Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Bu çarh kim çezginür pür gamze eyler
Kimin Rüstem kimini Hamza eyler
Tolanur her sâ'at biñ nahş baglar
Başından tâcın alur gamze eyler
Kiminüñ ihtiyârın komaz elden
Hevâlar sahrasında pervâz eyler
Kimi cân u göñül virür cemâle
Sâhib-cemâl cefâ-y-ıla nâz eyler
Kimi dün gün dürişür mankır ister
Yüler saçın sakal başın taz eyler
Kamu bir ata oglıdur bu âdem
Ya ne'yçün gavgâların dirâz eyler

In English

1. This wheel that turns does deeds full of coquetry; some it makes a Rüstem, some a Hamza.

2. Every hour it turns and weaves a thousand patterns; it takes the crown from the head and winks.

3. From some it does not take their will out of their hands; it makes them fly in the desert of desire.

4. Some give soul and heart to beauty; the beauty is coy and cruel.

5. Some strive day and night for a copper coin; they tear their hair and beard and make their heads bald.

6. All these people are sons of one father; why then do they drag out their quarrels.

Literary and Historical Commentary

Gold in Fish

Bayezid comes against Constantinople again in the sixtieth chapter. He crosses from Kocaeli to Yoros, and Yahşı Beg takes the fortress of Şile by agreement. The khan builds a fortress called "Güzelce Hisar" above Boğazkesen and sends word to the tekfur: "Empty your fortress quickly and give it to me." The tekfur at once sends a hundred fish; in place of their guts they are filled with gold and silver, and some are sent to Ali Paşa and the other paşas as well. The author adds with bitter irony: Ali Paşa of course goes out with chest and purse to meet the fish, for the envoy who has come is "most honourable". Ali Paşa satisfies the khan: the sultan's kadı will sit in Constantinople, there will be a quarter mosque, and the tekfur will pay twelve thousand florins a year. The people of Tarakçı and Göynük are driven to Constantinople. But after the Timur affair the tekfur expels this quarter and pulls down the mosque; the author says that of those people a village called Göynüklü remains at Tekirdağ.

The Wheel's Game

The bargained peace is not mentioned directly; what the couplets tell is the game of the wheel, that is of fortune. The wheel makes some a Rüstem, some a Hamza; it takes the crown from the head; some it sends flying in the desert of desire, some it makes give their hearts to beauty, some it drives into greed that makes them tear their hair and beard for a copper coin. "Mankır" in the fifth couplet is a copper coin and sets up an indirect contrast with the gold that came in the fish. The last couplet looks at the whole scene from the point of view of humanity: all are sons of one father; why do their quarrels drag on. The refrain "eyler" is kept in all six couplets and the rhyme changes with the sounds "-ze/-az": gamze, Hamza, gamze, pervâz, nâz, taz, dirâz.

Bibliography

  • Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 400 (transliterated text, bâb 60).