The Kadin - Bertrice Small [126]
During the days preceding the nuptials, a gentle pandemonium reigned within the harem walls. Nilufer was to have an entirely new wardrobe. This meant three hundred pairs of harem trousers, three hundred long-sleeved, slash-skirted dresses, three hundred fur-or satin-lined robes, three hundred silk, gauze, or sheer woolen blouses, three hundred night garments, three hundred sets of underwear, and three hundred pairs of slippers. Her jewelry, gifts from her family, filled three coffers.
Ibrahim sent word to his bankers, the House of Kira, to purchase a palace worthy of his bride. Being able to come and go freely within the harem walls and the outside world, Esther Kira cheerfully acted as go-between for the princess and her relations-to-be.
Nilufer had seen on a small point along the Bosporus a delicate, cream-colored-marble palace, and nothing would do but she must have it The owner of the palace, guessing the purpose of the inquiry, demanded an outrageous price for his property. The Kiras, however, were not without resourcefulness. Secretly investigating the owner, they discovered he had sold supplies to the army at inflated prices—an offense punishable by death under Sultan Selim’s strict laws.
Warned by a friend of his imminent exposure, the owner of the little palace fled. The property was confiscated by the government and given to the Kiras as a reward for their loyalty. They in turn sold it to Ibrahim at a fair price.
The twins’ wedding festivities had lasted only three days, since the sultan had been eager to start for Syria. Nilufer was Selim’s favorite daughter, and he was determined that she should be wed in a manner never to be forgotten by his subjects. It was his last generous act
The wedding was to be held in the gardens of the Yeni Serai. The newlyweds would spend their first nights in the beautiful shore kiosk newly built by Selim for the occasion. The small, one-story building was decorated with marble pillars hung with red silk curtains. It had three rooms, each furnished luxuriously, and its roof was topped by a gilded, windowed dome resembling a tent Set just outside the gates and overlooking the Golden Horn, it was a lovely and private place for the princess and her new husband.
Suleiman, Gulbehar, and Ibrahim arrived a week before the wedding. The prince was quite pleased that his best friend would soon be his brother-in-law, and took great delight in teasing him about his forthcoming marriage to a mere child. Ibrahim, two years older than Suleiman, was twenty-six.
The wedding day arrived—a perfect May morning. The cries of the muezzins echoed in the clear air all across the city. At noon, after midday prayers, Ibrahim was escorted by Prince Suleiman and his brothers-in-law, Hussein and Riza ben Ismet, to the Great Mosque (which had been the Byzantine church of Hagia Sophia) just outside side the walls of the Yeni Serai. There he was officially and legally married to Nilufer Sultan, represented by the new agha kislar.
The men then returned to the palace for the festivities. A pavilion painted with red, green, and blue designs had been set up in the gardens. It was shaded by a cloth-of-gold awning. Here the sultan, his sons, and his sons-in-law seated themselves. Nearby was a smaller pavilion for the women.
Nilufer wore pale-lavender trousers banded with diamonds at the ankles. Over them was a slash-skirted, long-sleeved dress of the same color, covered with diamonds, pearls, and amethysts, and topped with a deep-purple silk cape embroidered in gold and silver thread and diamonds. The cape was lined with alternate stripes of gold and silver cloth. On the back of Nilufer’s head she wore a matching cap. Her long, dark hair was unbound except for a single pearl-tassled braid. About her slim neck sparkled a magnificent diamond necklace.
Leading Nilufer to be formally presented to her husband, the bas-kadin almost eclipsed her daughter. Cyra was resplendent in beige and gold, her