Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/129

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[81]

Andjelija his wife met him,
Adown her fair face tears rolled,
And in her hands she held a blood-stained kerchief.
Philip the Magyar asked her:
"What aileth thee, my faithful wife, 100
That thou sheddest down tears from thine eyes,
And holdest a bloody kerchief in thy hands?"
His wife went to him and said:
"Lord and master, Philip,
When thou wentest to the hills on hunting,
And I remained behind by the white manor,
The Devil brought a certain dervish,
He wore a cloak of wolf-skin,
His sabre was girded on above his cloak,
A war-spear he bore behind him on his shoulders, 110
And he rode a piebald horse.
The horse he urged before the white manor,
And thus he gave me greeting:
'God aid thee—my dear sister!
Is pobratim Philip within?'
But I would none of his greeting.
And thus did I answer him:
'Get thee hence—thou starveling dervish!
Philip is no brother to such as thee!'
Forthwith he urged his piebald steed 120
And smote me on the face with the palm of his hand.
On his hand was a golden ring,
Sore scathe it did upon my fair visage,
And put out three sound teeth from their place.
He took from me the three rows of ducats,
And gat him forth to the new tavern.
And this greeting did he leave thee,
That thou shouldst get thee to the new tavern,
For to drink deep of the red wine,
Not with thy gold nor yet with his,130
But with my golden necklace."
When Philip the Magyar heard it,