Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/138

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Thou callest me brother, and givest me thy wife!
But I have no need of thy wife,
For with us it is not like as with the Turks,
A brother's wife to us is as a sister.
In mine own house I have a faithful wife,
The lady Jelitsa—of noble stock.140
And I would forgive thee all the despite thou hast done me,
Without thou hadst rent my cloak
So do thou give me three charges of gold,
That I may let mend the lappets of my cloak."
The Turk skipped of joy and gladness,
He embraced Marko and kissed him,
And took him to his lordly manor.
For three white days he made him good cheer out of measure.
And gave him three charges of gold.
The lady, also, gave a gold-embroidered shirt, 150
And with the shirt a kerchief silver-wrought.
Also he gave him three hundred horsemen that should go with him,
That should go with him even to his lordly dwelling.
And ever from that day forth the days of their life,
They held the lands for the worshipful Sultan;
And wheresoever the enemies made mighty war on the land,
There Alil-Aga and Marko drave them back,
And wheresoever cities were taken,
Alil-Aga and Marko were at the taking.