Literature Review:
Serbians attach the utmost value and importance to the sympathies of
such a highly cultured, great, and therefore legitimately influential
people as is the British nation. Since the beginning of the twentieth
century there have been two critical occasions [1]–the annexation of
Bosnia and Herzegovina by Austria and the war against the Turks–when
we have had opportunities to note how British sympathies, even when
apparently only platonic, can be of great practical importance for
our nation. It is quite natural that we should desire to retain and
if possible deepen and increase those sympathies. We are proud of our
army, but we flatter ourselves that our nation may win sympathy and
respect by other than military features of its national character. We
wish that our British friends should know our nation such as it is. We
wish them to be acquainted with our national psychology. And nothing
could give a better insight into the very soul of the Serbian nation
than this book.
The Serbians belong ethnologically to the great family of the
Slavonic nations. They are first cousins to the Russians, Poles,
Czechs, Slovaks, and Bulgars, and they are brothers to the Croats
and Slovenes. Since the Church has ceased to be the discordant and
disuniting element in the life of the nations, the Orthodox Serbians
and the Roman Catholic Croats are practically one and the same
people. But of all Slavonic nations the Serbians can legitimately
claim to be the most poetical one. Their language is the richest and
the most musical among all the Slavonic languages. The late Professor
Morfill, a man who was something of a Panslavist, repeatedly said to
When our ancestors occupied the western part of the Balkan
Peninsula, they found there numerous Latin colonies and Greek towns
and settlements. In the course of twelve centuries we have through
intermarriage absorbed much Greek and Latin blood. That influence, and
the influence of the commercial and political intercourse with Italy,
has softened our language and our manners and intensified our original
Slavonic love of what is beautiful, poetical, and noble. We are a
special Slavonic type, modified by Latin and Greek influences. The
Bulgars are a Slavonic nation of a quite different type, created by
the circulation of Tartar blood in Slavonian veins. This simple fact
throws much light on the conflicts between the Serbians and Bulgarians
during the Middle Ages, and even in our own days.
Now what are the Serbian national songs? They are not songs made by
cultured or highly educated poets–songs which, becoming popular,
are sung by common people. They are songs made by the common people
themselves. Up to the middle of the nineteenth century the Serbian
peasantry lived mostly in agricultural and family associations called
Zadrooga. As M. Petrovitch has stated, the sons of a peasant did
not leave their father’s house when they got married, but built a
wooden cottage on the land surrounding the father’s house. Very often
a large settlement arose around the original home, with often more
than a hundred persons, men and women, working together, considering
the land and houses as their common property, enjoying the fruits of
their work as the common property too. All the members of the Zadrooga
considered the oldest member of such family association as their chief,
and it was the usual custom to gather round him every evening in the
original house. After questions of farming or other business had been
disposed of, the family gathering would be enlivened by the chieftain
or some other male member reciting an epic song, or several such songs,
describing historic events or events which had lately happened. At
the public gatherings around the churches and monasteries groups of
men and women would similarly gather about the reciters of songs on
old kings and heroes or on some great and important event.
In Hungarian Serbia (Syrmia, Banat, Bachka) poor blind men often make
it a lucrative profession to sing old or new songs, mostly on old
heroes and historical events or on contemporary events. But in other
parts of Serbia (Shumadiya, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Dalmatia)
very often well-to-do peasants recite the hero songs to crowds of
listeners of both sexes. It is a curious fact noticed already by Vouk
S. Karadgitch that the reciters of the heroic songs are hardly ever
young men, but generally men of middle age, and still more frequently
old men. It is as if old men considered it their duty to acquaint the
young generation with the principal events of the nation’s history
and their principal heroes. You may find still many an illiterate
person in Serbia, but you will not find one who would not be able to
tell you something about Stephan Nemanya, the first king of mediaeval
Serbia, about his son St. Sava, Tsar Doushan, his young son Ourosh,
King Voukashin, the Royal Prince Kralyevitch Marko, Tsar Lazar, and
the heroes who fell in the famous battle at Kossovo (1389). It can
be said that the Serbian peasants wrote their own national history
by composing and reciting it from one generation to another in the
rhythmical ten-syllabic blank verse. The gooslari and the monks kept
the national political consciousness and the national Church fully
alive through the five centuries in which they were only Turkish Rayah,
a mass of common people doomed to be nothing better than slaves to
their master, the Turk. We would to-day not have known anything about
the persistent guerilla war, which the best and boldest men of the
nation were relentlessly carrying on against the nation’s oppressor
since the beginning of the sixteenth century until the first rising
of Shumadia under Karageorge in 1804, if we had not the so-called
Haidoochke Pesme (the Songs on Haidooks). Long before the history of
The Resurrection of the Serbian National State had been written by
Stoyan Novakovich, the learned President of the Serbian Academy, the
bard Vishnyich described that resurrection in songs of great beauty
and power. And the victories of the Serbian army over the Turks and
Bulgars in the war of 1912-13 are already sung by the improvized
bards in the inns and at the great gatherings of the people at the
village fairs and around the churches on great church festivals. Of
course, a Serbian who has heard on hundreds of occasions national
songs recited learns to recite them himself, although he may not be
able to accompany his recitation on the goussle. Nor does he find
it difficult, by using many stereotyped lines of old and well-known
songs, to tell the story of a recent event. When in 1873, as Minister
of Finance, I was defeated in the Budget debate at the Skoupshtina,
my defeat was recited to the people in blank verse the same evening,
and the next day.
