Trafika Europe 8 - Romanian Holiday

The Phanariot Manuscript

departure. He offered to get Ioanis a recommendation directly from the merchant who was the brother of the governor of those dancing Wallachians. And he kept his word. One day later, Ioanis brought him a silver coin which he had from his grandmother and Mustafa gave him the letter written in Greek: “Dear brother, take care of this young man. He is a friend of Mustafa, the merchant from Thessaloniki.” A wave of gratitude shook in his cheek, then another concern made him wonder if he knew the name of that simpleton brother who had become king of the dancing Wallachians. “Of course”, answered Mustafa, “his name is Nikos Mavros and another name.”

As soon as he stepped out of Mustafa’s shop, the earth shook under his feet and, as he later learned, the entire Empire was shaken by an earthquake. Houses and even imperial baths crumbled in Instabul and the shops in the Easter Market of Thessaloniki collapsed. In the general confusion after the earthquake, Ioanis packed a few clothes and other useful thing and took, not without remorse, the 10 drachmas from his mother’s chest. The teacher gave him a ream of Venetian paper and the address of someone in Istanbul. “You can’t get lost”, he said, “for he is the very head of the Eiub mahala!” Andindeed,hedidn’tgetlost. After almost two months he

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