This spread had some lettering overhauls. The readability wasn’t very good in the old version… and since the print edition, I got rid of the asterisk to explain culture-based words in-the-layout, because I don’t believe in asterisk unless TOTALLY necessary.
In 2016, I talked about the back-and-forth between carpet merchant and client, about how it was a battle of wits when they get to the price negotiation stage. I explained that it would be an exchange of (heightened) shouting, of “you insult me!” “No, YOU insult me!!”. In 2016, I imagined such rhetorical swordfighting might have happened in between the panels, but today I wouldn’t think so. Zeynel is so soft-spoken and demure. He’d rely on his silver-tongued showmanship and ability to flatter, which are qualities he does end up more obviously using in Volume 2 for more mischevious ends.
Çelebi is an Ottoman title of respect for a gentleman, or more simply, how we’d use ‘sir’.
Fi Amanillah is Arabic for ‘May God protect you’.
Zeynel is delightfully unfazed. “Excellent! How much of your purse are you willing to part for this piece of poetry?"
Now this is where the real game begins. The haggling. The negotiation. After chugging several long gulps of his jasmine tea, to buy time, the sheikh proposes: “FIVE sheep!”
Zeynel remains unfazed, but he grins teasingly. “Oh, but it is a mastery of art… don’t you think it's worth more of your generous heart?”
The negotiation takes a while, but not too long, and soon the show is over. Satisfied, the two men bid each other farewell. Behind the door, as he watches the sheikh and entourage pack up their horses and brand new carpet, Zeynel says: “Fi Amanillah (May God protect you), safe travels! Please come again!”