Besides the songs which relate, more or less accurately, actual events,
many a national song relates a legend or a tradition. They have been
created, no doubt, under the influence of the priests and monks,
and are appropriate recitations to the crowds who come to the church
festivals. I am glad to see that M. Petrovitch has included in his
collection the song which is probably the oldest among all Serbian
songs. It is called “The Saints partition [or divide] the Treasures,”
and it gives expression to an evidently very old tradition, which
remembers a sort of catastrophe which befell India, and which probably
was the cause of the ancient ancestors of the Slavs leaving India. It
is most remarkable to find an echo of an Indian catastrophe in the
national songs of the Serbians.
That the Serbians had national songs in which they described the
exploits of their national heroes was noted in the fourteenth
century. Nicephoras Gregoras, sent by the Byzantine Emperor on a
diplomatic mission to Serbia, relates having heard the Serbians sing
their national songs on their heroes. The records of several diplomatic
missions, going from Vienna or Buda to Constantinople during the
sixteenth century, relate that the members heard people sing heroic
songs. In that century we have the first attempt to reproduce in
print some of those national songs, as, for instance, by the Ragusan
poets
The Coming of the Serb
Prior to their incursion into the Balkan Peninsula during the
seventh century, the Serbians [6] lived as a patriarchal people
in the country now known as Galicia. Ptolemy, the ancient Greek
geographer, describes them as living on the banks of the River Don,
to the north-east of the sea of Azov. They settled mostly in those
Balkan territories which they inhabit at the present day, namely,
the present kingdom of Serbia, Old Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Montenegro, Dalmatia, Batchka, Banat, Croatia, Sirmia
and Istria. The ancient inhabitants of those regions, Latins,
Illyrians, Thracians, Greeks and Albanians, were easily driven by
the newcomers toward the Adriatic coast. Their Emperor, Heraclius
(A.D. 610-641), unable to oppose an effective resistance, ceded to
the Serbians all the provinces which they had occupied, and peace
was thus purchased. The pagan and uncultured Serbian tribes now came
into constant intercourse with the civilized Byzantines, and soon
were converted to Christianity; for it is an almost invariable fact
that when one people conquers or subjects another people, the more
civilized of the two, whether the vanquished or the victorious, must
necessarily impose its civilization and customs on the more barbarous.
But the Serbians only embraced Christianity to any large extent with
the beginning of the ninth century, when the two brothers Cyrillos and
Methodius–the so-called Slavonic apostles–translated and preached
the teaching of Christ in the ancient Slav language, then in common
use among all southern Slavs of that time.
Early Struggles
As the Serbians, during the seventh and eighth centuries, were divided
into tribes, they became an easy prey to the attacks of the Byzantines,
the Bulgars and the Francs, although they never were subjugated by
any of those neighbours. The Serbians, however, were forced to realize
that only by concentration of their power could they offer resistance
as a nation, and a serious effort was made to found a State on the
banks of the River Morava, with Horea Margi (now called Tyoupriya)
as its capital, in the early part of the ninth century. Owing to
Bulgarian hostility, however, this proved abortive.
A fresh attempt to form an independent State was made by the Djoupan
(Count) Vlastimir, who had succeeded in emancipating himself from
Byzantine suzerainty. This province was called Rashka and extended
around the Rivers Piva, Tara, and Lim, touching the basin of the
River Ibar in the east and that of Vrbas in the west. But in the
very beginning of its civil life there were dissensions amongst the
leaders which facilitated the interference of the Bulgarian Tsar
Simeon. Tchaslav, the djoupan of another Serbian tribe, though he
possessed no rights to it, claimed the throne, and was supported
by Simeon, who successfully invaded Rashka. The Bulgarians retained
possession of the country for seven years (924-931), when Tchaslav
succeeded in wresting from them a new state which comprised,
together with Rashka, the territories of Zetta, Trebinye, Neretva
and Houm. After his death, great disorder reigned in this principality.
In the course of the next century the Byzantine Empire, having
again brought the now enfeebled Bulgaria within its rule, also
overpowered Rashka, whose Grand Djoupan fled. The ruler of Zetta,
Stephen Voislav (1034-1051), son of Dragomir, djoupan of Trebinye,
took the opportunity of declaring himself independent of his suzerain
the Grand Djoupan of Rashka, and appropriated Zahoumlye (Herzegovina)
and some other regions. His son Michaylo (1053-1081) succeeded further
in bringing Rashka under his authority, and obtained the title of
king (rex Sclavorum) from Pope Gregory VII in the year 1077. Under
the rule of King Bodin, the son of Michaylo, the Serbia of Tchaslav
was restored; furthermore Bosnia was added to his state. But after
Bodin’s death new disorder ensued, caused mainly by the struggles
amongst the several pretenders to the throne.
Internecine Strife
Internecine strife is an unfortunate feature to be noticed throughout
Serbian history, and constantly we see energy wasted in futile
dissensions among various members of ruling families, who criminally
and fatally neglected national interests, in pursuit by legitimate
or illegitimate means of their personal ambitions. This has at all
times hindered the Serbian nation from becoming a powerful political
unit, although efforts were made by many of the rulers to realize
this policy.
