Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/167

 That there be no brawling in the palace. For I know how I shall save thee, If God and knightly fortune prevail." Right so went Marko to the new inn, The damsel hied her to the Sultan's palace, And told the Sultan and Sultana That Kraljević Marko was come thither. When the Sultan and the Sultana heard it, They let make him a lordly supper, Therewith also red wine out of measure, And let carry it to the new inn. Now while Marko sat drinking his wine, They began to shut the houses in Stamboul city, And now came the innkeeper for to close his doors, And Kraljević Marko asked him: "Wherefore dost thou close thus early?" Straightway the innkeeper made answer: "God save us, thou unknown knight! A Moor hath wooed the Sultan's daughter, And hath won her and shamed our Sultan, And this night he cometh for the damsel. Great is the terror of the Moor, And for this cause we close thus early." But Marko suffered not the door to be shut, But stayed where he was that he might see the Moor, And his gay-clad wedding-guests. And now a sound arose in white Stamboul, And behold the swarthy Moor, Riding upon his slender Arab mare, With five hundred wedding-guests with him, Five hundred swarthy Arabs. A Moor was dever, the chief guest a Moor, And a swarthy Moor was the bridegroom. His mare bounded furiously beneath him, That from her feet the stones flew up, And beat upon shop and tavern.