MANOLE MACRELATA

“Salih, can you hear, Salih?”

“What’s wrong?” he asked, lost in the song.

“I’ve listened to you all my life,” his wife continued, “listen to me once, too. Promise me that you will listen to me.”

“How can I promise you, not knowing what it is,” Aga said.

“It’s for something good, Salih, it’s for something very good” she begged quietly, standing behind him. “Give me your word!”

“I give you my word. Say now!”, He asked impatiently.

“Do you hear the song – it breaks hearts...”

“It breaks,” Aga interrupted, “because I will throw him into the ravine.”

“Can you kill such a lad,” his wife asked again. “It will be a sin. Forgive him, Salih. Let him go.”

“I don’t let such people go,”Aga said more softly.

“But you have already given me your word”, his wife did not yeild. “I do not know about Rada, but if I was a gyaur, I would follow him...” You will do a good thing, Aga!

“That’s it,” Aga asked smiling. “I’ll give him his life. His song and play turned into an offering.”

“Stay healthy, Salih Aga, long live! His wife started kissing his hands and jumped out happily.”

Salih Aga called Strahin and ordered him to let Manol Makrelata go. The bilukbashi obeyed the Aga’s order, and for the first time since he had been serving with his master, he could not understand him. He was embarrassed and confused...

Salih Aga looked for a long time at Manol walking away, until he lost sight of him.