In 1169 a dynasty destined to rule Serbia for more than two centuries
(1169-1372) within ever-changing political boundaries, was founded
by the celebrated Grand Djoupan Stephan Nemanya (1169-1196) who was
created Duke (grand djoupan) of Serbia by the Byzantine Emperor after
he had instigated a revolution, the result of which was favourable
to his pretensions. By his bravery and wisdom he succeeded not only
in uniting under his rule the provinces held by his predecessors,
but also in adding those which never had been Serbian before, and he
placed Ban Koulin, an ally, upon the throne of Bosnia. Furthermore he
strengthened the orthodox religion in his state by building numerous
churches and monasteries, and by banishing the heretic Bogoumils. [7]
Feeling the weakness of advanced age, and wishing to give fresh proof
of his religious faith to his people, the aged Nemanya abdicated in
1196, in favour of his able second son Stevan, and withdrew into a
monastery. On his accession in the year 1217 Stevan assumed the title
of King of Serbia.
When the crusaders vanquished Constantinople, Sava, Stevan’s youngest
brother, obtained from the Greek patriarch the autonomy of the Serbian
Church (1219), and became the first Serbian archbishop.
Stevan was succeeded by his son Radoslav (1223-1233), who was dethroned
by his brother Vladislav (1233-1242), who was removed from the throne
by his third brother Ourosh the Great (1242-1276). Ourosh increased his
territory and established the reputation of Serbia abroad. In his turn,
he was dethroned by his son Dragoutin (1276-1281), who, owing to the
failure of a campaign against the Greeks, retired from the throne in
favour of a younger brother Miloutin (1281-1321), reserving, however,
for himself a province in the north of the State. Soon afterward
Dragoutin received from his mother-in-law, the queen of Hungary,
the lands between the Rivers Danube Sava and Drina, and assumed the
title of King of Sirmia. Dragoutin, while still alive, yielded his
throne and a part of his lands to Miloutin, and another part remained
under the suzerainty of the King of Hungary. Miloutin is considered
one of the most remarkable descendants of Nemanya. After his death the
usual discord obtained concerning the succession to the throne. Order
was re-established by Miloutin’s son, Stevan Detchanski (1321-1331),
who defeated the Bulgarians in the famous battle of Velbouzd, and
brought the whole of Bulgaria under his sway. Bulgaria remained a
province of Serbia until the Ottoman hordes overpowered both.
Doushan the Powerful
Stevan Detchanski was dethroned by his son Doushan the Powerful
(1331-1355), the most notable and most glorious of all Serbian
sovereigns. He aimed to establish his rule over the entire Balkan
Peninsula, and having succeeded in overpowering nearly the whole of
the Byzantine Empire, except Constantinople, he proclaimed himself,
in agreement with the Vlastela (Assembly of Nobles), Tsar of
Serbia. He elevated the Serbian archbishopric to the dignity of the
patriarchate. He subdued the whole of Albania and a part of Greece,
while Bulgaria obeyed him almost as a vassal state. His premature death
(some historians assert that he was poisoned by his own ministers)
did not permit him to realize the whole of his great plan for Serbia,
and under the rule of his younger son Ourosh (1355-1371) nearly all
his magnificent work was undone owing to the incessant and insatiable
greed of the powerful nobles, who thus paved the way for the Ottoman
invasion.
Among those who rebelled against the new Tsar was King
Voukashin. Together with his brother and other lords, he held almost
independently the whole territory adjoining Prizrend to the south of
the mountain Shar. [8]
King Voukashin and his brother were defeated in a battle with the
Turks on the banks of the River Maritza (1371), and all Serbian lands
to the south of Skoplye (Ueskueb) were occupied by the Turks.
The Royal Prince Marko
The same year Tsar Ourosh died, and Marko, the eldest son of King
Voukashin, the national hero of whom we shall hear much in this book,
proclaimed himself King of the Serbians, but the Vlastela and the
clergy did not recognize his accession. They elected (A.D. 1371) Knez
[9] (later Tsar) Lazar, a relative of Tsar Doushan the Powerful, to be
the ruler of Serbia, and Marko, from his principality of Prilip, as a
vassal of the Sultan, aided the Turks in their campaigns against the
Christians. In the year 1399 he met his death in the battle of Rovina,
in Roumania, and he is said to have pronounced these memorable words:
“May God grant the victory to the Christians, even if I have to perish
amongst the first!” The Serbian people, as we shall see, believe that
he did not die, but lives even to-day.
Knez Lazar ruled from 1371 to 1389, and during his reign he made
an alliance with Ban [10] Tvrtko of Bosnia against the Turks. Ban
Tvrtko proclaimed himself King of Bosnia, and endeavoured to extend
his power in Hungary, whilst Knez Lazar, with the help of a number
of Serbian princes, prepared for a great war against the Turks. But
Sultan Amourath, informed of Lazar’s intentions, suddenly attacked
the Serbians on June 15 1389, on the field of Kossovo. The battle
was furious on both sides, and at noon the position of the Serbians
promised ultimate success to their arms.
The Treachery of Brankovitch.
