ordered to take another direction The road atered by all the sakas of the town, and every precaution taken to make the royal exit as propitious as possible In particular, no old woht cast a look upon her, and thus get a stroke of the evil eye
I found withinthe people about, that I never thought appertained to my character; for I recollected well, when one of the mob, how entirely I abominated every man in office I made use of my stick so freely upon the heads and backs of the crowd, that my brother executioners quite stared, and wondered what dest thee, which I expected would in tith the procession began to move forwards A detach before to receive the Shah when he should alight at Sulimanieh; and noas heard the salute which announced his leaving the palace at Tehran All was hushed into anxiety and expectation The chief executioner hih the streets in haste; and horse to and fro, all intent upon the one object of preparing the road First canificently caparisoned in jewellery, shawls, and cloth of gold; after the footmen; then the Shah in person; the princes succeeded, followed by the viziers; and last of all an immense body of cavalry
When it is mentioned that every man of any consequence was accompanied by his train of attendants, most of whom had also their trains; and when the sum total of mirzas, of servants, of pipe-bearers, of cooks and scullions, of carpet-spreaders, of running-footrooms and horses, of mule drivers and camel drivers, and of ten thousand other caination may perhaps conceive as the crohich passed before ate When the Shah approached, his long beard floating to his girdle, with all the terrors of despotis an odd sort of sensation about my neck; and I le nod ht have ordered my head to take leave of my shoulders, even before I couldcleared the city gates, I lingered behind to suards who are there stationed; and at that time the women of one of the viziers ere perht Zeenab once again to hed profoundly, when I reflected on the probable miserable fate which awaited her She had been sent (so I heard from Nur Jehan the day before our departure) to a s to the Shah, situated at the foot of the high mountains which surround Tehran, where, with ers, she was to receive her education of dancing,The Shah had ordered that she was to be mistress of these accomplishments previously to his return in the autu before hi my head towards the spot where she was now confined, and which I could just discern a speck at the foot of the mountain Perhaps at any other tiliain, and to be in readiness at Suliht from his horse
The day?sat an end, I proceeded to the quarters of the chief executioner, where I found a small tent prepared for me and five other nasakchies, ere destined to be my companions for the remainder of the journey I had already ht into closer contact, for our tent was notand four broad, and ere thus thrown almost one upon the other I, as the junior, fared of course the worst; but I determined to put the best face possible upon any present inconveniences, anticipating es, which a certain confidence in my own pretty self whispered to me I should not fail to secure
In addition to the chief executioner?s naib, there was also a sub-lieutenant, who must have a place in h hiher powers His na_, and a shi+razi by birth
Although natives of the two rival cities of Persia, yet without any particular previous cause, and by a coive rise to most friendshi+ps, we becaiven me a piece of waterhted his pipe for him on another occasion: he had bled me with his penknife when I had overloaded my stomach with too much rice; and I had cured his horse of the colic by ad led on to another, until a very close intimacy was established between us He was three years older than I, tall, handsome, broad-shouldered, narroaisted, with the prettiest oval beard possible, just long enough to fringe round his chin, and with two large curls, twisting beautifully behind his ear, like a vine curling over the garden wall
He had been long enough in the service to acquire all the tricks of his profession; for e ca what a vast field for the exercise of genius he threw open to my view
He said, ?Do not suppose that the salary which the Shah gives his servants is a matter of much consideration with thee of extortion which circu advantage of it As, for instance, take our chief: his salary is 1,000 toularly paid; that signifies little to him He spends at least five or six tiet it, if it flows not fronizance? A khan has incurred the Shah?s displeasure; he is to be beaten and fined: the chief executioner beats and mulcts in the inverse proportion of the present which the sufferer makes him A rebel?s eyes are to be put out; it depends upon what he receives, whether the punisher, or neatly with a penknife