The Ballads of Marko Kraljević/The Marriage of Marko Kraljević
THE MARRIAGE OF MARKO KRALJEVIĆ
MARKO sat at supper with his mother,
And she began to speak with Marko:
"O my son, Kraljević Marko,
Thy mother is now well stricken in years,
She cannot prepare thy supper,
She cannot serve the dark wine,
She cannot make light with the pine splinter.
Take thee a wife, therefore, my dearest son,
That so I may have a successor afore I die."
Marko said to his aged mother: 10
"God be my witness, dear old mother!
Through nine kingdoms have I been,
Yea, through ten, and the tenth was the Turkish Empire;
When I found a maiden for myself,
There was no friend for thee,
And when I found friends for thee,
For me there was no maiden there.
Yet stay, one maid there was,
At the court of King Šišman[1],
Mother mine, on Bulgarian soil,20
I found her by the waters of the cistern,
And when I saw her, mother,
Meseemed the ground turned about me.
Behold, mother, the maid for me,
And for thee also worthy friends.
Make ready of slender meal-cakes,
That I may go and ask the maid in marriage."
Of that word had his mother exceeding great joy.
She waited not until the day dawned,
But already she made for him the sugared cakes. 30
And when day dawned on the morrow,
Marko made ready himself and Sharatz.
He poured wine into a wine-skin,
He hanged it on the saddle of Sharatz,
And on the other side his heavy mace.
Then he mounted his fiery steed,
And went straightway to the Bulgarian land,
To the white palace of King Šišman.
From afar the King espied him,
And came out for to meet him. 40
They opened their arms and kissed each other on the face.
Each asked how it did with other.
The faithful servants took the horses,
And led them away to the stables below.
The King took Marko to the white tower,
They sate them down at the well-spread table,
And began to drink dark wine.
And when they had well drunken,
Marko sprang to his light feet,
He doffed his cap, he bowed him to the ground,50
And asked the King to give him the maid in marriage.
The King gave her without a word,
And when Marko had gotten ring and apple[2],
And rich garments for the bride,
And had given gifts to mother-in-law and sister-in-law,
Marko had spended three tovars[3] of gold.
He required him respite for a month of days,
That he might fare to white Prilep
And gather the well-beseen wedding-guests.
The maid's mother said to him: 60
"O son-in-law, Marko of Prilep,
Bring not a dever[4] that is a stranger,
But either a brother or else a cousin,
For the damsel is peerless of beauty,
And we fear some deed of shame."
Marko tarried yet one night there.
In the morning he made ready Sharatz,
And hied him straightway to white Prilep.
When he drew nigh to Prilep castle,
From afar his mother espied him, 70
And came forth to meet him.
She opened her arms and kissed him on the face,
Marko kissed the white hand of his mother.
His mother asked Kraljević Marko:
"O my son, Kraljević Marko,
Hast thou journeyed in peace?
Hast thou won for me a daughter-in-law,
For me a daughter-in-law, for thyself a faithful wife?"
To his aged mother Marko made answer:
"Yea, mother, in peace have I journeyed, 80
I have wooed and won the maiden,
I have spent also three tovars of gold.
And when I left the white palace,
The maid's mother said to me:
'O son-in-law, Kraljević Marko,
Bring not as dever one that is a stranger,
But bring a brother or a cousin,
For the damsel is peerless of beauty,
And of some great shame we are adread!'—
And, mother, I have no brother, 90
I have no brother, nor no cousin."
The aged mother said to him:
"O my son, Marko of Prilep,
Have no care concerning that,
But do thou write a letter
And send it to the Doge of Venice.
Let him come as kum to the wedding,
Let him bring five hundred guests with him.
And do thou send another letter to Stepan Zemljić,
That he may be dever to the damsel. 100
Let him bring five hundred guests with him,
And so thou shalt fear no deed of shame."
When Marko heard these words,
He obeyed his mother.
He wrote the letters on his knees.
One he sent to the Doge of Venice,
The other to his pobratim, Stepan Zemljić.
And within a while,
Behold, the Doge of Venice,
With five hundred wedding-guests with him. 110
The Doge gat him to the slender tower,
And the guests encamped on the wide plain.
And within a while behold Stepan also,
With five hundred wedding-guests with him.
They met together in the slender tower,
And drank their fill of dark wine.
The wedding-guests departed thence,
And to the land of the Bulgars they went,
Straight to King Šišman's palace.
The King gave them fair welcome and according, 120
The horses were led to the cellars[5] below,
And the knights to the white castle.
He kept them for three white days,
The horses and the knights reposed them.
But when the fourth morning dawned.
The well-beseen čaušes cried:
"Up, ye wedding-guests, well-beseen!
Short are the days and long the stages,
Let us think of the homeward journey."
The King brought forth lordly presents. 130
To one he gave embroidered kerchiefs, to another apparel.
To the kum he gave a golden table,
To the dever a gold-embroidered shirt.
To the dever also he gave over the maid on horseback,
And to the dever thus spake the King:
"Behold, horse and maiden are in thy keeping,
As far as Marko's white manor.
