Part 6 (1/2)
”The Sultan has many, many wives, I have heard mother say.”
”It is true. And each wife has a great number of slaves as well as other attendants. Sometimes his wives drive through the city in elegant carriages.”
”But the Sultan never leaves the palace grounds, except on the two great times each year, does he?”
”Never, except at those times, Osman. But any one can get permission to see him as he rides on horseback to the mosque in his grounds, where he wors.h.i.+ps.”
”It is a beautiful sight, papa. You know you have taken me there to see him. The lines of soldiers, all in red fezzes, reach from the door of the palace to the snow-white mosque. The Sultan himself looks so grand as he rides along!
”The troops cheer him as he pa.s.ses them and enters the mosque, but everybody else is very, very quiet. I suppose they feel somewhat as I do, papa. I'm not exactly afraid. But he is such a great and powerful ruler, it doesn't seem as if I could move or make a sound while I look at him.”
Dear little Osman! Our far-away cousin has never heard how the people of other countries speak of Turkey. They call it the ”Sick Man of Europe.”
They think it is a pity the Sultan has such power in the land. They say:
”Turkey is the only country in Europe that does not believe in the Christian faith. Its most important city is on the sh.o.r.es of a strait through which a great deal of trade is carried from all parts of the world. These are some of the reasons different countries would like to get control of Turkey and its great city. They all look toward it with longing eyes.
”Besides these things, the Sultan himself is not a good ruler for his people. He has many wives and hundreds of slaves. Many of his people follow his bad example and buy slaves, both black and white.”
But little Osman knows nothing of what is said about the Sultan and the people of his land. It has never entered his head that it is wrong to buy and sell human beings.
His mother is kind to her slaves, and does not make them work hard.
Sometimes, too, she frees one of her slave women. They are happy, she thinks.
”But, dear little Osman,” you would say, ”it is the _right_ of every one to be free. Perhaps when you grow up you will see this, and help to make things different in your country.”
Let us go back now to the little boy and his father as they sat talking of the Sultan and his palace.
”He dresses very plainly,” said the Turk. ”But in the old days, the ruler's garments were very rich, and his fez fairly blazed with diamonds. If you had lived then, Osman, your eyes would have been dazzled when you looked at him.”
”I wish I could have seen some of the things my grandmother has described,” answered his son. ”But I'm glad I wasn't living during the revolution of the janizaries. Everybody must have been scared then.
”Is it really true that Sultan Mahmoud's old nurse saved his life by hiding him away in an oven?”
”Yes, but he wasn't Sultan then. He was the heir to the throne, however.”
”What made the trouble, papa?”
”Sultan Selim III. was a wise ruler. He wished to improve his country.
At one time the janizaries were the best trained and most useful troops.
They were chosen from the Christians who were taken captive in war.
”But after awhile, men with no training and with selfish motives managed to get into their ranks. Sultan Selim knew they were harmful to the Empire, and intended to disband them. They found out what he was about to do, took the city and palace by surprise, and killed the good Selim.
”As soon as his son's old nurse heard the uproar, she hurried to Mahmoud and said, 'Come with me at once; your life must be saved.' She led him to an old furnace in the palace and begged him to get inside.
”'No matter what happens, nor who calls your name, do not make a sound until I speak to you,' she told him.