The story describes a dream experienced by Osman while staying in the home of a religious figure, Sheikh Edebali, in which he sees a metaphorical vision predicting the growth and prosperity of an empire to be ruled by him and his descendants.
Osman began to visit a holy man, Sheikh Edebali (died in 1326), out of respect for his purity and learning.
One day when Osman and his brother Gokalp were visiting the castle of their neighbor, the lord of Ineani, an armed force approached the gate, led by the chief of Eskişehir and his ally, Michael of the Peaked Beard.
While the enemy lingered irresolutely around the castle wall, Osman and his brother seized the moment for a sudden attack.
However, the captive and the captors eventually became friends; later, when Osman reigned as an independent prince, Michael sided with him against the Greeks, and was henceforth one of the strongest supporters of the Ottoman power.
Thence in exulting and fertilizing abundance sprang fountains and rivulets that gurgled through thickets of the cypress and the rose.
That city, placed at the junction of two seas and two continents, seemed like a diamond set between two sapphires and two emeralds, to form the most precious stone in a ring of universal empire.