Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Gör ne tedbîr hîle ider âdemî
Ya'nî kim milk idine her 'âlemi
Sanur kalur kendüye mülki hemîn
Assı oldur kim çeker bunca gamı
'Âkıbet bir arşun yir mülkidür
Kodı gitdi saltanat-ılan demi

In English

1. See what schemes and tricks man devises, that is, to make every world his own.

2. He thinks his possessions will remain with him just so; his gain is to suffer so much grief.

3. In the end (his) possession is one ell of earth; he left behind the time he spent in sovereignty and went.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The Meeting at Ankara

The sovereign crosses by ship to Mudanya, reaches Bursa and stays there. Mahmud Paşa fits out a hundred ships at Constantinople and sends them to Sinop. Before the ships set out a letter is sent to İsmail Beg by a slave: ships will be sent to Trebizond; to show friendship İsmail Beg should see to their needs, give the captain his expenses, and if that is not enough spend from the akçe set aside from the sovereign's copper mine, and punish any azaps who behave badly. Mahmud Paşa goes to Edirne, gathers the army of Rumelia, the azaps and the serahors, and brings them to Bursa; the governor-general of Anatolia also gathers the army of Anatolia at Sultanöyüğü. Then another slave is sent to İsmail Beg: he must send his son Hasan Beg with able companions to Ankara. İbrahim Beg of Karaman also sends one of his sons with troops. When the sovereign reaches Ankara they all meet there.

One Ell of Earth

Right in the middle of these preparations the talk turns suddenly to man's greed. Man devises all kinds of schemes and tricks to make every world his own; he thinks his possessions will remain with him, but the only thing he gains is the grief he suffers. The last couplet gives a familiar counsel with a harsh image: in the end a man's possession is one ell of earth; he leaves his sovereignty and his time behind and goes. This counsel gains meaning when read with the events of the prose. İsfendiyaroğlu İsmail Beg is the last holder of the principality of Kastamonu and Sinop left by his father; shortly he will give this possession up to the sovereign. The verse does not name him, but at the place where a principality is about to change hands it recalls the transience of worldly possessions. The next two verses continue the same counsel. The rhyme words are âdemî, 'âlemi, gamı and demi.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 505-506 (transliterated text, bâb 132).