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And he prepared a letter,
But he sent it not whither he had told her,
But sent it across the dark sea,
Across the sea to Salonica city.
To Dojčilo, his pobratim-in-God:
"O Dojčilo, pobratim-in-God, 10
I am fallen on evil days,
And suffer torment at the hands of the Arabs;
Enslaved am I and in a dungeon,
In Azak, in an accursed dungeon,
And I may not long endure in the dungeon,
For me a dungeon is an unwonted lodging;
Deliver me if God thou knowest!"
Then he called to him his grey falcon[1]:
"O falcon, fail me not at thy peril!
Bear this letter to Salonica city, 120
To Dojčilo, my pobratim-in-God,
That he may deliver me out of this dungeon."
The falcon took the letter
And he soared to the sky.
Straight he went to Salonica city.
Now it was morn of the Sabbath day,
And the lords of Salonica were in church,
In the white church were the lords of Salonica,
At matins and at the liturgy.
The falcon came to the white church, 130
The falcon screamed that God himself heard it,
The Vojvoda Dojčilo knew it
- ↑ Ll. 118-136: cf. "The Gay Goshawk":
And when he flew to that castle
He lighted on the ash;
And there he sat and sang their loves,
As she came from the mass.
****She's gane unto her west window,
And fainly aye it drew,
And soon into her white silk lap
The bird the letter threw.
