O. V. KAREVA

Postgraduate student of ISAA MSU

Keywords: Turkish postmodernism, Ihsan Oktay Anar, narrative

The main occupation of the Turkish postmodern writer Ihsan Oktay Anar (b. 1960) is scientific and pedagogical activity at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Aegean University, of which he is a graduate. He writes for the soul, tormented by questions of the meaning of human life and looking for like-minded people among his readers. Unlike the Turkish postmodernists of the older generation, the so-called first wave (Orhan Pamuk, Muratkhan Mungan, Bilge Karasu, Pinar Kur, Nazli Eray), who came to postmodernism through realism, I. O. Anar immediately declares himself as a postmodernist - "narrativist"*, because in his novelistics he presents a complex postmodernist theme. philosophy through extremely entertaining stories/narratives. The stories are told by the characters/narrativists themselves, whose narratives usually sparkle with subtle humor or bitter irony. All this makes his works just fantastically popular among the most diverse (discerning and not so) Turkish reading public.

The novel "Stories of Afrasiab" * * (1998) is the final part of the historical trilogy of Anar ("Atlas of Misty Continents", 1995; "Book of Tricks", 1996), united by a common character - Uzun Ihsan - efendi. At the same time, if in the first two works he is the main character, then in the last one he is a minor, episodic figure, someone who is sought by the main participants of the novel's action (the Man - Death and the old man Dzhezzar - dede) and cannot be found in any way.

The two characters ' search for the third person in a small Anatolian town in the mid-1950s forms the framework of the work, which "interweaves" various stories (scary, religious, fantastic, love, etc.). They are told to each other by the Man-Death and Dzhezzar-dede, on the one hand, in order to somehow have fun in the second. time for hard searches, and on the other hand, to implement the terms of the deal concluded between them. For each story, the old man receives an hour of life from the Death-Man, and the Death-Man himself experiences (even if not really, but only in stories) human feelings, which, as we know, he is deprived of. No wonder there are legends about the insensitivity of death.

The title of the work also refers to the story about the transaction. There is no Afrasiab in the novel, but the name Afrasiab is intended to evoke in the reader's memory the treacherous king Turan from Ferdowsi's grandiose poetic epic "Shahnameh", which recreates the history of the Iranian kings, and the poem itself is a conflict deal between the king and the great poet.

The insidiousness of Afrasiab, associated with the substitution of one person for another (Afrasiab sends rich people-

* Narrative ( English and French narrative - story, narration) - the concept of postmodern philosophy, fixing the process of self-realization as a way of being a text (editor's note).

** Ihsan Oktay Anar. Efrasiyab'in Hikayeleri. Istanbul. Iletisim Yayinlari, 1998.

In Anar's novel, Suhrab's attempt to fight his own father, Rustam, causing the young man's death at the hands of his half-father, who identified his son too late from the signet amulet), is transformed into a postmodern narrative strategy that turns everything into its opposite: instead of heroes with high royal origin, Anar, reducing the tone of the narrative, deliberately tells about completely ordinary characters., ordinary people. But at the same time, his characters lack the simplicity of unambiguity. These are simulacra* - "deceptions" in which an infinite number of heroes of the cultural tradition of the East and West constantly "flicker".

According to legend, the poem was commissioned by Ferdowsi Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznavi, who promised the poet a high reward - one gold dinar for each bayt. However, the sultan did not like the poem, and the payment was insultingly low (the promised amount was paid in silver). The enraged poet distributed the money he received to a messenger and a beer seller, since the Sultan's envoy found him in the bathhouse. This story inspired the German romantic Heinrich Heine to write the ballad "The Poet Ferdowsi", which was later translated into Russian by V. Zhukovsky.

To create the effect of oral storytelling, Anar stylizes both the stories themselves and the spoken language. He saturates the text of the novel with colloquial phrases such as "and here you imagine", "and look what happened", "God is my witness", "if I may say so", "in short", etc.; slang words, proverbs and sayings. He uses a lot of folklore comparisons and epithets (face like the moon, eyes like a chamois, eyes like fortune-telling stones, eyebrows like a bow, etc.), the use of which is very organic for Anar provincial heroes.

The solution of the problem of the correlation between morality and religion in Anar is determined by postmodern aesthetic and ethical relativism. In the story "Journey to the shrines of Islam / Hajj", the imam of a small village deceives pilgrims (a grandfather and his crazy grandson), using the hard-earned money of poor peasants, and takes them not to Mecca, but to a Buddhist monastery in India, because he is very interested in the teachings of the Buddha, which he learned from a local teacher.

The writer's bitter irony and caustic mockery are evident in the description of a Buddhist monastery, in which a naive pilgrim grandfather seeks to see the holy place of Muslims. When he finally finds out about the deception, a desire for revenge is born in his soul.

He imagines how he will return home and expose the insidious liar imam to the faithful of his fellow villagers. Stay in the monastery shrewd grandfather-pilgrim endures with difficulty. The only joy he enjoys is watching the face of his mentally ill grandson smile as the monks sit in the center of the temple and sing songs for them in some incomprehensible, wolf-like language.

When the day of return arrives, the monks persuade the grandfather to leave the boy to them, and the imam confesses to the grandfather of the perfect deception-an evil deed, to which the latter only grins into his mustache.

On the way back, the imam does not reach the village: he gets off the bus in the mountains and gets surrounded by wolves. He starts a gramophone with a howl-the song of a sick boy (the song was recorded by monks). The wolves, ready to pounce on the imam, suddenly retreat and freeze in confusion. And the old grandfather, the only one who returned from the Hajj, does not give up the imam when asked about the holy places by his fellow villagers and starts lying himself. What was morally unacceptable to the old man before the trip to India becomes the moral norm for him when he returns to his homeland.

Postmodern relativism aligns the opposite aesthetic and ethical principles, and reverses good and evil. The aesthetics of postmodernism allows for the possibility of including the previously tabooed in the sphere of aesthetics, replacing soft aesthetic values with hard ones. The Anar's increased interest in the ugly, the dark, the forbidden is explained by the importance of understanding what is dangerous for humanity. In the story "The Love of a Thief", a crime is committed in the name of the love of art-the theft of a priceless, ancient violin by an Italian master from a famous violinist. However, then the thief falls in love with a violinist, who begins to embody a violin for him. When the violin is stolen from the thief himself, he throws himself off the roof in grief, unable to bear the separation from his beloved. At the moment of the thief's death, the violin makes a heart-rending moan, which shocked those who heard it.

Anar's novel implements the well-known postmodern position that in modern society the unconscious destroys the conscious intentions of a person, which at the same time themselves are the activators of the unconscious. In other words, "it is not the sleep of reason that breeds monsters, but rather the vigilant rationality that suffers from insomnia" (J. Deleuze, F. Guattari).

