Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/91

 Hence his strength and his greatness of stature. Yet even therefor should I not be wroth, But this, brother, has moved me to anger, That thou speakest to me of the winged Relja! Where is thy understanding? Thou hast lost it! Where is thy tongue? Thou speakest no word! Wherefore, brother, askest thou not Relja What is his parentage and what his line. Who his father, and who his mother? For I have heard folk say That Relja is a bastard of Novi Pazar. They found him one morning in the street, And a gipsy suckled him. Hence hath he his pinions; I go not with him nor with any of them." She said, and went down from the čardak. Behind her, face flamed to face, For the knights were shamed in each other's presence, And Marko's anger blazed like living fire. Lightly he leapt to his feet, He snatched his sharp sword from the nail, And would have stricken off Leka's head. But Miloš sprang forward and seized Marko, And grasped the sabre in his hand: "Hold thy hand," quoth he, "Kraljević Marko, Leave thy sabre—God's curse upon it! Wouldst thou do scathe to this our brother That hath so well received us? And for a wretched she-bastard, Wouldst thou make all Leka's land to weep?" And Miloš suffered him not to lay hands on Leka. Marko looked, and a thought came to him, He sought no more to take his sabre, But looked at the dagger in his girdle, Then rushed down from the slender čardak. And when Marko reached the ground, And set foot on the stony pavement,