Dimitar Yan. Shalev

In the Oriental Department of the Vasil Kolarov National Library - Sofia, an original correspondence is kept, handwritten in Turkish with Arabic script, containing letters and resolutions from March 1853, respectively emanating from the kaymakam of the Sliven Liva, the commander of the Rumelian Army, and the Supreme Military Council of the same army. The document in question is classified: Sliven, Kaymakam - and Liva. Date March 10, 1853, new style. II. Outlawry, and refers to the person Shabiloglu Mustafa, a gypsy from Gradec, a famous robber who roamed this region for years during that dark era of slavery and instilled fear and trembling among the population of several districts in the Sliven region. In view of the content of the cited document and the interest it represents for our literature, in which the person Shabil through the pen of the writer Yovkov is described as a legendary hero in the famous Stara Planina legend under the title "Shibil", we give the entire content of the Turkish correspondence, translated into Bulgarian. The document is unknown to our public and has not been published so far. Apparently, it was not known to the late Yovkov when he wrote his legend about Shabil. We are publishing it for the first time in order to protect our literati - poets and writers from infatuation, delusion and mistakes in the future regarding the legend of "Shibil", which, like the document, sheds full light on the truth about Shibil. Shibil is no longer a "legend", but an ordinary robber.