Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/142

 Marko Kraljević heard it, And he prayed the illustrious Sultan: "O Sultan, my lord and father, Tomorrow is my Slava day, The day of fair Saint George. Give me leave, my father, That I may hold my Slava According to law and custom, And give me my pobratim Alil-Aga, That I may drink wine in peace." The Sultan might not otherwise, So he sent forth Kraljević Marko That he should celebrate his Slava, And he gave him his pobratim Alil-Aga. Marko went into the greenwood Afar from the Sultan's army; He pitched his white tent, He sat down under it and drank dark wine With his pobratim Alil-Aga. And at dayspring of the morn, Forthwith the Arab posts were ware That Marko was not with the host, And they cried aloud, saying: "Charge now, fierce Arabs, For the terrible knight is departed That rode on the great piebald steed!" Then the fierce Arabs charged. And warriors thirty thousand assailed the Sultan. Right so the Sultan wrote a letter to Marko: "Come quickly, Marko, my son, Thirty thousand warriors assail me!" And Marko made answer to the Sultan: "With all speed, O my father, the Sultan! But not yet have I drunk my fill of wine, Nor am not near risen from my Slava." And when the dayspring of the second morn was come,