ECLIPSE OF THE CRESCENT MOON (IN HUNGARIAN: THE STARS OF
This historical novel of Géza Gárdonyi is one of the best known stories in
The main persons and historical events are true. Gergely’s early life and romance with his real wife Eva is fiction. It is fact that he is not a member of the nobility but his education and rank presumes a good education.
(The timeline of this story nearly coincident with the first 20 years of Elizabeth I. of England’s life.)
Part 1. WHERE DO HUNGARIAN HEROES COME FROM? (Around 1530)
Small raids come everyday events. Sometimes the population of whole villages is taken to the
Gergo (Gregory) Bornemissza the 8 year old peasant boy playing by the stream in the forest with Eva Cecey the 4 year old daughter of a minor nobleman while grazing his master’s horse . The children are kidnapped by the one eyed janissary Jumurzak.
They are taken deep into the forest where other captives are waiting chained together.
They overhear that the Turks are planning to raid their village. During the night Gergo frees himself and Eva. Leading their horse and a Turkish horse the kids head back to the village.
On the way they met with Captain Istvan (Stephen) Dobo and his men who were on the trail of the Turks. The soldiers arrived in time to beat back the attack against the village and the children lead them to the hidden camp to free the captives.
Dobo gives to Father Gabor (Gabriel) the leader of the captives the right to punish Jumurzak. Father Gabor discovers that Jumurzak is one of the Hungarian boys enslaved in his childhood and let him go, but takes his talisman ring.
It turns out that the Turkish horse Gergo had taken, carries a pouch with money. This bounty belongs to Gergo. As Gergo`s widow mother died during the attempted raid, Dobo takes him under his guardianship and sends him with Father Gabriel to the castle of general Balint (Valentine) Torok to be raised as a page and be educated with noble boys.
Part 2 THE FALL OF BUDA (1541)
King Janos (John) is dead.
The Turkish army is on the way to attack the Hungarian capital. Gergo and Father Gabor are hidden by the roadside planning to blow up the Sultan to prevent the attack. By mistake they ignite the explosive under a richly dressed courtier. Father Gabor dies.
A spy who knows Gergo from Lord Torok`s castle saves him, acting like the young man is his own prisoner. A Turkish officer shows him a pile of papers. Gergo realizes that they are the detailed maps of all major Hungarian forts. He tricks the illiterate Turk telling him that they are powerful amulets, and if he tore them into small pieces and wears them on his body he will be invulnerable. He manages to steal one plan. It is of the turtle shaped fort of
Gergo heads to Buda to alert the widow queen and Lord Torok of the danger. In the castle he meets again with Eva and they fall in love. There is not much hope for a peasant boy - even for an educated one- to marry a noble girl.
Suleiman and his army arrive under Buda castle. The Turkish emperor makes a pledge that he will not fight against the widowed queen and the baby king. He asks the queen to let Turkish officers visit the castle while he entertains the baby king and the Hungarian generals in his camp.
Lord Torok is suspicious but it would be dangerous to offend the sultan. He is right because the Turks are invading the castle, the king (with half of the country) became the sultan’s ward and the generals are taken to prison in
Part 3 THE CAPTIVE LION
Gergos grown up (he is Gergely now) and on his way with his friend Istvan Mekcsey to join Dobo`s army. He hears the news that the Cecey family prepares for Eva’s wedding to Adam Furjes. He hurries to Eva who tells him that she is forced to the young noble. Gergely confronts old Cecey, who throws him out, regardless that he owes his gratitude for Eva’s life and the saving of his village to him.The young couple elopes and marries in secret.
Lord Torok’s son can not yield to his father’ fate. Torok Janos, Gergely , Eva (dressed as a boy) Mekcsey and his servant disguised as Italian musicians are travelling to Istambul to try to free the lord. Neither courage nor bribes can help them. The only thing they achieve, that they can sing in front of the prisoner and father and son can say a silent good bye.
Part 4.
Nearly 2/3 of the country is under Turkish control there only few forts are standing between the Turks and the western world.
Gergely is in
She receives a visit from Jumurzak in the disguise of a trader who heard about a ring in Gergely’s possession and wants to buy it. Eva carelessly blurts out that the ring is with her husband at
Captain Dobo receives Gergely and Istvan Mekcsey as his lieutenants. The full count of the defenders is 2000.
The 2000000 Turkish soldiers surrounded the fortress. The Hungarians pledge to defend it until death.
During the first encounters, the Hungarian soldiers get hold of some bounty and in a chest find a little Turkish boy hiding.
It is customary to shout treats to the defenders to demolish their morals. So when Jumurzak appears under the walls offering Jancsika in exchange for the talisman ring Gergely doesn’t believe him, thinking that his son is in safety with his wife.
5. ECLIPSE OF THE MOON
Eva finds among her husbands belongings the talisman ring and the map of
The siege continues. Greeley who became an explosive expert and built many inventive devices. Men and women fight side by side. They even hoist the cooking cauldrons to the walls to pour scalding water onto the Turks climbing the walls. An officer tries to commit treason and to lead the Turks to the fort. He is discovered and executed.
The long drawn siege tires the Turkish army, their supplies are run out and there are too may losses in lives. One morning the Turkish camp vanishes from under the walls of
A few hours later a Turk woman arrives leading Jancsika. The two mothers exchange their children.
I recommend this book to any one you like war, love, tragedy and a book that delves deeply in the characters lives, thought, and characteristics!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_of_the_Crescent_Moon
Eclipse of the Crescent Moon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eclipse of the Crescent Moon (Hungarian: Egri csillagok) is a historical novel by the Hungarian writer Géza Gárdonyi. It was first published in 1899 and is one of the most popular novels in
Contents
3 Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The story is set in the first half of the 16th century and covers a period of roughly 25 years. The main historical events that are addressed are the bloodless occupation of Buda, the seat of the Hungarian kings, in 1541, and the 1552 Siege of Eger (now in
Most characters of the book are historical figures, notably the hero Gergely Bornemissza himself, though most of them have been strongly romanticized according to the author's intentions. Gergely's life story in the novel is almost fully invented, except for his role as an officer during the siege of
Plot summary
The novel consists of five parts that tell the life of Gergely Bornemissza from the age of eight until the year 1552, when he is in his early thirties.
I. Gergely is a half-orphan and son of a poor woman, while Éva Cecey is the daughter of a landowner. They are nevertheless playmates. While playing in the woods, the two children are captured by a Turk named Jumurdzsák and have to join a trek of prisoners. Due to the cunning of little Gergely, the two children are able to escape and later also to free the other prisoners. Gergely's mother dies in a raid by the Turks, but the little boy is adopted as a foster son by the rich aristocrat Bálint Török, where he gets a good education.
II. Several years later, Gergely has to experience that Buda is captured by the Turks through deceit and his foster father Bálint Török is led away prisoner. Gergely meets Éva again, who has become a pretty young girl who is also an excellent rider and fighter. Their childhood love revives: they flee together and get married.
III. Gergely, Éva and some friends now plan to free Bálint Török from his prison in Istanbul. They go to the Ottoman city, but despite many adventures, they finally fail in freeing the Hungarian aristocrat.
IV. It is 1552, a force about 200,000 Turks is approaching the little town of
V. Even though the forces of the Turks are overwhelming, the Hungarians in
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
The novel was adapted for film twice, in 1923 and in 1968.
Mon:I think I win the longest review so far, mind you it is books 5-in-1! =)
ReplyDeleteTheo: Yes
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