There thou shalt give the fair maid to Marko,
The charger will be thy guerdon."
The well-beseen wedding-guests departed, 140
And took their way across the Bulgarian fields.
But where good fortune is—there also is evil fortune.
The wind blew on the wide plain,
And lifted the damsel's veil,
That the damsel's face was discovered.
The Doge of Venice saw her face,
And his head was filled with aching desire.
Scarce might he wait until night should come.
And when the wedding-guests had pitched their camp,
Then the Doge of Venice hied him 150
To the tent of Stepan Zemljić.
Softly he spake to Stepan:
"Dever," quoth he, "Stepan Zemljić!
Give me thy dear ward
To be my true love for one night.
See, here is a boot for thee full of gold,
Of yellow ducats, my Stepan."
Answered him Stepan Zemljić:
"Hold thy peace, Doge, mayst thou be changed into stone!
Art thou minded to perish?" 160
The Doge of Venice departed thence,
But when they were come to the next camping place,
The Doge hied him to the white tent,
And to Stepan Zemljić he said:
"Give me, Stepan, thy dear ward
To be my true love for one night.
Lo, here are two boots full of gold.
Of yellow ducats, my Stepan."
Stepan answered him bitterly:
"Get thee hence, Doge, mayst thou lose thy head! 170
How should she lie in the arms of her godfather?"
And the Doge returned to his tent.
But when they were come to the third camping place,
The Doge hied him to the dever Stepan:
"Dever," quoth he, "give me thy dear ward
To be my true love for one night.
See, here are three boots full of ducats for thee."
And Stepan Zemljić was corrupted
For three boots of yellow ducats.
He gave the Doge his dear ward, 180
He took from him three boots full of ducats.
The Doge took his god-daughter by the white hand,
He led her to his tent.
And spake smoothly to her:
"Sit thee down, my dear god-daughter.
That we may embrace and love each the other."
But the Bulgarian damsel answered and said:
"Unhappy godfather, Doge of Venice!
The earth would open under us,
The heavens would break above us. 190
How should thy god-daughter lie in thine arms?"
The Doge of Venice made answer:
"Speak not foolishness—dear god-daughter,
Already I have loved nine,
Nine god-daughters by baptism,
And twenty-four by marriage;
Nor once has the earth opened,
Nor the heavens broken above us.
Sit thee down that we may caress each the other."
But the maid said to the Doge: 200
"Godfather, Doge of Venice,
My old mother hath adjured me
Never to love a full-bearded hero,
But only a knight smooth of chin
Such as is Marko Kraljević."
When the Doge of Venice heard it,
He let come skilful barbers.
One washed him, the other shaved off his beard.
The fair damsel stooped down,
She gathered up the beard and wrapped it in a kerchief.210
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."
The fair maid said to him:
"Wait yet a little, most dear godfather,
Until I go out before thy white tent
For to look at the sky,
Whether it be clear or cloudy." 230
And when she was gone out before the tent,
The maid perceived the tent of Kraljević Marko,
And lightly she leapt past the wedding-guests,
Like a roedeer a twelvemonth old.
To the tent of Kraljević Marko.
Within the tent Marko lay sleeping,
The maiden stood over him,
And down her fair face the tears ran.
Marko awoke and looked and was astonied,
Then to the Bulgar maid he said: 240
"Ignoble maid!
Mayst thou not endure
Until we come to my white manor,
And until the Christian law is accomplished?"
He seized his rich-wrought sabre,
But the fair damsel made obeisance.
And said to Kraljević Marko:
"Lord and master, Kraljević Marko,
I am not of ignoble stock,
But of a kingly line. 250
It is thou that leadest ignoble ones in thy train.
An ignoble kum, an ignoble dever.
Stepan Zemljić hath sold me
To the Doge, my godfather, for three boots full of gold.
And if thou believest me not, Marko,
See, here is the beard of the Doge of Venice."
And she shook the beard from out the kerchief.
When Marko Kraljević saw it,
He said to the damsel:
"Sit thee down, fair maid, 260
On the morrow Marko will seek them out."
And again he laid him down to sleep.
When day dawned and the sun cast his rays abroad,
Marko rose to his swift feet,
And donned his fur mantle with the hair outside.
In his hand he took his heavy mace.
Forthwith to the kum he went and to the dever,
And gave them fair good-morrow.
"Good-morrow," quoth he, "kum and dever!
And dever, where is thy ward? 270
Kum, where thy daughter?"
The dever held his peace—he said no word,
But the Doge of Venice answered:
"Marko Kraljević, my friend.
Folk are of strange humour nowadays,
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.
- ↑ Šišman = Sigismund.
- ↑ The usual offering of a suitor. See "A Damsel outwits Marko." The apple and quince are ancient symbols of fertility.
- ↑ The load carried by a pack-horse.
- ↑ Dever = bride-leader, best-man.
- ↑ подрум = a cellar. The word, however, might be better rendered as "stable." Horses and cattle were lodged below the living-rooms, but not in a cellar in the underground sense.