The Ballads of Marko Kraljević/Appendix

by unknown author

APPENDIX

THE DATE OF THE BALLADS

Of the court poetry that is said to have flourished in the time of Tsar Dushan and before it, nothing has come down to us, and after Kossovo (1389) anything in the nature of court poetry must speedily have ceased to exist. But Serbian minstrelsy did not altogether perish; the popular ballad gained new force and significance, and in all probability the heroes of Kossovo were already widely sung during the life-time of many who had actually fought in that battle. For the Serb is a born maker, and the two Greek historians Ducas and Laonicas, who are thought to have lived within seventy-five years of the date of Kossovo, are both familiar with the traditional story of the struggle. Laonicas, indeed, relates how a Serbian knight called Μήλοις rode alone into the Turkish camp. Pretending to be a deserter with important information he gained access to Murad's presence and slew the Sultan with a spear-thrust. Ducas tells much the same story but does not give the name of the Serbian knight; he says, moreover, that the weapon used was a dagger, on which point he is in agreement with the existing poems.

An anonymous translation of Ducas in Italian contains many additional details that are certainly drawn from poems, quite in the manner of Pitscottie's "Chronicle," and as this Italian version dates from the fifteenth century, it is clear that Murad's death at the hands of Miloš had become a well-known ballad theme very soon indeed after the event^[1].

But the earliest direct references to the poems are in German, and occur in the writings of Kuripešić who travelled from Vienna to Constantinople in 1531^[2].

Stephan Gerlach relates in his diary (1573-78) that near Pirot the ruins of a castle were pointed out to him as being once the abode of Miloš Obilić: "Die Christen sagen, das Milosch Coboli, welcher den türkischen Kayser Murat erstochen, da seine Wohnung gehabt habe." With reference to dancing and the singing of folk-songs he says: "Nach dem Essen haben die Jungfern in einem Reyhen getantzt und Chorweise gesungen, je zwei und zwei miteinander…^[3]."

With regard to the Marko ballads, the oldest known (a pesme dugog stiha) occurs in the "Ribanje" of Petar Hektorović (1556)^[4], but the earliest date that can be assigned to the poems in their decasyllabic form is the seventeenth century^[5].

VUK

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787-1864) was born at Tršić of well-to-do peasant folk. His father's name was Stefan Joksimović and, following the Serb custom, the son bore the surname of Stefanović—Stefan's son. His parents had already lost several children so, as a measure of precaution, they bestowed on the boy the "prezime" of Vuk, a name supposed to be potent against the charms of witches and the Evil Eye^[6]. Vuk's childhood was spent with his peasant parents and he was thus familiar from the first with the life of the country folk. It was a primitive life, for conditions had remained unchanged since the Turkish conquest of the fifteenth century. The Turk, indeed, had played the part of wicked fairy, and in Serbia all cultural progress had been arrested as completely as in the palace of the Sleeping Beauty.

Neither of Vuk's parents could read, but the boy contrived to learn somehow, and his father sent him to the monastery of Tronoša in the hope that he might be able to further his studies there, but the experiment was not a success, the monks were entirely absorbed in the cultivation of their fields, and Vuk returned home to tend cattle.

While thus employed, he made ink for himself by dissolving gunpowder in water, and began to write down local songs and proverbs. This was the modest beginning of the great collections of folk-song with which his name is associated. In 1804, the year of the Serbian rising under Karageorge, Vuk took service with one of the patriot leaders. The Turks advanced, Tršić was burned to the ground, and Vuk's chief was killed.

For some years thereafter Vuk led a wandering life. We hear of him at Karlovatz gymnasium, at various places in Serbia, and finally at Belgrade where, as the result of a serious illness, he became permanently lame. "Upheld by crutches," he writes, "I could think no more of war and horses, yet had it not been for these same crutches I had surely been slain by the Turks, like so many of my contemporaries. Thanks to my crutches I had, perforce, to stay at home, and there I set down on paper what my ears had heard and what my eyes had seen." In 1813, when Karageorge made his escape over the Danube, Vuk fled also and settled in Vienna. At this time the remarkable body of Serbian songs and ballads which we now possess had not yet been committed to writing but was still at the stage of oral tradition. Such written and printed matter as did exist was almost entirely of a religious or official nature, and was composed in the Paleo-Slav of the Church, an archaic language unintelligible to the people. The original alphabet of Cyril^[7] the Byzantine missionary of the ninth century had become quite unsuitable as a means of expressing the sounds of the spoken language, and when Kopitar urged upon Vuk the importance of publishing his collected material it became clear that the first necessity was to reform the ancient Cyrillic alphabet so as to adapt it to the needs of the living tongue. Vuk undertook the task and carried it through with triumphant success in spite of the bitterest clerical opposition, and to-day the Serbs, alone in Europe, enjoy the privilege of possessing a true phonetic alphabet. With the publication of the Grammar and of the first collection of Serbian folk-songs in 1814, Vuk may be said to have found his vocation.

