Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/231

 that not one of them was able to carry him. One day he saw a piebald, leprous foal among the pack-horses belonging to some carriers, and it seemed to him that the animal had the makings of a fine steed. Forthwith he seized him by the tail in order to swing him round, as he had done with all the other horses he had hitherto tested, but he failed to move this horse from the place where he stood. Thereupon he bought Šarac from his owner, cured him of his leprosy, and taught him to drink wine. Of the death of Marko Kraljević various stories are told. Some say he fell at the village of Rovina in a battle between Turks and Vlachs. He was slain, they say, by a Wallachian chief called Mirčeta who shot him in the mouth with a golden arrow. Others say that in the course of the battle Šarac was engulfed in a swamp near the Danube, and that both horse and rider perished there.

In the Negotin district the story goes that the event took place in a morass in the neighbourhood, not far from the Caričina spring (Königinbrunn). The morass is still there, and the ruins of an old church, said to have been built over Marko's grave, are still standing. According to another legend, so many perished in the battle of Rovina that horses and horsemen began to swim in blood, whereupon Marko, raising his hands to heaven, cried out: "O God, what shall I do now?" God took pity on him and miraculously transported Šarac and his master to a cave where both continue to live to this day. Thrusting his sword into the rock, Marko lay down and fell asleep and still he sleeps. Before Šarac is a patch of moss at which he nibbles from time to time. Little by little Marko's sword emerges from the rock, and when Šarac eats all the moss and the sword falls down at last out of the rock, then shall Marko once more go forth into the world. Another story is that he fled to the cave after seeing a musket for the first time. Beginning to experiment with it he shot himself through the hand. Whereupon he said: "Henceforth valour is of no avail, for now the meanest wretch may slay the bravest knight."

An immense mass of traditional observances centres round the act of marriage even in a place like Belgrade, where the ceremony is shorn of many interesting details still to be found in the country districts. As in France, it is the rule that the parents should arrange the marriage of their children and this is done by means of a provodadžija or intermediary. Sometimes a regular deputation goes to the house of the bride bearing an apple—the symbol of fertility. There is a deal of vague talk between the parties before the real business of the hour is broached, but of course everybody knows beforehand what is coming. At last the apple is laid on the table, the girl is summoned, and when she takes