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The Phanariot Manuscript
37
with buttons and elaborate
embroidery which few could
appreciate. And besides
this, he also cherished hair
oils that made his black
curls look heavy and supple
like Bursa silk.
Nevertheless, all these were
balderdash. The only worthy
action for a fisherman’s son
from Săruna would have
been to go straight out to
sea and enroll in Lambros
Katsonis’ fleet.
For 20 years, his ships had
relentlessly attacked the
army of the great Gazi
Hasan,
weakening
the
Empire and giving hope to
the Greeks and all the other
people, the Wallachians of
Săruna city included. Two
things would have been
solved if he had behaved
like a decent son: the jizya
would have decreased by
one head and the day of
liberation from under the
Turks would be closer.
Ioanis loved freedom and
hated the Turks like any
normal man in Săruna,
but life under somebody’s
command
on
a
ship
threatened by cannons
made him lose all interest
in patriotism. He wanted
all Greeks to be free but he
loved his freedom more,
which at that time meant
perfumes and beautiful
clothes.
4. Around Easter, things in
the Bradu Milikopu family
got really bad. After the
mother put the vegetable
soup on the table, Bradu
gave her the news she
feared most; his time had