For the Turkish writer, such activators of evil are all modern social institutions based on Modern rationalism (for example, the state and the family), as well as the cultural superstructure associated with them (ideology, religion, art, etc.). For example, in the novel "World History", the scientist Feyuz sells his soul to the devil Azazil (connotation of the biblical "World History").-korani-

* Simulacrum (from Latin simulo, "to pretend") - a "copy" that does not have the original in reality. In other words, semiotically, a sign that does not have a signified object in reality .

** Bayt (Arabic) - a couplet in the poetry of the peoples of the Near and Middle East, usually contains a complete thought. Ghazals, qasids, mesnevis, rubaisis, and works of other genres are composed from beits (editor's note).

the Master and Margarita "by M. Bulgakov, where Azazello was in Woland's retinue). Having tasted the fruit of knowledge (both wealth and debauchery), Feiyuz gives birth to seven ugly children who embody basic human vices, as evidenced by their "speaking" names-Silyahir (violence), Fedair (calculation-profit), Jihangir (conqueror of the world), Zyubeyr (stubbornness), Demir (iron), Zehir (poison), Nezir (vow). The first four are disgusting dwarfs who spend their lives in drunken orgies with prostitutes in their father's house, and the last three are robbers who rob honest people and live in a cave in the mountains.

Monsters of the unconscious grow in Anar's novel from seemingly the most rational social groups, whose life is regulated by strict rules and regulations: these are small, provincial Anatolian backwoods towns and villages (the stories "The Curse of King Bidaz", "Journey to the Shrines/Hajj", "The Monster of Ezine"), boarding schools ("Sunny Days"), modern Turkish family ("Ezine Monster", "Thief's Love", "Wine and Bread", "Child who came down from heaven"), etc.

In the story" The Monster of Ezine", which is abridged below, in the town with the fictitious name of Ezine, everything from the birth of a person to his death takes place according to centuries-old established procedures. Even a matchmaker marries young people according to a certain "correct pattern": curves with curves, deaf with deaf, short with short, etc. So, she decides to combine the four sons of a widowed butcher with the four daughters of a nice widowed accountant, so that the widowers themselves can start a family. Having calculated everything down to the smallest detail, she practically brings the matter to the wedding, and only a stupid accident ruins all her plans. A curious neighbor blurts out gossip around the town that a huge monster lives in the butcher's house-a rat, which, they say, she herself saw with her own eyes. Rumors of the monster reach the dowager, and the wedding is upset. Thus, a huge rat (non-human), embodying the evil of the collective unconscious, destroys in an instant the rational aspirations of people. In Anar's novelistics, such evil is devoid of anthropomorphic features, it is always with an animal grin.

In another story in the novel, called "The Child Who Came Down from Heaven," Anar debunks the repressive structure of the modern family based on the" Oedipus complex " of fear of parents. In it, each of the parents seeks to "mold" a child who, by a happy accident, was brought to them by a stork in his old age, his ideal, and as a result, a certain hybrid of a girl-boy appears. A strange child, depending on the circumstances, is forced to put on different clothes, which determines his behavior. In the end, unable to bear the oppression of the parents, the child rushes down from the balcony of the minaret and dies.

Anar's novelistics show that writers of the second wave of Turkish postmodernism continue to worry about the problem of human existence in the complex, unstable," elusive " reality of modern Turkish society, which they do not accept. Their person is as unstable and "torn" as reality itself. The postmodern hero - "deception" / simulacrum is not able to cope with his unconscious instincts, the victim of which he most often finds himself.

THE STORIES OF AFRASIAB*

(CHAPTER FROM THE NOVEL)

THE EZINE MONSTER

IHSAN OKTAY ANAR

(Turkey)

It was midday. Half the day was already over when they set off for that block. The death-man turned to the old man and said: "I'm sure I'll find Uzun Ihsan (Long Ihsan)there¹. But our way is not close, because we will go through the whole village. Besides, it's really hot right now. Come on, tell me a more authentic story to pass this unbearable journey." Ok? What will it be called?"

Jezzar dede (the Blood-sucking Grandfather), after a moment's thought, replied: "The monster Ezine."

The death Man was surprised, " That's a very strange name for a love story. You're not going to give me a horror story, are you?" Look at me!"

But the old man pretended not to hear him, and began to talk about " The Monster Ezine."

* * *

At the time when the province was still a province, that is, approximately 30 to 40 years ago, the inhabitants of-

Yayinlari

* Translated by: Qhsan Oktay Anar. Efrasiyab'in Hikayeleri. Istanbul, Iletisim Yayinlari, 1998.

The story "The Monster of Ezine" is abridged.

In truth, the leaders of small towns and cities had a greater taste for good manners. Everyone from young to old did not skimp on observing the rules of upbringing, politeness and etiquette. Today's adults remember this only vaguely, but our grandfathers remember it very well. However, perhaps the most bitter aspect of those years was that in the provinces, becoming a lady, a woman in every sense exalted and noble, was very difficult. Because the delivery to such towns of powder, silk stockings, blush, crepe georgette for skirts, satin for blouses, gabardine for women's " twos "(jacket, skirt) and, most importantly, fabrics "made of pure silk", face moisturizer, garter hooks, which were ordered by agents located in the city. in large cities, it took weeks, and sometimes even months, due to the indifference of the post office. But the women who were forced to live in those areas, suffering hardships because of the important service of their husbands, were so patient and experienced that they could only face these and similar tragedies with a drop of tears in their eyes. The virtues that elevate a woman to the position of a noble lady were cleanliness, dexterity, and ability in the household. business, attractiveness, and respect from her husband. At the same time, cleanliness, apparently, in general, was a kind of mystery that no one but a woman could easily solve. On the other hand, if you looked at it through a man's eyes, the most important part of the household chores was cooking. Indeed, in the small towns and villages of that time, kitchens run by women were truly mysterious places. Because they believed that if a dish is delicious, then it must have a "thin place", a secret. This secret was not revealed to strangers, and those who wanted to get the recipe were not fully told the composition of the dish, so its secret, just like the secret of Zulfiqar (the sword of the Prophet Muhammad), was inherited from grandmother to mother and, finally, to granddaughter, so that it became a source of pride for the women of the whole family. Previous mistresses also performed their duties to their husbands with dignity: a woman of that time, unlike today's ladies, did not consider it humiliating to wash the feet of her master, who returned home in the evening tired and exhausted. Besides, these women were admittedly right to blow the dust off their husbands and idolize them. Since some of their faithful were senior sergeants and even heads of the tax service, and even deputy heads of the financial department of the district. As everyone must admit, the success of husbands in important official affairs has always been a source of special pride for their wives.

