Specimens of the Popular Poetry of Persia, as Found in the Adventures and Improvisiations of Kurroglou, the Banditministrel of Northen Persia and in the Songs of the People Inhabiting the Schores of the Caspian Sea (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1842 Excerpt: ...shall take Ayvaz, shall have a reward upon my head." Daly-Ahmed and the rest of the banditti fixed their eyes upon the chief's hand, waiting till he should lift it to his mustachios. This signal would throw all their army upon the Turks. Endowed with greater self-possession than any of them, Kurroglou said to himself, "Well now distribute the work amongst the robbers; thou art old already; the pasha will be quite enough for thee," and he sang: --Bash-usta, "upon the head," andguz-usta "upon the eye," are two expressions very frequently used by the Persian Turks; they mean "willingly, immediately." S Improvisation.--"The battle is my banquet, my holiday. What is the world for me without a warrior like Ayvaz? These are Kurroglou's words, 'The pasha is mine, the remainder of them in the field are yours.'" Daly-Ahmed stood in readiness, with his hand on the hilt of his sword. Kurroglou stroked his mustachios. "Hurra, children kill the rascals " shouted Daly-Ahmed. The banditti unsheathed their swords and broke into the square. Their voices, and the clinking of their arms, reached the heavens. The pasha took to his heels; Kurroglou fired his karabina after him. It was the first and the last shot he ever performed in his life. The pasha fell; and after a while, his head, stuck upon a lance, was exposed in the middle of the square. The vizier came, Koran in hand, asking pardon. Kurroglou granted it, and stopped the slaughter. The cash, furniture, and all the moveables of the pasha became his property. Kurroglou could not bear the miserable appear The word karabina signifies in Persia, and particularly in the province of Kurdistan, a kind of hlunderbuss, or a pistol with a butt end, like that of our ...