{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/hbs/hbs33.htm","path":"neu/hbs/hbs33.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/hbs/hbs33.htm","text":"Sacred-Texts\u00a0Legends & Sagas\u00a0Index\u00a0Previous\u00a0Next\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n p. 187\n \n \n \n THE MAIDEN M\u00c1RGITA AND RAYKO THE VO\u00ddVODA1\n \n NOT yet the dawn had whitened, nor the day star shown its face;\n \n Men thought not of day\u2014forth M\u00e1rgita the maid walked in the place,\n \n In Sriyem over Sl\u00e1nkamen;2 barefoot the damsel sprang\n \n Over the stone so early. In delicate wise she sang,\n \n | But Rayko in the song she cursed: | \n| | \u201cRayko, may God thee slay! | \n \n The Turks have plagued us grievously in Sriyem, since the day\n \n When thou becamest vo\u00fdvoda. When Mirko ruled the land,\n \n We heard of no Turk, nor ever saw one before us stand;\n \n But now they plague us grievously. Their horses\u2019 feet are sore\n \n For riding night and morning in our country evermore.\n \n The very fields on their horsehoofs are lifted and stolen away,\n \n And the air is full of javelins and their throwing-darts to-day.\u201d\n \n \n \n \n \n p. 188\n \n \n \n \u2003So sang the girl of Sriyem, and deemed that none could hear,\n \n But Vo\u00fdvoda Rayko saw her, and the curse came to his ear;\n \n | And he called the maiden M\u00e1rgita: | \n| | \u201cSister,\u201d he saith, \u201cdo thou | \n \n No more curse Rayko the vo\u00fdvoda. What more can he do now?\n \n What may he do for himself? And what for Sriyem in this hour?\n \n What shall he do in Sriyem against the Turkish power?\n \n While Mirko was the vo\u00fdvoda, in our cities in their turn\n \n Were many vo\u00fdvodas. Stay thou; their number thou shalt learn.\n \n \u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\n \n At P\u00f3tserye on Sava his dwelling Milosh made.\n \n He was vizier of Lazar in many-towered Belgrade.\n \n \u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\n \n In Kr\u00fashevats, the white city, glorious Lazar had his hall,\n \n With his fair son beside him, the good lad Stevan the Tall.\n \n Yug Bogdan, the old hero, with the nine sons of his might,\n \n Dwelt in another city, Pr\u00f3kuplye the white.\n \n At the white town of Kursh\u00famliya was Strahin, the great ban;\n \n At T\u00f3plitsa, Milan T\u00f3plitsa, where the chill waters ran.\n \n \n \n \n \n p. 189\n \n \n \n At flat K\u00f3saynitsa, Ivan K\u00f3sanchich, the mighty man,\n \n \u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\n \n In Travnik, the white, Vuk Br\u00e1nkovich was Lazar\u2019s high vizier;\n \n Duke Stepan1 in Herzegovina ruled the country without fear.\n \n \u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\n \n At Skadar on the B\u00f3yana, Vuk\u00e1shin was the king.\n \n With his brethren Goyko and \u00daglyesha, to help in governing.\n \n And in Prizrend, where the plowland reacheth so fair and far,\n \n With his little son, Prince Urosh, was Stepan the Servian tsar.\n \n \u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\n \n Star\u00edna Novak2 held the rule on Stara, the mountain old;\n \n And with him R\u00e1divoye, his brother, called the bold,\n \n And T\u00e1tomir and Gr\u00faitsa dwelt with them in the hold.\n \n \u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\n \n And, moreover, Bey Kost\u00e1din dwelt in K\u00famanovo white.\n \n \u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\u2003\u2003.\u2003\n \n And Prince Marko in white Prilip, in the mansion of his might.\n \n \u2003\u201cHarken thou, sister Margita, our vo\u00fdvodas were they;\n \n \n \n \n \n p. 190\n \n \n \n All of them were among us, and all have passed away.\n \n Some died in their beds, sister, and some in battle were slain;\n \n To-day doth Rayko alone of them in Sriyem yet remain,\n \n Like a dry tree in the mountain grove. What shall he do in this hour?\n \n What shall he do in Sriyem against the Turkish power?\u201d\n \n \u2003From his belt he drew a dagger\u2014through his live heart it sped;\n \n On the black earth Rayko of Sriyem, the vo\u00fdvoda, lay dead.\n \n And M\u00e1rgita ran to him; with a wailing cry she said:\n \n \u2003\u201cMy brothers, Servian vo\u00fdvodas; you have been and have passed away!\n \n How have you left your children and your faithful wives this day?\n \n Are they not now a footstool, that Turkish feet may rest?\n \n Are not your monasteries become a Turkish jest?\u201d\n \n \u2003She snatched the dagger of Rayko, through her live heart smote it well,\n \n And dead the wretched maiden by the dead Rayko fell.\n \n \n \n Next\n \n \n \n \n \n Footnotes\n \n \n \n \n \n p. 187\n \n \n \n 1 In the translation of this ballad slightly more than a third of the original has been omitted. The canceled lines give the names and dwelling-places of numerous Servian vo\u00fdvodas not mentioned elsewhere in this volume.\n \n 2 That is, \u201cSalt-stone.\u201d\n \n \n \n \n \n p. 189\n \n \n \n 1 Ertseg Stepan.\n \n 2 The introduction into this ballad of a hero of the late sixteenth century is of course an anachronism.","title":"THE MAIDEN M\u00c1RGITA AND RAYKO THE VO\u00ddVODA","type":"page"}