The Ballads of Marko Kraljević/Marko in the Dungeon of Azak (Fragment)
MARKO IN THE DUNGEON OF AZAK
(Fragment)
Dear God, to thee be praise in all things!
What a knight of worship and hardiness was Marko!
And see how he fareth this day in a dungeon,
The accursed dungeon of Azak!
The dungeon is a strange abode.
Therein the water came to his knees,
And the bones of dead heroes reached to his middle.
And there went to and fro snakes and scorpions;
The snakes sought men's eyes for to suck;
The scorpions sought faces for to mar them, 10
The legs of heroes were loosed from their knees,
And their arms fell from their shoulders.
In the dungeon Marko made dole and sorrow out of measure;
Such dole he made that God himself was ware of it.
And Marko looked out to the market-place of Azak,
If haply he might see one of his own men.
And by the one God, none of his own he saw,
But he saw a fair damsel,
The dear daughter of the King of Azak.
And he called unto her, saying: 20
"Sister-in-God, thou king's daughter!
Draw nigh to me to the window of the dungeon."
The damsel hearkened unto him for God's sake,
For the sake of her brother-in-God.
She came nigh to the dungeon window,
And Marko spake (softly) to her:
"Sister-in-God, king's daughter!
Go to thy father. King of Azak;
Give him fair reverence from me and greeting:
By the true God I beseech him 30
That he let me forth of the accursed dungeon.
On my faith and honour,
And the guaranty of the true God,
That I may go to Prilep castle,
And bring him gold for ransom.
Twenty charges of gold, by the faith of my body!
And if he will not believe me,
Let him bring me forth of the accursed dungeon,
Let him bind me in iron,
And I will send a letter 40
To my mother in Prilep castle,
And she will bring the gold for ransom,
For I may not long endure in the dungeon."
When the damsel understood his words,
She went to the Divan to the King.
And when she was entered into the Divan to her father,
The King of Azak asked her:
"Marry, my dear daughter!
What lackest thou now?
A little silk, perchance, or velvet? 50
Or gold, or haply white linen?
Or fine cloth of Paragun[1],
Cut and uncut?"
Answered him the fair damsel:
"O my father, King of Azak!
In thy palace there is enough and to spare,
Nor am I in lack of aught.
I bring thee reverence and greeting,
From the prisoner, Kraljević Marko.
He prays thee to let him forth of the dungeon, father,60
On his faith and honour,
And on the guaranty of the true God,
Till he may go to Prilep castle,
And he will bring thee gold for ransom.
Twenty charges of gold he will bring thee:
But, and if thou wilt not believe him,
Let him nevertheless forth of the dungeon;
Let bind him with fetters of iron,
And he will send a letter
To his mother in Prilep castle, 70
And she will bring thee gold to his ransom."
When the King of Azak heard it,
He spake harsh words to the damsel:
"A bitch thou art and not my daughter!
Thou art become his leman bitch!
By the Almighty God,
I will not let Marko forth of the dungeon,
But will hold him nine years,
Till the snakes have sucked his eyes,
And the scorpions have marred his visage: 80
Until his legs fall from the knees,
And his arms from his shoulders.
When Marko has suffered these torments,
I shall let forth the captive, without ransom,
I shall turn him a cripple into the street.
Let him beg for bread to nourish him!"
When the damsel understood these words,
She went to Marko's dungeon
And told him all that the King had said.
When Kraljević Marko heard it, 90
He made such dole that even God was ware of it,
And to the damsel he said:
"Sister-in-God, king's daughter,
Bring me inkhorn and paper,
That I may prepare a letter,
And send it to my mother at Prilep,
That she may sell lands and cities.
Let her sell them, and give money for my soul,
And nourish her, and protect her from evil.
As for my faithful wife, let her wed with another.100
Dear Sister, let them no longer swear by me!
For here my bones do rot
In the accursed dungeon of Azak."
She brought him inkhorn and paper,
And he prepared a letter,
But he sent it not whither he had told her,
But sent it across the dark sea,
Across the sea to Salonica city.
To Dojčilo, his pobratim-in-God:
"O Dojčilo, pobratim-in-God, 10
I am fallen on evil days,
And suffer torment at the hands of the Arabs;
Enslaved am I and in a dungeon,
In Azak, in an accursed dungeon,
And I may not long endure in the dungeon,
For me a dungeon is an unwonted lodging;
Deliver me if God thou knowest!"
Then he called to him his grey falcon[2]:
"O falcon, fail me not at thy peril!
Bear this letter to Salonica city, 120
To Dojčilo, my pobratim-in-God,
That he may deliver me out of this dungeon."
The falcon took the letter
And he soared to the sky.
Straight he went to Salonica city.
Now it was morn of the Sabbath day,
And the lords of Salonica were in church,
In the white church were the lords of Salonica,
At matins and at the liturgy.
The falcon came to the white church, 130
The falcon screamed that God himself heard it,
The Vojvoda Dojčilo knew it
And came forth of the white church,
And sate him down on a silver settle.
To him came the grey-green falcon
And let fall the letter from beneath his wing.
Dojčilo took the letter.
When he saw what the letter told him,
He smote his knee with his hand,
He split the new cloth on his knee 140
And the golden wedding-ring on his hand.
And tears ran down his cheeks:
"Alas, brother, Kraljević Marko!
Thou art indeed fallen on evil days;
Not lightly shalt thou be delivered."
Then he bethought him how and what he should do.
All ways he pondered and one way he chose.
He took black dye,
And dyed black his white face;
He made of himself a black Arab, 150
And he led out his good brown steed.
On the brown steed he went with speed,
And came forthwith to Azak town.
And when he was come to the plain of Azak,
Fiercely he spurred his steed;
The good horse reared and sprang,
Sideways he sprang twelve ells,
In breadth four and twenty,
In height three mighty spear-lengths.
- ↑ In his glossary at the end of vol. ii of the Народне Пјесме, Vuk says he does not know what "cloth of Paragun" may be.
- ↑ Ll. 118-136: cf. "The Gay Goshawk":
And when he flew to that castle
He lighted on the ash;
And there he sat and sang their loves,
As she came from the mass.
****She's gane unto her west window,
And fainly aye it drew,
And soon into her white silk lap
The bird the letter threw.