The remoteness of Aleppo earns it a reference
in this song:
Kuyu basna vardim,
Zeynebim bekler diye,
Nasl haberin almssa,
Day emmi hep orda,
Dediler ne ararsin?
Kizi almak m'istersin?
Sana bir cift sozumuz var,
Hele buysa niyetin.
Chorus:
hendek, iste deve,
Ya atlarsn ya dusersin,
Baktin olmaz vazgecersin,
Zordur almak bizden kizi,
Iste Halep, iste arsin,
Ya asarsin ya bicersin,
Baktin olmaz vazgecersin,
Zordur almak bizden kizi.
Sogudun dali uzun,
Baris'n gonlu huzun,
Elim eline degmedi,
Varn anlayin gayri.
Chorus:
Translation
I came to the well,
Thinking my Zeyneb would be waiting,
Somehow her uncles found out,
And they were already there.
They said, "What are you looking for?
Do you want to marry the girl?
We have a few words to say to you,
If this is indeed your plan.
Here is a ditch, here is a camel,
Either leap over (on camelback) or fall in,
If you think you can't, then give up,
It's hard to get our daughter from us!
Here's Aleppo (a distant city), here's the yardstick,
Either you get there or you try to measure up,
If you think you can't, then give up!
It's hard to get our daughter from us!
The branch of the willow is long,
The heart of Bars is sad,
I never even touched her hand with mine,
I'll let you figure out the rest.