And one of these fine, noble ladies of former years was a widow named Hamiyet (Nobility), who lived with her four daughters-in-law in a small town called Ezine. According to what they say, in order to tie her husband to the house, it would be wrong to speak ill of him, since he died, this woman for many years once a day fed him donkey's tongue, which she plentifully watered with sauces and seasoned with seasonings. However, at a time when the magic property of such a dish tied him to the family nest, the exorbitantly high cholesterol that this food contributed to, untied the rope that binds the poor guy's soul to his body. Hamiyet, who was not very happy after being left a widow, devoted her life to teaching her daughters the science of how to turn a man around, how to prevent him from going to the side and how to tie him to the house. And all this was done by her only for one purpose, so that their destinies would not be similar to her own, so that they could each find one generous, kind-hearted, solid, polished husband.

The names of her daughters were Gilvenaz (Coquettish Caprice), Genlenaz (Heart Caprice), Ishvenaz (Simpering Caprice), Alemnaz (Earthly Caprice). The youngest, Alemnaz, was a painted beauty, moon-faced, with the eyes of a shy chamois, and a bow-shaped mouth. But the three hairs - one red, two black - on her large, masculine chin might have ruined her beauty if they hadn't been plucked out with tweezers once every two days. Genlenaz had no such trouble. Those who saw the girl called her " charming as a flower." The reason for the awakening of a deep feeling in those who had the opportunity to see enough of her beauty, was the look of the girl, or rather, the fact that her right eye always looked at the left. But Ishwenaz was even more beautiful than this sister of hers: her bright almond-shaped eyes were small and set close together. The eldest Gilvenaz, like the other sisters, knew that she was the most beautiful of them all, and she never restrained herself from speaking out about it openly. But the envious ones betrayed their envy by talking about the fact that her nose was constantly growing because of the purple mole located at the very tip of it. But the girls ' mother, Hamiyet, was a pretty, white-skinned woman, rather portly, with a pleasant face. Although she was many times more beautiful than her daughters, she was also intelligent. She might have thought to powder the deep-pore skin on her face and apply a dark foundation to the wart on her chin. Some envious people said that her eyes were too small, but this was true only for her left eye.

The mother and daughters lived in the Zurefa (Pretty) quarter of the town of Ezine, in a wooden house inherited from the deceased head of the family, along with a back garden surrounded by a high wall. A woman on a widow's pension brought her daughters to high school, and even sent the last two to the women's professional school.-

zion school. When overflowing with knowledge and science, the cutting and sewing teachers, who were already over thirty-five years old, and were not lucky enough to find a betrothed, wanted to sharpen their mistakes in class, they started endless conversations with the students about the wisdom of family life, about the way to marry a decent man. Marriage was so vital, so sensitive a topic, that school teachers scolded girls whose hands did not have the skills to sew, saying and making the poor things cry: "So your betrothed will never appear! So you will spend your whole life sitting and looking out the window at the street, waiting in vain for your fate!" And look what happens when the students of such schools grew up and turned into women themselves, like their mothers and Hamiyet, it became clear to them that in fact there was not much to learn in these institutions. But still, they acquired an idea of good manners, table setting and European cuisine, gramophone, tango and samba. However, the daughters of Khamiyet-khanim* were too fat for this kind of dance. Hamiyet, chastising her daughters, who measured their waist and hips with a centimeter, broke into tirades: "Why are you so imbued with European manners? There's nothing to cry about! Men are not dogs! No dice thrown!" In fact, Hamiyet was right, in her own way, in this outburst of anger that caused the girls to secretly giggle. Because she believed that there was an Ottoman woman. From her point of view, the one she called such a woman should be in the body, with rather rounded and loose shapes. The Ottoman woman was supposed to set the table with raka ² for her husband, when he, poor thing, came home tired and nervous, she was supposed to entertain him, not paying attention and not taking offense at the hooligan words and grumbles of the unfortunate man, tired and exhausted by the need to carry an exorbitantly heavy load of life on his hump.

In their house, the day went something like this: as soon as dawn broke, the youngest daughter was always the first to get out of bed, and then she woke up the older sisters. By the time their daughters had breakfast ready, Hamiyet could be woken up. After breakfast, Hamiyet was served bitter coffee, and the poor girl smoked her first cigarette of the morning. Well, imagine, since there was a lot to do in the house, this pleasure could not last long, they got up from the table and immediately began their daily routine duties. When Hamiyet knocked out carpets with a mallet in her hand and a cigarette in her mouth, some of the girls rubbed the floors with soda water, while others either wiped the windows or washed the dishes. When homework was finished, everyone drank coffee together to relieve their fatigue.

The four daughters, the youngest of whom was twenty - four and the oldest thirty-one, had struggled for many years since they had reached the age of maturity with some difficult desires that burned like fire in their souls and hearts. From this point of view, there were four barrels of gunpowder in the house, ready to explode at any moment from a single spark. But so far, not a single happy event has fallen that can extinguish the fire in the souls of unfortunate girls. Khamiyet-khanym eventually decided to go to a well-known matchmaker in Ezina, Nafilekalfa ³.

The nickname "matchmaker", which a woman was called behind her back (in person, out of politeness and fear, they called Nafile-kalfa), was considered so shameful that it was not very decent to pronounce it. Therefore, when she was addressed, this nickname - discourteous, indelicate, and outside of all the rules of decency and education-was never mentioned. In her late forties, Nafile-kalfa was a spinster. Her age was about to approach fifty, but the years had not changed her very much: the old and ugly vixen was essentially the same in her youth. So there was no candidate for a husband who could put out the fire between her legs. As she watched her peers get married, the heat of hellfire drained her drop by drop of the woman's life-giving oils, making her at last dry as a roach, skinny and skinny. Another point that fanned the embers of envy in the poor girl's heart was that in her own eyes-in terms of external and internal beauty-she saw herself not at all lower, but much higher than the people around her. In the end, she began to closely observe the sinfulness of women, releasing reproaches against them. So she became a sharp-tongued gossip girl. But at the same time, she knew not to overdo it: this could be the reason for her expulsion from society, and then she would not be able to see the mistakes of people who slam doors in her face, and reproach them for these mistakes. She needed to find a way to enter their homes. That's why she chose the matchmaker class. Therefore, as soon as Khamiyet-khanym visited the matchmaker and urgently asked to find suitable husbands for her four daughters in all respects, Nafila's head began to work, and she eagerly set to work to find four brothers-suitors for the girls. If she was lucky, this wedding would be the pinnacle of her matchmaking skills, and her name would be known all over Ezine. After doing a lot of research work, using all her experience and skills, in the end, the woman set her eyes on the four adult sons of a widowed butcher from the Khoiratlar (Vulgar) quarter.

