[ 152 ]
Quoth Kraljević Marko:
"Father, Sultan Suleiman,
If I drink wine in Ramadan,
If indeed I drink, my faith alloweth it; 70
If I put constraint on the hodjas and the hadjis
It is that for very shame
I may not drink while they do naught but look.
Let them not come to me to the inn.
And if I wear green apparel,
I am young and it liketh me well.
If I bear my rich-wrought sabre,
With mine own gold I bought it,
And if I dance with women in the kolo,
It is that I have no wife of mine own, 80
And thou too. Sultan, wert once unwed.
If I have pulled my kalpak over mine eyes,
The forehead sweats when the Sultan frets,
And I toy with my mace,
And lay my sabre in my lap,
Because I fear that strife may come of this;
And if strife should come,
Woe to him that is nearest Marko!"
The Sultan looked about him on every side
If haply there should be any nearer to Marko; 90
But near Marko there was none other,
But the Sultan Suleiman was nearest of all.
The Sultan gave back a little, Marko followed after,
Until he drave him to the wall.
Then the Sultan put his hand in his pocket
And drew forth an hundred ducats,
And gave them to Kraljević Marko.
"Go, Marko," quoth he, "drink wine to thy heart's content."
