ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some aspects of the emotional engagement of Ottoman elites with animals in sixteenth-century Istanbul. Many of the performances during the Ottoman festival are characterised by the 'world upside-down' principle of carnivals. Analysing Intizami's descriptions regarding face-to-face encounters with performing animals enables us to observe how they were conceived by the audience both in the real world and during carnival. The chapter proposes a novel approach to reading 'The Imperial Book of Festival' by demonstrating the importance of emotions. Contemporary scholars may dismiss the significance that was given to wonderful creatures such as Kitmir and The Queen of Serpents by arguing that these are merely literary fictions. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Ottoman elite created a different emotional community, which was much more secular than that of the sixteenth century. This new social group's perception regarding wonder at God's creations had weakened.
