Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Ilia Chavchavadze's Return
from Exile
Alexandra was coring carrots to fill them with the walnut farce her mother was stirring.
They were preparing a dinner for Ilia and Olga Chavchavadze, who had returned from Europe.
The servants had been dismissed for the night. Ilia, a controversial man, was surely under
surveillance by the Russian Okhrana and one could not trust the ears of one’s personnel.
"Deda, who is Persephone?" Alexandra asked suddenly.
Deda stopped stirring the walnut paste and caught by surprised looked at her daughter.
Alexandra confessed that Konrad had been invited by Henri to a sema in Shavnabada, and
she had accompanied him.
"Persephone was very civilized to Konrad and me. I had pictured her an evil witch with
piercing eyes and long hair, casting spells on people." She laughed. "I noticed nothing of that.
She was exceptionally kind."
Deda pushed back a strand of hair that had fallen into her eyes. "Persephone is an
extraordinary person. Her mother was Greek, her father a Syrian precious-stone cutter. She
grew up in the house of her Greek grandfather, who was a successful merchant in Batumi."
She took a bottle of vinegar from a shelf, added a teaspoon to the walnut paste, and
tasted it. "Her father was a member of the Halveji brotherhood. He taught Persephone how to
grind and polish precious stones, and introduced her to the Halveji. A woman cutting stones
and entering a Sufi brotherhood was unusual twenty years ago. It is no longer."
Deda finished stirring the farce, chopped a bunch of cilantro, sprinkled it over the puree,
and handed the bowl to Alexandra.
"As Persephone got older, she discovered that she had a gift for healing. She followed a
man to Tiflis, but their relationship fell apart. She became widely known as a healer. Being a
woman of sharp judgment and possessing a sensitivity that far exceeded that of the men in the
Halveji Brotherhood in the Bazaar, they elected her their sheik. I met her through Henri many
years ago, and she has become one of my closest friends."
Deda had folded her arms. She looked thoughtfully at her daughter and asked. "Does
this answer your question? Because beyond these bare facts, I find it difficult to explain this
woman to you. Maybe one day you will get to know her better and learn more about her. When
she acts as our sheik, we call her Brimo. You see, Brimo was the ancient, sacred name of
Persephone, the daughter of the Greek goddess Demeter."
Alexandra stopped her work, tilted her head, and quizzically looked at her mother. "Are
you a member of the Halveji and participate in their dances?"
"We don’t like to talk about these things, but you can find out yourself, my child, if you
are interested. You will always be welcome in Shavnabada."
When Ilia and Olga arrived late at night, Alexandra received them at the door. They
embraced. Ilia, a short man with a round head, wispy hair, and a splendid handlebar mustache
peered into the dark hallway and anxiously asked whether they had let their staff go for the
night.
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