The Slaves of the Padishah

The Slaves of the Padishah by Mór Jókai

Mór Jókai's The Slaves of the Padishah opens with the rise of the S-- family of Wallachia, whose poor priest Michael inherits vast wealth after his elder brother, head of the family, is murdered by a Turkish sheikh in Stambul for accidentally touching his garment. Michael abandons his humble village, moves to the family's dilapidated mansion near Rumnik, and finds himself unable to spend his ever-growing fortune. On impulse he sends the Sultan a gourd stuffed with ducats; after nearly being executed for the insult, the Sultan learns the truth and rewards Michael with a gorgeous caftan, which sets off a cascade of extravagance — new clothes, horses, coach, and finally a rebuilt palace — transforming his daughter Mariska into a great heiress courted by nobles. Michael insists on nothing less than the reigning Prince of Moldavia, Prince Ghyka, for her husband, and the wedding is celebrated with immense pomp. At the feast, the roguish young Emeric Tököly, standing in for the absent Prince Apafi and for Michael Teleki, kisses the bride on behalf of his kinswomen, wounding both Mariska and his own fiancée Flora Teleki, and needling the jealous bridegroom Ghyka. Letters arrive summoning Tököly to war; among them is a returned engagement ring from Flora, which he pockets with strange relief before turning back toward Mehadia instead of Transylvania. The next morning Ghyka, still smarting over the kiss, provokes a triple duel with Tököly and Feriz Beg, a young Turkish officer also stung by Tököly's flirtation with little Aranka Béldi. Ghyka is disabled early by a wound; Tököly then disarms Feriz Beg with a masterstroke, drawing blood but sparing him, and the two part as friends, with Feriz Beg warning Tököly against toying with women's affections. The scene shifts to the ailing statesman Michael Teleki, who, defying the Prince's orders to rest, dictates secret letters juggling promises to the Emperor, the Grand Vizier, and Transylvanian border commanders in an attempt to keep Transylvania out of open war between the Turks and the Empire. His scheme unravels partly through the antics of the disgraced charlatan Szénasi and the colorful outlaw chieftain Feri Kökényesdi, hired to stage a diversion against the Turkish garrison at Grosswardein. The attack, joined by soldiers from Szathmár under the lovelorn captain Ladislaus Rákóczy (whose bride Christina Rhédey had been abducted by the Turkish Haly Pasha), becomes a real and bloody battle; Rákóczy dies storming the bridge into the fortress, and his sweetheart, watching from the ramparts, leaps to her death beside him. Panic spreads as exaggerated rumors of invasion sweep through Transylvania, emptying towns and sending the Prince's pregnant wife fleeing. Kökényesdi's robber band, meanwhile, threatens the monastery of the miraculous holy spring, where the mighty Friar Gregory single-handedly overpowers Kökényesdi and tricks him into dispersing his men with a false sermon from the bell tower, saving Klausenburg. The chaos allows Szénasi to escape by sowing further confusion between Hungarian and German troops. The narrative then follows the slave trader Haji Baba, who sells the ravishing, cursed odalisque Azrael to the near-sighted Turkish general Hassan Pasha's favorite, Yffim Beg, despite dire warnings about her fatal history. Azrael becomes Hassan Pasha's obsession, brazenly deceiving both Hassan and Yffim Beg about the presence of the camp of Feriz Beg — famed for his troop of devoted warrior-maidens and for loving only a distant Christian girl. Azrael tricks a eunuch guard into swimming her across the Danube by night so she can silently declare her love for Feriz Beg by leaving a flower wreath near his abandoned lute, receiving in return a wreath of laurel and thorn signifying that she must suffer to win him. The Ottoman and allied forces converge near the river Raab for a great campaign. The blind, arrogant Hassan Pasha mismanages diplomacy and discipline alike, provoking a near-fatal mutiny among his Janissaries that is barely averted by Kucsuk Pasha and Feriz Beg. The climactic Battle of St. Gothard follows: Hassan's mismanagement nearly dooms his army, but Kucsuk Pasha and the rebellious Janissaries force a crossing and win early success, while the overcautious Grand Vizier Kiuprile holds back. The Christian commander Montecuculi, aided by the heroic officers Toggendorf and Petneházy, routs the Moldavian contingent and destroys the Janissary corps, turning the tide; Feriz Beg's entire brigade of Amazon warriors perishes covering the Ottoman retreat. Meanwhile, back in Wallachia, the pregnant Mariska awaits word from her absent husband Prince Ghyka after the battle.

By Mór Jókai · First published 1853 · Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Political Intrigue · 32 chapters · 134,616 words

First lines

The S -- -- family was one of the richest in Wallachia, and consequently one of the most famous. The head of the family dictated to twelve boyars, collected hearth-money and tithes from four-and-fifty villages, lived nine months in the year at Stambul, held the Sultan's bridle when he mounted his steed in time of war, contributed two thousand landsknechts to the host of the Pasha of Macedonia, and had permission to keep on his slippers when he entered the inner court of the Seraglio.

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historical romance · ottoman empire · hungarian fiction · 17th century · adventure novel · captivity and slavery · forbidden love · political intrigue · cultural conflict · eastern europe · transylvania · escape and freedom

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