Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/180

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Note. The story of three-hearted Musa was the legend referred to by the signatories of an appeal by Jugo-Slavs against Italian pretensions. "We offer friendship; they ask for obedience, proclaiming us barbarians.… Conquerors behind the times, put not your hope in the exhaustion of the Jugo-Slav race! If our nation spent its strength first in the Balkan wars and then in this world war, its remaining power of resistance has today increased by the hope of the union of all our lands, and it will (like the hero in our legends who had three hearts) wake to life with its third strength, to defend itself to the last breath rather than bend its head under a new yoke." This document was signed by Ivan Meštrovic and other distinguished artists and men of letters.