Unknown

“ Gather together, Djuro, a thousand guests,
And come hither as soon as it liketh thee.'—
Counsel me now, mother,
Whether should I obey the King, my father-in-law,
Or the maid, Jerina, his lovely daughter?"
His mother answered him, saying:
"Dear son, Djuro of Smederevo,
The Latins were ever deceivers,
And fain, my son, would they deceive thee.
Hearken not to the King thy father-in-law,120
But obey the word of thy bride Jerina.
Do thou ask Serbs to be thy wedding-guests,
And if haply thou art in straits,
They will be with thee in thy need." ”

“ He bound the youth feet and hands,
And fastened him to the saddle-bow of Sharatz.
Then he hied him back to his wine-skin,
He cast the stripling down on the green grass,
And sate him down again for to drink wine.
All this Velimirovica perceived,
And she ran to General Vuča:
"A curse on thy wine, Vuča!⁠180
A curse on thy wine—and a double curse on thyself!
All thy horsemen have perished,
The knight hath bound Velimir's hands,
He hath bound his feet and his hands,
And behold he drinketh red wine,
And Velimir lieth on the sward!" ”

“ A marvellous knight rideth down to Kossovo,
On a passing great piebald horse,
And he hath spurred him to fury,
That living fire flasheth from his hoofs,
And a blue flame goeth from his nostrils.
This knight is surely minded to make onfall on us." 130
But the black Moor made answer:
"My children—my forty henchmen,
There is no knight that dareth to make onfall on us,
It is like that he hath found a damsel,
And hasteth to us bearing the marriage-tax:
He is grieved that he must needs yield up the gold,
And for that cause is he wroth out of measure. ”

“ Dear brother, thou stranger knight,
Not by mine own fault am I unhappy,
Not by mine own fault nor because of my mother,
Nor yet because of mine aged father.
Natheless, miserable that I am, I have lost all gladness.
Lo, nine years of days are passed,
Since there came a Moor from beyond the sea,
And leased Kossovo from the Sultan,
And he inflicteth outrage upon Kossovo
That the folk give him meat and drink out of measure. 30
In this too he doeth violence—
For every woman that would wed must pay him thirty ducats,
And every man four and thirty. ”

“ Then the Doge dismissed the barbers,
And spake softly to his god-daughter:
"Sit thee down, dear daughter."
But the Bulgar maid answered him:
"Ah, godfather, Doge of Venice,
If Kraljević Marko hear of this,
We shall both lose our heads."
The Doge said to the fair maiden:
"Sit thee down and play not the fool,
Marko is over yonder in the midst of the wedding-guests, 220
Where his white tent is pitched.
On the tent is a golden apple,
In the apple are two precious stones,
Which illumine half the camp,
So sit thee down that we may caress each the other." ”

“ Of these three worshipful knights.
And if thou art minded, sister,
To take a good knight of prowess,
That will make our face to shine with glory
On every field of strife,
One that cometh forth with worship from every tourney,
Take, sister, Kraljević Marko.
Go with him to Prilep castle,
It will be well with thee there.
But if, sister, thou art minded 430
To take the knight of fairest seeming,
Whom none may match for strength and comeliness,
Nor yet in stature nor in stoutness of countenance
In the four ends of the earth,
Then take, sister, the knight Miloš. ”

“ Hold thy peace, Vila, be thou stricken dumb!
What hath he not done for me?
What hath not Marko Kraljević done for me?⁠20
Thereof shalt thou well wit and know.
When the army perished at Kossovo,
And both Emperors were slain,
Even Knez Lazar and Sultan Murad,
The blood that fell reached to the horses' stirrups,
Yea, and to the silken girdles of the knights,
That horses and knights swam therein,
Horse against horse, hero against hero! ”

“ Marko looked well at the damascened sabre,
And to the crier he said:
"I will give thee nine hundred,
Nine hundred ducats, all of yellow gold, 20
But hear me, thou crier!
Let us seek a secluded spot,
Let us withdraw us from here a little,
That so I may count out to thee all the yellow ducats.
It liketh me not here to ungird me,
And to do off my three belts of gold,
For here I owe much money to a Turk,
He would not suffer me to buy the sword."
The Turk had joy of these words,
So they went up by Sitnica river, 30
Under the white stone bridge. ”

