Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Nazar it nakş-ı 'âlemde neler var
Hayâl ü mekr ü hem çok fitneler var
Çü gaflet bâgı ziynet eyleyüpdür
Şîrîn ü telh ü dürlü meyveler var
Biri da'vî ider bostân benümdür
Yalancı dellâl u pür şîveler var
Unutma 'Âşıkî yaz bir menâkıb
İşâretdür sözümde kimyâlar var
In English
1. Look at what there is in the picture of the world: there is illusion, trickery and many tumults.
2. Since the garden of heedlessness has been adorned, there are sweet and bitter and all kinds of fruits.
3. One claims, "the orchard is mine"; there are lying brokers and coquettish wiles.
4. Âşıkî, do not forget, write a legend; there are hints in my words, there are alchemies.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Red Florins
When Murad reaches Yenişehir in the ninety-first chapter, İsfendiyar's son Kasım Beg is at his side. They go up to Bolu; İsfendiyar's men, hearing that their lord's son Kasım is with Murad, mostly desert to Kasım. Battle is joined before Borlu, İsfendiyar's army breaks, İsfendiyar takes a blow from a mace and flees to Sinop. Murad goes to Kastamonu, takes the province and puts the copper mine of Bakır Küresi to work. İsfendiyar, seeing that Murad's fortune keeps rising, sends his younger son Murad as envoy: Murad Han's father and grandfather showed him favours; he too is a man of generosity; let him forgive this insolence, and he will give his daughter and join the army every year. To the paşas he sends "red florins". The author makes an ironic remark about these coins: "that red florin is a strange thing; it makes a man's face blush, they are men of shame, it does not leave a man in peace." The paşas are abashed and win the khan over to peace.
The Garden of Heedlessness
The couplets do not mention the irony of the bribe in the prose directly; instead it draws the world as a garden of heedlessness. In the picture of the world there is illusion, trickery and strife; the garden is adorned and full of sweet and bitter fruits. The third couplet mentions those who claim "the orchard is mine" in this garden and lying brokers; this is like an allusion both to İsfendiyar's claim to land and to the paşas' words that change with bribes. In the fourth couplet, which bears the pen name Âşıkî, the author reminds himself of his task: he must write a legend, for there are hints and "alchemies", transforming secrets, in his words. The refrain "var" recurs at the end of every couplet; the rhyme is built on the words neler, fitneler, meyveler, şîveler, kimyâlar.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 443 (transliterated text, bâb 91).
