A Marriage Under A Comet

One of Turkiye's most influential authors and often likened to Charles Dickens, Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar addressed issues like superstition, class struggles, and gender dynamics with a mix of realism and humor.

Set in early 20th-century Istanbul, this sharp and humorous satirical novel captures the hysteria surrounding the predicted approach of Halley's Comet in 1912. Against a backdrop of apocalyptic fears and superstitions, the story follows İrfan Galip, a modern - yet conservative - young man, as he navigates his budding romance with a mysterious woman whose worldview starkly contrasts his own. As the city succumbs to ignorance, panic, and opportunistic schemes, İrfan champions science and reason in a clash of tradition versus modernity. 

"Neighbour Emine, where are you? Come to the window, I have something to tell you!" she shouted, anxiously pounding on the wooden siding of the adjoining house.

Receiving no answer, she muttered to herself, "Oh, this woman is so lethargic. Even if doomsday came, she wouldn't leave that secluded room... She'd just stay put and be resurrected there."

Intensifying her knocks, she called out, "Mrs. Emine, come to the window for a moment... Listen to what's going to happen! A comet is going to hit the Earth... I'm so anxious I can't stay still... Oh, look, the woman doesn't even make a sound."

(Knocking even harder) "Are you dead or what? Move a little!"

Mrs. Emine slowly opened her window and poked her head out. "I've just put the boy to sleep. Don't knock so hard. The house is shaking from its foundations."

"Oh, come on! How could my knocking shake the house?"

"How could it not? Dust is falling from the ceiling cracks... The child has been unwell for a couple of days. He's been very fussy. I had a terrible time getting him to sleep."

"Haven't you heard?"

"Heard what? Has Sıtkı divorced his wife again?"

"Oh, to hell with Sıtkı and his wife... This isn't about some divorce. It's serious..."

"What's happened, for goodness' sake?"

"Everything's in turmoil... Even the deaf sultan in Bursa has heard, but you still don't know anything... Oh, what a disaster..."

"Oh, don't upset me like that... When I get anxious, something gets stuck in my throat. I feel awful. I can't handle grief like I used to... Please don't tell me if it's too distressing..."

"It's the most distressing thing ever... May homes and hearths be merry... May friends be spared..."

"Stop it, Bedriye, stop... My heart's starting to pound... Has something happened to my dear father? Tell me, I'm about to faint..."

"A comet is going to hit the Earth..."

Mrs. Emine spat on her collar several times, saying "tuh tuh," trying to ward off her anxiety. Then she said, "Oh, I thought it was something to be afraid of. How alarmist you are, sister... So what if it hits? What's the big deal? I'll close my door and stay in my little house. I won't go anywhere. Now the women will flock in droves to watch, saying 'Let's see how it's going to hit'... Oh, I won't go, I won't go. I don't have time to be trampled among dogs and riffraff..."

Mrs. Bedriye laughed rebelliously. "Emine, sister, how foolish you've become. Do you think that huge, monstrous, fringed Raziye will hit the world and your house will remain standing for you to stay inside with the door closed?"

"Ma'am, nothing will happen to my house. It was built with honest money. When the Kazasker Efendi's mansion in Çarşamba collapsed, our house was built with its timber. If you saw the oil mill posts they used inside, you'd be amazed... This world might collapse, but our house would still stand. During the great earthquake, many stone buildings fell, but not even a splinter of our house moved from its place... The ship of the faithful doesn't sink. Don't you worry..."

"Emine, how carefree you are. I swear, I couldn't sleep a wink last night from fear."

"Don't be afraid... It's all lies. Astrologer's fabrications... There's no comet coming to hit us or anything. All astrologers are liars. Doesn't your dear father always say so? They said the same things some time ago... Didn't another comet appear? They said it would hit, fire would rain from the sky... They spouted all sorts of nonsense. Did any of it come true? May the bones of those who say such things be struck by lightning, inshallah... For that last comet, they said one end was on the ground and one end in the sky. It could be seen from Mrs. Atiye's house. We went there one night after dinner. We saw something like a large plume in the sky towards Cerrahpaşa Mosque. That was it. All that talk for just that..."