There was, however, treachery in the Serbian camp. Vook (Wolf)
Brankovitch, one of the great lords, to whom was entrusted one wing
of the Serbian army, had long been jealous of his sovereign. Some
historians state that he had arranged with Sultan Amourath to betray
his master, in return for the promise of the imperial crown of
Serbia, subject to the Sultan’s overlordship. At a critical moment
in the battle, the traitor turned his horse and fled from the field,
followed by 12,000 of his troops, who believed this to be a stratagem
intended to deceive the Turks. This was a great blow to the Serbians,
and when, later in the day the Turks were reinforced by fresh
troops under the command of the Sultan’s son, Bajazet, the Turkish
victory was complete. Knez Lazar was taken prisoner and beheaded,
and the Sultan himself perished by the hand of a Serbian voivode,
[11] Milosh Obilitch.
Notwithstanding the disaster, in which Brankovitch also perished, the
Serbian state did not succumb to the Turks, thanks to the wisdom and
bravery of Lazar’s son, Stevan Lazarevitch (1389-1427). His nephew,
Dyourady Brankovitch (1427-1456), also fought heroically, but was
compelled, inch by inch, to cede his state to the Turks.
The Final Success of the Turks
After the death of Dyourady the Serbian nobles could not agree
concerning his successor, and in the disorder that ensued the Turks
were able to complete their conquest of Serbia, which they finally
achieved by 1459. Their statesmen now set themselves the task of
inducing the Serbian peasantry in Bosnia, by promises of future
prosperity, to take the oath of allegiance to the Sultan, and in
this they were successful during the reign of the King of Bosnia,
Stevan Tomashevitch, who endeavoured in vain to secure help from the
Pope. The subjugation of Bosnia was an accomplished fact by 1463, and
Herzegovina followed by 1482. An Albanian chief of Serbian origin,
George Kastriotovitch-Skander-Beg (1443-1468), successfully fought,
with great heroism, for the liberty of Albania. Eventually, however,
the Turks made themselves master of the country as well as of all
Serbian lands, with the exception of Montenegro, which they never
could subdue, owing partly to the incomparable heroism of the bravest
Serbians–who objected to live under Turkish rule–and partly to the
mountainous nature of the country. Many noble Serbian families found
a safe refuge in that land of the free; many more went to Ragusa as
well as to the Christian Princes of Valahia and Moldavia. The cruel
and tyrannous nature of Turkish rule forced thousands of families to
emigrate to Hungary, and the descendants of these people may be found
to-day in Batchka, Banat, Sirmia and Croatia. Those who remained
in Serbia were either forced to embrace Islam or to live as raya
(slaves), for the Turkish spahis (land-lords) not only oppressed the
Christian population, but confiscated the land hitherto belonging to
the natives of the soil.
The Miseries of Turkish Rule
We should be lengthening this retrospect unduly if we were to describe
in full the miserable position of the vanquished Christians, and so
we must conclude by giving merely an outline of the modern period.
When it happens that a certain thing, or state of things, becomes
too sharp, or acute, a change of some sort must necessarily take
place. As the Turkish atrocities reached their culmination at the
end of the XVIIth century, the Serbians, following the example of
their brothers in Hungary and Montenegro, gathered around a leader
who was sent apparently by Providence to save them from the shameful
oppression of their Asiatic lords. That leader, a gifted Serbian,
George Petrovitch–designated by the Turks Karageorge (‘Black
George’)–gathered around him other Serbian notables, and a general
insurrection occurred in 1804. The Serbians fought successfully,
and established the independence of that part of Serbia comprised
in the pashalik of Belgrade and some neighbouring territory. This
was accomplished only by dint of great sacrifices and through the
characteristic courage of Serbian warriors, and it was fated to endure
for less than ten years.
Serbia again Subjugated
When Europe (and more particularly Russia) was engaged in the war
against Napoleon, the Turks found in the pre-occupation of the Great
Powers the opportunity to retrieve their losses and Serbia was again
subjugated in 1813. George Petrovitch and other Serbian leaders left
the country to seek aid, first in Austria, and later in Russia. In
their absence, Milosh Obrenovitch, one of Karageorge Petrovitch’s
lieutenants, made a fresh attempt to liberate the Serbian people
from the Turkish yoke, and in 1815 was successful in re-establishing
the autonomy of the Belgrade pashalik. During the progress of his
operations, George Petrovitch returned to Serbia and was cruelly
assassinated by order of Milosh who then proclaimed himself hereditary
prince and was approved as such by the Sublime Porte in October
1815. Milosh was a great opponent of Russian policy and he incurred the
hostility of that power and was forced to abdicate in 1839 in favour of
his son Michel (Serbian ‘Mihaylo’). Michel was an excellent diplomat,
and had previously incorporated within the independent state of Serbia
several districts without shedding blood. He was succeeded by Alexandre
Karageorgevitch (1842-1860) son of Karageorge Petrovitch. Under the
prudent rule of that prince, Serbia obtained some of the features
of a modern constitution and a foundation was laid for further and
rapid development. But an unfortunate foreign policy, the corruption
existing among the high dignitaries of the state and especially the
treachery of Milosh’s apparent friends, who hoped to supplant him,
forced that enlightened prince to abandon the throne and to leave his
country. The Skoupshtina (National Assembly) restored Milosh but the
same year the prince died and was succeeded once again by his son
Michel (1860-1868). At the assassination of this prince his young
cousin, Milan (1868-1889), ruled with the aid, during his minority,
of three regents, in conformity of a Constitution voted in 1869.
