MARKO KRALJEVIĆ AND MINA OF KOSTURA[1]
Marko sat at supper with his mother,
They supped on dry bread and red wine.
And there came three letters to Marko;
One letter was from Constantinople,
From the Sultan Bajazet.
The second letter was from Buda town,
And it came from the king thereof.
The third letter was from Sibinj[2],
From the Vojvoda Janko of Sibinj.
In the letter from Constantinople, 10
The Sultan called him to his standard
In the harsh country of the Arabs[3].
As for the letter from Buda town,
The king asked him therein to his wedding,
For to be his wedding kum,
For he would wed with a Lady Queen.
In the letter from Sibinj
Janko prayed him to be a kum,
That he might christen his two little sons.
And Marko asked his old mother of counsel: 20
"Counsel me, mother," quoth he,
"Whither were I best to go?
Shall I go to the Sultan's army,
Shall I go to the king's wedding
For to wed him with his Lady Queen,
- ↑ The name of a town in Macedonia (Vuk, Dict.).
- ↑ Sibinj or Hermannstadt (Lat. Cibinium). Janko of Sibinj is the same as Hunyadi Janos.
- ↑ Арапин is a word of somewhat vague meaning. Vuk says it is equivalent to "Maurus" and "Aethiops." Dozon says it includes Arabs, Moors and negroes. He add: "Il y a sans doute dans ces campagnes lointaines de Marko une réminiscence historique, car on assure que Bajazet, dans la bataille où il fut défait par Timour, en 1402, avait parmi ses troupes vingt mille auxiliaires serbes." Poésies pop. serbes, p. 122.