The upstairs neighbour, Mrs. Emeti, showing her henna-dyed hair as she stood on an upturned old basket in front of the garden wall, called out, "Oh, children, what's all your fuss about? What are you chirping about there again?"

Mrs. Bedriye replied, "We're talking about the comet, dear Mrs. Emeti..."

Mrs. Emeti asked, "Which comet?"

Mrs. Bedriye responded, "Oh, how many are there, woman?"

Mrs. Emeti retorted, "As many as you want, the street is full of them."

Mrs. Bedriye clarified, "We're not talking about those comets in the street, dear... We're discussing the comet in the sky. They say it will strike the world in a few weeks... “

Mrs. Emeti: "Don't fear the comet in the sky. Fear those on the ground... Those are more dangerous."

Mrs. Bedriye, puzzled: "Which ones on the ground, my dear?"

Mrs. Emeti: "Which ones? The comets walking the streets with fake diamond pins on their headscarves, dragging their skirts a yard behind them..."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Oh Mrs. Emeti, even if doomsday came you'd never stop fussing about young people... Those poor young ladies aren't comets striking anyone."

Mrs. Emeti, angrily: "What? What? Haven't plenty of young men been shattered by their impacts?"

Mrs. Emine, chuckling softly: "They say a star is about to strike and bring about doomsday, yet look what this woman is still thinking about."

Mrs. Emeti, leaning further over the wall indignantly: "Of course I think about it! My nephew Behçet was recently struck by one of those fake-diamond-pinned comets. The poor boy nearly hanged himself from the mulberry tree in despair. What a shame! A strapping lad of twenty-two..."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Now's not the time to think of such things... If this one up there strikes, we'll all be smashed to bits."

Mrs. Emeti: "Hush girl, you're making me feel ill. Who's saying that?"

Mrs. Bedriye: "The scholars have found it in the book..."

Mrs. Emeti: "Lord protect all of Muhammad's people, and this servant Emeti too... Signs of doomsday. I still say this comet in the sky came from the evil of those on the ground... Last year they said a pasha's mule gave birth in Dizdariye, and we didn't believe it. See, it was true. The time must be near. There's too much construction too. These are all signs of doomsday. That's what we heard from our grandfathers and fathers."

Mrs. Emine's daughter Mebrure suddenly enters the room beside her mother and asks: "Mother, what are you talking about?"

"Quiet, girl, you'll wake your brother... Apparently a comet is going to strike this world and we'll all be smashed to bits... Come listen, they're explaining it."

"Oh mother, I'm scared. When will it strike?"

"I don't know. Come ask."

Mebrure, leaning out the window: "Aunt Bedriye... When is the comet supposed to strike us?"

"Sometime this coming May... They say it will strike just before dawn."

Mrs. Emine: "How do they know it will strike on a certain day and hour? Did the comet send a telegram saying it would strike on such-and-such a day at such-and-such time?"

Mrs. Emeti, shouting from behind the wall: "Don't believe it, don't believe it! All astrologers are liars – with their spells, horseshoes and rabbit's heads! They've cast another great spell and spread this huge lie to make it work!"

Mrs. Bedriye: "It's not a lie, it's not a lie! I saw a picture of the comet..."

Mrs. Emeti: "Oh, where did you see it? My, my... There's nothing these modern people won't do. How quickly they took its picture!"

Mrs. Bedriye: "I saw it at the telegraphers' house. You know their son Irfan reads French. He opened a big book for me. It had pictures of all the stars, moons, and suns inside."

Mrs. Emeti: "Ah, no wonder! When you try to uncover God's secrets by taking pictures of the moons and stars in the sky, this is what happens. We'll be struck by comets with tails and without!"

Mrs. Bedriye: "Oh, you wouldn't believe what's in that book,  dear... Lots of wheels, half moons, full moons... Lines like a lover gone astray, shapes that give me anxiety... Triangular and square shapes... Things that look like flowers handing gifts to their parents... Curves like lace, like Hristo embroidery... Little animals like slugs and worms... Mr. Irfan explained them all by name... The book wasn't just about one comet, but many. They all have their time... Some come by our world every ten years, some every twenty, thirty, fifty, sixty, hundred or who knows how many years..."

