Original Ottoman Turkish Text

Metre: Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilātün Fā‘ilün

Sen bu mektūbuñ eger bilmek dilerseñ kātibin
Ġāfil olma ḫusrevā Ḳullāb ile Keẕẕābdan

In English

1. O king, if you wish to know who wrote this letter, do not be unaware of Kullâb and Kezzâb; know that it comes from them. (Kullâb and Kezzâb are the nicknames of the two men found to have written the letter. "Kezzâb" means a great liar, and "kullâb" means a hook; the couplet also plays on the meaning of these names.)

Literary and Historical Commentary

Structure of the Poem

This is a müfred (single couplet), that is, a couplet (beyit) composed on its own, whose two lines do not rhyme with each other. It is written in the metre "fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilātün fā‘ilün" of the remel family of aruz (quantitative metre); the metre is not stated in the biographical anthologies and has been deduced from the scansion of the couplet. The couplet is told, together with the event in which it was spoken, in Âşık Çelebi's Meşâ‘irü'ş-şu‘arâ and in the biographical anthology (tezkire) of Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi. As shown in Filiz Kılıç's edition, three manuscripts of Âşık Çelebi read "Ḳullāb u" instead of "Ḳullāb ile". In Kınalızâde the second line reads "Gâfil olma Hüsrevâ Kullâb ile Kezzâbdur" (they are Kullâb and Kezzâb).

Meaning and Figures of Speech

The couplet is a reply in verse to a question, and its language is as plain as a denunciation rather than a poem. Yet it is still the work of a poet. The sultan is addressed as "ḫusrev", a word derived from the title of the ancient kings of Iran and used for sultans in divan poetry. The real wit lies in the nicknames of the culprits. According to Âşık Çelebi these two men were known as "Ḳullāb-ı Siyāh" and "Keẕẕāb-ı Siyāh", Black Kullâb and Black Kezzâb. The word "kezzâb" means a great liar, so that to name him is at the same time to state his crime. "Kullâb" means a hook. While pointing out the authors of the letter by name, the couplet turns the meaning of those names against them. There is also a congruence of images (tenasüp) among the words letter, writer, wishing and knowing.

Historical Context

Âşık Çelebi and Kınalızâde tell the story of the couplet in closely similar ways. After coming to the throne Selim I made Müeyyedzâde kadıasker (chief military judge) once again and often invited him to his private gatherings. Some of the ulema who resented this wrote papers accusing him of being "Sulṭān Aḥmedī", that is, a partisan of Selim's rival for the throne, Prince Ahmed, and shot them with arrows into the sultan's palace. Under Bayezid II, Ahmed had for many years been sanjak governor (sanjak-bey) of Amasya, and Müeyyedzâde's closeness to him was known. Selim sent the paper to Müeyyedzâde and, in Âşık Çelebi's account, asked him to find out who had written it, in order to test his "ḥads u ferāset", his intuition and acumen.

Müeyyedzâde at once wrote a note and sent it, declaring with this couplet that the deed had been done by Black Kullâb and Black Kezzâb, retainers of the kadıasker nicknamed Sarı Gürz. According to Âşık Çelebi the rooms of the two men were searched, drafts of the papers were found, and they confessed that they had acted at Sarı Gürz's instigation. Sarı Gürz was dismissed; Âşık Çelebi writes that by the sultan's order his tent was pulled down over his head. Kınalızâde, for his part, says that the two culprits were punished and that Sarı Gürz was removed from the "sadâret", that is, the office of kadıasker, and Müeyyedzâde appointed in his place. The two anthologies differ in detail but agree that the couplet was the answer to Selim's question. The episode shows that Müeyyedzâde's closeness to Prince Ahmed was something that rivals sought to use against him even years later.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

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