Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Irakli sat slumped in his seat. Listlessly he raised his glass to his host.
Konrad continued his description of the characters. When he mentioned that the maiden
had been played by Persephone, Ilia exclaimed, "You mean the clairvoyant witch from
Shavnabada? How does she get involved in all this?"
Olga had watched her husband with increasing restlessness. "Tamunia told me a long
time ago that Persephone was part of this play. Calm down, Ilia! Persephone is another
excellent actress. You could have gone there yourself. Let Konrad continue!"
Ilia sat down, and Konrad suggested that Persephone simply played herself, the Queen
of the Underworld.
At this moment Tamara appeared in the door. Proud and bright-eyed, still high on the
excitement of her role, very much Demeter, she surveyed the scene. Ilia froze embarrassed.
"Tamunia," said Olga, "we have been waiting for you with our feast, and, of course, my
husband provoked Konrad to relate what happened at Zedazeni tonight. As if they could not
have gone there and seen for themselves."
Deda smiled at her. "I invited Konrad to Zedazeni. I trust his sober judgement. Maybe
Konrad can break the silence that has separated us for years. But first, give me something to
eat, I am starving!"
Olga disappeared into the kitchen, and Ilia got up and filled a glass. Handing it to
Tamara he welcomed her. "To the queen of the underworld!"
"You got that wrong, old cousin—I was the Goddess Demeter. Persephone was the
queen of the underworld. Konrad, what did you tell them?"
"I have not finished describing the characters," said Konrad.
Tamara carried her glass to the table and sat down. "Well, let us enjoy Olga’s feast. The
best is still to come! Right, Konrad?"
Alexandra, embarrassed resentment written all over her face, stared at her mother. She
was close to crying. Konrad very gently laid his arm around her shoulders. "Come my love," he
told her quietly, "let us sit next to each other. This Easter night has taken another unexpected
turn. But you will see, all will be well in the end and maybe even better than before."
Deda sat across from Konrad. She smiled encouragingly at him. A rustic feast was
served, roasted lamb, eggplant puree, cucumbers, tomatoes, bunches of garden greens,
mountains of Georgian bread, and two plates of traditional Easter mtsvari, the innards of the
sheep crisscrossed with gut strings into a long, roasted sausage.
Konrad, happy to have Tamunia’s support, glanced at her. "Father says that you
produced this remarkable mystery play from an old Svani manuscript, where did you find it and
what do you know about its history?"
Ilia abandoned his prerogatives as host and tamada. All eyes were on Tamara and
Konrad.
"I discovered this play in David Dadeshkeliani’s library when, newly married, Irakli and I
visited him in Svaneti, years ago. It was written in ancient Svani, which you know is quite
different from the Kartli spoken here, it seems to be two hundred years old."
She raised her glass to Konrad. "Eventually one of Irakli’s Svani cousins and I translated
the text into Kartli. It was an eye-opener as you can imagine. I never blushed so often in my
life, and several times we had to consult a friendly kinto in the Bazaar for the appropriate
expressions for all the bawdy words the old crone uses."
She ate a few slices of mtsvari and continued. "We tried to publish the text, but found
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