CHAPTER V

I wonder at what hour commence the reveries of a heart which has not yet been opened fully into the light of life? What are the dreams which woman's soul creates whilst she remains yet between childhood and womanhood, whilst she is yet half a slave, half a queen, partly a careless being, partly an angel of light!

On the day of the birth of Maria, the daughter of Eleázár, the King of Bulgaria, the horoscope which was cast for her by the soothsayers foretold that this woman would be the cause of a great monarch's death. King Eleázár naturally thought that this mighty monarch must mean himself, and on the day of her christening he left her in the convent where the ceremony had been performed, fully intending that she should never leave the place.

Just about this time the Osman Emperors commenced to overrun Europe, and Eleázár was vanquished by them, and, in order to save himself from slavery, he offered his daughter as wife to the notorious enemy, in accordance with a custom then prevalent. At this time the Sultans had their own lawful wives, and it happened that Maria became the last Sultana upon the Ottoman throne. Those who followed her were merely favourites, and sat on footstools at the steps of the throne.

Maria was just sixteen when she exchanged the walls of the nunnery for those of the Seraglio.

One is as closely guarded as the other.

In this abode of innocent virgins she was taught that the world is divided into three parts. The portion above is Paradise, which is inhabited by angels; that below is Hades, where the devils abide; and between these comes the earth, where dwell women, and heartless beings, alien to animals, and nothing more! The inhabitants of the upper and lower worlds are continually fighting one against the other, and it is the duty of the women who live on earth to pray incessantly and to glorify and honour the angels.

The Sultan sent his chariot to fetch Maria away, and she only descended from this at the door of the Emerald Room of the palace, where she was greeted by three hundred maidens.

She now learnt to know that there was such a thing as a man in the world, and that he was the Sultan Bajazet! She believed in the existence of one man alone. The others she thought were all _Dzsins_ (Christians)--that is to say, good and evil spirits, who continually fight against one another. She imagined Bajazet to be the chief of the good _Dzsins_, whom he led into battle against the bad.

Maria was just sixteen, and she did not know that there was more than one man in the world, and that was her husband, the Emperor Bajazet, whom she loved, revered, and adored, and for whom she forgot everything, even all that she had been taught by the sainted, marble-faced sisters in the convent, concerning the paradise which is lit up by the rays of the stars.

She was happy, and she made others happy. Both in the Seraglio and in the convent she saw none but women's faces. The only difference was that _here_ were glitter and pomp, and nothing but cheerfulness and merriment, whilst _there_ all was coldness and severe simplicity. _Here_ she had a variety of enjoyments, whilst _there_ she had to renounce all pleasure. _Here_ her idol was a living man with a smiling countenance, who heaped love and flattery upon her, whilst _there_ it was an unhappy Saviour who wore a crown of thorns, and whose pale face looked down upon her from the cross.

Bajazet reposed in the society of Maria after his victories, and it gratified him to recount to her how many of his opponents he had slain in one day, whilst she caressed his snowy beard, and kissed his wrinkled forehead, being glad to know that there were so many _Dzsins_ the less in the world.

Little did she know that those very _Dzsins_ were of her own creed, and that they were having their last desperate fight for existence with him.

The Odalisc (women of the harem) sang of the Sultan's glories in something like the following strain, in which Maria delighted: "The unbelievers disappear as a flock before a hailstorm, and as tow in the flames. They are burned in their own cities!" Maria applauded this singing, little knowing that amongst the _Dzsins_ fell her own brothers!

"Should you kill the King of the _Dzsins_ bring me his eyes," she said one day to the Sultan.

Bajazet was a tender husband and a cunning inventor of tales. The next day he made her a present of two diamonds as large as a man's eyes, and he said they had come from the forehead of the King of the _Dzsins_.

The eyes of other spirits were made, said Bajazet, of opals, emeralds, and rubies, and he, after each of his victories, heaped these precious stones upon her, and pearls, which he made her believe were the teeth of fallen _Dzsins_, were so heavy as to weigh down her bodice!

"When will you start again on a fresh campaign? And what will you bring me back? I have myself plaited your whip and I have embroidered the saddle which your horse is to wear when it carries you into battle."

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Bajazet was at this time just starting on an expedition against the Greek Emperor, whose empire was then limited to the extent of the walls of Constantinople, which were being bombarded by his adversary.