Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Dırakola mutî' oldı bu hana
Dilemez kim boyana kendü kana
Ezel itdügi bedbahtlıga peşîmân
Özin mücrim bilüp geldi dîvâna
Suçın 'afv itdi anuñ bil Murâd Han
Mutî' ider cihânı bu yigâne

In English

1. Dracul submitted to this khan; he does not wish to be dyed in his own blood.

2. Repenting the wretchedness he had done before, knowing himself guilty, he came to the council.

3. Know that Murad Han pardoned his fault; this matchless one brings the world to submission.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Dracul

When Murad came to İznik to settle accounts with his brother, Dırakola, that is Dracul, son of the lord of Wallachia, did not sit still; the ninety-second chapter tells what he did. Dracul crosses at Silistra and plunders a great deal; the gazis are not idle either and kill many infidels, but the hypocrisy of these infidels never ends. When Murad receives the news he says: "I am going on campaign now. Whatever that accursed one does will not go unpunished." He orders his slave Firuz, whenever he finds an opportunity with the gazis, to cross and strike the province, burn and lay waste his land and take his people captive. When Murad returns from the İsfendiyar campaign, Dracul comes to the Porte, brings his two sons and leaves them in service; he himself is robed by the khan in a robe of honour and a twisted turban and agrees to pay tribute.

A Repentant Lord

Dracul's submission begins with an idiom in the first couplet: "Dilemez kim boyana kendü kana", he does not wish to be dyed in his own blood, a lively phrase expressing both the avoidance of war and the wish to save one's life. The second couplet brings him to the council as one who regrets what he did and knows his guilt. In the third couplet Murad pardons his fault and is called "yigâne", a matchless ruler who brings the world to submission. Dracul's leaving his sons at the Porte as hostages is an early example of a practice that would lead, in the Conqueror's time, to Wallachian lords being raised at the Ottoman court; the work will return to this family in the hundred and thirty-sixth chapter, telling of the Impaler Voivode and his brother. The couplets rhyme on "-âna": hana, kana, dîvâna, yigâne.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 444 (transliterated text, bâb 92).