Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/222



rode forth early, On a Sabbath morn before the bright sun, He rode by the sea shore towards Urvina mountain. And when Marko was gone up into the mountain, Behold Sharatz began to stumble, To stumble, yea, and to shed tears. Thereat Marko was much grieved, And he said unto Sharatz: "What aileth thee, Sharo? What aileth thee, my good steed? An hundred and sixty years have we been together, And never or now hath thy foot failed thee, But today thou stumblest, God wot, this bodeth no good thing. One of us twain will surely lose his head, Or my head or haply thine." Thus Marko was discoursing, When the Vila cried from Urvina mountain, And called to Kraljević Marko: "Brother-in-God, Kraljević Marko! Wouldst thou know, brother, wherefore thy horse stumbleth? Sharatz is heavy for thee, his master, For soon shall ye be divided." But Marko answered the Vila: "White Vila," quoth he, "a plague on thy tongue! Since that with him I have seen the earth and the cities thereof, And am gone to and fro from the east unto the west, Nor found nowhere better horse than Sharatz, Nor never knight that put me to the worse, I think not to separate me from Sharatz, Whilst my head endureth on my shoulders." But the white Vila answered him again,