“ And told her brother Mustapha-Aga:
"O brother, Mustapha-Aga,
I have found a wounded knight,
In Marica, in the cold river: 50
He hath on him three purses of gold,
In each are three hundred ducats;
One will he give to me,
The second will he give to thee, Mustapha-Aga,
The third will he keep for himself
That he may heal him of his grievous wounds:
Be not evilly advised
To slay the wounded knight,
But do thou bear him here to the white manor."
The Turk gat him to the river Marica, 60
And when he saw the wounded knight,
He began to examine the rich-wrought sabre. ”

“ Miloš sate him down and wrote a letter,
To Prilep the white castle,⁠30
To Marko Kraljević, his pobratim:
"Brother-in-God, Kraljević Marko,
Hast thou not heard—or carest thou naught for me?
Into sore straits am I come,
In the hands of the Magyars.
General Vuča hath taken me,
And with me my two pobratims.
He hath cast us into the depths of a dungeon,
Where the water cometh to our knees,
And the bones of dead heroes are shoulder-high. ”

“ Marko's fealty to the Sultan when thus manipulated and adroitly combined with the suggestion that the nominal servant was in reality greater than his lord, could prove no bar to his popular acceptability. On the contrary, it was in this dual aspect that he became the national hero, the ideal exemplar, the proud symbol expressive of the unbroken spirit that lived on in spite of disaster and defeat, and kept alive the confident hope that however long the night, darkness must ultimately give place to the dawn of another day. ”

“ One man became two,
Out of twelve Marko made twice so many,
Of twelve Moors he made four and twenty.
And so he passed athwart the level plain,
Like a star athwart a clear sky. 60
Straight to Prilep town he went
To his white manor.
He called Jevrosima his mother:
"Jevrosima," quoth he, "mine aged mother,
Mother, my sweet, dear one,
Behold, mother, my sister-in-God.
Nourish her, mother, as thou hast nourished me.
Give her in marriage as she were thine own daughter,
That in this wise we may gain friends." ”

“ Therewithal they arrived before the castle,
The menservants took their horses,
And the maidservants would take their shining weapons: 170
They gave up their horses, their weapons they did not give,
But they sat down armed at the tables,
And drank the dark wine across their weapons.
And behold the King of Dubrovnik cometh,
Fair words he spake to them, saying:
"Fair Sir, most worshipful Novak,
Never or now have I seen wedding-guests
That sat weaponed at their wine." ”

“ And in the seven Vlach kingdoms,
And in the whole world none may compare with her. 320
They praise her, and no man sayeth aught against us.
We are come. Sir Leka,
That we may ask the maid in marriage;
All three we are pobratims,
All three till now unwed:
Give thy sister to which of us thou wilt,
Choose for brother-in-law which thou wilt,
That one may be the eager bridegroom,
And the others his two devers,
And that all may be thy chiefest friends." 330
Leka was angered and made frowning countenance;
"Think not of that," quoth he, "Vojvoda Marko! ”

“ And drave them round the vineyard.
And behold there was the Perilous Knight,
Driving tofore him Relja and Miloš,
And the hands of both he had bound.
And when Marko saw it,
He was afeared as never before,
And he began to look whither he should flee.
But on a sudden him remembered,
How each had sworn to other,
That if one should be in straits,80
The others should come to his aid and comfort. ”

“ She went to Marko's dungeon
And told him all that the King had said.
When Kraljević Marko heard it, 90
He made such dole that even God was ware of it,
And to the damsel he said:
"Sister-in-God, king's daughter,
Bring me inkhorn and paper,
That I may prepare a letter,
And send it to my mother at Prilep,
That she may sell lands and cities.
Let her sell them, and give money for my soul,
And nourish her, and protect her from evil. ”

“ And made ready his war-horse Sharatz.⁠20
After him hasted his aged mother.
And spake (soft) words unto him:
"Ah, my son, Kraljević Marko,
Take not any weapon with thee,
Else—so used to blood art thou—
Thou wilt surely shed blood on thy festal day."
Lo, in a strait betwixt two was Marko!
Ill were it, him seemed, to go unarmed,
And yet more evil to give not heed to his mother.
So he took with him no weapon,⁠30
But mounted the war-tried Sharatz,
And steered him adown the grassland,
And came with a straight course to white Ochrida. ”

