This is a section of a chapter from Nazim Hikmet´s Kuvayi Milliye Destani (The epic of Turkish Independance war) which has a prelude and 8 different chapters and it was written between 1939/1941 when Nazim was in jail..
I tried translate the some parts from the first chapter here http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_28986
This section is from the second chapter..
KAMBUR KERIM´IN HIKÂYESI
....
«müstakil kalamayiz böyle bir zamanda.
Memleket harap,
toprak çorak,
borcumuz 500 milyon,
vâridat ise 15 milyon ancak.
Ve Allah muhafaza buyursun
Izmir kalsa Yunanistan´da
ve harbetsek,
düsmanimiz vapurla asker getirir.
Biz Erzurum´dan hangi simendiferle nakliyat yapabiliriz?
Mandayi kabul etmeliyiz, hemen,»
dediler.
«Onlar dretnot yapiyor,
biz yelkenli bir gemi yapamiyoruz.
Hem, Istanbul´daki Amerikan dostlarimiz :
Mandamiz korkunç degildir,
diyorlar,
Cemiyeti Akvam nizamnamesine dahildir,
diyorlar.»
Ve böylece, bin dereden su getirdi Istanbul´dan gelen zevat.
Sivas, mandayi kabul etmedi fakat,
«Hey gidi deli gönlüm,»
dedi,
«Akilli, umutlu, sabirli deli gönlüm,
ya ISTIKLAL, ya ölüm!»
dedi.
Kambur Kerim de böyle dedi aynen.
Adapazarliydi Kambur Kerim.
Seferberlikte ölen babasi marangozdu.
Seferberlik denince aklina Kerim´in :
çok beyaz bir yastikta kara sakalli bir ölü yüzü,
Fahri Bey çiftliginde patates toplayip
kaz gütmek,
mektep kitaplari
ve bir de saçlari altin gibi sari
fakat alni çizgiler içinde anasi gelir.
335´te Kerim Eskisehir´e gitti,
mektebe, teyzelerine ve dayisina.
Dayisi simendiferde makinistti.
Düsman elindeydi Eskisehir.
Kerim on dört yasindaydi,
kamburu yoktu.
Dümdüzdü fidan gibi
ve dünyaya merakli bir çocuktu.
Dayisi sürmege gittigi günler simendiferi
Kerim´e ekmek vermediginden teyzeleri
(çok uzun saçli, ihtiyar iki kadin)
Hintli askerlerle dost oldu Kerim.
Bunlar
(sasilacak sey)
Türkçe bilmeyen
ve siyah sakallari, siyah gözleri parlak,
avuçlarinin üstü esmer, içi ak
ve tel örgülerin üzerinden
Kerim´e bisküviti kutularla atan amcalardi.
Kocaman bir ambarlari vardi,
Kerim içinde oynardi.
Ambarda nohut çuvallari, bakla, kuru üzüm,
(sasilacak sey,
katirlarin yemesi için)
ve sonra cephane sandiklariyla silahlar.
Bir gün dedi ki makinist dayisi Kerim´e :
«Ambardan silâh çalip bana getir,
gâvura karsi koyan zeybeklere gönderecegim.»
Ve ambardan silâh çaldi Kerim :
bir
bir tane daha
bes
on.
Aldatti Hindistanli dostlarini
zeybekleri daha çok sevdiginden.
Zaten çok sürmedi, parlak kara sakalli amcalar gitti,
Kerim geçirdi onlari istasyona kadar.
Ertesi gün Lefke köprüsünü atip
zeybekler gelince Eskisehir´e
dayisi Kerim´i elinden tutup
verdi onlara.
Ve iste o günden sonra
bugüne kadar
kahraman bir türküdür ömrü Kerim´in.
Eskisehir´den alip onu
«Kocaeli Grubu» pasasina götürdüler.
Çatik kasli, yüzü gülmez bir pasaydi bu.
Çabucak ögrendi Kerim ata binmeyi,
sigirtmaç olmayi
-zaten bilgisi vardi bunda-
kayalardan genç bir keçi gibi inmeyi,
gizlenmeyi ormanda.
Ve bütün bu marifetleriyle Kerim
kaç kere ölüme bir kursun atimi yaklasarak
ve «Geçmis olsun» dedikleri zaman sasarak
düsman içinden geçip getirdi haber
götürdü haber.