Indeed, in those days, there was a shop in the Khoiratlar quarter that was called the "Pleasure Butcher" and where even the most fastidious customers found their way to the market.-

* Khanym is a woman.

koino made purchases. All its affairs were managed by a man who, despite the fact that he was already over fifty, had a fine, masculine appearance, with red hair and rosy cheeks, and at whom most of the women of the quarter-beautiful and ugly, young and old-cast languid glances, addressing him respectfully-Aivaz Bey ⁴. His wife, who died twenty-four years ago, left him four strong sons, whose names were Selahattin (The Blessing of faith), Djelalettin (the Greatness of faith), Nizamettin (The Law of Faith) and Khusamettin (the Sword of Faith). Some women, who were extremely interested in the marital status of men, because they were looking for husbands for themselves, called the owner of the shop the Widow Butcher. Although the butcher was rough and uncouth on the surface, he had a fine artist's nature at heart. In fact, this was also clear from the way he arranged the glass display case in his shop: for example, he placed an excellent lamb on the display case so that its heart, spleen and lungs hung out of the cut stomach in the form of a soup set, making customers salivate. But Aivaz-kasab's (Butcher-surgeon) fine mental disposition was not the only advantage. He was also a good father. His offspring, who had entered the age of maturity and from time to time showed insubordination, tactlessness and bad manners, he often admonished with slaps on the back of the head, not forgetting to teach them the family profession of butcher, at the origins of which was still his grandfather. Aivaz-kasab did not skimp on gifts to his sons, putting a gold bracelet on each hand. And the eldest, Selyahattin, after he became a real man, he even opened a branch store in a remote quarter of Ezine. It had a name like the spaceships that were shown in the movies - "Pleasure-2". The middle sons, Djelalettin and Nizamettin, worked in the municipal slaughterhouse, while Husamettin stayed with his father. Aivaz-kasab and his sons were reputed to be clean people. Even a glance at the top floor of the wooden house where their shop was located was enough to recognize this. When they went up the stone stairs leading from the shop to the top and opened the iron door, they found themselves in a six-room spacious apartment, in which five rooms were not used, and one served as a kitchen, bedroom, and washroom for the father and his four sons. In addition, it also washed clothes every month, entrusting this task, of course, to the youngest son Khusamettin.

The eldest son Selyakhattin took after his father, becoming a fat young man. To get rid of such morning worries as combing his hair, he made it a rule to cut his hair "under zero". One of the middle sons, Gelalettin, on the contrary, grew his hair and carefully combed it. He took such good care of his hair that every time they went to the bathhouse, so as not to spoil the hairstyle, he did not wet his hair very much and did not lather it with soap. Nizamettin, on the other hand, did not have such a deep inner world as Jelalettin. Therefore, he, as a real man should, looked at life with a realistic, that is, indifferent, absent look. The younger Khusamettin absorbed all the best that was in his brothers. But his flawless face was marred by pimples, which was why he wrote letters to the "Your Health Problems" sections of various newspapers, begging them to save him from the pimple scourge. Since he was the youngest in the family, most of the household chores were considered his responsibility. In addition to doing the laundry, he was also responsible for cleaning and sweeping the floors of the house. But the guy did this hard work, to tell the truth, honestly, with dignity, because he had never he was careless about cleanliness. Indeed, every week, for exactly one hour, he swept the room where they slept and the corridor with a broom in his hand, and one by one he collected the bones that had been thrown on the floor during the meal. The other five rooms, since they weren't used, he didn't need to sweep them. The sixth room, as the guy aptly put it, was a "dirt room" where he swept all the garbage, since he did not have a dustpan. When a foul smell began to pour out from under the door of the locked room, the guy, thanks to his sharp mind, solved this problem, now after each cleaning, he threw two scoops of ash on the garbage pile. His father didn't even know what was going on. Besides, this room was right above the shop itself. One day the garbage heap in the room rotted, and the floorboards rotted under it, and everything that made up it-food scraps, bones, chunks of stringy meat, lambs ' heads, brains, exactly twenty-one rats, and countless cockroaches-fell down with the floor like a nightmare on the people in my father's shop and four of his customers. While the screams of the women, who had also lost their minds there, reached all the way to the heavens, Aivaz-kasab threw a cleaver after the rats fleeing through the open front door and crushed a couple of cockroaches. Khusamettin, whom my father was going to beat up on the first day, had to clean up all this dirt to a shine. The boy, who was skilled in cleanliness, managed to do this job with soap powder, bleach, soda and rat poison, and most importantly-four cats, mobilized by him to deal with all these vile creatures that got into the habit of living and feeding in the mud there.

However, after that day, the house began to hear the terrible screams of some strange creature that remained alive, despite kilograms of rat poison, and which, judging by the way it happily screamed at midnight, probably even fed on this poison. Those who saw it swore that it was huge and black, with red burning eyes, with long and sharp teeth. Aivaz-kasab, co-

at midnight, with a wooden pitchfork in his hands, he ambushed the beast, cornered it, and drove the pitchfork into something soft in the dark, but this did not affect the monster, it only roared without stopping, either from pain or from rage. It was on that dark night that the father and sons saw the white, sharp teeth of the vile creature glinting. It was clear that the monster, despite the fact that it lived in the mud and only ate it, took good care of its sharp teeth, which were its only living capital. When neither the rat poison nor the pitchfork worked, Aivaz-kasab decided to put two ocks ^of meat in the room where the monster was staying every night, so that at least it wouldn't bite them while they were sleeping. At night, he and his sons listened in horror to the hideous slurping and belching of the creature, which with those terrible teeth crunched bones and tore apart chunks of meat, feeding the insatiable maw. All these troubles came from the fact that, as men, they were not very able to cope with household chores. So it was already absolutely necessary for some female hand to touch the house. But apparently, it wasn't so easy to find a woman who would dare to do this. In fact, it was time for the guys to get married long ago. So the butcher, greatly grieved, visited a matchmaker named Nafilekalfa and told her about his grief.

Nafile-kalfa listened indifferently until the end of Aivaz-Kasab, who, with his eyes clouded with tears, complained that he could no longer bear the sorrows of twenty-four years of bachelor life. It was clear that he needed comfort. That is why a few words that escaped Nafile-khanim's lips greatly disturbed him: the matchmaker said that there are four sisters whom one of her acquaintances knows. The butcher wiped away his tears, rose from his seat,and clung to the woman's arms, his heart pounding. And as soon as he asked:

"Tell the truth! What are they like? Beautiful? Do they cook well?", she replied: "Wait a minute. Don't get your hopes up too high. In addition, such things are not done in a hurry. Let me think about it for a while. You'll come back in a week, and then we'll talk." It is clear that Aivaz-kasab had no choice but to rely on Nafile-kalf. After leaving the matchmaker's house, he was still thinking about the girls. The best thing is that they should not be either beautiful or ugly, but that they should be able to cook well and manage household chores, and that they should please their husbands with sweet words and smiling faces. And in this situation, the head of the house would dare to forgive some of the shortcomings of his wife. But since the girls liked Nafila-kalfa, their beauty was not in doubt.

