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Updated: June 25, 2025
"And the third?" "Damad Ibrahim, the Grand Vizier. His body we flung out into the piazza in front of the Seraglio, at the foot of the very fountains which he himself caused to be built." Halil Patrona cast a searching look at the Sheik's face, and coldly replied: "Know then, oh, Sheik Suleiman, that thou liest, the third corpse was not the body of Damad Ibrahim the Grand Vizier.
And now, how were the demands of the rebels to be discovered? Damad Ibrahim suggested that the best thing to do was to summon Sulali Hassan, a former cadi of Stambul, whose name he had heard mentioned by the town-crier along with that of Halil Patrona. They found Sulali in his summer house, and at the first summons he appeared in the Seraglio.
The trumpeting herald was thus addressing the mob assembled around him: "Inhabitants of Stambul, true-believing Mussulmans, our commander is Halil Patrona, the chief of the Janissaries, and in the name of the Stambul Cadi, Hassan Sulali, I proclaim: Let every true believing Mussulman shut up his shop, lay aside his handiwork, and assemble in the piazza; those of you, however, who are bakers of bread or sellers of flesh, keep your shops open, for whosoever resists this decree his shop will be treated as common booty.
"Thine, thine, Halil!" thundered the obsequious crowd, and with that they rushed upon the palace, burst open the doors, and Patrona, with his wife still clasped in his arms, forced his way in, and seeking out the harem of the Grand Vizier, commanded the odalisks of Ibrahim to bow their faces in the dust before their new mistress, and fulfil all her demands.
At last Patrona stepped forth and begged his comrades to let him have his say in the matter. "Hearken now, Pelivan!" began he, "you and I are adversaries I know very well, nor do I care a straw that it is so.
"And she is more powerful than thou art," cried the enraged bayadere, accumulating insult on the head of Adsalis, "for she is the wife of Halil Patrona." Adsalis, in the fury of despair, raised her clenched hands towards Heaven and could not utter a word. Impotent rage forced the tears from her eyes; and only after these tears could she stammer: "This is the curse of Achmed!"
At this one of the boldest of the bayaderes thrust herself forward. "Make way thyself, thou bearded old witch," she cried; "make way, I say, before the wife of Halil Patrona. Why, thou art not worthy to kiss the dust off her feet. Stand aside if thou wilt not come along with us." And with these words she banged her tambourine right under the nose of the Kadun-Kiet-Khuda.
Going to the gate of the courtyard, the Patrona would call, "To the brooms, to the brooms, muchachas," adding, if it were foggy, "A very fine morning for the brooms, little ones;" and out would come running a cluster of Indian girls carrying each a broom. At the work they would go, sweeping as clean as a floor the courtyard and ground for a large space about the house.
"Achmed!" he began with such discourteous curtness did he address the Sultan! "Achmed! 'tis the wish of Halil Patrona that thou descend from the throne and give it up to Sultan Mahmud...." Achmed sat bolt upright in his chair.
"Swear, therefore, on the Alkoran that you will respect them, and swear it in the names of your comrades likewise. The Padishah is resolved that if you refuse to take this oath he will blow up the Seraglio and every living soul within it into the air with gunpowder." The rebels were impressed by this message, only Halil Patrona smiled.
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