Simon Le Bon Chronicles 6 – Palace Tiger

It was night and I was listening to Mozart’s ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio’ and dreaming of Vienna. It was my biggest dream to live there one day, an impossible dream…

The men with bloomers and sabers arrived at midnight and dragged me out of my parents’ frugal house. I was a poor peasant girl and did not know what was happening to me. We rode quietly through the night as I saw the majestic palace from afar, on its throne overlooking the Bosphorus.
When we arrived at the gates, an elderly lady named Soraya helped me off the horse, silently she led me to an outhouse. The first thing I noticed inside was a beguiling humidity and the incessant rippling of water.
There must have been hundreds of rooms in this building, puzzlingly nested, lined with velvet and silk, strange, heavy smells in the air. Women of all shapes and forms scurried across the corridors, almost floating, whispering.

Soraya led me into an opulent hall decorated with gold and jewels. In the center of the room lay a man on an amber throne, his head resting on one arm, one leg angled, wearing only a loincloth. Several lightly clothed women fed him grapes and massaged various parts of his body, others fanned him or performed a belly dance.

As I came closer, I could clearly see who the man was: Sultan Süleyman Le Bon, the legendary Ottoman emperor who terrorized the world with his dreaded yacht fleet. He looked at me lustfully and began to speak: “There you are, Saliha. I saw you on a peasants market last week and couldn’t forget you. You were selling cheese and butter and I immediately wanted to have you. Soraya will show you your room and dress you up for me. I will visit you when you are ready… ‘

So I was the newest addition to Süleyman Le Bon’s harem. The night was long and by the next day I had become his main woman. One month later I suggested him to visit Vienna together. Finally he agreed and decided to combine our visit with the conquest of the city.

I was so happy.

by Saliha Le Bon