{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/hbs/hbs12.htm","path":"neu/hbs/hbs12.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/hbs/hbs12.htm","text":"A GRAY hawk from Jerusalem, with a swallow in his beak,\nFlew onward into Servia, Tsar Lazarus to seek,\nNay, it was never a great gray hawk with a swallow that flew so far,\nBut Elijah, our Lady\u2019s messenger, with her tidings to the tsar.\nTsar Lazar read the letter:\n\u201cO king whom the Serbs revere,\nWilt thou choose for thine own the Kingdom of God or an earthly empire here?\nFor if, instead of a heavenly rule, thou choosest an earthly realm,\nLeap astride of the steed this tide and do on hauberk and helm;\nBelt about thee the girdle of war and look to saber and dirk,\nTighten at need the girth of the steed\u2014and here shalt thou slaughter the Turk.\nBut if thou choosest the Empire of Christ, and a kingdom of God\u2019s own,\nBuild him a church by K\u00f3sovo, but not of marble stone;\nBut found it on silk and satin and its corners in scarlet fine.\nTherein shall thine armies take of Christ the white bread and the wine.\nThou shalt marshal the army of the Serbs, and upon that dreadful day\nIn the van of the war thou shalt die, O tsar, with the whole of thine array.\u201d\nWhen the tsar heard the holy word, his thoughts came two and two:\n\u201cDear God, what is the whole of thine heart, and what is the deed to do?\nWhich shall I hold for the better realm? Man\u2019s sovereignty may die,\nBut the Kingdom of the Living God, its power goes on for aye.\u201d\nTsar Lazarus has chosen at last God\u2019s Kingdom for his own;\nAnd he built a church at K\u00f3sovo, but not of marble stone;\nOn satin and on velvet he made the walls to stand,\nAnd he summoned our lord the patriarch, and bishops twelve to hand.\nThe armies came before him, what time the prayers were said,\nAnd the good priests gave to them Christ\u2019s wine and milk-white bread.\nAnd when on level K\u00f3sovo that army up was drawn,\nThe Turks smote against K\u00f3sovo at the breaking of the dawn.\nYug Bogdan with the vanguard came up against their line;\nThe young gray hawks were with him, his gallant children nine;\nAnd after every standard came thrice three thousand men,\nBut by Yug Bogdan\u2019s banner were thousands two and ten.\nThey came upon the infidel, that army of renown,\nAnd slashed and slew among them; seven pashas smote they down.\nThe eighth gave way before them; Yug Bogdan there was slain;\nHis nine gray falcons and their host came never home again.\nThe children of Marny\u00e1va moved on with their array;\nVuk\u00e1shin, Goyko, \u00daglyesha were marshals of the fray;\nAnd the ninth Turkish pasha before their charge fell back,\nBut \u00daglyesha and Goyko were slain in the attack,\nTwo of Marny\u00e1va\u2019s children; and terribly, indeed,\nWas King Vuk\u00e1shin wounded, and trampled by the steed.\nNow smitten was the center and smitten was the van,\nAnd Ertseg Stepan with the rear into the battle ran.\nBrave warriors had Ertseg, full sixty thousand men;\nThey trampled through the tumult and smote the Turks again.\nNine pashas fell before them, the tenth drew back in dread;\nBut Ertseg and his army were numbered with the dead.\nAnd now rode out Tsar Lazarus with his whole host along,\nSeventy thousand gallant Serbs and seven thousand strong.\nThey scattered the Turks by K\u00f3sovo; they scarce would let them stand\nTo look upon the army for the lifting of the brand.\nThen would the tsar have won the war for Servia by God\u2019s aid\u2014\nGod\u2019s curse be on Vuk Br\u00e1nkovich, the dastard that betrayed\nThe father of his wife that tide!\u2014the tsar of all the land!\nThe Turks smote down Tsar Lazarus with the edges of the brand.\nSeven and seventy thousand men lay dead upon the sod,\nAll gallant Serbs, and their pure blood was dear unto their God.","title":"THE BATTLE OF K\u00d3SOVO","type":"page"}