Advised and assisted by Kopitar, he produced after several years of laborious work his great Serbian Dictionary, a book which was received by scholars with the liveliest satisfaction. Learned societies began to honour him and in 1820, on the invitation of Prince Milosh, he returned to Belgrade to help in the task of establishing a system of national education. But those who regarded, or professed to regard, the reform of the alphabet as an act of sacrilege, were so strong and bitter in their hostility, that Vuk was compelled to leave. He returned to Vienna and prepared another collection of folk-songs for the press. Here again difficulty beset him, and obstacles were placed in the way of publication. Vuk, accordingly, travelled to Leipzig in 1823 and had the book printed there (1823). He became the personal friend of Goethe, Jacob Grimm, Humboldt, Ranke and many other distinguished men, but their generous appreciation did not save him from the pinch of downright poverty.

"I cannot tell you," he wrote to a friend, "in what difficulties I find myself. Believe me, I was unable to buy a pound of meat, far less a pig, for Christmas. Remembering what day it was, and looking at my children, I wept like a child. Everything I can sell or pawn, I have sold or pawned, and now I know not what I am to do with my wife and children. It is winter, and I have no wood, no bread and no money."

Gradually, however, his circumstances improved and a pension was granted him. The remainder of his life was largely spent in travel in Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro, and in the publication of the material thus collected.

"He was of medium height," says a contemporary, "his face, with its high cheek-bones, looked curiously triangular and his small, deep-set, twinkling blue eyes were almost always downcast. He had bushy grey eyebrows and a huge moustache: he habitually wore high boots and a long black coat: his left leg was shorter than the right, for which reason he was unable to move about without a crutch: on his head he wore a large red fez which he very seldom removed."

Respected and honoured by the literary and scientific world as no Serbian had been before him, he lived long enough to see the complete victory of the reforms for which he had fought, and to the last he pursued his strenuous labours, in order, as he said, "to snatch something more from death."

Vuk died and was buried in Vienna in 1864, but thirty years later his remains were transferred to his native land and re-interred with great pomp near the west door of the cathedral in Belgrade^[8].

MARKO KRALJEVIĆ

(Vuk's article in the Rječnik.)

There is no Serb to whom the name of Marko Kraljević is unfamiliar. I propose to mention here certain incidents in his career which, for the greater part, are not in the heroic ballads, but occur in tales and legends. Marko is reputed to have been much stronger than any man living, either then or now. In the 71st ballad of the 2nd book^[9] ("The Turks at Marko's Slava"), Marko's mace, which he swung and flung with one hand, is said to have weighed 66 okas^[10].

As a boy I saw a painting of Marko in the hospice of the monastery at Krušedol in Syrmia. He was depicted carrying a full-grown ox by the tail. He had slung the animal over his shoulder and strode along without bending beneath the burden. In ballad No. 66 ("Marko Kraljević and Musa Kesedžija"), the story is told of how he took in his hand a piece of dry cornel-wood "from a rafter ten years old," and how when he crushed it in his grasp it broke "in two pieces and in three," and two drops of water came forth out of it. Marko could not go anywhere without ample provision of wine, but as his strength was great, so great was his power of drinking without getting drunk.

With regard to Šarac, some say that a Vila made Marko a present of him; others assert that Marko bought him from certain pack-horse drivers^[11]. They say he had made trial of many horses before Šarac, but that not one of them was able to carry him. One day he saw a piebald, leprous foal among the pack-horses belonging to some carriers, and it seemed to him that the animal had the makings of a fine steed. Forthwith he seized him by the tail in order to swing him round, as he had done with all the other horses he had hitherto tested, but he failed to move this horse from the place where he stood. Thereupon he bought Šarac from his owner, cured him of his leprosy, and taught him to drink wine. Of the death of Marko Kraljević various stories are told. Some say he fell at the village of Rovina in a battle between Turks and Vlachs. He was slain, they say, by a Wallachian chief called Mirčeta who shot him in the mouth with a golden arrow. Others say that in the course of the battle Šarac was engulfed in a swamp near the Danube, and that both horse and rider perished there.

