Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Karışdı bir birine ceng iderler
Velî kâfire tagı teng iderler
Çü emr oldı kılıç çekdi gāziler
Kâfirler kırdı, kan dökdi gāziler
Teferrüc it, ne iş ider gāziler
Kâfir leşkerini sıdı gāziler
In English
1. They are locked together, they do battle; but they make the mountain narrow for the infidel.
2. When the order came, the gazis drew the sword; the gazis cut down the infidels and shed their blood.
3. Look on, see what the gazis do; the gazis broke the infidel army.
Literary and Historical Commentary
Moldavia
When the tekfur of Moldavia stops paying tribute, the campaign of the hundred and fifty-second chapter begins. First the troops of a paşa sent against him are routed. The sovereign reaches the bank of the Danube with a great army; the ships of Constantinople have also been ordered to be ready on the Danube shore. The sovereign crosses the Danube by ship and enters the province of Moldavia in search of the tekfur. The tekfur gathers his army and withdraws into a steep mountain pass, and sets his horsemen on foot too, so that they may give good battle. The gazis see that the infidels have made great preparation and tell the sovereign. The sovereign commands: "Ho, gazis, this is the zeal of Islam; form your ranks and draw up your regiments." The gazis march on the infidel army; the infidel sets up his small cannon and begins to fire. The gazis make the zeal of Islam firm in their hearts, advance, and give the infidel no respite. Later in the chapter it is told that the gazis broke the gun carts and that the fighting lasted from mid-morning until sunset. The date is 881 (1476).
Look On
A single moment of the battle is given like a living scene. In the first couplet the two armies are locked together; but the gazis are making the mountain narrow for the infidel. This alludes to the tekfur's withdrawal into the steep pass in the prose: the mountain he thought would protect him has become a trap. The second couplet tells of the swords drawn at the command, the slaughter and the blood shed. The third calls the reader like an onlooker: "Teferrüc it", look on, see what the gazis do. The verb "sıdı" means broke, routed. Like the work's other short battle pieces, it creates excitement by repeating the name of the gazis in each line. "Gāziler" stands at the end of every line in the last two couplets.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 542 (transliterated text, bâb 152).
