Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Ne kim ider kişi kalmaz yanında
Bulur ya ogul ya kız tatlu cânında
Meseldür bu sözüm dinür ezelden
Yazılur cümle 'âkil dîvânında
Ne sanursın bu halka sen yavuzluk
Komaz bil Hak anı kimse cânında
In English
1. Whatever a man does does not go unanswered; he meets it either in his son or his daughter, or in his own sweet life.
2. This word of mine is a proverb, spoken from of old; it is written in the council of all the wise.
3. What evil do you plan for these people; know that God leaves it in no one's soul unanswered.
Literary and Historical Commentary
A People in Flight
Headed "Ve-lehu", and again by him, these three couplets follow straight on from the previous verse and look at what the rent brought about. The prose continues right after the couplets with this sentence: "For this reason these people began to flee from the building up of Constantinople." That is, the verse is placed as a moral warning just before the account of the people's flight from the town.
A Proverb
The couplets express a well-known popular belief: whatever a man does does not stay with him; he meets its return either in his son or his daughter or in his own life. The second couplet says this word is a proverb spoken from of old and written in the council of all the wise. The third ties it directly to the evil done to the people: God leaves it in no one's soul, that is, does not leave it unpunished. To whom this warning is addressed is not said openly; but in the previous chapter it was told that the vizier Rûm Mehmed, who brought in the rent, was later strangled "like a dog". The verse hints at that end as an example of evil returning to its doer. Yanında, cânında, dîvânında, and cânında once more: the return of the same rhyme word helps this short piece stay in the mind like a proverb.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 490 (transliterated text, bâb 123).