The principal events during the rule of Milan were: the war against
Turkey (1876-1878) and the annexation of four new districts; the
acknowledgment of Serbian independence by the famous Treaty of Berlin;
the proclamation of Serbia as a kingdom in 1882; the unfortunate war
against Bulgaria, which was instigated by Austria, and the promulgation
of a new Constitution, which, slightly modified, is still in force.
After the abdication of King Milan, his unworthy son, Alexander,
ascended the throne. Despite the vigorous advices of his friends and
the severe admonishments of his personal friend M. Chedo Miyatovich,
he married his former mistress, Draga Mashin, under whose influence
he entered upon a period of tyranny almost Neronian in type. He went
so far as to endeavour to abolish the Constitution, thus completely
alienating his people and playing into the hands of his personal
enemies, who finally murdered him (1903).
King Peter I
The Skoupshtina now elected the son of Alexander Karageorgevitch,
the present King Peter I Karageorgevitch, whose glorious rule will
be marked with golden letters in modern Serbian history, for it is to
him that Christendom owes the formation of the league whereby the Turk
was all but driven from Europe in 1913. But, alas! the Serbians have
only about one-half of their lands free, the rest of their brethren
being still under the foreign yoke.
Brief as is this retrospect it will suffice to show the circumstances
and conditions from which sprung the Serbian national poetry with
which we shall be largely concerned in the following pages. The
legends have their roots in disasters due as much to the self-seeking
of Serbian leaders as to foreign oppressors; but national calamities
have not repressed the passionate striving of a high-souled people
for freedom, and these dearly loved hero tales of the Balkans express
the ideals which have inspired the Serbian race in its long agony, and
which will continue to sustain the common people in whatever further
disappointments they may be fated to suffer ere they gain the place
among the great nations which their persistence and suffering must
surely win in the end.
CHAPTER II: SUPERSTITIOUS BELIEFS & NATIONAL CUSTOMS
General Characteristics
The Serbians inhabiting the present kingdom of Serbia, having been
mixed with the ancient indigenous population of the Balkan Peninsula,
have not conserved their true national type. They have mostly brown
visages and dark hair; very rarely are blonde or other complexions
to be seen. Boshnyaks (Serbians inhabiting Bosnia) are considered
to be the most typical Serbians, they having most strongly retained
the national characteristics of the pure Southern-Slavonic race. The
average Serbian has a rather lively temperament; he is highly sensitive
and very emotional. His enthusiasm is quickly roused, but most emotions
with him are, as a rule, of short duration. However, he is extremely
active and sometimes persistent. Truly patriotic, he is always ready
to sacrifice his life and property for national interests, which he
understands particularly well, thanks to his intimate knowledge of the
ancient history of his people, transmitted to him from generation to
generation through the pleasing medium of popular epic poetry composed
in very simple decasyllabic blank verse–entirely Serbian in its
origin. He is extremely courageous and always ready for war. Although
patriarchal and conservative in everything national, he is ready
and willing to accept new ideas. But he has remained behind other
countries in agricultural and industrial pursuits. Very submissive in
his Zadrooga [12] and obedient to his superiors, he is often despotic
when elevated to power. The history of all the Southern Slavs pictures
a series of violations, depositions, political upheavals, achieved
sometimes by the most cruel means and acts of treachery; all mainly
due to the innate and hitherto inexpugnable faults characteristic of
the race, such as jealousy and an inordinate desire for power. These
faults, of course, have been most apparent in the nobles, hence the
decay of the ancient aristocracy throughout the Balkans.
Paganism and Religion
There is available but slender material concerning the pre-Christian
history of the Southern-Slavonic races, and their worship of Nature has
not been adequately studied. Immediately after the Slavonic immigration
into the Balkan Peninsula during the seventh and eighth centuries,
Christianity, which was already deeply rooted in the Byzantines, easily
destroyed the ancient faith. The last survivors of paganism lived
in the western part of the peninsula, in the regions round the river
Neretva, and these were converted to Christianity during the reign of
Basil I. A number of Croatians had been converted to Christianity as
early even as the seventh century, and had established an episcopate
at Agram (Zagreb). In the course of some thousand years Graeco-Oriental
myths and legends, ancient Illyrian and Roman propaganda and Christian
legends and apocryphal writings exercised so great an influence upon
the ancient religions of the Southern-Slavonic peoples that it is
impossible to unravel from the tangled skein of such evidence as is
available a purely Southern-Slavonic mythology.
The God Peroon
Of Peroon, the Russian God of Thunder, by whom the Russian pagans
used to swear in their treaties and conventions concluded with the
Byzantines during the tenth century, only a few insignificant traces
remain. There is a village named ‘Peroon’ near Spalato; a small number
of persons in Montenegro bear the name; [13] and it is preserved
also in the name of a plant, ‘Peroonika’ (iris), which is dedicated
to the god. There is hardly a cottage-garden in the Serbian villages
where one does not see the iris growing by the side of the house-leek
(Tchuvar-Koutchye). The Serbians say that the god lives still in the
person of St. Elias (Elijah), and Serbian peasants believe that this
saint possesses the power of controlling lightning and thunder. They
also believe that St. Elias has a sister ‘Ognyena Maria’ (Mary the
Fiery One), who frequently acts as his counsellor.
