The Book of Dede Korkut: A Turkish Epic PDF
Preview The Book of Dede Korkut: A Turkish Epic
Translated and Edited by FARUK St)MER AHMET E. UYSAL and WARREN S. WALKER The Book of Dede Korkut Sumer_146.pdf 9 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM Sumer_146.pdf 2 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM THIS BOOK IS PUBLISHED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE DAN DANCIGER PUBLICATION FUND Sumer_146.pdf 9 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM Sumer_146.pdf 3 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM ^Zljc ^Sook of JDede CKovkut A T U R K I SH E P IC Translated into English and Edited by FARUK SUMER AHMET E. UYSAL WARREN S. WALKER UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS • AUSTIN Sumer_146.pdf 4 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM Copyright © 1972 by Faruk Siimer, Ahmet E. Uysal, and Warren S. Walker All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First Paperback Printing, 1991 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, Box 7819, Austin, Texas 78713-7819. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kitab-i Dede Korkut. English. The book of Dede Korkut. Bibliography: p. I. Siimer, Faruk, ed. II. Uysal, Ahmet E., ed. III. Walker, Warren S., ed. IV. Title. PL248.K5E57 398.2'2'0958 72-3214 ISBN 0-292-70787-8 ISBN 978-0-292-75833-9(cid:13)(e-book) ISBN 978-0-292-75834-6(cid:13)(individual e-book) Sumer_146.pdf 9 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM Sumer_146.pdf 5 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM C O N T E N TS Acknowledgments . . . . . .. vii Introduction . . . . . . . . ix Prologue . . . . . . . .. 3 LEGEND i: The Story of Bugach Khan, Son of Dirse Khan . 9 LEGEND ii: The Sack of the House of Salur Kazan . . 23 LEGEND in: The Story of Bamsi Beyrek, Son of Kam Biire 40 LEGEND rv: The Story of the Capture of Uruz Bey, Son of Kazan Bey 70 LEGEND v: The Story of Delii Dumrul, Son of Duha Koja . 89 LEGEND vi: The Story of Kan Turali, Son of Kanli Koja . 98 LEGEND vn: The Story of Yigenek, Son of Kazilik Koja . 115 LEGEND vm: The Story of Basat, Killer of the One-Eyed Giant 122 LEGEND ix: The Story of Emren, Son of Begil . . . 134 LEGEND x: The Story of Seghrek, Son of Ushun Koja . 145 LEGEND xi: The Story of Salur Kazan's Captivity and His Rescue by His Son Uruz . . .. 156 LEGEND xn: The Story of the Revolt of the Outer Oghuz against the Inner Oghuz and of the Death of Beyrek . 168 Notes . . . 177 Bibliography 207 Sumer_146.pdf 6 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM ILLUSTRATIONS Following p. 104 1. Avshar women in traditional dress 2. Caravan of Avshars 3. Avshar storyteller 4. Traditional Turkish tent 5. Sword-dance team 6. Medieval miniature showing Dede Korkut MAP, following page xxiii The Two Worlds of Dede Korkut: The Middle East and Central Asia Sumer_146.pdf 7 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Our thanks are extended to the many friends and colleagues who assisted us, in various ways, with this study during the past eight years. In particular, we wish to thank Professor Ahmet Temir, chairman of the Turkish Cultural Research Institution; Jahit Oz- telli, director of the Turkish National Folklore Institute; Profes sors Teki Velidi Togan of Istanbul University and Talat Tekin of the University of California, Berkeley; Orhan Shaik Gokyay and Muharrem Ergin, Turkey's most distinguished Dede Korkut schol ars; and Barbara K. Walker, writer and folklorist. We wish to express our appreciation to the rector and faculty of Ankara University for the use of the facilities of that institution, and to the president and Board of Regents of Texas Tech Univer sity for research grants during 1969 and 1970. F.S. A. E. U. W. S. W. Sumer_146.pdf 8 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK I N T R O D U C T I ON The Book of Dede Korkut is an epic of the Oghuz, one of the major branches of the Turkish peoples. Better known as Turko mans, the name they acquired after their conversion to Islam, the Oghuz migrated farther west than most of the Turkish tribes to become eventually the Turks of Turkey. Both the Seljuks and the Ottomans were descendants of the Oghuz, as were the interim Ak-Koyunlu and Kara-Koyunlu dynasties. Their epic, presented here in English for the first time, constitutes one of the most im portant literary and historical documents from the world of the Middle Ages. That a book so significant should appear in English only at this late date cannot be attributed either to oversight or to neglect but rather to a set of circumstances peculiar to the work itself. The epic was long lost, even to the Turks themselves, and its restora tion has been fraught with numerous and perplexing problems of language and history. Not all of these cruxes have been resolved satisfactorily, but scholarship on the subject has finally reached a vantage point from which the work as a whole can be viewed quite clearly. We know now, with reasonable certainty, when and where this epic was composed, how it was transmitted, who some of its dramatis personae were, and from what cultural milieu it emerged. The Book of Dede Korkut comprises a Prologue and twelve leg ends told largely in prose in the extant texts but enriched by fre- Sumer_146.pdf 10 7/9/2013 10:43:35 AM
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