Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/100

 There he halted the war-horse Sharatz, He struck his spear into the untilled ground, And tied Sharatz to the spear-shaft. He unslung the wine-skin from the saddle-bow And laid it on the green grass, Then he sate him down and drank the dark wine. He drank it not as men use to drink, But he drank from a copper basin of twelve okas; Half he drank, and half he gave to Sharatz. When day dawned on the morrow, Velimirovica was walking,— The dear daughter-in-law of General Vuča— On the wall of Varadin castle. She looked downward to the green meadows, She saw Marko in the meadow, And when she saw Kraljević Marko, An ague gat hold on her, And she fled into the white manor. General Vuča asked her: "What aileth thee, dear daughter-in-law?" Velimirovica answered him: "Ah, father-in-law! A knight sitteth in the wide meadow, He hath planted his spear in the unploughed earth, And hath tethered his horse to the spear-shaft, And hard by there lieth a wine-skin: He drinketh not as men use to drink, But from a copper basin of twelve okas, He drinketh half, and half he giveth to the horse. His horse is not as other horses, But brindled like as beeves; The knight is not as other knights, But on his shoulders is a cloak of wolf-skin, On his head is a cap of wolf-skin Bound on with a brown head-cloth; In his teeth he holdeth something black, That for size is as a lamb of half a year."