UROŠ AND THE MRNJAVČEVIĆI[1]
FOUR camps[2] were pitched one by other,
On the fair plain of Kossovo,
By the white church of Samodreža[3]:
One was the camp of King Vukašin,
The second, that of Despot Uglješ,
The third of Vojvoda Gojko,
And the fourth was that of the Tsar's son Uroš.
These princes disputed concerning the throne,
And fain would each slay the other;9
Fain would each thrust other through with a golden dagger,
For they knew not which of them was to receive the empire.
King Vukašin said: "It is mine!"
Despot Uglješ: "Nay, but it is mine!"
"Not so," says Vojvoda Gojko, "For it is mine!"
The young Tsarevitch Uroš held his peace.
The child held his peace—he said no word
Because he durst not before the three brothers,
The brothers, the three Mrnjavčevići.
King Vukašin wrote a letter,
He wrote a letter and sent a messenger20
To the white town of Prizren,
To the protopope Nedeljko;
That he should come to Kossovo plain
To declare who is to receive the empire;
For he administered the Sacrament to the glorious Tsar,
He administered the Sacrament to him and confessed him,
And in his hands are the ancient books[4].
- ↑ The family name of King Vukašin; see Мрнавчева Градина (Vuk's Dict.).
- ↑ табор = a camp or army.
- ↑ Some sing "Gračanica" (Vuk's footnote).
- ↑ књиге староставне. Professor Pavle Popović informs me that "the ancient books" are supposed to mean the old Serbian biographies (Sava, Domentian, Danilo and others). As these books deal chiefly with
