I wish you a resounding victory in Pazin next week, or whenever the final decision in your court case may be ultimately made. I wish you and your lawyers every imaginable success. And all the glory you and your confederates from the Motovun municipality certainly deserve. Let your justice prevail, for prevail it certainly must, and let my punishment be as severe as the law of this lawful land permits.

I also wish you every success in the remaining rounds of my appeal in Pula and Zagreb, or wherever else we may join legal battle, which will follow without fail. I wish you victory upon decisive victory in all the courts of this land famous for its legal prowess. I wish my punishment to grow and grow to your heart’s content.

For the final victory in Strasbourg will surely be mine. And it will be so much sweeter than it could ever have been without your resounding successes leading all the way up to it. But in Strasbourg I will rout you, your lawyers, and your hapless confederates from the Motovun municipality. Your just punishment will be remembered by all and sundry in this land dedicated to law and nothing but law for many a year to come.

In memory of Jorge Luis Borges

Addendum I (April 8, 2013)

A few words of explanation are due here. The idea for this letter came from Borges’ poem “The Generous Enemy,” which appeared in his Dreamtigers, but was attributed by himself to H. Gering, whose Anbang zur Heimskringla (1893) was supposedly translated by W.S. Merwin. “In the war of 1102,” the writer explained in a brief note under the title, “Magnus Barfod undertook the general conquest of the Irish kingdoms, but it is said that on the eve of his death he received this poem as a greeting from Muirchertach, the king of Dublin.” And the poem is fabulous, indeed. “May your fighting meet with good fortune, tomorrow, on the fields of my kingdom,” goes one of the many upbeat lines. “May tomorrow shine the brightest of all your many days,” goes another. “Because it will be your last,” starts the penultimate line. “That I swear to you, Magnus Barfod.” Glorious! Predictably, I was over the moon when I discovered Borges’ poem among my papers today. No matter how hard I looked for it, I could not find it for years. Returning to my letter to the mayor of Motovun, I truly wish him every success. For I will blot him out in Strasbourg.

Addendum II (March 18, 2021)

Well, well. Although I am ultimately victorious in Strasbourg, as I predicted thirteen years ago, my enemy is nowhere in sight at this time. To begin with, he was routed in the 2013 municipal elections (“A Revolution in Motovun,” May 19, 2013). A year later, he was kicked out of the municipal council because it was determined that he did not reside in the municipality, which is a legal requirement in Croatia (“The False Address,” September 4, 2014). In both cases, he was vanquished by the current mayor. And the current mayor has outshined him in many a municipal project in the meanwhile. Since 2013, Motovun is a rather different place both politically and otherwise. Returning to my victory, I actually defeated Croatia in Strasbourg (Addendum II of March 18, 2021, to “Bon versus Croatia,” April 13, 2015). Who is Croatia, though? The joy is ultimately spoiled by the impersonality of my adversary and its crooked courts. Alas, I am only human!

Addendum III (February 19, 2024)

To my joy, this misery is finally over! As I have learned this morning from my Strasbourg lawyer, Vedran Ramadanović, the former mayor of Motovun, Slobodan Vugrinec, has finally returned the money he has owed me (Addendum III of February 19, 2024, to “Three Cheers for Strasbourg!” March 18, 2021). I have no idea how much money is entailed, but I could not care less. The misery is over after as many as sixteen years, and the culprit of all my legal troubles in Croatia has paid for it out of his own pocket. This time around, I can rest in peace at long last. Long live cockroaches!