The Calm Monotony Of A Life At Trooditissa Was Disturbed Every Now And
Then At Distant Intervals By Trifling Events Which Only Served To Prove
That Peculiar Characters Existed In The Otherwise Heavenly Atmosphere
Which Showed Our Connection With The World Below.
One night a burglar attempted an entrance; but the man (who was a
carpenter) having been previously suspected, was
Watched, and having
been seen in the middle of the night to place a ladder against the outer
gallery, by which he ascended, and with false keys opened a door that
led to the store-room of the monastery, he was suddenly pounced upon by
two strong young priests and fairly captured. On the following morning
the monks applied to me, and as usual I vainly pleaded my unofficial
position. I was either to do or to say something. If the man was sent to
Limasol, thirty-five miles distant, the monks would have the trouble and
expense of appearing as prosecutors; the robber would be imprisoned for
perhaps a couple of years, during which his family would starve. I could
offer no advice. I simply told them that if any robber should attempt to
enter my tent I should not send him to Limasol, but I should endeavour
to make the tent so disagreeable to him that he would never be tempted
to revisit the premises from the attraction of pleasing associations. I
explained to the monks that although a severe thrashing with stout
mulberry sticks would, if laid on by two stout fellows, have a most
beneficial effect upon the burglar, and save all the trouble of a
reference to Limasol, at the same time that the innocent wife and family
would not be thrown upon their relatives, they must not accept my views
of punishment as any suggestion under the present circumstances.
About half an hour after this conversation I heard a sound of
well-inflicted blows, accompanied by cries which certainly denoted a
disagreeable physical sensation, within the courtyard of the monastery,
and to my astonishment I found that my interpreter and willing cook
Christo had volunteered as one of the executioners, and the burglar,
having been severely thrashed, was turned out of the monastery and
thrust down the path towards the depths of Phyni. Christo was a very
good fellow, and he sometimes reminded me of a terrier ready to obey or
take a hint from his master upon any active subject, while at others, in
his calmer moments, he resembled King Henry's knights, who interpreted
their monarch's wishes respecting Thomas a-Becket.
On 6th June we had been somewhat startled by the sudden appearance in
the afternoon of a man perfectly naked, who marched down the approach
from the spring and entered the monastery-yard in a dignified and
stage-like attitude as though he had the sole right of entree. At first
sight I thought he was mad, but on reference to the monks I discovered
he was perfectly sane. It appeared that he was a Greek about forty-five
years of age, who was a native of Kyrenia, and for some offence twenty
years ago he had been ordered by the priests to do penance in this
extraordinary manner.
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