The next day, the matchmaker went up to the attic, took out a huge dowry chest that she hadn't touched in exactly twenty-five years, and went to the mirror. Dressed in a white outfit that she had put in mothballs a quarter of a century ago, the matchmaker went to the house of Khamiyet-khanym. Of course, on the way, she calculated everything she was going to say, came up with various tricks. When she finally reached her destination after walking a long distance,the plan in her head finally matured. Nafile-kalfa wasted no time in calling out to those in the garden, " Hey, Hamiyet, listen to me! Keep your house tidy these days! Bring you happiness in the form of grooms, you'll see!", and slowly continued on her way. She could hear the excited girls giggling behind her, the clatter of the garden gate in her haste, and then the clatter of Hamiyet's wooden sandals as she ran headlong out into the street and followed her. Even though the poor thing was shouting, " Hey! Nafile-abla ⁶! Wait!", the matchmaker calmly continued walking, not even bothering to turn around and look back.

Only she seemed to slow down. Finally, Khamiyet-khanym, out of breath, caught up with her: "Just stop! What kind of happiness were you talking about? Please come inside and have some coffee!" And now, imagine, Nafila again zero attention, although the time to explain everything has already come. Nafile-kalfa, after a long pause, told Khamiyet-khanim the whole story of the butcher's four sons in one fell swoop: "There are four brothers. Their father is looking for a suitable girl, a pleasant appearance, a good disposition and a good upbringing for each of them. There are many such girls, but I think of yours. I even mentioned it to their father. Beyefendi (the gentleman) suggested that we go and see. But it doesn't look like it's going to work out. I wish I hadn't agreed! Because the guys are very fastidious, pampered antics. Gentlemen are gentlemen!", after which she made an attempt to leave. But it was not so easy to get rid of Khamiyet-khanym. "What are you saying, Nafile-abla! Stop! It's a good thing, isn't it? At least come in and we'll talk, " she kept saying, inviting the matchmaker into the house. The same one, not giving in to persuasion and continuing on her way, kept repeating: "Look, this kind of thing isn't done in a hurry. The best thing is not to roll your lips too much. In fact, candidates for suitors are too picky and boring, they are unlikely to like anyone." However, after taking a few steps, she turned around again and said: "But if you're interested, come see me the day after tomorrow, we'll chat for five minutes, of course, if you want." Hamiyet-khanym, torn between conflicting feelings of interest and anxiety, was unable to move, staring dumbfounded after the departing matchmaker. Was it because Nafile said that her daughters, who were as beautiful as roses, would not please the four applicants mentioned, that she herself looked at each beauty with envy? In addition, the matchmaker dressed up and smeared herself like a cheap girl. Or maybe one of them had sunk into her heart. It was difficult to find out-

but, but one thing was clear: there was something behind this case. For this reason, Khamiyet-khanym spent the whole night without closing her eyes, thinking and guessing. However, when morning came, despite the fact that she was so tired with her head, the questions became not less, but, on the contrary, even more. So, unable to fight the curiosity that was gnawing at her, she decided to go to Nafila-kalfa's house. Be that as it may, the matchmaker was her only connection to the suitors ' side.

By noon, she reached Matrakukaji's house in Nafil, and although she knocked very hard, no one answered the door. No one was home, of course. Khamiyet-khanym, ready to cry with despair, was just about to turn back, when suddenly the window at the top flew open, and the matchmaker shouted, looking down: "Khamiyet-khanym! I'm home, come on in!" An ill-wisher might have thought that she had been waiting for the woman at the window since morning, and when there was a knock on the door, she deliberately did not open it to make her lose hope. In fact, she owed her success as a matchmaker to her ability to get a person up to speed before saying her last word. Hamiyet, on the other hand, was simply restless with curiosity, fueled by the lack of information about potential suitors and the strange appearance of the matchmaker. Finally, Khamiyet-khanym learned from her that the four possible suitors were the sons of the richest butcher in Ezina. Their deceased mother was known as the mistress, who was particularly scrupulous about her own hygiene. In fact, on the verge of death, she asked her husband and sons to bring the Koran and put their hands on the book and swear to her. According to her will, her sons had to go to the bathhouse every day rub and wash your lower body, change your socks every other day, trim your nails on Thursdays, listen to all your father's instructions before going to bed every night, especially about cleanliness. Their father, according to the will, had to force society to recognize his sons as people of the world, demanding, clean, polite, and well-mannered. In this connection, now he had to perform not only paternal, but also maternal duties. In fact, the only thing his wife required of him in her will was to keep the family's soul and body clean. According to the additional clause of the will, the enlarged photo of the woman was to be printed out by a quarterly photographer in the amount of five copies, inserted in frames with the captions "YOUR MOTHER SEES YOU" and hung in all rooms of the house. But most importantly, she had to be hanged in the bathroom, which is truly a crime scene, attracting all sorts of bad offenses. But that wasn't all. The poor woman demanded that they sign a special notebook, which explained down to the smallest detail how to do it. perform various tasks, such as cooking, washing dishes, washing and cleaning, and said that after the Koran, this is the second holy scripture, the precepts of which they must strictly follow. As soon as their mother died, their father, drowned in mourning, immediately opened this notebook to soothe the soul of the deceased, and began to scrupulously follow all the instructions. The most important thing was that one item in the poor girl's will still hadn't been fulfilled. According to it, the butcher should have married a woman who could run the house. The deceased clearly prescribed the figure and character of her future successor after the butcher became a widow: his new wife had to be in the body, know the rules of decency and understand household chores. And since he had not been able to find a similar woman for many years and had cheated on the memory of the deceased, longing gnawed at him. Nafilekalfa, giving Khamiyet-khanim this information about the butcher, solemnly said:: "In fact, the father of guys is exactly looking for someone like me." As soon as she gave her guest a meaningful smile, she said: "You'll see, I'll still be a mother-in-law for your daughters," Khamiyet-khanim immediately realized. She understood why Matrakukaji Nafile was dressed up like this.