The God Volos
From the Russian God of Cattle, ‘Volos,’ the city ‘Veless’ has obtained
its name; also a village in the western part of Serbia, and there
is a small village on the lower Danube called ‘Velessnitza.’ But
the closest derivative appears in the Serbian word ‘Vo,’ or ‘Voll’
(in the singular) ‘Volovi’ (in the plural) which means ‘Ox.’
The Sun God
Other phenomena of Nature were also personified and venerated as gods.
The Sun god, ‘Daybog’ (in Russian ‘Daszbog,’ meaning literally ‘Give,
O God!’), whose idols are found in the group of idols in Kief, and
whose name reappears as a proper name of persons in Russia, Moldavia
and Poland, is to the Serbians the personification of sunshine,
life, prosperity and, indeed, of everything good. But there have
been found no remains of idols representing the god ‘Daybog’ among
the Southern-Slavonic nations, as with the Russians, who made figures
of him in wood, with head of silver and moustache of gold.
The Veele
The Serbian legends preserve to this day interesting traces of the
worship of those pagan gods and of minor deities–which still occupy
a considerable place in the national superstition. The “nymphai”
and “potami” mentioned by the Greek historian Procope, as inferior
female divinities inhabiting groves, forests, fountains, springs
or lakes, seem to have been retained in the Serbian popular Veela
(or Vila–in the singular; Veele or Vile–in the plural). There
are several fountains called “Vilin Izvor” in Montenegro (e.g. on
Mount Kom), as also in the district of Rudnik in Serbia. During
the Renaissance the Serbian poets of Ragusa and other cities of
Dalmatia made frequent reference to the nymphs, dryads, and oreads
beloved by them as “veele.” The Serbian bards or troubadours from
the early fourteenth century to our day have ever glorified and sung
of the veele, describing them as very beautiful and eternally young,
robed in the whitest and finest gauze, with shimmering golden hair
flowing down over snow-white bosoms. Veele were said to have the most
sweet voices and were sometimes armed with bows and arrows. Their
melodious songs were often heard on the borders of the lakes or in
the meadows hidden deep in the forests, or on high mountain-peaks
beyond the clouds. They also loved to dance, and their rings are
called ‘Vrzino (or Vilino) Kollo.’ In Mount Kom in Montenegro,
there is one of these rings which measures about twenty metres
across and is called ‘Vilino Kollo.’ The Treaty of Berlin mentions
another situated between Vranya and Kuestandil, through which ran
the Serbo-Bulgarian frontier. When veele were dancing nobody dare
disturb them, for they could be very hostile to men. Like the Greek
nymphs, veele could also be amicably disposed; and on occasions they
assisted the heroes. They could become the sisters of men and of women,
and could even marry and have off-springs. But they were not by any
means invulnerable. Prince Marko, the favourite hero of the Serbians,
was endowed with superhuman strength by a veela who also presented
him with a most wonderful courser, ‘Sharatz,’ which was, indeed,
almost human. A veela also became his possestrima (Spiritual sister,
or ‘sister-in-God’) and when Marko was in urgent need of help, she
would descend from the clouds and assist him. But she refused to aid
him if he fought in duels on Sundays. On one occasion [14] Marko all
but slew the Veela Raviyoyla who wounded his pobratim (brother-in-God)
Voivode Milosh. The veele were wise in the use of herbs, and knew
the properties of every flower and berry, therefore Raviyoyla could
heal the wounds of Milosh, and his pierced heart was “sounder than
ever before.” They believed in God and St. John, and abhorred the
Turk. The veele also possessed the power of clairvoyance, and Prince
Marko’s ‘sister-in-God’ prophesied his death and that of Sharatz. [15]
Veele had power to control tempests and other phenomena of nature; they
could change themselves into snakes or swans. When they were offended
they could be very cruel; they could kill or take away the senses of
any who threatened them with violence; they would lead men into deep
waters or raze in a night magnificent buildings and fortresses. [16]
To veele was attributed also the power of deciding the destiny of
newly born children. On the seventh night after the birth of a child
the Serbian peasant woman watches carefully for the Oossood, a veela
who will pronounce the destiny of her infant, and it is the mother
only who can hear the voice of the fairy.
Predestination and Immortality
The Serbians believe firmly in predestination, and they say that
“there is no death without the appointed day” (Nema smrti bez soodyena
dana). They believe universally in the immortality of the soul,
of which even otherwise inanimate objects, such as forests, lakes,
mountains, sometimes partake. After the death of a man, the soul delays
its departure to the higher or lower spheres until the expiration of
a certain period (usually forty days), during which time it floats in
the air, and can perhaps enter into the body of some animal or insect.
Good and Evil Spirits
Spirits are usually good; in Montenegro the people believe that each
house has its Guardian-Spirit, whom they call syen or syenovik. Such
syens can enter into the body of a man, a dog, a snake, or even a
hen. In the like manner every forest, lake, and mountain has each
its syen, which is called by a Turkish word djin. So, for example,
the djin of the mountain Riyetchki Kom, near the northern side of
the lake of Scutari, does not allow passers-by to touch a branch or a
leaf in the perpetually green woods on the mountain side, and if any
traveller should gather as much as a flower or a leaf he is instantly
pursued by a dense fog and perceives miraculous and terrifying visions
in the air. The Albanians dread similar spirits of the woods in the
region round Lurya, where they do not dare touch even the dry branches
of fallen firs and larches. This recalls the worship of sacred bushes
common among the ancient Lithuanians.
