Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/173

 With three thousand men with him. But when they were come to the level sea-coast Musa smote them all hip and thigh on the sea-coast. He took captive the Vizier Ćuprilić. He bound his hands behind his back, He bound his feet beneath his horse, And sent him to the Sultan in Stamboul! The Sultan let summon proved knights, And promised gold untold To him that should slay Musa the Outlaw. But whoso went forth on that quest, He returned to Stamboul no more. For that cause was the Sultan passing heavy, But the hodja Ćuprilic spake to him, saying: "Lord and master, Sultan of Stamboul, Had we but with us Kraljević Marko, He would slay thee this Musa." The Sultan looked at him in anger, And tears rolled down from his eyes: "Enough," quoth he, "hodja Ćuprilić, Wherefore dost thou speak of Kraljević Marko? His very bones must or now be rotted. For it is full three years of days, Since I let cast him into prison, Nor has the door once been opened." Answered him the hodja Ćuprilić: "An it please thee, Lord and master, What wouldst thou give to the knight That should show thee Marko alive?" The Lord Sultan made answer to him: "I should make him Vizier in Bosnia For nine years without change, Nor should I require of him a dinar nor yet a para." The hodja leapt lightly to his feet, He opened the door of the dungeon, And led forth Kraljević Marko! He led him forth before the illustrious Sultan: