Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Teveccüh itse bil han bu cihana
Ola her fi'li 'âlemde nişâne
Ger itse bir işâret cümle hana
Miyân-beste gele kamu dîvâna
Temerrüd ehli cümle bâtıl oldı
Kâfirler kamusı irdi ziyâna
Sa'âdet nûrı, İslâm toldı 'âlem
Gelelden Han Muhammed bu 'ayâna
'Âşıkî bu menâkıb kim yazarsın
Yakındur kim ire cümle beyâna
Okuyup diñleyenler ola hayrân
'Âkıllar bu işe ola dîvâne

In English

1. Know that if the khan turns towards this world, each of his deeds becomes a sign in the world.

2. If he gives but a sign to all the khans, they all come to the council with girded loins.

3. The stubborn have all come to nothing; the infidels have all come to loss.

4. Since Khan Muhammed came into this world, the world has filled with the light of felicity and Islam.

5. Âşıkî, these legends that you write will soon be told to all.

6. Let those who read and listen be filled with wonder; let the wise be mad for this work.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Lesbos

Back from the holy war in Wallachia, the Conqueror sets out on campaign again in the hundred and thirty-eighth chapter. Ships from Gallipoli and Constantinople sail for Lesbos. The tekfur of the fortress comes out and goes to the sovereign's vizier Mahmud Paşa, saying: "Here I have come, bringing only my head, to the dust of the fortunate khan's feet." He has left his goods, his son, his daughter and his wife in the fortress, and has no wish left but the sovereign's wish. The sovereign has him brought before him; the tekfur lays his head before the throne, a robe of honour is put on him, and a tent is pitched beside Mahmud Paşa's tent. Mahmud Paşa sends scribes, seizes the goods of the fortress and registers the people. The sovereign takes what befits him and distributes the rest to the gazis, the scholars and the poor. The town's cavalrymen are dispersed, those to be removed are removed, those trusted are left in place; a kadı is appointed, the emptied houses handed out as property to newly arrived Muslims, the churches made mosques and the sancak given to a slave. The author records that the Wallachian and Lesbos campaigns took place within seven months.

The Legends He Writes

The first two couplets tell of the khan's might: if he turns towards the world each of his deeds becomes a sign; if he gives a sign, all the khans come to the council with girded loins. The third and fourth couplets give the result: the stubborn have come to nothing, the infidels to loss, and since Khan Muhammed came the world has filled with Islam and the light of felicity. The last two couplets turn to the author's own work. The legends Âşıkî writes will soon be told to all; those who read and listen will be filled with wonder, and the wise will be mad for this work. The phrase "those who read and listen" shows that the work was written both to be read and to be heard aloud in a gathering. Cihana, nişâne, hana, dîvâna, ziyâna, 'ayâna, beyâna and dîvâne: eight rhymes moving between "-âna" and "-âne".

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, pp. 515-516 (transliterated text, bâb 138).