Photo: Zeynel Cebeci, CC BY-SA 4.0

Manzume 10 — Hîle it düşmene tâ kim vire el

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

Three couplets advising cunning towards the enemy, at the end of the chapter in which Osman Gazi wins the trust of the infidels of Bilecik by defending their rights at the Eskişehir market.

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Hîle it düşmene tâ kim vire el
Ki fursat bulasın zînhâr başın al

Yidür ni'met içür şekker şarâbın
Ko key ola aña bulasın mecâl

Velî gāfil yörime itmesin al
Ki peşmân fâyde virmez olsa melâl

In English

1. Use cunning with the enemy so that he gives you your chance; once you find it, do not let it slip, take his head.

2. Feed him blessings, give him his sugar-sweet wine to drink; let him be at ease so that you may find your opportunity.

3. But do not walk about heedless, lest he play a trick on you; for when it is too late regret is of no use.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Justice in the Market Place

At the start of the ninth chapter Osman Gazi weighs whom he should take as friends and companions and who lives around him. He is on good terms with the tekfur of Bilecik; a market is set up in Eskişehir near the bath, and both the infidels of the district and the people of Germiyan come to it. One day infidels from Bilecik, who make good earthenware cups, bring goods to the market; a man of Germiyan takes a cup and does not pay for it. Osman has the man brought, beats him and makes him pay what is owed for the cup; he strictly forbids that the infidels of Bilecik be harmed. Things reach the point where the women of Bilecik come and go to the Eskişehir market in safety, and the infidels say "this Turk deals honestly with us".

The Other Face of Friendship

The prose tells of justice and trust; the verse looks at the same scene from the opposite side. Feeding the enemy, giving him wine and keeping him at ease are recommended as the preparation of a trap. This frankness shows that Âşıkpaşazâde thinks of the ethics of gazâ together with the politics of a frontier. Neighbourly kindness will after a while lead to the taking of Bilecik; the wedding raid of the twelfth chapter turns the counsel of these couplets into an event. The third couplet turns the warning the other way: the one who plays tricks must not walk about heedless either. El, al, mecâl, al and melâl rhyme on "-al"; the use of "al" in the second and third couplets both as "take (the head)" and as "trick" is an attempt at wordplay.