Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Yine biñ şîveler gösterdi 'âlem
Karış murış cihan hem Benî Âdem
Ocaklar söyinüp evler yıkıla
Ola mülk-i Karaman mesken-i gam
Ne turfe turfe nakşı var cihanuñ
Gehî gûyâ ider halkı geh ebkem
Bu takdîr kudreti gör 'âlem içre
Ne hükmi cârîdür muhkem müsellem
'Âşıkî yaz bir ihtisâr menâkıb
Ki 'aklı 'ibret alup ola epsem
In English
1. Once again the world showed a thousand coquetries; the world and the sons of Adam alike (became) a tangle.
2. Let hearths go out and houses be torn down; let the realm of Karaman become a dwelling of grief.
3. What strange, strange designs the world has; now it makes the people speak, now it strikes them dumb.
4. See the power of this decree in the world; how firm and settled its rule runs.
5. Âşıkî, write the legends in brief, so that reason may take warning and fall silent.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Six Sons
The heading of the hundred and fortieth chapter lists the events to be told: when the lord of Karaman died six sons were left; how Uzun Hasan came to his land and what he did there, what Sultan Muhammed did, and what became of the sons of the lord of Karaman. The couplets are set between the heading and the prose. Later in the chapter come Uzun Hasan's arrival in Karaman from Erzincan by way of Sivas, the quarrel between the brothers İshak and Pîr Ahmed, the Conqueror's support for Pîr Ahmed, the fortress of Saykalan and Kayseri, and İshak's defeat at Ermenek.
Karaman, a Dwelling of Grief
The world's fickleness is given through an image of coquetry: the world has once again shown a thousand wiles, and everything and all mankind have become a tangle. The second couplet is like a curse: let the hearths go out, the houses be torn down, and the realm of Karaman become a dwelling of grief. This couplet is part of the hostility the work shows the house of Karaman from start to finish; the author sees the strife among brothers within the principality as a punishment. The third and fourth couplets recall the strange designs of the world and the firm rule of God's decree: the world now makes people speak, now strikes them dumb, but the decree's rule is certain. At the close he tells himself to write the legends in brief, so that reason may take warning and fall silent. "Epsem" means silent, hushed; before the weight of the events to be told, reason has nothing left to say. After 'âlem, Âdem, gam, ebkem and müsellem, the rhyme chain closes on "epsem", on silence.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 519 (transliterated text, bâb 140).