Mrs. Emeti, belching several times in distress: "Oh my, let it pass! Let it pass without harming anyone... May it stay far from us, I pray."

Mebrure: "Let's go look at the comet's picture too... I wonder if its tail is like a cat's or a Karaman sheep's?"

Mrs. Emeti: "If it comes crashing down on our roofs in the middle of the night, you'll see what a cat's tail is like then... Oh, these silly modern girls always wanting to see everything they hear about."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Mr. Irfan pointed to one of the many comets in the book and said, 'This is the hussy we're afraid will come strike us.'"

Mrs. Emeti: "Girl, describe it! I'm dying of curiosity... Maybe I should go see it too."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Oh, how can I describe it, dear... Should I say it's like a mermaid, or an Angora goat, or a Van cat? It has a fringed head like that... Almond-shaped slanted eyes... That combed white ethereal hair flowing down to the ankles..."

Mrs. Emeti: "Girl, is it old? Does it have white hair?"

Mrs. Bedriye: "Of course it's old, practically ancient! The book says it's hundreds of years old..."

Mrs. Emeti: "As long as it doesn't harm us, may God grant it an even longer life..."

Mebrure: "Mother, please can we go see it too?"

Mrs. Emine: "We'll go, we'll see. Don't make noise, Haydar will wake up."

Mrs. Bedriye: "It has a name too! Let me think, what was it? Oh yes, My Aunt's Star”.

Mrs. Emeti: "Ah, they've quickly become relatives with the comet! If it's their aunt, my dear, let it be my aunt too, as long as it doesn't harm us..."

Mebrure: "Let it be my grandmother too..."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Well then let it be my mother-in-law..."

They all burst out laughing together. The noise wakes Haydar in his cradle. He starts wailing and crying.

Mrs. Emine, moving away from the window to rock the child:

"The boy has woken, oh friends, lullaby

Go away now, shoo shoo, lullaby

My little one will sleep now, lullaby

Don't laugh, ladies, lullaby

Hush, hush, hush..."

Mrs. Emeti: "Bedriye my girl, don't compare the comet to your mother-in-law! If it takes after her temper, God forbid, this world will be turned upside down..."

As another burst of laughter begins, Mrs. Emeti's head suddenly disappears from behind the wall. Her voice can be heard.

Mrs. Bedriye, addressing Mebrure: "What happened to the lady? She suddenly stopped talking and vanished from there." (Shouting) "Mrs. Emeti dear, did you fall? What happened?"

Mrs. Emeti, from a bit further away: "Oh, what do you think happened? The rotten basket I was standing on gave way. I sank into it up to my chest. My hips and tailbone are all scraped up. I'm completely battered, just battered... That's what you get, you foolish hussy, for climbing on baskets to gossip with the neighbors."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Oh no, poor thing! Do you see what's happened to her? Is there no one else at home, Mrs. Emeti dear?"

Mrs. Emeti: "No, there isn't. My son is at school. And my Hayriye went to the Bedestan family's house to sew the hem of her skirt..."

Mrs. Bedriye, sympathetically: "Oh dear, what will you do stuck in that basket until they return?"

Mrs. Emeti, groaning: "Ah, how should I know what I'll do, my child! I'll sit in here like a trapped mouse..."

Mrs. Bedriye said, "Try to work your way out a bit, maybe you can get out."

Mrs. Emeti, twisting left and right trying to escape, replied, "Oh, it's impossible... The basket's sticks are digging into my sides. It's just like a trap. Easy to get in, hard to get out." (Starting to cry) "What am I going to do now?"

Mrs. Emine continued her lullaby by the swing:

"Very naughty, won't be quiet, lullaby

Whatever I say, won't sleep, lullaby

Not afraid of the comet, lullaby

Hush my baby, hush..."

Mebrure, leaning out the window as far as she could towards the neighbor, asked, "Aunt Bedriye, are the comet's eyes really as beautiful as you described?"