Besides the good spirits there appear evil spirits (byess), demons,
and devils (dyavo), whom the Christians considered as pagan gods,
and other evil spirits (zli doossi) too, who exist in the bodies of
dead or of living men. These last are called vookodlaks or Vlkodlaks
(i.e. vook, meaning ‘wolf,’ and dlaka, meaning ‘hair’), and, according
to the popular belief, they cause solar and lunar eclipses. This
recalls the old Norse belief that the sun and moon were continually
pursued by hungry wolves, a similar attempt to explain the same natural
phenomena. Even to-day Serbian peasants believe that eclipses of the
sun and moon are caused by their becoming the prey of a hungry dragon,
who tries to swallow them. In other parts of Serbia it is generally
believed that such dragons are female beings. These mischievous
and very powerful creatures are credited with the destruction of
cornfields and vineyards, for they are responsible for the havoc
wrought by the hail-carrying clouds. When the peasants observe a
partial eclipse of the moon or the sun, believing that a hailstorm is
imminent, they gather in the village streets, and all–men, women,
and children–beat pots and pans together, fire pistols, and ring
bells in order to frighten away the threatening monster.
In Montenegro, Herzegovina, and Bocca Cattaro the people believe that
the soul of a sleeping man is wafted by the winds to the summit of a
mountain, and, when a number of such has assembled, they become fierce
giants who uproot trees to use as clubs and hurl rocks and stones at
one another. Their hissing and groans are heard especially during the
nights in spring and autumn. Those struggling crowds are not composed
merely of human souls, but include the spirits of many animals, such as
oxen, dogs, and even cocks, but oxen especially join in the struggles.
Witches
Female evil spirits are generally called veshtitze (singular,
veshtitza, derived obviously from the ancient Bohemian word ved, which
means ‘to know’), and are supposed to be old women possessed by an evil
spirit, irreconcilably hostile to men, to other women, and most of all
to children. They correspond more or less to the English conception of
‘witches.’ When an old woman goes to sleep, her soul leaves her body
and wanders about till it enters the body of a hen or, more frequently,
that of a black moth. Flying about, it enters those houses where there
are a number of children, for its favourite food is the heart of an
infant. From time to time veshtitze meet to take their supper together
in the branches of some tree. An old woman having the attributes of
a witch may join such meetings after having complied with the rules
prescribed by the experienced veshtitze, and this is usually done by
pronouncing certain stereotyped phrases. The peasants endeavour to
discover such creatures, and, if they succeed in finding out a witch,
a jury is hastily formed and is given full power to sentence her to
death. One of the most certain methods used to discover whether the
object of suspicion is really a witch or not, is to throw the victim
into the water, for if she floats she is surely a witch. In this case
she is usually burnt to death. This test was not unknown in England.
Vampires
The belief in the existence of vampires is universal throughout the
Balkans, and indeed it is not uncommon in certain parts of western
Europe. Some assert that this superstition must be connected with
the belief generally held in the Orthodox Church that the bodies of
those who have died while under excommunication by the Church are
incorruptible, and such bodies, being taken possession of by evil
spirits, appear before men in lonely places and murder them. In
Montenegro vampires are called lampirs or tenatz, and it is thought
that they suck the blood of sleeping men, and also of cattle and other
animals, returning to their graves after their nocturnal excursions
changed into mice. In order to discover the grave where the vampire
is, the Montenegrins take out a black horse, without blemish, and
lead it to the cemetery. The suspected corpse is dug up, pierced
with stakes and burnt. The authorities, of course, are opposed to
such superstitious practices, but some communities have threatened
to abandon their dwellings, and thus leave whole villages deserted,
unless allowed to ensure their safety in their own way. The code of
the Emperor Doushan the Powerful provides that a village in which
bodies of dead persons have been exhumed and burnt shall be punished
as severely as if a murder had been committed; and that a resnik, that
is, the priest who officiates at a ceremony of that kind, shall be
anathematized. Militchevitch, a famous Serbian ethnographist, relates
an incident where a resnik, as late as the beginning of the nineteenth
century, read prayers out of the apocrypha of Peroon when an exorcism
was required. The revolting custom has been completely suppressed in
Serbia. In Montenegro the Archbishop Peter II. endeavoured to uproot
it, but without entire success. In Bosnia, Istria and Bulgaria it
is also sometimes heard of. The belief in vampires is a superstition
widely spread throughout Roumania, Albania and Greece. [17]
Nature Worship
Even in our own day there are traces of sun and moon worship, and
many Serbian and Bulgarian poems celebrate the marriage of the sun
and the moon, and sing Danitza (the morning star) and Sedmoro Bratye
(‘The Seven Brothers’–evidently The Pleiades). [18] Every man has
his own star, which appears in the firmament at the moment of his
birth and is extinguished when he dies. Fire and lightning are also
worshipped. It is common belief that the earth rests on water, that
the water reposes on a fire and that that fire again is upon another
fire, which is called Zmayevska Vatra (‘Fire of the Dragons’).
