Kralewitz Marko was the son of a Servian king who lived many, many years
ago. He was very fond of hunting, and one day he rode forth on his horse
Saria to the mountain Sargau. Being tired, he dismounted, tied his horse
to a tree, sat down in its shade and fell asleep.
And as he slept it happened that Arbanes Neda with his seven brothers
rode by. They all dismounted, lifted Kralewitz, bound him to his horse,
and rode away with him to Jedrena, where they presented him to the
vizier.
Highly pleased over the gift, the vizier took the king's son and threw
him into prison. Two long years Kralewitz lay there, longing for liberty
and home. Then he learned that in a few days he was to be executed.
Immediately he wrote a letter to his friend, Milos Obilis, asking for
help. This important message he entrusted to his only companion, a white
falcon. Tying the letter under the bird's wing he set it free.
The falcon easily found its way, alighted on Milos' window, and was
admitted. Scarcely had Milos read the letter, when he and two of his
friends were ready to set out for Jedrena. They reached there the day
before the execution.
In the morning the gate of the city was opened and Marko was led out.
Milos and his companions accompanied the mournful procession to an open
field in which the execution was to take place. Two Arabs stood up with
gleaming swords prepared to cut off Marko's head.
"Hold on, brothers," cried Milos. "I will give you a sharper sword with
which to cut off the malicious head of the noble Piam. See, with this
sword did the good-for-nothing treacherously slay my father. Cursed be
his hand!"
With these words he rushed to Marko's side; then with one swift stroke
he cut off the head of one Arab, and with another the head of the other.
With still another stroke he severed the chains that bound Marko, and
Marko, seizing a sword, swung himself into his saddle, and with his
friends began to attack the horde of Turks. Frightened, the Turks fled
before them, and Marko and his companions returned to their own country.
Marko waited for and soon found the opportunity of showing his gratitude
to his friend, for Milos and two of his brothers were thrown into prison
in Varadin. Milos wrote with his own blood a letter to Marko, asking for
help.
Then the king's son sprang to his horse Saria and rode to Varadin.
Outside of the city he dismounted, stuck his spear in the earth, tied
Saria and began drinking the black wine which he had brought with him.
He poured it into huge beakers, half of which, he drank himself, and
half of which he gave to Saria.
At the same time a beautiful maiden, the daughter-in-law of the general,
passed by. When she saw the king's son she was frightened and ran and
told her father-in-law.
Then the general sent out his son Velimir with three hundred men to take
Marko prisoner. The knights encircled Kralewitz Marko, but he continued
drinking his wine and paid no attention to them. But Saria noticed them,
and drawing near her master began beating the ground with her hoofs.
At this Marko looked up and saw himself surrounded. He emptied his
beaker, threw it to the ground, and sprang to his horse.
Like a falcon among doves Marko charged against the enemy. He cut off
the heads of some and drove the rest before him into the Danube.
Velimir tried to flee, but Marko threw him from his horse, tied his
hands and feet and bound him to Saria. Then again he began to drink his
wine.
All this the maiden watched and reported to her father. He gathered
together three thousand knights and rode forth against the stranger.
They surrounded Marko, but he was undismayed. Bravely he charged against
them, his sword in his right hand, his spear in his left, and the reins
held between his teeth.
Every knight he touched with either sword or spear fell instantly to the
ground, and when Vuca, the general, wholly dismayed, tried to escape on
his fiery Arabian horse, Marko followed him, threw him, bound him, and
led him to the place where his son lay. Then he bound the two together,
tossed them on the saddle of the Arabian horse and rode home. There he
put them in prison.
Hearing this, the wife of the general wrote a letter to Marko, begging
for mercy for her husband and son. Marko promised to release them on
condition that she release Milos and his brothers. This she did,
honoring them and making them rich presents.
"Now, for the love of Heaven," said she, "see that my husband and my son
return to me."
"Never fear," answered Milos. "Give me the general's black horse; adorn
him as the general adorned him; give me a golden chariot with twelve
horses, such as the general rides in when he journeys to the emperor in
Vienna; and give me the robe that the general wears on state occasions."
The wife provided all that he asked, and gave the prisoners for
themselves a thousand ducats. Then they rode away.
Marko welcomed them, released the general and his son and provided them
with a strong body-guard back to Varadin. Then Milos and his brothers
divided the ducats among them, kissed the hand of the king's son, and
rode away into their own country.