[ xxvi ]
The heroic memory of Kossovo, for all its aftermath of ruin and despair, wrought fruitfully in the Serbian soul in the form of the celebrated ballad-cycle now known as the "Lazarica," which after an age-long existence in the form of oral tradition was set down in writing in the first half of last century. The doughty deeds there recorded are described naturally with a view to the glorification of the vanquished. Gibbon's nameless soldier is none other than Milosh Obilitch who penetrated, under vow, to the Sultan's tent and slew him there[1]. But the death of the Sultan in no way affected the issue of the battle. Led by his son Bajazet surnamed Yilderim, the Thunderbolt, the same who afterwards threatened to feed his horse on the high altar of St Peter's at Rome, the Turks shattered the Serb confederation and the hope of a strong united Serbian Empire melted away. Covered with wounds, so the ballad runs, the Tsar's faithful body-servant Milutin spurred his steed from the stricken field and bore the dark tidings to the White Tower of Krushevatz where Lazar's wife Militza sat watching and waiting.
Lazar is dead, he says, and
Milosh fell,
Pursued by myriads down the dell,
Upon Sitnitza's rushy brink,
Whose chilly waves will roll I think
So long as time itself doth roll,
Red with remorse that they roll o'er him.
Christ have mercy on his soul,
And blessed be the womb that bore him[2].
- ↑ Cf. Richard Knolles, Generall Historie of the Turkes, p. 200 (ed. 1620): "The name of this man (for his courage worthy of eternal memory) was Miles Cobelitz." The name "Obelić" was, and is, believed by many to be a mere variant of "Kobelić," i.e. "Son of a mare." This is what gives point to the jibe of Leka's sister. An example of something of the same sort is to be found in the name Macleod. H. A. Gibbons in his Ottoman Empire, p. 177, says: "It is a commentary on the Serbian character that this questionable act has been held up to posterity as the most saintly and heroic deed of national history." Quoted in Temperley's History of Serbia, p. 101. Mr Temperley has no difficulty in demolishing the argument.
- ↑ Owen Meredith, Serbski Pesme (reprint, Chatto and Windus, 1917), p. 73.
