ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>Ivan A Derzhanski</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR="#F0E0A0" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0060C0" VLINK="#FF0080" ALINK="#A0DDDD"> <H1>Ivan A Derzhanski's Home Page</H1> <hr> <TABLE CELLPADDING=5 CELLSPACING=0 BORDER=10> <TR> <TD> <FONT SIZE=+2>Almansor and Ibn Ameen</FONT></P> King Almansor, the greatest caliph mortal eyes have seen,<br> Sent soldiers on a day of days to capture Ibn Ameen,<br> A robber known to all Levant, head of a deadly gang.& <br> Three days they fought; the rogue was caught, and he was doomed to hang:<p> They built a gallows strong and tall, they cooked a sumptuous dinner,<br> When suddenly the sultan wished to see the famous sinner.<br> They brought him to the presence   Woe, thou worst among the rogues!<br> How durst thou fight against my might, oh son of seven dogs?<p>  The greenwood and the highway know how perilous thou art.<br> Whence all the venom in thine heart? and whence thy fiendish art? <br>  I am as wicked as they say! and worse still! said the other:<br>  Death is my food; my drink is blood: the desert is my mother! </td><td>  But here s a thought for thee to think.& I lead a gang of ten,<br> And thou hast more than fifteen thousand armed, mounted men.<br> My trade is just the same as thine   tis battles and campaigns,<br> But mine are gory, thine are glory: thou rt the one who reigns.<p>  We both are sultans, thou and I; we re of a like estate,<br> But while I plunder an estate, ye devastate a state.<br> A town, a nation is thy prey; a caravan, my game.<br> Of my own will I rob and kill  But do ye not the same?<p>  Had I thy myriads of men awaiting but my beckoning,<br> I d be a chief, and not a thief: a difference of reckoning!<br> Thou has the might, thou hast the right  What right hast thou, I wonder?<br>  Tis quantity, not quality, that sets us two asunder! <p align=right> Stoyan Mihaylovski, <i>Novissima Verba</i><BR>(translation mine) </TD> </TR> </TABLE><p>(<a href="mybulat.html">This way</a> to my English translations of two songs by Bulat Okudzhava.) <hr> <ul> <li><a href="biograf.html">Curriculum Vit&aelig;</a> <li><a href="profess.html">Professional Interests</a> <li><a href="persona.html">Personal Interests</a> </ul> <hr> <h2>Addresses:</h2> <dl compact> <dt>Home: <dd>cplx Iztok bl 91<br>1113 Sofia<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<font color=green>(20= . 5@60=A:8 ¶ 6.:. «7B>:» 1;. 91 2E.  ¶ 1113 !>D8O)</font><br>Bulgaria <dt>Work: <dd>Department of Mathematical Linguistics<br> Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science<br> 8 Acad G Bonchev St<br>1113 Sofia<br>Bulgaria </dl> <hr> <address>Created and maintained by <a href="mailto:iad@math.bas.bg">Ivan A Derzhanski</a>.<br> Last modified: 4 April 2006. </address> <hr> <CENTER><A HREF=http://www.momentofsilence.org/> <IMG SRC=http://www.momentofsilence.org/images/mos-bnnr.gif WIDTH=468 HEIGHT=60 ALT="Worldwide Moment of Silence for Peace in the Balkans" BORDER=0></A> </CENTER> </BODY> </HTML>