Devlet Sultan
Devlet Sultana, beautiful as a ripe rose, wakes up suddenly from a nightmare in the most splendid bedroom of Bursa Palace. She is shaking with fear, her breast heaving, her eyes awash in tears. It’s a hot summer night. She walks to the window and throws open the velvet curtains. She trains her blue eyes on the trees, then raises her gaze to the sky. A myriad stars appear to be embossed on the dark firmament as if fixed with golden nails. They are a random scattering of joyful flickers, forming a background for one very bright star that burns orange as if about to explode...
The year is 1389, and Sultan Bayezid is poised in front of the fortifications of Niğbolu city. The sky is pitch black. The Sultan, who is the only lover Devlet has ever known, is refusing to listen to his advisers. He mounts his horse in fury and rushes the castle singlehandedly. The enemy army is all around him, but he is like a thunderbolt. He finds a breach in the battlements and penetrates the castle. He stands tall on the ramparts.
The enemy soldiers are dumbfounded. They await his next move. A brave voice resounds from the battlefield below the walls. “Bayezid, hey Bayezid!’ The Sultan is astonished that anyone should address him thus. He peers down and demands the speaker show himself. A rider slowly appears from the shadows, but he is covered head to toe in long flowing robes.
The Sultan does not recognise him. “I am here to encourage you to persevere, to be patient. Victory is within your grasp!” And he rides away into the forrest... The Sultana, strokes her long golden hair, and a smile crosses her lips. She decides that it was not a nightmare, but actually a vision, a very good dream with a positive omen. Her husband is safe.
He has won the war. It makes her happy to believe this. She returns to her silk bed, but she cannot fall asleep. In her heart she is still afraid. To her great relief, the morning brings excellent news. Two white carrier-pigeons land in the palace garden at dawn, with a message from the Sultan: he’s indeed victorious, and on his way back to her.
