Zbornik Mednarodnega literarnega srečanja Vilenica 2004 - Ljudmila

Muharem Bazdulj
more and more visible, revealing its characteristic features, blue sleepy
eyes, a large long forehead, a yellowish untrimmed beard, a long thin mustache,
pale rolled-back lips. He was about sixty. He walked around in
ragged clothes, like a beggar. He was barefoot. By now everybody should
have recognized him. His name was Mate Glusac; legends about him are
still alive all across Herzegovina. It is said that he was born in the village
of Korita in 1774. He lived alone helping the baptized and the unbaptized,
he practiced magic, cured, and told fortunes. According to folk legends,
he never owned a house, never got married, always fasted and read prayers.
There was about him something of an Old Testament Hebrew prophet’s
passion, he was esoteric like Celtic druids, his mysticism resembled that
of the sorcerers in The Arabian Nights, he was as picturesque as John the
Baptist, ascetic as a monk, magical as a shaman, immersed in faith like a
dervish, charismatic as a rock’n’roll idol, poor as the ancient Franciscans,
powerful as a tribal medicine men; dignified as a priest; the odious respect
of a lunatic, and the tranquillity of a wise old man from Chinese
fairy tales.
A Dramatic Omen
Bey Resulbegovic greeted his old acquaintance with a smile, It’s great to
see you in good health, Mate.
Mate returned his greeting with the simplicity and spontaneity of a
feebleminded man, Where are you headed, Bey?
To see Prince-bishop Njegos in Montenegro, Ali-Pasha sends us – the
Bey replied in slightly lowered voice imitating anger as if he were speaking
to a child.
Mate’s eyes widened; he looked off somewhere in the distance, behind
the Bey and began speaking quickly as if he were reciting a previously
memorized text, Listen to me, Bey, you will not see the prince-bishop nor
will you talk to him, and all but one person will see him from two places.
From the first place they will talk and look at each other for an hour or
two. From the second place they will look at each other for exactly two
months until their eyes fall out of their sockets.
Now both the Bey and Mate Glusac were silent. After some time, the
Bey asked Mate as if he were in a trance, What did you just say Mate?
Mate’s face relaxed, his gaze became crystal clear. Nothing my Bey, and
if I said something, I don’t remember it any more.
Mate then continued on his way without looking back like some desired
but unreachable and undoubting Orpheus, while the Bey, on horseback,
stared after him for a long time looking like a sculpture made of salt
or Eurydice on Pegasus.
The Phenomenology of Twilight
Twilight suddenly trampled the field. Darkness lengthens shadows and
contributes powerfully to the grayness. Night gives a certain dimension
to words and things that they do not have during daylight.
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