Mrs. Bedriye answered, "Very alluring, with striking lines... you should see them."

Mebrure inquired, "What about the hair?"

Mrs. Bedriye replied, "White like silk. So long it reaches the ankles."

Mebrure exclaimed, "Oh, I'm going crazy with curiosity to see it just once!"

Mrs. Emeti shouted from inside the basket, "What are you chattering about over there? I've fallen into this limbo. What's done is done. I'm suffocating in here. At least talk to me too so I can be entertained a bit. I'm about to burst from boredom!"

Mrs. Bedriye asked, "How long are you going to stay in that basket?"

Mrs. Emeti replied, "Until someone comes to rescue me."

Mrs. Bedriye inquired, "When will they come?"

Mrs. Emeti answered, "God knows..."

Mrs. Bedriye asked, "Who will open the door if someone knocks?"

Mrs. Emeti replied, "The spirits..."

Mrs. Bedriye questioned, "Doesn't Hayriye have a key?"

Mrs. Emeti confirmed, "She does."

Mrs. Bedriye remarked, "Well, that's fortunate, but you'll get cold until she arrives, aunty."

Mrs. Emeti lamented, "Everything below my waist is already frozen. I'm chilled to the bone... All my aches and pains will flare up."

Mebrure asked, "Aunt, does My Aunt's comet have a beard or mustache?"

Mrs. Bedriye replied, "You can't tell if it has a beard or mustache... Its face is covered in fuzz."

Mrs. Emeti interjected, "Bedriye, my girl, you've praised the comet too much to Mebrure. Look, she's asking if it has a mustache. She thinks it's a man. These young girls nowadays have such brazen hearts... She might fall in love. There are many fools who fall in love with the moon and sun..."

Mebrure retorted indignantly, "Just listen to what Mrs. Emeti is saying... Is that why you think I asked?"

Mrs. Emeti suddenly began wailing, "Oh, did you see what's happened to us?"

"What's wrong?"

"What could be wrong? The girl cooked today, put the food in dishes, lined them up in the hall, and went to the neighbor's. The garden gate was left open. Cats are coming in one by one. I wouldn't mind, but your father wanted rice pudding. Our girl put vanilla in it and whisked egg yolks. The dishes had a finger-thick layer of bright yellow cream on top. Those delicious meals will be the cats' fortune today. Oh look, look, that tailless cat of the refugees has come in too... Oh, another mangy cat has entered. Are they diseased or what? We just had the pots re-tinned... Ah, what's happened to me today shouldn't happen to anyone. My Hayriye has been stuck at the Bedestans' house for ages. By now, she could have sewn eighty skirts!"

Mrs. Emine raised the pitch of her lullaby:

"See what will happen, lullaby

The comets will strike, lullaby

Hush my son, he'll sleep, lullaby"

Mrs. Emeti called from inside the basket, "Children, I hear a mournful voice, what is it?"

Mebrure replied, "Mother is singing a lullaby to Haydar..."

Mrs. Emeti remarked, "Your mother's voice sounds so sorrowful. It's really affecting me. I feel like she’s reciting a eulogy for our rice puddings. The cats are probably devouring them all now..." (Listening towards the house) "Oh Bedriye, my girl, rat-tat-tat, someone's knocking at our street door. You can see our door from your bay window. Please look and see who it is. It must be a stranger..."

Mrs. Bedriye, rushing to the bay window, muttered to herself, "Oh, the grocer has come. He's carrying bars of soap." (Calling out from the window) "Hey grocer, you're knocking on that door in vain."

Grocer: "Isn't anyone home?"

Mrs. Bedriye: "Mrs. Emeti is home, but the poor woman fell into a basket. She can't open the door for you..."

"What are you mumbling? I can't understand."

"I'm saying Mrs. Emeti fell into a basket. She can't open the door for you."

"I didn't come here to joke around this morning. I have work at the shop. Come on, tell her to open the door quickly..."

"Oh you fool, as if I have nothing better to do than joke with you in the morning... I'm telling you the woman fell into a basket, and you don't believe me..."

