Read Online Cry of the Peacock: A Novel by Gina nahai - Free Book Online
Authors: Gina nahai
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Mirrors. He wore a long tiara of three elevations, composed entirely of oversized diamonds. He had on a long jacket made of gold tissue covered with diamonds and decorated with two strings of pearls, each larger than a walnut, that crossed the shoulders. His belt and bracelet were composed of rows of diamonds. His dagger's hilt was covered with diamonds. He summoned the soothsayer, and the moment she turned to face him, he knew by the strength of her eyes that she was indeed a ghost.
"Speak!" he commanded, and all the eunuchs guarding Esther ran to hide. If he was not pleased with her prediction, they knew, Fath Ali Shah would order torturous death for all those who had heard her prophecy.
"Tell Us Our fate."
Esther the Soothsayer smiled at the Shah with blackened lips, and spoke to him with the voice of an angel:
"You will die old," she said, "at peace in your throne, twenty years and a thousand children from today."
Esther the Soothsayer slept, and out of her dreams carved a woman, a creature of light like Noah, with a strange beauty and the voice of a muse. She gave the woman to Noah, her last gift, and then left him, sinking so deep into the world of hallucinations that nothing of her remained with him but a fading voice and dreams full of sunsets. Without her, Noah was lost. His days and nights blended into one until sleep and waking were indistinguishable, and dreams cast shadows on the walls.
He had buried Mullah Mirza, but never overcome his legacy. For years after the Mirza's death, everyone in Juyy Bar had come to Noah, demanding the truth about the gold. What was it, they asked, that had so driven Mullah Mirza
to ecstasy? Had he found the formula? Had he shared his secret with Noah?
Even Yehuda the Just came to call.
"I am the keeper of all souls," he told Noah. "I must know all secrets."
To convince Noah of his good intentions and gain his trust, Yehuda the Just had even unsealed the teahouse and allowed the boy back into Thick Pissing Isaac's home. Still, every time he inquired about the elixir, Noah the Gold shook his head in denial.
He opened the teahouse again and tried to gather back his old customers. They came only to ask about the elixir. When he disappointed them, they denied him their friendship.
Twenty years passed after the death of Mullah Mirza. In Juyy Bar, Noah the Gold ached from loneliness and remained poor. One night in the spring of 1831, he called Esther the Soothsayer:
"I must have a wife," he told her. "I must guard against the demon of time."
In 1831 a Muslim child had disappeared in Tabriz. His parents had looked for him in vain, and concluded that he had been stolen by gypsies, or eaten by wolves. Then a young man from the bazaar had brought news.
"Shokr-Allah the Jew murdered your son," he had told the boy's parents.
"He stole the child and took him home to draw his blood for Passover. His corpse is still in Shokr-Allah's basement."
The parents had gone to the Jews' ghetto and searched Shokr-Allah's house. In the basement they had found their son's body—already half-decomposed.
Shokr-Allah the Jew swore innocence. He had never seen the body until the boy's parents had discovered it. He only drank wine on Passover. The young man who had accused him owed him money, and he must have wished to avoid paying his debt by having the mullahs kill Shokr-Allah.
No one believed him. The mullahs ordered punishment not only for Shokr-Allah, but for all of his people: all Jews were held responsible for the crimes of one. The mullahs ordered a massacre.
This time, they said, they would not offer Jews the choice to convert to Islam and escape death. This time they sought revenge—the blood of Jewish children in return for that of the Muslim boy, the pain of their parents in payment for the grief Shokr-Allah had caused the Muslims. They sent a mob to the ghetto to gather all the Jewish children. In the main square they planted a hundred daggers into the earth, blades upward, and threw
"Speak!" he commanded, and all the eunuchs guarding Esther ran to hide. If he was not pleased with her prediction, they knew, Fath Ali Shah would order torturous death for all those who had heard her prophecy.
"Tell Us Our fate."
Esther the Soothsayer smiled at the Shah with blackened lips, and spoke to him with the voice of an angel:
"You will die old," she said, "at peace in your throne, twenty years and a thousand children from today."
Esther the Soothsayer slept, and out of her dreams carved a woman, a creature of light like Noah, with a strange beauty and the voice of a muse. She gave the woman to Noah, her last gift, and then left him, sinking so deep into the world of hallucinations that nothing of her remained with him but a fading voice and dreams full of sunsets. Without her, Noah was lost. His days and nights blended into one until sleep and waking were indistinguishable, and dreams cast shadows on the walls.
He had buried Mullah Mirza, but never overcome his legacy. For years after the Mirza's death, everyone in Juyy Bar had come to Noah, demanding the truth about the gold. What was it, they asked, that had so driven Mullah Mirza
to ecstasy? Had he found the formula? Had he shared his secret with Noah?
Even Yehuda the Just came to call.
"I am the keeper of all souls," he told Noah. "I must know all secrets."
To convince Noah of his good intentions and gain his trust, Yehuda the Just had even unsealed the teahouse and allowed the boy back into Thick Pissing Isaac's home. Still, every time he inquired about the elixir, Noah the Gold shook his head in denial.
He opened the teahouse again and tried to gather back his old customers. They came only to ask about the elixir. When he disappointed them, they denied him their friendship.
Twenty years passed after the death of Mullah Mirza. In Juyy Bar, Noah the Gold ached from loneliness and remained poor. One night in the spring of 1831, he called Esther the Soothsayer:
"I must have a wife," he told her. "I must guard against the demon of time."
In 1831 a Muslim child had disappeared in Tabriz. His parents had looked for him in vain, and concluded that he had been stolen by gypsies, or eaten by wolves. Then a young man from the bazaar had brought news.
"Shokr-Allah the Jew murdered your son," he had told the boy's parents.
"He stole the child and took him home to draw his blood for Passover. His corpse is still in Shokr-Allah's basement."
The parents had gone to the Jews' ghetto and searched Shokr-Allah's house. In the basement they had found their son's body—already half-decomposed.
Shokr-Allah the Jew swore innocence. He had never seen the body until the boy's parents had discovered it. He only drank wine on Passover. The young man who had accused him owed him money, and he must have wished to avoid paying his debt by having the mullahs kill Shokr-Allah.
No one believed him. The mullahs ordered punishment not only for Shokr-Allah, but for all of his people: all Jews were held responsible for the crimes of one. The mullahs ordered a massacre.
This time, they said, they would not offer Jews the choice to convert to Islam and escape death. This time they sought revenge—the blood of Jewish children in return for that of the Muslim boy, the pain of their parents in payment for the grief Shokr-Allah had caused the Muslims. They sent a mob to the ghetto to gather all the Jewish children. In the main square they planted a hundred daggers into the earth, blades upward, and threw
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