Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/172



the Albanian, was drinking wine In Stamboul, in the white inn. And when Musa had quaffed his fill, Being drunken he spake a great word: "Nine years already Have I served the Sultan in Stamboul, Nor have I gained by my service horse nor weapon, Nor a new cloak nor yet an old one. But I swear by all that is holy, I shall go hence to the level coast, I shall close the routes by sea, And the roads by land. I shall build a tower on the sea-coast, And set it about with iron hooks, And I shall hang thereon the hodjas and the hadjis ." What the Turk said when he was drunken, That sober he fulfilled: To the level coast he betook him. He closed the sea-routes round about, And the roads by land, By which the Sultan's treasure passed, Each year three hundred tovars, And Musa took it all for himself! On the sea-coast he builded him a tower, Round about the tower he set iron hooks, And hanged thereon the Sultan's hodjas and hadjis. Now when the Sultan was weary of complaints, He sent against him the Vizier Ćuprilić,