'3g
Stl:)ry
1506
(1970
Tape
19)
'Nclrrator: .-
!shak Kemali
capital Erzurum Province of
Dcl : te An Adventure of Ty~o Turks ---
1970
in Russia
(When I'was
usta,l told
working
as a blacksmith,
my master,
to tell
Habib
to you.)
me- the
stOJ':Y which
I am now' going
Habib Usta used to smugglE! Turkish the time of the currency.
AsIan.
tea
into
Russia this
before
Commun:Lst revoJ.ution. He had a partner
They sold in this
tea for business, after
Russian
smuggling
a Jman named
They used 1:0 travel of their
saddlebag,
to Russia with tea.
together
loading
Aslan
both
sides
sacidlebags
one which. in
Actually
Habib
had a second
was sewn shut. saddlebag?
once asked him,
"I just
"What
do you hcive
that
keep my c:lothes
apart
in that
saddlebag." tournament
One day they went to Batm~,2 was in progress. was being watch held,
where a wrestling
They went to the arena where the tournament and after After paying for t~'o seats, they began to for a short
"Wha.t is
the wrestling.
they had been watching that AsIan walS trembling.
so badly?"
Habib Usta noticed
the matter with
YO\J.? 'Why are
:'{ou shaking
"I
very peting
am shaking
of
with
excit:ement,"
answered Aslan.
I were
"I
am
com-
fond with
wrestl.ing, the other ~~
G
and I: 1Nish that wrestle!rs. designates II the master
down there~
1 The word
2A
CJ. Y J.n
'
craftsman
or
tI~adesman.
t
'
eorgJ.a.
'
.~
while, Erzurum, Location:
Story
1506 Habib Usta said, "My relationship I often with give the commanding
officer
here
is
very good. I shall
him some tea when we you to wrestle in this
are in Batum. tournament."
ask him to permit
Habib Usta asked the commander about
this against
matter,
and the
commander said, wishes." AsIan said,
"Your
friend
may wrestle
anyone he
"I
want to wrestle 190 ~s 3
with
the
Russian
champion,"
a huge man who weighed When he heard this, "I do not
the commander was surprised. to grant anyone the
He said,
right to
have enough authority
wrestle
with
the Russian champion. his permission. may wrestle which said, with If
I shall he approves
have to telegraph of such a contest,
NikOlay41 for then AsIan a telegram with the
the champion." wrestler
The commander sent would of like to wrestle
"A Turkish
Russian champion. answer from Nikolay for forty
Do you approve said, days, "Let
such a match?" take of our forty-first care
the Ottomans care
of their
wrestler forty
and you take arrive
championl for day to attend ~An~,
days,
and I shall match. of weight,
on the
the wrestling an old unit
was equivalent
to
2.8pounds.
4This had to be Czar Nicholas 1917 and was executed by Bolsheviks
II, who ruled in 1918.
from 1894 to
39
L-fO
Story
1506 When the commander reported this answer program from Nikolay for AsIan. to
Habib Usta,
Habib arranged
a training
Every
and the cham-
day he was to practice
wrestling area. for
against After forty
another both days, the the but
Moslem wrestler Russian Russian AsIan
who happened to be in that Turkish pion wrestler had trained
looked
much stronger
than he had been,
remained
unchanged
On the forty-first arena day the ruler and seated himself arose Nikolay arrived in Batum. that had great
He went to the been built for
on a throne
him there. in the arena loses
He then
and spoke to the
crowd gathered if during
to watch
the wrestling. wrestler
"0 Russian
or dies I shall said, the any
my wrestler
to the Turkish
the match,
you are not those
to cause any disturbance.
have hanged all "0 you Turkish match or dies
who cause any disturbance." if your wrestler
He then loses to cause
and Armenian people, during If the course I shall
of it,
you are not
you do,
have hanged all
those
who cause
such a disturbance." AsIan were staying then asked Habib Usta to go to the hotel second saddlebag, where they
to get his
the one which up that the
was sewn saddlebag,
Habib Usta was surprised for it was very heavy. he said,
when he picked
When Habib Usta delivered bag is!
saddlebag
to AsIan,
"How heavy this
What do you have in
it?" shut. disturbance. people,
Lf-1
Story 1506
AsIan said nothing, but he opened the saddlebag and took
close
to
him that
he had a mole on his that pray before for
belly a priest the priest and much stronpants had
Nikolay should
ordered to prayer,
the match started, After the ~7
be brought his
the wrestlers. turned toward
had offered prayed gerthan fitted f~r
AsIan
a short
while.
When he arose, and now the large
he looked pair his of
he had before, him almost
wrestling posture
perfectly. that of a tiger toward took
whole
changed to become almost The Russian hands to~ether placed his champion
advanced Aslan
AsIan
clapping forward
his and then to arrive. neck
as he came. hips,
one step for his
hands on his wrestler It
waiting a very
opponent
Russian with his fist.
struck
hard
blow upon AsIan's Habib
was so great name for
a blow that
Usta expected
5The Turkish
such trousers
is kispet.
6Traditional Turkish who are greased or oiled It is referred to tling." The lubricant is
wrestling is engaged in by contestants to make their bodies more difficult tograsp. as "greased wrestling" or "oiled wresusually olive oil.
7The word Kible is a variant of Kaaba, the small structure (with the Great~sque at Mecca) which houses the sacred Black Stone, the most venerated object in Islamic belief.
Furthermore,
Lf~
Story 1506 But AsIan
It
to see AsIan collapse. move the pion slightest a rock. shoulder bit.
did
not
collapse
the
or even
Russian cham-
was almost
c3.Sif
had hit
AsIan
then
returned it
the blow, black. AsIan
striking
the Russian's the wrestling "Ya Allah!" the Russian ground
so hard that for
turned while,
After
shouted,
had continued and grabbed champion that it AsIan his
a short
opponent head,
by the waist.
Lifting
above his killed
he slammed him on the
so hard
his opponent. bath8 and after posting Aslan
Nikolay guards
took
to a public
at the doors,
had AsIan bathe. traveling
He then for
gave both their
and Habib Usta money for
expenses
return they
He had them taken were to be escorted ordered to
to a military
base from which
Turkey
by a company of troops. two Turks
Nikolay delivered com-
the commander of of
the base to have the at Istanbul,
to the palace rnander a letter letter
the padishah which
and he gave the The
was to be given
to the padishah. I had your
said this:
"My dear padishah, lost, directly and their privately
son and my wrestler I
son wrestle.
am having him
My wrestler
and to protect to your military palace."
your
escorted
two Turks said
When the Hasankal~,9
escorts "I
had reached am not may be, going the
AsIan
to Habib Usta,
8Whatever the Russian name for a public narrator uses the Turkish name, .ham~. 9NoW better known as pasinler.
bath
journey.
Lf3
Story 1506
to Istanbul. escape I could not live in such a place. I am going to
from these following
guards." morning before dawn, the two escaped they returned from to
On the
their
their
escorts.
own village.
As quickly
as they were able,