"And lo! the Prophet appeared before me, and breathed upon my eyes and
ears in order that I might see and hear nothing but what he commanded me
to hear and see.
"And I wrote down those things which the Prophet said to me.
"The Giaours already see the tents of the foreign hosts pitched on the
Tsiragan piazza, already see the half-moon cast down, and the double
cross raised on the towers of the mosques, the khanze[6] plundered, and
the faithful led forth to execution. In the Fanar quarters[7] they are
already assembling the people, and saying to one another: 'To-morrow!
to-morrow!'
"Yet Allah is the God who defends the Padishah of the Ottomans. Their
Odzhakjaiks[8] will scatter terror. Allah Akbar! God is mighty!
"And the captains of the galleys, and the rowers thereof, and the chief
of the gunners, and the corsairs of the swift ships will share with one
another the treasures and the spoils of the unbelievers.
"And the Padishah shall rule over thirteen nations.
"But lo! a dark cloud arises in the cold and distant North. A foe
appears more terrible and persistent than the Magyars, the Venetians, or
the Persians. He is still tender like the fledgelings of the hawks of
the Balkans, but soon, very soon, he will learn to spread his pinions.
Up, up, Silihdar Aga, the Sultan's Sword-bearer! Up, up, Rechenbtar Aga,
the Sultan's Stirrup-holder; up, up, and do your duty. And ye viziers,
assemble the reserves. Those men who come from the land where the pines
and firs raise their virgin branches towards Heaven, they long after the
warm climates where the olive, the lestisk, the terebinth, and the palm
lift their crowns towards Heaven.
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