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In translating these admirable ballads, I was faced with the inevitable choice between a free metrical rendering and a more accurate prose translation. I chose the latter, partly because I hoped the book might prove useful to students of the Serbian language and literature, and considered that a large degree of literalness would more than counterbalance the accompanying disadvantages. Moreover, it must be confessed, I had grave doubts of my ability to write even tolerable verse in the required measure, and a few tentative efforts in that direction tended to confirm my diffidence. But as each line of the original makes complete sense in itself it seemed possible to write a line-by-line prose translation and yet keep closely to the text. There are two obvious dangers to be avoided; one is "fine writing," the other is baldness. The ballad is apt to suffer very severely under the touch of the self-appointed embellisher, and Marko would undoubtedly lose much of his naive fascination if the stark manner of his presentment were unduly modified by the translator. Yet, on the other hand, without the insistent haunting monotony of the decasyllables and the incommunicable verbal cunning that is part of their fabric, the too literal translator may find himself lapsing into the second error, and which is the greater evil it is hard to say. I have done my best to maintain a decent equilibrium between the bald and the elaborate, for each, in its own degree, does injustice to the art and to the austerity of the original. I am indebted to my friends Professors Bogdan and Pavle Popović for their assistance in elucidating knotty points and to Mr Alexander Yovitchitch, Major Milan Yovitchitch and Mr W. K. Holmes for help in reading the proofs.
Note (a). I have used throughout the text of Vuk, Srpske Narodne Pjesme, vol. ii. The collections of Bogišić, the Brothers Jovanović and the others have not been drawn upon.
Note (b). In vols. i and vi of Vuk's collection there are thirteen additional Marko poems, but as it is generally recognised that the pieces contained in the second volume are the best of their kind, are fully representative of the character and exploits of Marko and form a complete whole in themselves, I have limited myself to this material. Over two hundred Marko ballads are in existence but they have never been gathered together.
