Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/99

 Tears came into his eyes, And he lift up his voice and cried: "Woe is me, my dear pobratim! Into grievous straits art thou come, unhappy one! Yet do I swear by the faith of my body, That I shall deliver thee, brother, Be it by gold or by deed of prowess!" He gat him up to his slender tower; He sate him down for a space and drank his fill of wine, Then he girded on his sabre well-forged, He threw around him a cloak of wolf-skin, On his head he set a cap of wolf-skin, And bound it on with a brown head-cloth. Then he took his battle-spear, And descended to the stall of Sharatz. He made ready his war-horse Sharatz, He made fast the seven saddle-girths, And bridled him with a gilded bridle. He poured wine into the wine-skin, And hanged it at the saddle-bow on the left hand, On the right hand he hanged his heavy mace, That the saddle might not slip this way nor that. Then he threw himself on the back of Sharatz And rode forth of Prilep town! Towards Belgrade the capital he took his way , And when he was come nigh to Belgrade, He entered an inn and drank his fill of wine. Then he laid a cloth over Sharatz , And so came to the Danube ferry. Twice Marko shouted for the ferryman, Nor would wait for him no longer, But urged Sharatz into the Danube; Straight he went towards Varadin castle, To the green meadows before Varadin.