In the evening, the matchmaker went straight to the Khoiratlar quarter, saw Aivaz-kasab and gave him the good news. The girls 'side will deign to receive the matchmaker and suitors for the sisters' hand on blessed Friday. My father was relieved to hear the good news, and perhaps for the first time in years, a smile lit up his face. And how happy his offspring were when the good news reached them! As if they weren't happy enough, the matchmaker started talking about the girls ' mother. According to the matchmaker, the mother of potential brides Khamiyet-khanym also selflessly searched for someone who would be able to claim her whole life, heart, love, soul and body. From Nafile's chatter, it seemed that the poor woman's only happiness would be washing the feet of her betrothed, who had returned to the family nest in the evening after the labors of the righteous, changing him into pajamas, sitting the poor girl at a table full of delicious food, and if she was very lucky, having a child for him. When Nafile-kalfa uttered these very important words, the sparks of hope and doubt flickered in Aiwaz-kasab's eyes, alternating between each other, but still he listened with great attention. And so, you can imagine, the guys, because they were good-natured merry people, began to express their feelings violently, raising an incredible noise around them. It was as if the noise, or rather the commotion, had also disturbed the huge monster that had taken root in the sixth and most dangerous room of the house. Because overflowing with joy and fun, the guys forgot to put what appeared from the underground sewage drains and conveniently located-

rat poison to the monster that lived in the dirt of their house. The beast that they had prayed for to grow old and die as soon as possible, since there was no way to drive it away or destroy it, was hungry and nervous.

The boys couldn't really sleep well that night. Because the next morning, at first light, they were to go to the Ezine market with Nafile Kalfa, who had borrowed three holy altins per nose from their father for expenses, and update their wardrobe. The next morning, under the supervision of Nafile-kalf, the brothers went out to the market and went to the famous Ezine tailor's shop Konta ⁸.

When the day before the show, that is, on Thursday afternoon, an apprentice from the Comte's tailor shop brought the clothes, the boys decided that all the preparations were thus completed. They did not know that the most painful thing that could be invented was reserved by the woman at the very end. That night, when the weather suddenly turned sour, the doorbell rang, and Aivaz-kasab went downstairs. When he opened the door, he thought that the creature whose outline was barely discernible in the darkness was a bear or something. It was a famous bath attendant named Yahya ⁹, whom Nafile-kalfa had summoned by telegram from Dersaadet ¹⁰. He was to spend the night with them, and when morning came, he would wash the boys properly, and give them a good scrub, as his trade required. The bath attendant really looked creepy, just stunning. The next morning, when he appeared in the garden, wearing a bathing apron around his waist and wooden sandals, the greatness of his great size, hidden by the darkness of the night, was already evident in the light of day. Yahya, the bath attendant, lit a large pile of wood in the garden. Then he placed the cauldron on a tripod and filled it with water. When the water in the cauldron began to boil, he brought a stool and called the first guy with his hand. Judging by the way the bath attendant sniffed, it was clear that he was taking the matter very seriously. The oldest of the brothers, who was wearing only a bathing apron, approached the bully with the air of a sheep for the slaughter, sat down on a stool, and at that moment the bath attendant, who scooped a whole basin of boiling infernal water from the cauldron, knocked him over, scalding him from head to toe. That's how the guy who last visited the bathhouse three months ago was christened Yahya's bath attendant. The boiling water softened his mud, and Yahya the bath attendant foamed the soap and lathered it thoroughly from head to toe. Then, putting on a bath mitten on his right hand, he wrapped his left arm around the back of the candidate's head and walked up and down from the tailbone to the neck several times, peeling off the skin of the unfortunate man. The dirt of many days, weeks, and even months fell in clumps from the boy's back. Thus, the bath attendant soaped exactly five bars of soap on one of his heads alone, and on the torso itself he wiped clean as many as three bath mittens. Finally, he turned over a copper ladle of water and rinsed the body thoroughly, which had been cleansed of dirt and filth. In the end, the candidate for son-in-law, dejected, neither alive nor dead from fear, groaning and groaning, went into the house, clearing the bath stool for the next brother. But the preparations for the show weren't over yet, because Nafilekalfa had also called the neighborhood barber to their house to give them a good shave.

And so, one of the famous gossips of the town, Maimun Saniye (Instead of a monkey) lived in the Khoiratlar quarter, just opposite the house of Aivaz-kasab. Although her face was only a little ape-like, this rather voluptuous woman's temperament was certainly that of a monkey. Maimun Saniyeh was actually very interested in what was happening in people's homes, and she did not disdain to pry into the relations between neighbors, of course, because it is interesting to know who loves whom and who hates whom. The quarrelsome nature of the woman was complemented by a sharp tongue, which the neighbors constantly fell into. On the other hand, Maimun Saniyeh was also very happy to live right across from Aivaz-Kasab's house. Because there were five unmarried men in her line of sight, and she could watch them day after day, checking who was coming in and who was coming out. In addition, the shop itself was clearly visible to her! Especially in the afternoon, a woman would make herself a cup of bitter coffee and sit comfortably by the window, puffing on a rolled cigarette, watching the customers of the butcher's shop, trying to determine from the amount of meat they bought whether they were expecting guests for the evening, and in general what their financial situation was. position. By God, no woman but Nafile-kalf had ever visited the house of these five bachelors before that day. And she was, in fact, an old hag in her late forties. However, after her arrival, a worm of doubt crept into Maimun Saniye's soul. So when Nafilekalfa came and took the boys and left, she also hurried out of the house and followed them, looking at what was happening in order, one by one: how they were measured under the supervision of a matchmaker in the Comte's tailor shop, how shoes were ordered, and how caps were fitted on their heads. Obviously, all these preparations were for a good cause. After that day, the woman never took her eyes off the butcher's windows. When she noticed the smoke from the butcher's fire in the garden on Friday morning, she didn't feel like talking at all, and now she was bursting with curiosity and impatience. So Maimun Saniye quickly went down to her yard and leaned the ladder against the roof. It took a lot of effort to climb up to the roof, despite her advanced age, but from here her neighbor's garden was clearly visible. Yes, it was clear as day that it was a good cause, so that the butcher's sons would have to go to the show in the evening. Maimoun Saniyeh, who thus opened the door for-