"What do you mean she fell into a basket? What business does an old woman have in a basket? Oh, for heaven's sake..."

"She had climbed onto a basket by the wall and was talking to us about the comet. Then somehow she fell in."

"Did she hide in the basket out of fear of the comet? Just look at how these old women think... Does she think that when the comet hits us, it won't be able to get into her basket? There are all kinds of madness. If old women start hiding in baskets out of fear for their lives, where will the young ones try to squeeze into? If getting into a basket would solve this problem, our egg baskets would sell for a gold coin each. We'd all sit tucked into baskets or barrels. I don't need to get into a basket. Deadbeat customers have already put me in a cage... Tell that Emeti woman to get out of the basket and open the door to take these soaps from me..."

"Oh, you stubborn idiot. I'm standing here arguing with you as if you were a reasonable person. I'm telling you the woman can't get out of the basket..."

"Is she a kitten? Can't a grown woman get out of a basket?"

"Well, she just can't..."

"What will happen? How long will she sit at the bottom of the basket?"

"Until her daughter comes back from the neighbor's."

"Oh, come on... For heaven's sake... Did the old woman drink too much boza last night and get drunk or something to fall into a basket? I don't have time to wait for her to get out. Open the door, let me leave these soaps with you, and I'll get back to my shop..."

The grocer left the soaps at Mrs. Bedriye's house and muttered to himself:

"This comet talk has started. There's nothing to be seen of the comet yet... But everyone wants to talk about it. 'Grocer, have you heard? It's supposed to hit on Thursday. The European newspapers wrote about it.' The other day, some fancy gentleman came with a newspaper and showed it to me... 'Look, grocer,' he said. I looked. They had drawn intertwined lines on the paper like trombone slides, put round shapes like watermelons, and wound a few long-bristled broom sticks between them. The fancy gentleman asked me, 'What do you make of these figures?' What could I make of them? I said they'd use those broom sticks and round things to sweep and clean up. The gentleman laughed. Apparently, those round things were supposed to be our world that we sit on, God forbid, and those broom sticks were the comets. They're all just crazy shapes.

“If a European draws a circle and says, 'This is the world,' everyone believes him. I swear a thousand times that this pure Siberian honey in the barrel is genuine, and no one believes me. Then the gentleman explained - our world will go along this line, and the comet will pass from here. They'll meet at some point and peck at each other like roosters. God forbid, try to believe this nonsense if you can. People fight and struggle with each other, amen, I see how many every day. Governments war with each other, sure. But if stars and worlds start colliding with each other like Japan and Russia did, what will become of us grocers? They say doomsday is coming, so everybody seems to want to buy on credit... Write it in the ledger, write it in the ledger, they tell me... We can't starve just because they say a comet’s going to strike!

“Everyone’s still going about their eating and drinking as usual. According to some of these so-called intellectuals, the comet’s core won’t touch us, it’ll just wrap us up in its tail and whisk us away... apparently comets are like dried grapes, some with seeds, some without. I’m a grocer, but I never knew this until now. Comets aren’t the kind of thing I buy or sell.

“After the fancy gentleman showed me those lines and circles, he gave me a speech about how the world is going to end. Then he asks the price per pound of rice and sugar. Look at this cunning fellow, trying to swindle me by talking about doomsday and such. He'll try to swindle five or ten items. After those daft government rules, and now with this comet, there's no business left in grocery anymore. Everyone selling beans and rice has multiplied. With no work left in offices, everyone fancies becoming a grocer. We're finished.

“Many of my old customers aren’t willing to put their names in the debt ledger anymore. When I ask 'Sir, what about the old debts?', they reply 'We are out of the list. Don't say a word to us anymore.' When we used to give goods to customers, did we do it with a list? We knew neither the inside nor outside of this... Shouldn't the gentlemen who made this law have considered the grocer's rights a bit? Never mind, never mind. No one can say anything anyway. They just say, ‘We are out of the inspection,’ and get away with it.”

As the grocer grumbled and walked away, Mrs. Bedriye returned to the room overlooking the garden. When she found poor Emeti behind the wall, still stuck in that basket and crying long, sorrowful tears, she asked:

"Aunty, why are you crying?"

