Lo! Erdelska’s lady {84a} reared a fir-tree,
And invoked the fir-tree—thus invok’d it:
“Grow thou, fir-tree, to the height of heaven!
To the green grass bend thy spreading branches;
Let me mount upon thy branches, fir-tree!
From those branches see the white-wall’d Buda,
And in Buda see the Budan Jovan.
Does he bear himself as once he bore him;
Does the feather wave upon his Kalpak; {84b}
Does his steed still bear his high head proudly?”
Thus she spoke and thought that no one heard her;
But the Ban of Transylvania heard her,
Even her lord, the Ban, and thus address’d her:
“Now, by heaven, thou Erdelskan Banitza;
Why is Buda fairer than Erdelska?
Why is Jovan nobler than thy husband?”
Thus replied the Erdelskan Banitza:
“Buda is not fairer than Erdelska,
Jovan is not nobler than my husband.
But my first, my earliest joy, was Jovan;
My first joy—a cup with flowers full laden,
Second joy—a cup with wine o’erflowing,
My third joy—a cup fill’d up with wormwood.”