Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/101

 Vuča, the General, saith to her: "Have no fear, dear daughter-in-law! I have his fellows in the dungeon, And him also I shall take presently." He called to him his son Velimir: "Velimir, my dear child! Take three hundred horsemen, my son; Go thou down to the wide meadow. And bring me in yonder knight." Velimir leapt to his feet, He took three hundred horsemen; He mounted his fiery black steed, He rode out through the castle gate, And compassed about Marko on four sides. And ever Marko sat drinking the dark wine, But Sharatz espied the horsemen, He stamped on the ground with his hoofs, And drew nigh to his master. But anon when Kraljević Marko looked up The horsemen already compassed him about. Right so Marko drank a vessel of wine, And threw the vessel down on the green grass; Then he flung him on the back of Sharatz, And with that the horsemen ran in upon him. Had one but been there to see, When Marko strake upon the horsemen, Like a falcon among doves! How many he slew with his rich-wrought sabre! How many he trampled down beneath the feet of Sharatz! How many he drowned in the silent Danube ! The stripling Velimir fled before him, Marko followed hard after him on Sharatz, And overtook him in the wide meadow. He smote him lightly with his mace, The stripling fell down on the green grass.