Onu namli bir «kaptan» gibi saydi çeteler,
bir oyun arkadasi gibi sevdi çeteleri o.
Ve bir fidan gibi düz
bir fidan gibi cesur
bir fidan gibi vaadeden bir çocugun
sevinçle oynadigi bu müthis oyun
sürdü 1337´ye kadar...
Kocaeli ormani gürgen ve meseliktir :
yüksek
kalin.
Gökyüzü gözükmez.
Durgun bir geceydi.
Hafif yagmur yagmisti biraz önce.
Fakat islanmamis ki yerde yapraklar
karanlikta hisirtilarla yürüyordu beygiri Kerim´in.
Solda
ilerde
tepenin eteginde ates yaniyordu :
«Tekneciler» diye anilan
gâvur çetelerinin olmali.
Dallardan damlalar düsüyordu Kerim´in yüzüne.
Beygirin basi gittikçe daha çok karanliga giriyor.
Ipsiz Recep´in yanindan dönüyordu Kerim.
Kâatlar götürmüs
kâatlar getiriyor.
Birdenbire durdu beygir,
heykel gibi,
-Tekneciler´in atesini görmüs olacak-
sonra birdenbire dörtnala kalkti.
Sasirdi Kerim.
Dizginleri birakti.
Sarildi beygirin boynuna.
Deli gibi gidiyordu hayvan.
Çocuga art arda çarpiyordu agaçlar.
Meseleri ve gürgenleriyle orman
karanlik bir rüzgâr gibi geçiyor iki yandan.
Kim bilir kaç saat böyle gidildi.
Orman bitti birdenbire.
-Ay dogmus olacak ki ortalik aydinlikti-
Ve Kerim ayni hizla geldigi zaman
Armasa´nin altinda Basdegirmenler´e
beygir ansizin kapaklandi yere,
tekerlendi Kerim.
Dogruldu.
Ve aklina ilk gelen sey
saatina bakmak oldu.
Kirilmisti cami.
Bindi beygire tekrar.
Hayvan topalliyordu biraz.
Uslu uslu yola koyuldular.
Sol kulagi kaniyordu Kerim´in,
Kirezce´ye geldiler
(Sapanca´yla Arifiye arasi),
Kerim durdu,
Biraz zor nefes aliyordu.
Geyve´ye girdi ertesi aksam.
Beli o kadar agriyordu ki
inemedi beygirden
indirdiler.
Kerim´i bir yayliya bindirdiler.
Adapazari.
Sonra belki on gün, belki on bes,
kagnilar, mekkâre arabalari,
sonra, gitgide daralan nefesi,
Yahsihan,
Konya,
Sile nahiyesi
(burda malûl gaziler için
takma kol ve bacak yapiliyordu),
ve nihayet Hatçehan köyünden çikikçi Serif Usta.
Hâlâ rüyalarinda görür Kerim
incecik bir yoldan esekle gelip
üzerine dogru egilen
bu çiçekbozugu insan yüzünü.
Usta, ovdu Kerim´i bayiltincaya kadar.
Sonra, zifte koydu bu kirilmis dal gibi çocuk gövdesini.
Yirmi gün geçti aradan.
Ve sonra bir ikindi vakti ziftin içinden
Kerim´i kambur çikardilar
====================================
Story of Hunchback Kerim
...
"We can not stay free and alone in these times
Country is destroyed
Soil is infertile
our debt is 500 million
But our assets is only 15
And god forbids,
If Izmir stays in Greek hands
And if we go to the war
Our enemy will bring its soldiers with their ships
But with which trains are we going to transport our soldiers from Erzurum?
we have to accept the mandate, now", They said.
"They are able to make war ships
we can not even make a sailing boat
And also our American friends told us
their mandate is not that bad
the rules are same as any other nations"
The people came from Istanbul, resisted like that
Sivas did not accept the mandate but more over
Sivas said ´hey my crazy heart hey´
´my clever, hopeful, patient crazy heart,
either Freedom or death´ it said.
Hunchback Kerim said exactly the same thing.
Hunchback Kerim was from Adapazari.