In the Negotin district the story goes that the event took place in a morass in the neighbourhood, not far from the Caričina spring (Königinbrunn). The morass is still there, and the ruins of an old church, said to have been built over Marko's grave, are still standing. According to another legend, so many perished in the battle of Rovina that horses and horsemen began to swim in blood, whereupon Marko, raising his hands to heaven, cried out: "O God, what shall I do now?" God took pity on him and miraculously transported Šarac and his master to a cave where both continue to live to this day. Thrusting his sword into the rock, Marko lay down and fell asleep and still he sleeps. Before Šarac is a patch of moss at which he nibbles from time to time. Little by little Marko's sword emerges from the rock, and when Šarac eats all the moss and the sword falls down at last out of the rock, then shall Marko once more go forth into the world. Another story is that he fled to the cave after seeing a musket for the first time. Beginning to experiment with it he shot himself through the hand^[12]. Whereupon he said: "Henceforth valour is of no avail, for now the meanest wretch may slay the bravest knight."

MARRIAGE

An immense mass of traditional observances centres round the act of marriage even in a place like Belgrade, where the ceremony is shorn of many interesting details still to be found in the country districts. As in France, it is the rule that the parents should arrange the marriage of their children and this is done by means of a provodadžija or intermediary. Sometimes a regular deputation goes to the house of the bride bearing an apple—the symbol of fertility. There is a deal of vague talk between the parties before the real business of the hour is broached, but of course everybody knows beforehand what is coming. At last the apple is laid on the table, the girl is summoned, and when she takes it, as she always does, the "suitor" produces rakija—the просачка буклија mentioned on p. 38, line 334—and the bargain is sealed.

A full-dress Serbian wedding is an imposing affair, and it may be well to state very briefly the names and functions of the chief personages in the cavalcade. They are catalogued in the two ballads entitled "The Marriage of Djuro of Smederevo," p. 159, and in "The Marriage of Stojan Popović," p. 168.

Kum: 1st witness, sponsor or godfather; the chief personage from the religious point of view. The relationship between the kum and the bridal pair is considered one of the most sacred and binding. A fictitious blood-relationship is established which precludes inter-marriage between the respective families in perpetuity^[13].

Three kinds of kumstvo are commonly recognised:

(1) Kumstvo vjenčanoKršteno kumstvo = sponsorship at baptism.

(2) Kumstvo vjenčanoKumstvo vjenčano = sponsorship at„ marriage.

(3) Kumstvo vjenčanoKumstvo šišano = sponsorship at„ the hair-cutting.

Dever: the bride-leader (παράννυμφος). Sometimes there are two deveri. They are the bridegroom's most trusted friends. Cf. Gk. δαήρ Lat. levir.

Stari svat: "the senior wedding-guest"; the 2nd witness. On the wedding-day he stands behind the bride and it is he who acts as M.C. at the wedding feast.

Čauš: in the ballads the čauš appears to mean a kind of marshaller of the wedding-cavalcade. The word comes from the Turkish and signifies literally "a herald." Nowadays it is applied to the licensed jester whose duty it is to bandy witticisms with all and sundry and so keep the guests amused.

Vojvoda: the leader of the procession; very often the bridegroom's uncle.

Barjaktar: the standard-bearer.

Privenac: "nuptialium hominum quidam," says Vuk. He suggests that the word may be a corruption of prvijenac.

Prikumak: the kum's attendant; he sometimes acts as barjaktar also.

THE "SLAVA" OR "KRSNO IME"

Every Serb family has a patron saint whose ikon hangs in a conspicuous place in the house and each year, when the saint's day comes round, the family holds a celebration known as the "Slava" or "Krsno ime."

It is a social duty to call on one's friends on the day they hold their Slava, and I have before me a sort of Slava directory published in Belgrade for the convenience of the inhabitants. This little book is entitled "Имена Свечара" and contains a list of saints' days with the dates on which they fall^[14]. Under the name of each saint are printed the names of the families which celebrate their Slava on that particular day. Thirty-eight different saints are enumerated and inspection of the list shows that:

On St John's Day (Свети Јован, Jan. 7 O.S.), 361 families celebrate.

On St George's Day (Ђурђевдан, April 23), 252 families celebrate.

On St Michael's Day (Св. Архангел Михаило, Nov. 8), 414 families celebrate.

On St Nicholas' Day (Св. Никола, Dec. 6), 699 families celebrate.

The above are the most popular dates. On St Barbara's Day, on the other hand (Dec. 4), only one family, that of Живко Петровић, is given as celebrating its Slava. "Slava" literally means "glory" and is the word used in the Bible as a rendering of "hosanna." There is also the verbal form "slaviti" to celebrate or glorify, the use of which is illustrated in the lines:

Већ ме пусти, царе поочиме,
Да прославим моје крсно име.

("Marko Kraljević and Mina of Kostura," ll. 103-104.)

Krsno ime = the baptismal name—an expression used as an alternative to Slava.

