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And dashed me on to the ears of Sharatz,
That scarce might I recover seat,
And escape along the rocky shore.
That is seven years agone,
Since then have I passed this way no more."
They held talk of this matter,
When there arose a cloud of dust,
And it came to the vineyard by the level shore.40
The three Serb knights looked up,
And lo! the Perilous Knight was there,
With a fellowship of twelve knights with him.
And when Marko Kraljević saw it.
He spake unto Relja and unto Miloš, saying[1]:
"Hearken ye, my two pobratims!
See where he comes, the Perilous Knight!
Meseemeth all three we should lose our heads.
But come, let us flee hence[2]!"
But Miloš spake and said:50
"Pobratim, Kraljević Marko!
Today folk deem and say also,
That three better knights of prowess are not,
Than we three Serbian Vojvodas.
Better were it for us three to perish,
Than that we should flee shameful this day."
When Marko heard it,
He spake unto them again, saying:
"How would ye that we divide them?
Whether would ye have ado with Bogdan alone,60
Or with his twelve Vojvodas?"
- ↑ Relja: the winged Relja of Novibazar appears again in the story of Leka's sister. So also does Miloš of Pocerje who is the same as Miloš Obilić.
- ↑ This is one of the occasions on which Marko shows weakness. Goethe asked Talvj to omit "Лутица Богдан" from her translations: "denn hier erscheint Marko seiner unwürdig." For once Talvj did not agree: "Wenn ich das meinige tue den häszlichen Helden Marko berühmt zu machen, ihn beliebt machen, zu wollen, kann mir nicht einfallen." (Ćurčin, pp, 139-140).