His father who died in the last war campaign, was a carpenter
A war campaign for Kerim was
The face of a dead person on a very white pillow
Picking up potatoes and herd the geese
In Fahri bey´s farm,
Achool books
And also his mom with blonde hair like gold
But many lines on her forehead.
Kerim went to Eskisehir in 335
To go to school, to his aunt and uncle.
His uncle was an engine man in the railways.
Eskisehir was in the hand of enemy..
Kerim was 14 years old.
He did not have a hunch.
He was straight as a young tree
and curious about the world.
The days when his uncle went to drive the trains
Because his aunts would not give him enough to eat
(two old women with very long hair)
Kerim become friends with the Indian soldiers.
And these were the people
(surprisingly)
who did not speak any Turkish
and had dark beard and dark shiny eyes
top of their hands were dark but inside was white
and they would throw biscuits to him in boxes
over the fence..
They had a huge warehouse,
Kerim would play inside
There would be sacks of chickpeas, broad beans, raisins
(for their mules surprisingly)
And then boxes of ammunitions and the firearms
One day, his uncle said to him:
"steal some firearms and bring them to me
I will send them to zeybeks (link) who are fighting the enemy"
Then Kerim stole firearms from the warehouse
one
One more
Five
Ten
He cheated on his Indian friends
Because he loved zeybeks more.
It was not long anyhow, the men with dark shiny beards went.
Kerim went to the station with them.
The following day, when Zeybeks came to Eskisehir
Once Lefke bridge had been captured,
His uncle held his hand and took him to Zeybeks
Gave him to Zeybeks.
Then from that day to this moment
The life of Kerim has been a heroic folk song.
Zeybeks took him from Eskisehir
To the pasha of Kocaeli group
He was a never smiling, frowning pasha..
He learnt how to ride a horse very fast
And to be a herdsman
-he knew a little bit anyway-
To go down from rocks like a goat
To hide in the forest.
With all his talents
While a few times came very close to his dead
And getting surprised when he was told ´well done´
Kerim brought papers through the enemy lines
And took them back.
Brigands respected him as if he was captain with reputation
He loved the brigands as they were his play friends,
And the game played happily by the boy
who was straight as a young tree
Brave as a young tree
And as promising as a young tree
Went until 1337 (1919)..
Kocaeli forest is consist of hornbeam and oak trees:
High
And thick.
You can not see the sky
It was a quite evening
There was a little bit of rain a while ago
But the leaves were not even wet
Kerim´s horse was making rustling sound
On the left and ahead
There were some fires on the skirts of the hill.
They have to be the enemy bandits who were known as ´tekneciler´.
Rain drops were coming down from the branches on Kerim´s face.
The head of the horse was getting into the darkness more
Kerim was coming from ´ipsiz recep´
He took some papers to him
And he was bringing some papers.
Suddenly the horse stood still..
Like a statue
-possibly saw the fire of tekneciler-
Then, suddenly he started galloping
Kerim was astonished.
Left the reins
He clung to the neck of the horse..
The animal was going like mad
The trees were hitting the boy one after another
The forest with its hornbeam and oak trees
Was passing like a dark wind on both sides.
Who knows how many hours they went like that
Suddenly the forest finished.
-it must have been the moon because it was light-
And when Kerim arrived to Basdegirmenler with that speed
The horse fell over.
Kerim rolled down
And got up
And the first thing came into his mind was
To look at his watch
The glass was broken
He went on the horse again
The animal was limping a bit
They started going slowly on their way
His left ear was bleeding
They came to Kirezce
-Between Sapanca and Arifiye-
Kerim stopped..
He was breathing with difficulty
He entered Gevre the following night
His back was hurting so badly
He could not get off his horse..
They got him off..
They put Kerim on a horse carriage called yayli
To Adapazari
Then maybe ten days , maybe fifteen
Ox-carts, hired carts
Then, worsening of his breathing
Yahsihan
Konya
Sile town
(artificial arms and legs were done here for the war veterans)
And finally a man called bonesetter Serif from village of Hatcehan.
Kerim still sees his face pitted with smallpox leaning on him
he came from a narrow road on his donkey.
The bonesetter massaged him till Kerim fainted
Then he put this broken young tree like body of the boy into tar
He stayed there for 20 days
Then one evening, they pulled Kerim off the tar
As a hunchback.
As always, my try
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