Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/40

 gives her into his mother's keeping with strict injunctions that she is to be treated as if she were his own sister.

Ever and always he is eager to redress wrong. A black Moor from beyond the seas has installed himself as tyrant of Kossovo. He imposes a wedding-tax on the people and perpetrates shameful outrage on maid and wife. One day as Marko is passing by, a maiden of Kossovo laments that she is unable to marry because her brothers are poor and cannot pay the tax. Marko comforts her by giving her the necessary sum, gallops off on Šarac to the pavilion of the oppressor, penetrates within, kills the ruffian and his attendant satellites and so brings to an abrupt end the outrageous tyranny beneath which the country groaned. "And all the people, both great and small, cried: 'God keep Kraljević Marko.

In a country where lavish hospitality is the rule, Marko's hospitality has a distinguishing note of its own. During the celebration of the Slava at Prilep, one of the guests remarks casually that the feast is perfect save for the lack of fish from Ochrida. Touched to the quick in his pride as host, Marko leaves the banquet, saddles Šarac and is about to start for Ochrida when his mother comes to him and begs him to take no weapons lest he should shed blood on his Slava day. By a mighty effort of self-repression, the dutiful son, laying aside his weapons, sets out unarmed, and on the way meets with the adventure which proves him to possess in the highest degree the spirit of self-sacrifice; he is ready to lay down his life for his friends.

Another aspect of his nature which must be mentioned here is his kindly treatment of the lower animals. In the ballad of the falcon that gave him water to drink and with outspread wings shielded his head from the glare of the sun, we have a story worthy of Aesop. Marko in his hour of need is comforted by the humble creature he had once befriended.

Although the times did not encourage the development of what we should call the sporting instinct, Marko was something