By the weight of the mystery, I spent many hours watching the guys who were being scrubbed by the bath attendant, scolding and slapping the back of the head. Then she went down from the roof and went straight to the butcher's shop. She had a very clear plan. Putting her head through the door of the shop, she cried out with excitement, as if she had brought sad news.: "Aivaz efendi! There's smoke in your garden! Was it a fire?". The butcher replied: "No, it's not a fire. The water is heated." Then Maimun Saniyeh seemed to calm down and asked, " Why, didn't you do your laundry two days ago?". The butcher had no choice but to reply, " No, the boys are washing up." The old witch doubtfully asked a new question: "All four of them at once?", to which he already had to show his cards:"Yes, they will go to the viewing in the evening." Everything was going according to plan. Maimun Saniye kept asking, " Ahhh! I wish you good luck! And who will you woo?" And as soon as Aivaz-kasab answered: "To the four daughters of a widow", the woman did not miss the opportunity to insert her word: "How can you do that? How can you go alone to a house where there is no man? What if the neighbors start gossiping? Do you want your sons to marry girls of ill repute?" There should be three or four women with you at the screenings." In truth, the butcher's head was spinning. Although Nafile-kalfa was supposed to go with them, but according to the witch's words, this number of female escorts wasn't enough. Maimun Saniye, sensing that the butcher's soul was being gnawed by doubts, clung even more to the poor man. When she insisted: "Listen, Aivaz efendi. I know you and your sons. I know you as honest and decent people who don't stare at other people's wives and daughters. If you want, I will also go to the show with you for the sake of a good cause. Don't you know that you don't choose a bride with a bachelor's eye? The female eye sees a woman at the root. So I will also contribute to the happiness of your sons. In the fraction of my life that is due to me, and I will do a good deed, I will pray for you in paradise, " the butcher hesitated, not giving a definite answer. The woman, who was well aware of how correct it is to put a person in front of an accomplished fact in those moments when he is undecided, not allowing him to come to his senses, asked: "Well, did I run to get ready? What time will you go to the show?" As soon as the bewildered butcher said, "In two hours," I realized that he had actually already answered the woman "yes." But the word is not a sparrow, you will not catch it ¹¹. Maimun Saniyeh thus achieved what she wanted.

Burning with impatience, Maimun Saniye was only able to stay at home for an hour. When she rang the bell at Aivaz-kasab's door, there was still plenty of time before the viewing. But the woman certainly wasn't going to waste that time either. After all, she still had an hour to make a thorough study of the house. So, after following Aivaz-kasab to the second-floor living room, she pretended to be tired and sat down on the sofa. And, indeed, the woman turned into a specialist in surveillance and eliciting other people's secrets. Completely uneasy in a strange house, as if she were one of the household, she left the room and went downstairs, since her plan was to take a closer look at the garden. But, to gossip girl's great regret, there was no one there but the bath attendant, who was sweeping the stone floor and spraying water. The sight of the man wearing only a bathing apron made Maimun Saniye shamefacedly cover her face with the edge of the handkerchief tied around her head and re-enter the house. Aivaz Effendi was paying off the barber in the hallway. The woman immediately scanned the contents of his wallet out of the corner of her eye: there were exactly seven banknotes in it and a woman's photograph. She had no trouble identifying the photograph, taken and retouched at the Acacia photo studio, as belonging to a widow named Hamiyet, whom she knew from the local club attached to the People's House ⁱⁿ Ezine. After making sure that there was no one left on the top floor, as the boys saw Nafile-kalfa come through the window and ran down happily, Maimun Saniye slowly climbed the steps to the living room. In fact, there was nothing else to see, but there were still other rooms, the doors of which she began to open, carefully examining the interior of each. However, when it turned out that four of them were empty, gossip girl's disappointment knew no bounds. Finally, it was the turn of the last room. When the door creaked open, the woman saw the darkness inside. The windows were tightly closed. As soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she took a step or two forward, looked around, and immediately noticed that a pair of red eyes were looking her up and down sternly, assessing the poor girl's every move. It was then that her heart sank with fear. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't, and the scream caught in her throat. After whispering a prayer, she waited for a while. And since fear had frozen her hands and feet, almost numbing her, she was not really in a position to do anything else. The monster that glared at the intruder with an evil and prickly look, despite everything, seemed to have forgiven the woman. That's why the poor girl, feeling a little strength in her legs, crept towards the door. So, it was Maimun Saniyeh's lot to spread the rumor about the monster Ezine.

A week later, Ezine was stirred up by a piece of news that sent minds into a daze. Yes, the four sisters were preparing to be betrothed to four brothers, again in strict accordance with each other's height and curvature, but the most important thing was that at the same time the girls 'mother and the boys' father, apparently determined to grow old on the same pillow, also had a passionate desire to get married. Residents of the town who also couldn't stand uncertainty,

it was as if the connoisseurs of abstinence and logic, who pursue order, harmony, and balance, were also thrilled by the majestic symmetry of this benevolent work. Jilvenaz simply had to marry Selyakhattin, Ishvenaz to Dzhelyalettin, Genlenaz to Nizamettin, and Alemnaz to Khusamettin, and Khamiyet-khanym to unite on their wedding night with Aivaz bey, so that the centuries-old world order, God forbid, would not be broken. And now there was a hail of congratulations, gossip spread to the heavens. In short, the female side was happy, and the male side was happy.

And look what happened when the villagers, longing for the same happiness, discussed such a blessing until they were hoarse, some of the wicked began to spread stories. Maimun Saniyeh was one of those people. The woman who went to the show with Aivaz-kasab and Nafile-kalfa, when it came to the weddings of the two families, stubbornly kept silent or repeated: "I've seen and know something, but I won't tell you. Otherwise, the nest will be destroyed, and I will take a sin on my soul. I'll never go to heaven, " making the townspeople squirm with curiosity. She repeated these words exactly for a whole month. Her so-called calculation was simple and clear. In this mortal world, only a happy person who knows exactly as much as he should can sleep peacefully, like a dead person who has given his soul to God. In her opinion, all that was needed to make him believe that there was something he didn't know about was enough to make him lose his peace of mind. And that's exactly what the woman did. Her method was so effective that even at night, curious neighbors would knock on her door and ask her about the secret she was hiding. Suddenly, one day, a neighbor, her face pale with horror, ran out of Maimun Saniyeh's house and ran panting to the other woman's house. There was a look of disappointment and fear on her face. As soon as she hurriedly blurted out to her friend who opened the door, " Ow-ow-ow! That's woe so woe! I don't want Hamiyet's ears to get it. Did you hear that?" It turns out that there is a monster in the house of Aivaz-kasab! Just listen to what I'm going to tell you now!", the second one raised her hand to her mouth in surprise and, rolling her eyes like fortune-telling stones, muttered: "Yes-a-a! Really? Wah-wah!". The rumor spread so quickly that Aivaz-kasab, who worked hard in a shop located exactly on the ground floor of the mentioned building, at first did not pay attention to the fact that the number of his customers suddenly decreased sharply. Everyone - friends, buddies, neighbors-looked at him as a loser who was at least a month away from death. Maybe because he was an honest and decent man, he couldn't understand that the place where he lived was now called "the monster's house." And, of course, the real tragedy did not slow down to happen. The chain of rumors reached the house of Khamiyet-khanym, and as soon as the woman When she heard that a monster had taken up residence in the house that she and her daughters were to enter as mistresses, the poor girl was very upset. Of course, it was necessary to speak frankly with Aivaz Effendi. But since it is not appropriate for a couple who have not registered a marriage to meet and talk openly in front of everyone, she wrote a note, which she sent to the applicant for her own hand and heart. According to it, the suitors ' side had to rent another house. And here's the bad thing, you can imagine, the butcher in terms of money at that time was weak, and he was not strong enough to fulfill such a requirement. They must have been jinxed. But, anyway, the main culprit of this tragedy was a monster-a rat, which, having got out of the sewage drain, bothered their house. The butcher, who knew that moving to a new home was impossible for him, began to figure out in his mind how to destroy the monster. The beast could withstand even the most severe poison, and it didn't look like it was going to die a natural death. The butcher went to a relative and borrowed a hunting rifle from him. He was already imagining driving the monster into a corner of the room and killing it, and then she would tie his body to a rope and hang it out of the window so that the neighbors would see and stop gossiping. In this state of mind, he conferred with his sons. According to his calculations, the monster should be destroyed during sleep, that is, at night. Besides, it had to be done as soon as possible. So the butcher cleaned and oiled his gun during the day, and then, together with his sons, he began to wait anxiously for the approach of darkness. He had exactly five rounds of ammunition in his pocket. When the call to evening prayer was heard, he whispered:: "In the name of Allah," he said, and put one of them in his gun. The sons lit kerosene lamps. Because when aiming, their father had to be able to see his target clearly. When all the preparations were completed, they crept up the stairs and came to the cursed room where the monster slept. Then they turned the handle of the door and opened it softly, and a kerosene lamp shone lightly on the room. The monster was indeed asleep. His father pointed the rifle at him and took aim. However, the ugly creature, accustomed to waking up with the rooster song that came every morning from the neighboring chicken coop, mistook the click of the rifle's bolt for a rooster's crow and instantly opened its eyes. And when it was all over, the beast, its red eyes glittering with hard sparks, bared its sharp, sharp teeth and snarled, spittle spurting from its mouth and nostrils. Now the roles were reversed, the monster that had been the object of the hunt a little earlier, during sleep, opened its eyes and turned into a hunter itself. And just as it lunged at its target, my father pulled the trigger and the gun went off. And look what happened, only the smallest part of the shot hit the target, making the monster more aggressive and irritated.-

