YUSUF ERADAM <\/p>\n
PHOENIX<\/p>\n
In Van, where we had gone to search for the monster, the <\/p>\n
Turkish “Nessy”, in the lake, we were welcomed so warmly that we <\/p>\n
understood we were more important than we had thought we were. I <\/p>\n
was so excited as I had finally got the chance to visit this most <\/p>\n
extra-ordinary city in East Anatolia. We were the university <\/p>\n
professors coming from the Capital; we were different. The way we <\/p>\n
dressed, the way we talked, the way we walked, the way we greeted <\/p>\n
people, the way we held the cutlery at the table; we had some <\/p>\n
special aura, yes, we were different, that was for sure. We had <\/p>\n
the grandeur. The interest spared for us by the inhabitants <\/p>\n
proved it as well. We could select the best carpet at the carpet\u001e<\/p>\n
shop. At the jeweller’s, we could prove our simple but subtle <\/p>\n
taste by selecting the unembroidered turquoise, by inclining to <\/p>\n
buy not gold but silver pieces, or not the diamond watch coming <\/p>\n
fr\u00f6m the Far East but the ordinary stones shaped and carved by an <\/p>\n
anonymous shepherd, who lived in a village very close to the <\/p>\n
Turkish border with Iran. We would also prove that we were <\/p>\n
different by our generosity and our polite abode by being a <\/p>\n
relief to the grievance of the poor villager who came into the <\/p>\n
shop head down in shame as we were drinking the linden tea that <\/p>\n
the jeweller had offered us. <\/p>\n
The poor villager was standing embarrassed as if he wished <\/p>\n
that the ground cracked and swallowed him. He took a coin out of <\/p>\n
his pocket and handed it to the jeweller, who happened to be from <\/p>\n
his village in the South East. The poor villager mumbled:<\/p>\n
“Umm, the chief gave this to me, what is it worth?” <\/p>\n
The jeweller inspected the coin carefully. He finally said:<\/p>\n
“Nothing. This coin is a dime a dozen.”<\/p>\n
As the poor villager headed for the door his eyes facing the <\/p>\n
floor as if his last hope had evaporated, I grabbed his arm and <\/p>\n
bought the coin. Had I, out of pity, just put some money in his <\/p>\n
pocket without buying the coin, he could have been offended as he <\/p>\n
would then think that we mistook him for a beggar. <\/p>\n
We were definitely different. The people of Van had _also <\/p>\n
noticed the difference and they did their best to welcome us: <\/p>\n
ragout with olives, fried pieces of meat, and special sweatmeat. <\/p>\n
We did shopping madly starting from the very first day of our <\/p>\n
stay. We drove around the castle, which was surrounded by barbed <\/p>\n
wires, god knows why. We also posed for cameras in front of the <\/p>\n
camp of tents for the Kurds who emigrated to Van from the South\u001e<\/p>\n
East. We took so many pictures in front of the colorful frozen <\/p>\n
clothes left to dry in the fatal cold of the East Anatolian <\/p>\n
winter. Van people did anything to please us.<\/p>\n
The first night, in my room that looked down on the Van Lake I <\/p>\n
fell asleep thinking of the monster in the lake. In my dream <\/p>\n
there was an earthquake, but to my relief, a white\u001ebearded old <\/p>\n
saint would wake me up and would help me get out of the building <\/p>\n
just in time. <\/p>\n
In the morning at breakfast, I told my colleagues about the <\/p>\n
dream or rather the nightmare I had the previous night. None were <\/p>\n
surprised. They told me that there was really an earthquake the <\/p>\n
night before and that, according to them, I, half asleep, had <\/p>\n
felt the earthquake and had confused the dream with reality. To <\/p>\n
me, I had experienced something mystical and surreal. What is<\/p>\n
more, a saint had selected nobody else but me to save. I would <\/p>\n
never let my friends underestimate my experience and make it <\/p>\n
sound ridiculous. I finished my breakfast quickly and went for a <\/p>\n
walk by the lake in the early lights of that morning. There was a <\/p>\n
fog over Van and the lake. I could vaguely see the castle amidst <\/p>\n
the fog. It looked like an island in vacuum. It was certain that <\/p>\n
I was in a slice of some different time, and I just could not <\/p>\n
take my eyes off the castle.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, I saw a creature flying towards me from the castle. <\/p>\n
As it started flying around me I could do nothing but stare at <\/p>\n
its colorful feathers like ariels on its head, its red tail and <\/p>\n
blue\u001egreen chest. It started circling around me, then it flew <\/p>\n
high up and then glided towards me and kept circling around me <\/p>\n
again. I was petrified. I had never seen such a creature in my <\/p>\n
life. It was so different. And its shriek! It was other\u001eworldly! <\/p>\n
Could it be the phoenix? I unconsciously took the coin which was <\/p>\n
supposed to belong to a chief of some South Eastern Kurdish <\/p>\n
tribe, and instinctively started to spin it in my right hand. <\/p>\n
When I realized that I was doing this, I heard some footsteps <\/p>\n
approaching me. Behind me was standing a white\u001ebearded old man <\/p>\n
dressed in pure white. To my surprise he was the saint I had seen <\/p>\n
in my dream the night before. I should ask him about the flying <\/p>\n
creature. Who else but him would know? A new excitement covered <\/p>\n
me and I began to shiver. The blizzard had overpowered. I was <\/p>\n
going through some extraordinary experience. It was certain that <\/p>\n
I was elect. I asked the old saint:<\/p>\n
“You are from this town, aren’t you. Could you please tell me <\/p>\n
what this flying creature is?”<\/p>\n
I could have a heart attack any time. This was the turning <\/p>\n
point of my life. Nothing would be the same again. I could feel <\/p>\n
that I was going to learn some truth that would definitely change <\/p>\n
the course of my life. The saint looked at the flying creature <\/p>\n
and then at me, and then in such a confident tone of voice he <\/p>\n
answered my question:<\/p>\n
“Oh, that! That’s a bird, just a bird.”<\/p>\n
I looked at the coin in my hand. It was just a piece of metal. <\/p>\n
I hurled it into the lake. <\/p>\n
Then I saw. The bird had gone. So had the saint.
\n\t\t (Translated from Turkish by the author) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
YUSUF ERADAM PHOENIX In Van, where we had gone to search for the monster, the Turkish “Nessy”, in the lake, we were welcomed so warmly that we understood we were more important than we had thought we were. I was so excited as I had finally got the chance to visit this most extra-ordinary city … <\/p>\n