Original Ottoman Turkish Text
Karındaş bil yalan dibi yakıncak
Fesâdı görinür togrı bakıncak
Yalandur sini ileden cahîme
Bilinür ol yalan dilden çıkıncak
Bilindi Düzme Mustafâ yalanı
Açıldı 'avratı İzmir kaçıncak
Yalana tanuk oldı İzmiroglı
Bilindi kuyrugın kısup kaçıncak
In English
1. Brother, know that when the root of a lie is burned, its mischief shows when one looks straight.
2. It is the lie that leads you to hell; that lie is known when it leaves the tongue.
3. The lie of the Pretender Mustafa became known; his shame was laid bare when İzmir(oğlu) fled.
4. İzmiroğlu became a witness to the lie; it was known when he fled with his tail between his legs.
Literary and Historical Commentary
From the Elvan Çelebi Tekke to Ulubat
Hearing that the Pretender is coming against them, the paşas in Bursa, İbrahim Paşa, Hacı İvaz Paşa and Temürtaş's sons Umur, Oruç and Ali, reach a decision in the eighty-third chapter: they will release Mihaloğlu Mehmed Beg from prison in Tokat and bring him to Sultan Murad. At this point the author sets down a short but valuable record from his own life: "He came and stopped at the tekke of our Elvan Çelebi. At that time he took the poor writer along with him." Mihaloğlu, coming from Tokat to Bursa, stopped at the Elvan Çelebi tekke in Mecitözü, in the province of Amasya, and took the young Âşıkpaşazâde with him. The author's words "bizüm Elvan Çelebüm", our Elvan Çelebi, plainly show his bond with the village where he was born and with the tekke of his ancestor Elvan Çelebi. So he came to witness the events at the Ulubat bridge in person. Murad has had the Ulubat bridge cut; the Pretender camps at the other end of the bridge. Mihaloğlu comes to the water's edge and calls to the lords of Rumelia: "You, Türk Turhan, you traitor" He calls to Kömlüoğlu and to Evrenez's sons; the lords of Rumelia come down to the water. Hacı İvaz Paşa meanwhile writes a forged letter to the Pretender: the lords of Rumelia have agreed to seize him on such-and-such a night and hand him over. Mustafa believes the letter and flees, and İzmiroğlu flees too; the lords who do not flee kiss Murad's hand. Hacı İvaz Paşa opposes İbrahim Paşa's view that "it is lawful to kill them all". The date is given as 825 (1422).
The Root of a Lie
Opening with the address "Karındaş", brother, the counsel is about lying. When the root of a lie is burned its mischief is seen; it is the lie that leads man to hell, and it is known when it leaves the tongue. The last two couplets apply this general judgement to two men: the Pretender's lie has become known, and İzmiroğlu's witness to the lie came to light when he fled "with his tail between his legs". Hacı İvaz Paşa's forged letter is also a lie; but the verse does not mention this irony openly. The refrain is "-ıncak/-incek": yakıncak, bakıncak, çıkıncak, kaçıncak.
Bibliography
- Âşık Paşazade, Osmanoğulları'nın Tarihi, ed. Kemal Yavuz, M. A. Yekta Saraç, Istanbul: K Kitaplığı, 2003, p. 435 (transliterated text, bâb 83-84).
