Read Online The Day of the Owl by Leonardo Sciascia - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Leonardo Sciascia
Tags: Literature & Fiction, Contemporary, Crime, Mystery, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Crime Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Thrillers & Suspense
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but to his honesty, his love for others, his wisdom ... An exceptional man, I assure you. All the more so when one considers that he is uneducated, uncultured ... but you know how more important a pure heart is than any culture ... Now the arrest of a man like that as a common criminal, and I'm speaking with all sincerity, takes me right back to Mori's times ... '
'But public opinion says that he is a head of the mafia ...'
'Public opinion! What is this public opinion? Rumours in the air, rumours which spread calumny, defamation, cheap vengeance. Anyway, what is the mafia? Just another rumour. Everyone says it exists, but where no one knows ... Rumours, will-o'-the-wisp rumours echoing in empty heads, believe me. D'you know what Vittorio Emanuele Orlando used to say? I'll quote you his very words and, far in time as we are from his ideas, when repeated by us they take on even more authority. He used to say -'
'But, from what I have been able to gather from certain phenomena, the mafia does exist.'
'You grieve me, my boy, you grieve me. Both as a Sicilian and as the reasonable man I claim to be ... What I unworthily represent, of course, has nothing to do with it... But both the Sicilian I am and the reasonable man I claim to be rebel against this injustice to Sicily, this insult to reason ... And mind you, I have always spelt the word reason with a small "r" ... Is it really possible to conceive of the existence of a criminal association so vast, so well-organized, so secret and so powerful that it can dominate not only half Sicily, but the entire United States of America? With a head here in Sicily interviewed by reporters and then, poor fellow, vilified by the press in the blackest terms? ... D'you know him? I do. A good man, an exemplary father, an untiring worker. He's got rich, certainly he has, but by his own efforts. And he, too, had his troubles with Mori ... Certain men inspire respect: for their qualities, their savoir-faire, their frankness, their flair for cordial relations, for friendship. Then what you call public opinion, the wind of calumny, gets up at once and says: "These are the heads of the mafia." Now here's something you don't know: these men, the men whom public opinion calls the heads of the mafia, have one quality in common, a quality I would like to find in every man, one which is enough to redeem anyone in the eyes of God - a sense of justice ... naturally, instinctively ... And it's this sense of justice which makes them inspire respect...'
'That's just the point. The administration of justice is the prerogative of the State; one cannot allow ...'
'I am speaking of the sense of justice, not the administration of justice ... Anyway, suppose we two were squabbling about a piece of land, a will, or a debt; and along comes a third party and settles things between us; then in a sense that third party is administering justice. But you know what might have happened if we had continued litigation before your justice, don't you? Years would have passed and finally maybe, from impatience or anger, one or both of us might have resorted to violence ... In short, I don't consider that a man of peace, a peacemaker, is usurping the administration of justice which, of course, is the legitimate prerogative of the State ... '
'Well, if you put things in those terms ... '
'What other terms can I put them in? In the terms of that colleague of yours who wrote a book on the mafia, which if you'll allow me to say so, was so fantastic that I'd never have expected such nonsense from a responsible person ... '
'I found the book very instructive.'
'If you mean you learned something new, all right; but whether the things described in the book really exist is another matter ...Now let's look at it from another point of view. Has there ever been a trial during which it has emerged that there is a criminal association called the mafia and that this association has been definitely responsible for or actually committed a
'But public opinion says that he is a head of the mafia ...'
'Public opinion! What is this public opinion? Rumours in the air, rumours which spread calumny, defamation, cheap vengeance. Anyway, what is the mafia? Just another rumour. Everyone says it exists, but where no one knows ... Rumours, will-o'-the-wisp rumours echoing in empty heads, believe me. D'you know what Vittorio Emanuele Orlando used to say? I'll quote you his very words and, far in time as we are from his ideas, when repeated by us they take on even more authority. He used to say -'
'But, from what I have been able to gather from certain phenomena, the mafia does exist.'
'You grieve me, my boy, you grieve me. Both as a Sicilian and as the reasonable man I claim to be ... What I unworthily represent, of course, has nothing to do with it... But both the Sicilian I am and the reasonable man I claim to be rebel against this injustice to Sicily, this insult to reason ... And mind you, I have always spelt the word reason with a small "r" ... Is it really possible to conceive of the existence of a criminal association so vast, so well-organized, so secret and so powerful that it can dominate not only half Sicily, but the entire United States of America? With a head here in Sicily interviewed by reporters and then, poor fellow, vilified by the press in the blackest terms? ... D'you know him? I do. A good man, an exemplary father, an untiring worker. He's got rich, certainly he has, but by his own efforts. And he, too, had his troubles with Mori ... Certain men inspire respect: for their qualities, their savoir-faire, their frankness, their flair for cordial relations, for friendship. Then what you call public opinion, the wind of calumny, gets up at once and says: "These are the heads of the mafia." Now here's something you don't know: these men, the men whom public opinion calls the heads of the mafia, have one quality in common, a quality I would like to find in every man, one which is enough to redeem anyone in the eyes of God - a sense of justice ... naturally, instinctively ... And it's this sense of justice which makes them inspire respect...'
'That's just the point. The administration of justice is the prerogative of the State; one cannot allow ...'
'I am speaking of the sense of justice, not the administration of justice ... Anyway, suppose we two were squabbling about a piece of land, a will, or a debt; and along comes a third party and settles things between us; then in a sense that third party is administering justice. But you know what might have happened if we had continued litigation before your justice, don't you? Years would have passed and finally maybe, from impatience or anger, one or both of us might have resorted to violence ... In short, I don't consider that a man of peace, a peacemaker, is usurping the administration of justice which, of course, is the legitimate prerogative of the State ... '
'Well, if you put things in those terms ... '
'What other terms can I put them in? In the terms of that colleague of yours who wrote a book on the mafia, which if you'll allow me to say so, was so fantastic that I'd never have expected such nonsense from a responsible person ... '
'I found the book very instructive.'
'If you mean you learned something new, all right; but whether the things described in the book really exist is another matter ...Now let's look at it from another point of view. Has there ever been a trial during which it has emerged that there is a criminal association called the mafia and that this association has been definitely responsible for or actually committed a
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