The Ballads of Marko Kraljević/Marko's Hunting with the Turks
MARKO'S HUNTING WITH THE TURKS
Murad the Vizier went a-hunting,
In the green mountain he went a-hunting,
With a brave fellowship of twelve,
And as thirteenth, Kraljević Marko.
Three white days they hunted,
Nor any quarry might they find.
And it fortuned that chance brought them
To a green lake in the forest[1],
Wherein swam ducks of golden wing.
And the Vizier loosed his falcon, 10
For to take a duck of golden wing.
But the duck tarried not in his sight,
But soared upward to the clouds,
And the falcon perched him in a green fir-tree.
Then spake Kraljević Marko:
"Is it permitted, Murad Vizier,
That I loose now my falcon,
For to take yonder duck of golden wing?"
Quoth Murad the Vizier:
"Yea, verily it is permitted, Marko, and wherefore not?"20
Marko loosed his falcon,
He flew up into the clouds,
And seized the duck of golden wing,
And dropped with her under the green fir-tree.
And when the Vizier's falcon saw this,
He was grieved out of measure,
For he was wont to use an evil custom,
And take the quarry that another had won.
Right so he sped to Marko's falcon,
For to take from him the duck of golden wing;30
But full stiff-necked[2] was Marko's falcon,
Even as his lord and master,
He yielded not up the duck of golden wing,
But strake the Vizier's falcon,
And strewed abroad his grey feathers.
And when Murad perceived it,
He was wonderly wroth,
And forthwithal he took Marko's falcon,
And dashed him against the green fir-tree,
That he brake his right wing. 40
And with that Murad returned back through the greenwood,
With his brave fellowship of twelve with him.
Marko's falcon hissed
Like angry snakes among the rocks.
Marko took his falcon,
And began to bind up his wing,
And with wrathful voice he said:
"Alas for thee and for me, falcon,
To go on hunting with the Turks without fellowship of Serbs,
For so they give us but a sorry share." 50
When he had bound up the falcon's wing,
Marko sprang on the back of Sharatz,
And pursued after through the black forest.
Sharatz went like the mountain Vila,
Swift and far he went,
And within a while they came to the edge of the dark forest,
And on the plain below they saw the Vizier,
With his fellowship of twelve with him.
The Vizier Murad looked about him,
And when he was ware of Kraljević Marko, 60
He said to his fellowship:
"My children, my brave fellowship of twelve,
Ye see yonder wreath of mist,
Yonder mist wreath by the dark forest?
In yonder mist is Kraljević Marko,
See to what madness he hath urged Sharatz!
God wot—this bodeth but little good."
Right so Marko came thither,
He pulled out his sword from his thigh,
And ran upon Murad the Vizier. 70
The brave fellowship fled athwart the plain,
As sparrows flee to the thicket before the sparrow-hawk.
But Marko overtook Murad,
And hewed off his head,
And of the twelve companions,
He made four and twenty.
Then Marko fell to pondering,
Whether were better to seek the Sultan at Jedren[3],
Or to hie him to Prilep to his own white manor.
And when he had well considered, he said:80
"It were better to go to Jedren to the Sultan,
And tell him what I have done,
Than to suffer the Turks first to make accusation against me."
When Marko was come to Jedren,
And was entered into the Divan into the Sultan's presence,
His eyes grew blurred in his head
Like the eyes of a famished wolf in the forest.
And when he looked, it was as if lightning flashed.
The Sovereign Sultan asked him, saying:
"My son, Kraljević Marko, 90
Wherefore art thou come in such sore anger?
Art thou in lack of money?"
Then Marko began to speak to the Sultan,
And he told him all as it had come to pass.
When the Sultan had heard Marko,
He burst out laughing.
And said to him:
"Go to, thou hast done well, my son Marko!
Hadst thou not done on this wise,
I had called thee my son no more. 100
Any Turk may become Vizier,
But there is no knight of prowess like unto Marko!"
Then he felt in his silken pockets,
And drew forth a thousand ducats,
And gave them to Kraljević Marko:
"This for thyself," quoth he, "Son Marko,
Go and drink wine to thy heart's content."
Marko took the thousand ducats,
And went forth of the imperial Divan.
Now the Sultan gave not Marko the ducats,110
That he should drink red wine,
But that he should get him out of his sight,
For of Marko's anger he was sore adread.