"If I don't cry, who will, my girl?"

"Let me climb over the wall and rescue you at least..."

"Ah, what good would rescuing me do now? What's done is done..."

"Did you hurt yourself somewhere? What happened?"

"What do you think happened? Those cats arrived like a pack of wild animals, ate and drank all our food, then left... The tailless one's mouth, nose, and whiskers were all covered in rice pudding. Our disgraceful Ceylan, instead of fighting off and chasing away the strange cats, joined forces with them. She stuffed herself full. Look, she's climbed the fig tree, the shameless wretch, licking herself...

“The refugee's stunted cat never fills its belly in their own house. It survives by stealing and hunting from the neighbors like this. What would it eat in their own house? Their ladies can't find anything to give it. It's quite the hunter. It waits by our dishwater pit and catches several mice every day. Our Ceylan doesn't catch any, curse her. Mice pass right in front of her eyes, parading all around her, and she doesn't even turn her head to look. But when there's ready food like this, she gulps it down. God willing, once I get out of this basket, I'll hand this cat over to the watchman to have it thrown in the poorhouse! Who was that knocking at our door, my girl?"

"The grocer..."

"Ah, he was going to bring soap."

"He brought it, I’ve taken it."

"You did well." (Putting her ear to the door again) "My dear Bedriye, our door is being knocked down again. I wonder who that is, knocking so rudely..."

"Wait, let me go see."

"Our house is like that. It's busy as a bathhouse until evening. All the visitors are riffraff. You have to rush to open the door. Then you have to chatter away and wear out your heart."

Bedriye went to the bay window and returned:

"Don't worry, Emeti Hanım, it's a beggar knocking at the door..."

"May they never prosper! There are so many, so many, may sulfuric acid be poured on their roots... From seven to seventy, there are beggars of every age and size. From morning till night, all they do is wear out people's doorsteps. Some of them are so insolent that if they don't get alms, they go as far as cursing and swearing at you."

(Starting to shout) "My girl Bedriye, tell me 'congratulations', tell me 'may your eyes be brightened'!..."

Bedriye: "What happened, Emeti Hanım?"

Emeti: "What do you think? The street door opened. My Hayriye is coming. Oh thank goodness, I'll be rescued from this island!"

After Hayriye came as far as the stone-paved entrance, she let out a cry:

"Oh friends, what's happened to this house? The cats have swept away everything there was. There isn’t one scrap to put into my mouth. I wonder where my mother is. Did she fall asleep somewhere? Or did she go out to the garden to gossip with the neighbors?"

Emeti cried out painfully from the garden:

"Come quickly, my child, come... (Crying) Don't see your mother's state. I fell into some bottomless baskets. I’m stuck in them like a puffer fish in a net. I'm covered in bruises. Come, my Hayriye, come. I’m as stiff as a stump. I'm frozen. Save your mother..."

Hayriye came to the garden gate and exclaimed in great surprise:

"Oh my goodness, mother! Have you lost your mind? Why on earth did you get into that broken basket like you’re dirty laundry?"

"Ha! You see? This child of mine doesn't ask 'How did you meet with this accident?', but thinks I got in here of my own free will."

"Well, no one grabbed you and forced you into this basket. Of course you must have gotten in by yourself."

"Oh, never mind how I got in. The point is I can't get out now. Get me out of here as quickly as possible..."

Hayriye rescues her mother from between the basket's sticks with great clamor and screaming. Emeti, limping along:

"Oh Lord, thank you, I'm free, but now I can't move my side or back. Every part of me is stiff. And there's not a scrap left in the house to eat for dinner..."

Hayriye: "Oh mother, never mind food and drink. We can fry a few eggs. They're saying very bad things about the comet at the Bedestans’ house. What are we going to do?"

Emeti calls out to the neighbor:

"Bedriye Hanım, my girl, hey..."

"What is it, Emeti Hanım? Did you get free?"

"I'm free, I'm free..."

"Well then, congratulations, glad to hear it."