The commonly accepted account of the origin of the custom is as follows. Before the missionaries from Byzantium and Rome had converted the Serbs to Christianity, the latter had a native cult of the household deity corresponding to the Latin cult of the Penates. As each family or clan was baptized into the new faith, the baptismal day was associated by the priest with the name of some convenient saint whose ikon, displayed in the house, took the place of the old pagan Hausgeist in the religious life of the family^[15]. But the matter is, in reality, not quite so simple. The Serbs were converted in the ninth century and there appears to be no mention of the Krsno ime prior to the fourteenth century. Another difficulty is that the Slava is not observed either by the Croats or the Bulgars, and, although we may guess at possible explanations, the fact remains that materials are lacking on which a reliable account of the development of this interesting custom might be based^[16].

The Slava has been repeatedly described in English, and there is no need to go over the ground in detail here^[17]. The priest blesses the house and sprinkles each room with holy water. He then holds a service with the family before the ikon and its lighted candle. The kolač—a flat circular cake of wheaten flour bearing the letters $\left({\begin{array}{c|c}{\mbox{ИС}}&{\mbox{ХР}}\\\hline {\mbox{НИ}}&{\mbox{КА}}\end{array}}\right)$ embossed within the arms of a cross—is bent slightly by the svečar^[18] and the priest so as to break open the surface of the cake along the lines of the cross when the priest pours in a few drops of red wine. On one occasion, when I was privileged to assist at the private family service, the svečar was perturbed to discover, just before the priest arrived, that there was white wine only in the house. The priest entered and on learning how matters stood he said sternly: "Christ's blood was red," and refused to proceed with the service until a bottle of red wine had been sent for^[19]. In addition to the kolač, another cake, made of boiled wheat, dusted over with white powdered sugar—the koljivo—plays an essential part in the ceremony. The word is said to mean "something killed with the knife^[20]," and is supposed by some to be the Christian substitute for actual sacrifice. Certainly it is significant that the koljivo is used not only at the Slava but also at the feasts for the dead—the daća. Moreover on the days dedicated to Saint Elias (July 20, O.S.) and to the Archangel Michael (Nov. 8), the Slava is celebrated without the koljivo, the explanation being that neither St Elias nor St Michael has ever died and therefore the offering to the souls of the dead symbolised by the koljivo would here be inappropriate.

1. Chadwick, The Heroic Age, pp. 313-316; Knolles, Generall Historie of the Turkes, p. 200 (ed. 1620); Gibbon, vii. p. 327.
2. Ćurčin, Das serbische Volkslied, p. 15; Ranke, History of Servia, p. 53 footnote. Kuripešić mentions Obilić as a hero of popular song.
3. Ćurčin, p. 15, from Prof. V. Jagić's Material zur Geschichte der slavischen Volkspoesie. I. Historische Zeugnisse. Zagreb, 1876, p. 83 ff.
4. The poem describes a quarrel between Marko and Andrija. It begins: Dva mi sta siromaka dugo vreme drugovala. In a report from Spalato to the Venetian Senate in 1547 it is stated that "a blind soldier sang a song about Marko Kraljević and everybody joined in for everybody knew it." Dr Branko Vodnik, Narodne pjesme hrvatsko-srpske. Zagreb, 1918.
5. Prof. Popović, Jugoslovenska Književnost, pp. 57 and 65.
6. See p. 78 note. The word "Vuk" means "wolf."
7. Constantine, who changed his name to Cyril on being ordained bishop by Pope Hadrian II, devised the alphabet known as the glagolitic alphabet about the year 863. The alphabet now universally called by his name was framed half a century later by another hand. It was a distinct improvement, but it was based on Cyril's work, and Cyril's name has become indissolubly associated with this later alphabet of which he himself was not the author.
8. Mr Alexander Yovitchitch was present at the exhumation. When the coffin was opened Vuk was revealed, fez on head, looking like one who slept.
9. Српске Народне Пјесме: Книга друга. Свеска 2. (Belgrade, 1895.) Also in the later edition of 1913.
10. The oka = 1·280 kilos. Marko's mace, accordingly, weighed 186 lbs.
11. Кириција: a kind of hawker who used to carry his own or his master's goods from town to town on a pack-horse or in a light cart.
12. One gathers that he did this intentionally in order to find out what the weapon was capable of.
13. Cf. Sir Henry Maine, Early Law and Custom, pp. 257-259.
14. This list of Slava days and the families celebrating them was compiled in 1896.
15. Krauss, Sitte und Branch der Südslaven, pp. 51-57.
16. Jireček, Geschichte der Serben, pp. 180-181.
17. E.g., Mijatovich, Servia and the Servians; Lazarovich-Hrebelianovich, The Servian People, vol. I. pp. 56-62; W. M. Petrovitch, Hero-tales and Legends of the Serbians, p. 40 ff.
18. Svečar = the head of the household where the Slava is being held.
19. In Belgrade on St Nicholas' Day, 1907.
20. Cf. Petrovitch's account, p. 41.