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We shall ask the winged Relja to go with us,
And when we are safe come to Prizren,
Let Leka and the maid look upon us;
Let her choose which of us she will,
And that one shall be the happy bridegroom,
And the other twain shall be the two devers[1],
And all three of us shall be Leka's chiefest friends."
Miloš heard it and it liked him well,
He left Marko in the courtyard, 140
He gat him to the slender čardak,
And put on splendid apparel;
A sable kalpak with a silver crest that turned like a wheel,
And garments of many folds,
And over all he donned a gay mantle,
Such as today no king possesseth.
There was paid thirty purses of gold
For the lining within,
As for the outside, none may tell
The gold that it cost. 150
The servants led forward his swift steed[2].
Now whilst Miloš garbed him,
Marko was drinking wine;
One great vessel full of wine he drank,
And his horse drained another.
Ah, hadst thou but seen with thine eyes,
Hadst thou but seen the Vojvoda Miloš!
Marko was as naught
Compared with Miloš the Vojvoda.
For none was of greater stature,160
There was none more broad of shoulder;
And what a knightly aspect was the hero's!
- ↑ Dever: bride-leader, paranymph. Corresponds roughly to "best-man." Cf. Gk. δαήρ, Lat. levir.
- ↑ А слуге му ждрала изведоше: "And the squires led out his crane." The crane is regarded as typical of gracefulness, and a fine-looking horse is often called "a crane" (ждрал) or is referred to as ждралин, "swift steed."