"What do you mean congratulations, my child? My Hayriye is telling me about the comet. Things are bad, very bad. The girl's eyes keep filling with tears as she talks."

Mebrure asks from her window:

"Aunt Bedriye, what's happened?"

Bedriye: "They're talking about My Aunt's Comet. There's no doubt left anymore. It's coming! It's going to hit!"

Mebrure, her lips turning blue and trembling in a state of excitement:

"How, Aunt? Oh, I'm feeling faint."

"Come listen, listen. (Calling to the other neighbor) Emeti Hanım, let Hayriye Hanım tell us. We're very worried. Let us hear too what she's heard."

Emeti and Hayriye tip the bottomless basket on its side by the wall and both climb on top. Hayriye begins to relate what she's heard with great importance:

"The commotion about the comet has filled the whole world. It's going to hit this May. They've already started preparations..."

Bedriye: "What preparations?"

Hayriye: "They're going to set up viewing platforms in Sultanahmet and Bayezid squares, and charge forty para to watch."

Bedriye: "Oh, dear me! Is this some kind of parade?"

Hayriye: "It'll be even better than a parade. Coils of fireworks, rockets, and moonbeams will rain down on us from the sky. It'll be like a festive spectacle."

Mebrure, prolonging her fear a bit:

"Oh mother, we'll go too, won't we?"

Emine: "Be quiet, don't burst out, the boy's asleep, don't make noise."

Emeti: "You see, ladies? Now there's work for the women and expense for the men. Who knows what fancy veils the women will make for this festival now."

Bedriye: "But weren't they saying that when the comet hits, no one will be left in this world? I couldn't understand if we're going to face a disaster or if it's going to be festive."

Hayriye: "There are several different rumors. According to one rumor, it's going to hit Europe, nothing will happen to us here."

Mrs. Emeti: "Oh Lord, thank you..."

Mrs. Bedriye: "May God protect us..."

Mrs. Hayriye: "According to one rumor, it won't hit us directly. Only its tail will touch us."

Mebrure: "We'll pet and stroke its tail, so it won't harm us."

Mrs. Hayriye: "How can it not? Its tail is poisonous."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Is this a snake we're talking about?"

Mrs. Hayriye: "It's said to be poisonous. Anyone it touches will perish as if struck by a deadly wind. The wealthy are preparing to enter iron-lidded cellars. They're planning to seal the top holes of the Binbirdirek Cistern at Fazlı Pasha's and charge one lira admission for people to enter."

Mrs. Emeti: "What about those who can't afford it?"

Mrs. Hayriye: "Who cares about those without money, mother dear?"

Mrs. Emeti: "We should at least prepare our basement. If we seal up any holes, it'll be like a cellar."

Mrs. Bedriye: "We can go into the corpse-washing cabin in the mortuary with the Master. It has no windows."

Mebrure: "Mother, let's empty the coal shed. We'll take Tekir with us too. Poor thing shouldn't be poisoned."

Mrs. Hayriye: "Tonight, all the neighborhood women are gathering at the Galip Beys' house. They're going to give a lecture about this comet there."

Mrs. Emeti: "Oh, I see. Using the excuse of a lecture, those sly boys will get a good look at the women. I know Ragıp, Irfan's older brother very well. He's always been obsessed with the sky. He had a big telescope. Didn't he used to go up to the roof to watch the moon and stars? Wasn't he reported during the last regime for 'spying on the stars with a telescope'? He was jailed for I don't know how many days. His mother nearly had a heart attack. Then they made the telescope disappear. Now look, they've brought it out again."

Mrs. Bedriye: "Everyone's in a panic. Even the grocer is worried. If you'd heard what he said when he brought the soap, you'd have died laughing."

Mrs. Emeti: "What did he say, my dear?"

Mrs. Bedriye, trying to imitate the grocer's accent: "Look 'ere! Oh my, it's gonna hit us, it's gonna crash, Lord 'ave mercy!"

Mother and daughter laugh so hard at Mrs. Bedriye's imitation that the rotten basket under their feet collapses from their shaking bodies, and they both tumble to the ground...