Tag: Turkish

Vaccination in the seraglio

The Sultan’s harem must be vaccinated
and thus preserved against the smallpox.
A sultana with a lush bosom
extends her snow-white, round arm.
Small odalisques, slightly pretentious,
with lingerie and graceful,
how easily they hover behind a screen.
However it is bandaged and vaccinated,
the seraglio must not be profaned.
No, sultana, beware,
for behold, the eunuch is on his guard!
And as vigilant as the dragons of fairy tales,
the Grand Sultan himself guards his treasure.
For the slightest tilt, oh, odalisque,
you can easily run a dangerous risk.
The “life doctor” can only see the arm,
but no sign of décolletage.
Otherwise a prisoner (no, what befalls?)
a silk cord around his neck.
Now the vaccination is over,
with the “sick man” on the imperial throne,
in purple cloak and ermine,
he does not recover from his vaccine.
(Fäderneslandet, Stockholm, 1887)

Swedish smallpox cartoon

Dear Cholera!

“Just spare my few really Russian people, the others are not important anyway!”
(By the fall of 1908 the last wave of cholera was widespread in the Russian Empire and to a lesser degree in the Ottoman Empire as well. Russia’s entanglements along its southern borders, including a Russian colonel leading a Persian Cossack siege of the Majlis in Teheran in June, but especially the declaration of independence of its client state Bulgaria in October, were cause for concern amid the turmoil of Ottoman politics–when this cartoon appeared, the Young Turks, many from military backgrounds, had upended the Ottoman court. That said, I’m insufficiently informed about the iconography at work here.)
(Lustige Blätter, Berlin, 1908)

German cholera cartoon

Initial peace negotiations

Mars negotiates the breakup of Ottoman Turkey with Cholera, seated on a barrel of carbolic acid. Peace the Diplomat approaches the table.
Diplomat: “But you’ve already divided up everything.”
Turk (perched on German Pickelhaube): “Well now I understand what the friendly support of Germany means!”
Russian satirical magazine Ogonek no. 49, 1910.

Russian cholera cartoon