Konrad and Alexandra (PDF) - Rolf Gross

death."Alexandra was more interested in Shalva’s spirit-calling procedure. But Gocha refused to talk. This was his work, only hewas allowed to deal with the dead."He will hold a soul-of-the-dead calling session in a house in Ipari in a couple of days, maybe he will let you watch it. Youhave to ask him.""So you are not married and have no children with him, right?"Gocha almost coyly explained. "No, doctor Alexandra, this is not the reason. We don’t sleep together, only on one day inthe month may we ‘birdie.’ A jadukali must not get pregnant. She could not pick herbs, if she became pregnant, theywould turn bad in her hands. I am also too old to have children."Alexandra changed the direction of her inquiry and asked Gocha about herbs to prevent pregnancies.Gocha’s dark eyes grew small. "Oh, there are many, but some are dangerous," she said evasively. "What would you liketo do, prevent the conception of a child or get rid of one?"Alexandra tried to assuage her suspicion by telling her about the many women among the working class who had alreadytoo many children and could not afford to have more.Gocha, completely unmoved by the social dilemma, squinted cunningly at Alexandra. "I don’t give away these recipes.These medicines are really good business. A pregnant woman will pay anything to get rid of an unwanted baby. Butbecause you have done me a favor, I will give you a bag of tea to abort a baby with and tell you how to use it."The tea was a similar mixture to the one Alexandra had used a couple of times. Alexandra described her concoction.Gocha sized up Alexandra. "You are clever, you know something about these things. This is a good mixture, where didyou learn about it?" She suggested some adjustments to the amounts in the mixture to make it more easily digestible.Alexandra laughed and explained that this recipe came from a very old Greek medical book."I believe you, I once met a Greek woman in Batumi. She was very good at such things.Alexandra surprised Shalva with her request to attend his soul-calling ceremony. Who had told her? Gocha explainedand put in a word for Alexandra. Shalva, still suspicious, grumbled that Niko and Alexandra could attend, but none of theother foreigners. They should come to a house on the outskirts of Ipari at night where someone would pick them up.Nobody should see them or hear about it, otherwise the authorities might try to prevent the ceremony.47.Calling the dead, Svaneti1907The man who picked up Alexandra and Niko led them to a house at the upper end of the village and into a roomilluminated only by a few candles. More than twenty people were sitting on the floor surrounding a female bread dougheffigy clothed in old rags. Behind the figure sat Shalva enthroned, wearing a paper crown and a heavy coat. A small handdrum rested between his knees. Across from him, in the first circle, sat the relatives of the deceased woman.Alexandra and Niko took a place in the shadows behind the other villagers. They found themselves next to the wives ofthe natsvali and the teacher. After all the meeting must not be as secret as they had been led to believe. Shalva musthave resented their being outsiders more than he feared the officials.Drumming a slow beat, Shalva sang an incantation in Svani. The teacher’s wife whispered that he was calling the soul ofthe dead woman. Shalva swayed back and forth. With time his drumming got more hypnotic. Suddenly his voice flippedto a high female pitch. The audience sat spellbound.The husband of the dead woman whispered her name. Mechanically Shalva opened a cage next to him and pulled out apigeon that dragged a long string on its foot. He tied the string to the effigy and let the bird walk loose in the inner circle.At first the pigeon stood rooted and seemed confused. Shalva began drumming at a higher speed. A sigh went throughthe audience when the bird shook itself. "The soul has entered the bird," whispered the wife of the natsvali.Shalva in his high-pitched voice addressed the pigeon, urging it on. Someone put a plate with bread crumbs into thecircle. The plate slowly passed from one to the other among the woman’s kin. The pigeon followed, picking at thecrumbs. As the bird came to the husband, it stopped. The audience held its breath, would it recognize him? Shalvaincreased his efforts and the pigeon jumped up and fluttered into the husband’s lap. Beyond himself he babbled excitedlycalling the bird with his late wife’s pet name.A young woman in the inner circle started to wail loudly. Shalva, eyes closed, mumbled an incantation in his normalvoice. The pigeon walked on until it came to the young woman, it fluttered up and landed on the woman’s head. The149