Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/112

 When Marko heard these words, He obeyed his mother. He wrote the letters on his knees. One he sent to the Doge of Venice, The other to his pobratim, Stepan Zemljić. And within a while, Behold, the Doge of Venice, With five hundred wedding-guests with him. The Doge gat him to the slender tower, And the guests encamped on the wide plain. And within a while behold Stepan also, With five hundred wedding-guests with him. They met together in the slender tower, And drank their fill of dark wine. The wedding-guests departed thence, And to the land of the Bulgars they went, Straight to King Šišman's palace. The King gave them fair welcome and according, The horses were led to the cellars below, And the knights to the white castle. He kept them for three white days, The horses and the knights reposed them. But when the fourth morning dawned. The well-beseen čaušes cried: "Up, ye wedding-guests, well-beseen! Short are the days and long the stages, Let us think of the homeward journey." The King brought forth lordly presents. To one he gave embroidered kerchiefs, to another apparel. To the kum he gave a golden table, To the dever a gold-embroidered shirt. To the dever also he gave over the maid on horseback, And to the dever thus spake the King: "Behold, horse and maiden are in thy keeping,