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Manzume 191 — Yine bir dürlü sûret tutdı 'âlem

Amasya05 Editorial Board • Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk • 01 October 2026 • Updated: 14 October 2026 • 3 min reading

Two couplets in the appendix: Kayıtbay becomes sultan, Şehsuvar is betrayed by his Turkmen lords and killed in Cairo, and the Ottomans ask, "Where is your pledge?"

Contents 4

1Original Ottoman Turkish Text
2In English
3Literary and Historical Commentary
4Bibliography

Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Yine bir dürlü sûret tutdı 'âlem
Neler düzer lîkin görmez âdem

Sûretde kendüyi kuvvetlü bilür
Velî ma'nîde ol kemden olur kem

In English

1. Once again the world has taken on another form; what things it devises, yet man does not see.

2. In appearance he thinks himself strong; but in truth he is less than little.

Literary and Historical Commentary

The End of Şehsuvar

The hundred and seventy-fourth chapter opens with Kayıtbay becoming sultan of Egypt. Again the Ottoman sovereign sends no envoy to say "may the throne be blessed". The sultan of Egypt sends troops against Şehsuvar; Şehsuvar routs the Egyptian army and seizes and kills thousands of its men. The author says Şehsuvar prevailed by the strength of the sultan of Rum. In the end the sultan of Egypt sends an envoy to the Ottoman sovereign: let all Şehsuvar's province be yours, but do not help him. The sovereign agrees. The sultan of Egypt sends purses full of florins to the Turkmen lords with Şehsuvar and says, "the sovereign of Rum has joined with us"; the lords betray Şehsuvar and go over to the Egyptian army. Şehsuvar flees into the fortress of Zamantu, is drawn out of it by a trick, chained by the neck and taken to Egypt with three of his brothers, and killed on hooks above the Bâbüzüveyle gate. The province is given to Budak Beg. The Ottoman sovereign sends word: where is your pledge? You were to give me Şehsuvar's land. The answer is short: "Whatever we said, we said; we have taken and brought in the enemy." The sovereign is grieved; the author counts this another cause of enmity.

The Same Line

The first line is a familiar one: "Yine bir dürlü sûret tutdı 'âlem." This line is also the first line of a five-couplet verse in the part of the work on the reign of Murad II (Manzume 117 in this category). But the second line and what follows are different. The author or compiler of the appendix may have taken a known line and made it the opening of a new piece. The couplets carry a short judgement: the world has once again taken on another form; what it devises, man does not see. The second compares appearance and truth: he who thinks himself strong is in truth less than little. This judgement may be aimed at the Egyptian sultan's failure to keep his word or at Şehsuvar's end. Like every piece of the appendix, its author is unknown. The three rhyme words, 'âlem, âdem and kem, close on a short "-em".