“ This day is thy glorious Slava,
If any enter into thy manor this day,
Give drink to the thirsty, give food to the hungry,
For the souls of thy parents,
And for the weal of thine own soul and Jelina's [1] ."
Marko gave heed to his mother, 90
He put by his sabre but put not his mace aside,
So the Turks entered into the manor to their scathe.
And he set them in order round the table.
"Vaistina," quoth Marko, "give them to drink,
Jela, my soul, give them to eat." ”

“ That is practically all the information we have and there is no body or substance in it. Yet every Serb knows and loves Marko, and reveres him as the greatest hero of the race. It is the traditional poetry that has wrought this marvel, that has atoned for the silence of history, that has endowed Kraljević with a robust vitality. Without it the great Marko would have been but the shadow of a shade.
Before dealing with the epic ballads wherein the exploits of the Serbian Hercules are recorded, let us look for a little at the historical picture of his time. ”

“ And spread it on the grass beneath the fir trees,
He made the sign of the rood and sate him down on the mantle;
He pulled his sable kalpak over his eyes,
Then laid him down never to rise no more.
By the well lay the dead Marko,
From day and again to day, a week of days,
For whoso by adventure passed that way 120
And was ware of Marko,
He did think ever that Marko surely slept,
And made wide his path round about him,
For fear lest he should wake Marko.
Where good fortune is, there also is evil fortune,
And where evil fortune is, there is good fortune also ”

“ There sat a knight by the highway,
That was clad right marvellously,
All in silver and in fine gold.
His mighty plumes came down over him,
Yea, brothers, down to the green grass!
Black indeed was his moustache about his teeth,
And in size it was as large as a lamb of half a year.
Through his moustache a breastplate shone,
Like the bright sun through woodland trees. 120
His legs were yellow to the knee,
Yea, my brothers, with purest gold! ”

“ One may not even jest in peace."
Said Marko Kraljević:
"An ill jest for thee, Doge of Venice!
No jest it was to shave off thy beard.
Where is thy beard of yesterday?" 280
The Doge would have answered him again,
But Kraljević Marko waited not.
He swung his sabre and cut off his head.
Stepan Zemljić fled,
But Kraljević Marko overtook him,
And smote him with the sword,
So that of one man he made two.
Then he returned back to his tent,
He made ready himself and Sharatz,
The well-beseen wedding-guests set out, 290
And in peace they journeyed to white Prilep. ”

“ And there Djemo set up a gallows,
For there he purposed to hang Marko.
But from Zvečan the lords came and besought him:
"Brother-in-God, Djemo the Mountaineer,
Hang not Marko here,
Lest vine and wheat bear not any fruit.
Lo, here be three charges of gold!"
Djemo took the three charges of gold, ⁠120
And departed thence
Through a certain mountain called Janjina.
And Djemo was sore athirst,
And he spake (softly) to bold Marko:
"Knowest thou, Marko, if there be water here beside or any inn?
Sore thirst prevaileth over me." ”

“ Seventeen wounds had the knight,
And he wore gorgeous apparel.
On his thigh he bore a rich-wrought sabre,
On the sabre were three golden hilts,
On the hilts three precious stones;
And the sabre was worth three of the Sultan's cities.
The knight spake to the Turkish damsel:
"Sister mine," quoth he, "thou Turkish maiden,
Whom hast thou in thy white manor?"
Answered to him the Turkish damsel: 30
"I have an aged mother,
And I have a brother, Mustapha-Aga." ”

“ The Moor turned about his grey Arab mare,
And cried to Kraljević Marko:
"Woe betide thee, thou unknown knight! ⁠350
Which devil hath persuaded thee,
That thou shouldst come among my wedding-guests,
And slay the kum and the dever?
Art thou a witless churl that knowest naught of me?
Or art thou a knight of worship that hath lost his reason?
Or is life become a weariness to thee?
By the faith of my body,
I shall gather up the reins of my mare,
Seven times shall I leap over thee,
Seven times over thee, and seven times back, ⁠360
And then shall I smite off thy head!" ”

“ MARKO KRALJEVIĆ AND DJEMO THE MOUNTAINEER
Kraljević Marko Celebrated his Slava,
He kept his Slava that fell on St George's day.
And many invited guests were there—
Two hundred priests, three hundred monks,
Twelve Serbian bishops,
Four patriarchs well stricken in years,
And others without number.
For all there was meat and drink and to spare,
Natheless an aged monk lift up his voice and said:
"Give thee thanks, Kraljević Marko!⁠10
There had nothing lacked in thy white manor,
An thou hadst fish from Ochrida [1] !" ”