Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/115

 Then the Doge dismissed the barbers, And spake softly to his god-daughter: "Sit thee down, dear daughter." But the Bulgar maid answered him: "Ah, godfather, Doge of Venice, If Kraljević Marko hear of this, We shall both lose our heads." The Doge said to the fair maiden: "Sit thee down and play not the fool, Marko is over yonder in the midst of the wedding-guests, Where his white tent is pitched. On the tent is a golden apple, In the apple are two precious stones, Which illumine half the camp, So sit thee down that we may caress each the other." The fair maid said to him: "Wait yet a little, most dear godfather, Until I go out before thy white tent For to look at the sky, Whether it be clear or cloudy." And when she was gone out before the tent, The maid perceived the tent of Kraljević Marko, And lightly she leapt past the wedding-guests, Like a roedeer a twelvemonth old. To the tent of Kraljević Marko. Within the tent Marko lay sleeping, The maiden stood over him, And down her fair face the tears ran. Marko awoke and looked and was astonied, Then to the Bulgar maid he said: "Ignoble maid! Mayst thou not endure Until we come to my white manor, And until the Christian law is accomplished?" He seized his rich-wrought sabre, But the fair damsel made obeisance. And said to Kraljević Marko: