Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians Part 17

Hearing this adjuration Demitrius looked out, and saw, indeed, all that the veela had said. If rain had fallen from the skies, no drop would have fallen on the ground, so thick was the mult.i.tude of Turks and their horses! He was seized with terror at the sight, and, without pausing a moment, he ran to his stable, saddled his steed, and, unlocking the main gates of the fortress, rushed out, leaving the keys in the gate. He did not slacken rein until he reached a great forest, and by this time the sun was already high in the heavens. Dismounting from the saddle he seated himself on the banks of the cooling river Yahorika, and soliloquized thus: "Alas, Demitrius, mayst thou perish! To whose care hast thou left thy only brother Stephan?"

Overcome with remorse for his cowardice he would have returned to Belgrade, but it was too late. The Turks had already entered the city through the open gates. There was none to oppose them, and after indulging in outrage and pillage they had carried away many captives, among whom was Stephan Yaks.h.i.tch. Him they did not behead because of his unusual beauty, and because they were well acquainted with his heroism, the fame of which was known far and near. They brought Stephan to the presence of the Vizier of Tyoopria, who was so pleased to see him that he ordered his hands to be freed, and gave him back his horse and arms. He also held a great feast and accompanied it with the firing of innumerable cannon. After this the Vizier of Tyoopria returned with the whole army in triumph to Stamboul, where he brought his distinguished prisoner into the sultan's presence.

Stephan and the Sultan

The mighty Padishah was seated on his sidjade, [58] and after presenting Stephan the vizier took a seat near by. Stephan made a profound obeisance and kissed the slipper and the knee of the sultan. The sultan then invited him to a seat near to him and spake thus: "O heroic Stephan Yaks.h.i.tch! If thou wilt become a Turk! (may Allah favour thee!) I will make thee my Grand Vizier of Bosnia in the City of Travnik! Thou shalt have seven other viziers to obey thy orders; I will give thee in marriage my only daughter, and will care for thee as for my own son!"

To this Stephan answered firmly: "O Great Padishah! Thou mighty ruler of the world! I shall never turn Turk and renounce the Holy Cross. Yea, even if thou offered me thy own throne! I am ready to give my life for the holy Christian faith!"

At these bold words the sultan was very angry, and gave orders that Stephan should be executed. But Stephan had a good friend in the Vizier of Tyoopria, who at this juncture prayed the sultan not to give way to his wrath. "Do not, in the name of Allah, O my Padishah," said he, "have so valorous a young man beheaded! I have given him my word of honour that thou, O Sultan, will not take his life! Deliver him to me for ransom! I will give thee as many golden ducats as he weighs on thy balance, and will keep him safely in my castle at Tyoopria where, I give thee my firm faith, I will make him love the creed of Mohammed."

The sultan graciously acceded to his vizier's request and Stephan departed with the Turk to his province.

Stephan at Tyoopria

When the vizier came to Tyoopria he invited Stephan to partic.i.p.ate in all the luxury of his castle, and during one whole year he endeavoured by courtesy and kindness to convert the Serbian prince to the Mussulman faith. Then, as all his efforts had failed, he called together his hodjas [59] and kadis, [60] as well as all the n.o.blemen of his district, and these men spoke to Stephan thus: "O Stephan, the vizier has ordered us to convert thee unto the true faith; if thou wilt submit to us in this thing he will give thee in marriage his only daughter--she is more beautiful than the white veela herself--and he will have thee to be appointed the Grand Vizier of Novi Bazar. But if thou refused to become a Turk, his djelat [61]

will cleave thy head asunder."

Thereupon Stephan answered: "I thank ye, venerable hodgas and kadis! But I would rather lose my life for the sake of our holy faith and the law of our Lord Jhesu, than live to become a Turk!"

The vizier turned sadly away and ordered his djelat to behead Prince Stephan. But again Stephan's good fortune befriended him. The Grand Vizier of Novi Bazar came to the Vizier of Tyoopria and implored him not to behead the young man. "Dost thou not remember," said he, "that thou didst promise that his life should not be taken from him? 'Twere better to deliver him to me on ransom: I will give twice his weight in golden ducats, and I declare solemnly that when I have him in my province of Novi Bazar, I shall not fail to induce him to embrace Islam!"

The Vizier of Tyoopria agreed to his friend's offer and Stephan was thus a second time delivered from death.

Stephan at Novi Bazar

Arriving at Novi Bazar the vizier summoned his servant Hoossein. "Listen, Hoossein, my trusty servant!" said he. "Take thou this dearly bought prisoner, and conduct him through the donjons, until thou comest to the twelfth; there leave him and shut the twelve doors behind thee carefully, so that he shall see neither the sun nor the moon. Methinks he will soon be willing to adopt our Mussulman faith!"

Hoossein did as he was commanded, and Stephan remained a prisoner for half a year, when the vizier took pity on him. Summoning his only daughter Haykoona, he said to her: "My darling daughter, my pure gold! Hearken to thy father's words! Go back to thy tower, open thy golden cupboards, and adorn thyself with thy richest apparel. Put on thy prettiest dress of rosy silk adorned with velvet ribbons and golden threads, and cover all with thy gold-woven cloak. In thy right hand take a golden apple and under thy arm take this bottle; in it is a beverage prepared from forest plants and flowerets. It is called 'water of oblivion'; I have been told that he who washes his face with it and drinks of it must hate his relatives and his religion. Take ye these to the lowest seras and open the twelve doors, closing carefully each of them in turn after thee. When thou comest to Prince Stephan give him this wonderful bottle. He will surely bathe his face with its contents and drink: then he will forget his faith, embrace Islam and marry thee!"

The Turkish maiden could have wished for no greater good fortune, for ever since she first saw the handsome Serbian prince she had felt strange pains. In her dreams she saw n.o.body but him, and in the daytime she was consumed with fevers.

Stephan and the Vizier's Daughter

Therefore she complied with her father's wish with alacrity, and when she reached Stephan she greeted him tenderly: "Hail, O Serbian Hero! May G.o.d be with thee!" And the chivalrous prince returned the greeting: "May G.o.d help thee, O peerless Haykoona!"

The beautiful maiden then said: "O Prince Stephan, I value thee more than my black eyes! I sorrow to see thy face thus darkened and thy life so miserable in the prison-donjons of my father. Take this bottle of cooling water; bathe thy heroic visage with the liquid and drink a little of it!"

The hero took the bottle from those beauteous hands; but he was wise! Without hesitation he shattered it against the stony wall, taking great care that not a drop of the liquid should besprinkle him. The Turkish maiden flushed with anger, but a moment later she composed herself, and casting upon the prince a tender glance, she said to him sweetly: "Do, I pray thee, become a Turk and marry me! I love thee more than my black eyes."

But Stephan answered: "I beseech thee, in thy Allah's name, speak not so, O Princess Haykoona. I shall never turn Turk and forget my Christian faith! Yea, I am ready always to give my life for it!"

The beauteous lady turned aside impatiently, but her anger soon pa.s.sed, and again looking tenderly at the young prince, she exclaimed with sudden pa.s.sion, "Kiss me, O my beloved!"

But Stephan was proof against temptation, and he answered sternly: "O Turkish lady, may misfortune attend thee! Thou knowest that my faith forbids that a Christian should kiss a Turk! The skies above would burst asunder and stones would fall upon our heads!"

The vizier's daughter really loved the prince, and although it was not easy for her haughty spirit to brook such a refusal of her advances, she presently spake again in this wise: "O Prince Stephan, truly I love thee more than my own eyes! I would not for the entire wealth of this world be baptized, but if thou wilt promise me thy love and wilt marry me I will even embrace the Christian faith! Let us take much gold from my father's treasury and flee together to thy glorious Belgrade."

Hearing this, the young prince sprang joyfully to his feet and opened his arms to the beauteous maiden. He was by no means insensible to her charms, and he exclaimed with fervour: "Thou hast my princely promise that I shall love thee and be faithful to thee--as it is the duty of a true knight so to be. May the Lord Jhesu in Heaven be my witness!"

Then the vizier's daughter opened the twelve doors one after the other and the young couple soon stood in the glorious fresh air under the sky, which was bespangled with silver stars, and radiant with the light of the moon.

From the vizier's treasury they took three tovars of gold, and from his stables his two best horses. And the maiden gave Stephan a sabre studded with large diamonds--it was worth half of Novi Bazar--saying: "Take this sword, my darling lord: that thou mayest not be compelled to give way to inferior heroes, if we should be molested on our way!"

Then they mounted the horses and urged them swiftly away: in one night they put a distance between them and the vizier's castle which a caravan could not cover in less than three days and three nights. At dawn of the next day they reached Belgrade, and Prince Stephan immediately summoned twelve monks, who baptized the fair Turkish maiden, after which the young couple were happily united.

The Ending of the Ballad

The bard finishes his ballad with the following stereotyped ending very usual with Montenegrins:

"This happened once upon a time; let us, O brethren, pray of G.o.d to grant our holy Vladika [62] good health! Amen, O G.o.d, to whom we always pray!"

Serbian bards did not as a rule end in this manner, but contented themselves with wishing good health to their audiences.

Historical Note

During the long course of the imposition of Ottoman dominion upon the suffering Christian races of the Balkans there were always at the courts of the Christian princes malcontents whom the cunning Turkish statesmen easily seduced from their allegiance to their rightful lords, and to whom they extended hospitality in Constantinople, often overwhelming them with riches and honours. In return they have rendered most important services to the sultans in their many campaigns, being, of course, well acquainted with the strategic dispositions of their countrymen, and often with important state secrets. Sometimes such traitorous men have served the Turk in their own country by sowing the seed of dissatisfaction with their rulers among the peasantry, a.s.suring them that they would be better off under Ottoman rule. The influence of such renegades prevailed upon the peasantry in Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the time of the Battle of Kossovo (1389), to rise against their rulers, and they did not partic.i.p.ate in that memorable battle.

Very few instances of such treachery, however, occurred in Montenegro, which has been from the earliest times the home of the n.o.blest of Serbian aristocrats and heroes, and where the adoption of the faith of Islam, no matter for what reason, or from what motive, was considered as the greatest cowardice of which a Christian could be guilty.

CHAPTER XI: THE MARRIAGE OF KING VOUKASHIN

The Message to Vidossava