20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

594 A. Girfanovatroops from Moldova.Great as his hatred to the Turkish invaders and his longing to set free allthe oppressed peoples might be, Konstantin deems necessary to underlinethe positive features of the Turks. Thus, he writes of their merciful treatmentof slaves, of their impartial way of rendering justice to all subjects, ofthe punishment that could befall courtiers and officials unjust to theirsubordinates. Needless to say, that his attitude is extremely biased and veryfar from the true state of affairs in the Ottoman Empire, notorious for thearbitrariness and tyranny of the sultanate.In some parts, the style of the narration resembles that of the folklore.Such is the description of the battle of Belgrade in 1456, which is given inthe form of a novel of the four sultan’s sorrows. The author brings puzzlesand parables into play, makes use of metaphors and figures of speech, asit is when the sultan compares his warriors with arrows. The dating of theevents is done in the same folkloric way – when neither the year, nor themonth is stated, but only the day of the week.Konstantin resorts not only to the Serbian folklore, but also to that ofthe Turks. This tendency is well illustrated in the legend about Ottoman,the founder of the sultanate dynasty, and a ruler, Karavida, which is styledas “The Arabian Nights”.The title of Chapter XXXIII is “About a Valash voivode, the governorof Lower Moldova”. The chapter acquaints the reader with voivodeDracula, who had two sons – Vlad, the elder, and Radul, the younger. Hesent them both to provide a service at the court of Sultan Mekhmed. Aftertheir father’s death, the Turkish sultan showered Vlad with money, gifts,horses and garments, and directed him to return to the Valash lands to rulein his father’s stead. Several years passed, and Vlad became unwillingto serve the sultan and stopped coming to his court. The sultan sent hiscourtier, Khamzabek, to bring Vlad to him. When Khamzabek reached thetown of Brail, Vlad commanded his people to stop and to detain the sultanenvoy there until he (Vlad himself) arrived at the place. In the meantime,Vlad had raised an army and marched there. As it was winter, the Danubefroze up, Vlad with his army crossed the river lower Nikopol from wherethey attacked the Turks, killing and taking them prisoners, thus inflictingdamage on the sultan. Moreover, Vlad commanded that his men cut offand collect the noses of both the dead and the quick, which he later sentto Hungary boasting of the number of the defeated Turkish warriors. Thesultan’s envoy and his servants were impaled. In reply, the sultan gavethe younger brother, Radul, an army numbering 4,000 men and sent himto Nikopol, where he himself joined the army. The following passage