married. The faces of the people in the room turned white as the creature let out a terrifying cry of rage. All five of them ran for the door. But because the door was too narrow, my father stumbled and sprawled to his full height. As the boys threw down the kerosene lamps and ran as fast as they could, the monster leaped up from its seat and, skipping over the man lying on the floor, rushed in pursuit of the fleeing men. Abandoned kerosene lamps immediately ignited the floorboards and curtains on the hall window. The fire started. The butcher tried to put out the flames, but in vain. Then he rushed down the stairs, seeking safety in the street. And there all the sons were already gathered. The house was soon engulfed in flames. Residents of the town, who noticed the fire, jumped out into the street, who was in what. They were watching this third big event that took place in Ezine in one month. Almost every one of them thought that, in fact, the unfortunate house was tormented, scorched and burned not by the flames of the fire, but by the curse of the monster. In short, Aivaz-Kasab's wonderful plans and calculations for the sake of his own happiness and the happiness of his sons ended in a complete fiasco. And that's why these five unmarried men who had their house burned down had been forced to sleep for exactly seven months on the plank floor of the Pleasure 2 butcher shop, which was open to their eldest son on the other side of the Esine, and therefore found themselves in a truly miserable situation. and distress.

The termination of the marriage agreement by the female side in connection with the disaster that occurred for unexpected and improbable reasons, of course, went against the established order, life turned out to be ruthless. After her youngest daughter, Hamiyet-hanym, runs away from home with a violinist who entertains people at weddings, one of her middle-aged girls will marry an elderly milkman, and the other, leaving a note to her mother asking her not to look for her again, will rush off to the city, longing to become a movie star, and only the oldest of the daughters will stay with her mother. When the butcher's house burned with a bang, disappearing from the face of the earth, Aivaz-kasab seemed to see all these future events in the flames of the fire.

The next day, ashes began to stir in the ruins of the house. The monster's red eyes peeked out from under it, and then the monster itself. Even though the fire had long since gone out and the ruins of the house had cooled down, the huge rat that had spent a very hot night was extremely angry and aggressive. Because all that was left of the burrow where she was supposed to produce offspring was ashes. She had to find a new refuge in which to give birth and safely feed her offspring. At nightfall, the rat left the area where it had been successfully hunting and filling its belly for many years, and began to run through the dark streets in search of its fate. But none of the houses seemed to suit her. She stopped at doors and sniffed at doorsteps, but in the air she drew in, she couldn't find anything to eat that would suit her taste. And even when there was very little time before sunrise, the rat monster still roamed. Finally, she came to a wooden house. This place was not chosen by the beast itself, but directly by fate. In the house she liked so much, there lived a widow with four marriageable daughters. Despite the fact that the garden wall was taller than a man, the rat jumped over the obstacle in one fell swoop and was inside the garden. She reached a large pipe that was draining sewage from the house. Then she was in the kitchen. The rat, which had seven cubs in its belly, moved around the house without making a sound, trying not to frighten the owners. She was looking for a suitable place for herself. Well, well, you can imagine how unlucky she was, the house was perfectly clean. Through the open door of the wardrobe, she climbed inside and saw the sheets, pillowcases, and duvet covers for the guests pressed and neatly folded. It was here that she found a secluded spot. A new burrow for her seven cubs, which were about to be born, was chosen.

Translated from Turkish by O. V. KAREVA

¹ All names in the novel are "speaking" names. Most often, they correspond to the character or appearance of the hero (for example, a Man-death who kills everyone in his path). But there are names, as in this case, that represent the exact opposite of the essence of the characters who wear them (a typical postmodern method of carnivalizing the language). Grandfather-Bloodsucker is neither a tyrant nor a bloodsucker, but, on the contrary, an extremely kind, gentle, peaceful person who has not offended a fly in his entire life.

² Raki - aniseed vodka.

³ Nafile - in vain, in vain; kalfa-servant, housekeeper, overseer (over the slaves).

⁴ Aivaz-assistant surgeon on warships (ist.), surgeon. There is a proverb: "What is a surgeon, what is a butcher-one and the same," and one and the other work with a knife for a person.

⁵ Okka - a measure of weight equal to 1,283 kg.

⁶ Nafile-abla-Nafile's aunt.

⁷ Matrakukaji - a set of discordant syllables designed in this context to mean something bad, repulsive, cunning, such as "rascal", "worthless", etc.

⁸ An allusion to the French philosopher, founder of positivism Auguste Comte.

⁹ Allusion to the Koranic prophet Yahya and the biblical John the Baptist.

¹⁰ Dersaadet is the historical name of Istanbul.

¹¹ Dosl.: But the arrow from the bow has already flown out.

¹² People's homes in republican Turkey were opened by the ruling Kemalist party mainly in the provinces for propaganda and cultural and educational purposes.