Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/193

 And how lightly so ever he smote him, He strake off his head from his shoulders! Kraljević Marko laughed: "Dear God," quoth he, "thanks be to thee in all things! As swiftly went this knight's head from him As if head he had never borne." Then he pulled out his sabre from his girdle, And one after other he smote the Moorish servants. The forty servants he cut in pieces, But four only that he would save alive. And he saved them that they should bear true witness, That they should say the truth to all men, How it was with Marko and the Moor. Then he took down all the heads from the pleasance, And gave them fair burial, That the eagles and the ravens should not rend them. Then the bare pleasance again he garnished, He garnished it with the heads of the Moors: And he took the Moor's treasure, And called to him the four servants Whom he had saved alive, And he sent them athwart Kossovo, North, and south, and east and west he sent them. And the Moor's servants made proclamation throughout Kossovo: "If there be any maid of age to wed, Let her seek unto herself a lord. Let her marry in the days of her youth. And if any knight would take to him a wife, Let him seek a sweetheart and let him marry. Henceforth there is no marriage-tax, For Marko hath paid for all." And all the people, both great and small, cried: "God keep Kraljević Marko, Who hath delivered the land from evil, Who hath utterly destroyed the oppressor: God save him, both soul and body!"