Similarly the worship of animals has been preserved to our times. The
Serbians consider the bear to be no less than a man who has been
punished and turned into an animal. This they believe because the
bear can walk upright as a man does. The Montenegrins consider the
jackal (canis aureus) a semi-human being, because its howls at night
sound like the wails of a child. The roedeer (capreolus caprea) is
supposed to be guarded by veele, and therefore she so often escapes
the hunter. In some parts of Serbia and throughout Montenegro it is
a sin to kill a fox, or a bee.
The worship of certain snakes is common throughout the Balkans. In
Montenegro the people believe that a black snake lives in a hole
under every house, and if anybody should kill it, the head of the
house is sure to die. Certain water-snakes with fiery heads were also
considered of the same importance as the evil dragons (or hydra) who,
at one time, threatened ships sailing on the Lake of Scutari. One
of these hydras is still supposed to live in the Lake of Rikavatz,
in the deserted mountains of Eastern Montenegro, from the bottom of
which the hidden monster rises out of the water from time to time, and
returns heralded by great peals of thunder and flashes of lightning.
But the Southern Slavs do not represent the dragon as the Hellenes
did, that is to say as a monster in the form of a huge lizard or
serpent, with crested head, wings and great strong claws, for they
know this outward form is merely used as a misleading mask. In his
true character a dragon is a handsome youth, possessing superhuman
strength and courage, and he is usually represented as in love with
some beautiful princess or empress. [19]
Enchanters
Among celebrants of the various pagan rites, there is mention of
tcharobnitzi (enchanters), who are known to have lived also in
Russia, where, during the eleventh century, they sapped the new
Christianity. The Slavonic translation of the Gospel recognized
by the Church in the ninth century applies the name ‘tcharobnitzi’
to the three Holy Kings.
To this same category belong the resnitzi who, as is apparent in
the Emperor Doushan’s Code referred to previously, used to burn the
bodies of the dead. Resnik, which appears as a proper name in Serbia,
Bosnia and Croatia, means, according to all evidence, “the one who
is searching for truth.”
Sacrificial Rites
From translations of the Greek legends of the saints, the exact
terminology of the sacrificial ceremonies and the places where they
had been made is well known. Procopius mentions oxen as the animals
generally offered for sacrifice, but we find that calves, goats,
and sheep, in addition to oxen, were used by the Polapic Slavs and
Lithuanians, and that, according to Byzantine authorities, the Russians
used even birds as well. In Montenegro, on the occasion of raising a
new building, a ram or a cock is usually slaughtered in order that a
corner-stone may be besprinkled with its blood, and, at the ceremony of
inaugurating a new fountain, a goat is killed. Tradition tells of how
Prince Ivan Tzrnoyevitch once shot in front of a cavern an uncommonly
big wild goat that, being quite wet, shook water from its coat so that
instantly a river began to flow thence. This stream is called even
now the River of Tzrnoyevitch. The story reminds one of the goats’
horns and bodies of goats which are seen on the altar dedicated to
the Illyrian god, Bind, near a fountain in the province of Yapod.
It is a fact that Russians and Polapic Slavs used to offer human
sacrifices. Mention of such sacrifices among the Southern Slavs
is found only in the cycle of myths relating to certain buildings,
which, it was superstitiously believed, could be completed only if a
living human being were buried or immured. Such legends exist among
the Serbians and Montenegrins concerning the building of the fortress
Skadar (Scutari) and the bridge near Vishegrad; with the Bulgarians
in reference to building the fort Lidga-Hyssar, near Plovdiv, and the
Kadi-Koepri (Turkish for ‘the bridge of the judge’) on the river Struma;
and again among modern Greeks in their history of the bridge on the
river Arta, and the Roumanians of the church ‘Curtea de Ardyesh.’ It
seems very likely that certain enigmatic bas-reliefs, representing
oval human faces with just the eyes, nose and mouth, which are found
concealed under the cemented surface of the walls of old buildings
have some connexion with the sacrificial practice referred to. There
are three such heads in the fortress of Prince Dyouragy Brankovitch
at Smederevo (Semendria), not far from Belgrade, on the inner side of
the middle donjon fronting the Danube, and two others in the monastery
Rila on the exterior wall close to the Doupitchka Kapiya.
Funeral Customs
During the siege of Constantinople in the year 626, the Southern Slavs
burnt the bodies of their dead. The Russians did the same during the
battles near Silistria, 971, and subsequently commemorative services
were held in all parts of Russia, and the remains of the dead were
buried.
The Slavs of north Russia used to keep the ashes of the dead in a
small vessel, which they would place on a pillar by the side of a
public road; that custom persisted with the Vyatitchs of southern
Russia as late as 1100.
These funeral customs have been retained longest by the Lithuanians;
the last recorded instance of a pagan burial was when Keystut,
brother of the Grand Duke Olgerd, was interred in the year 1382,
that is to say, he was burnt together with his horses and arms,
falcons and hounds.
There are in existence upright stones, mostly heavy slabs of stone,
many of them broken, or square blocks and even columns, which
were called in the Middle Ages kami, or bileg, and now stetyak or
mramor. Such stones are to be found in large numbers close together;
for example, there are over 6000 in the province of Vlassenitza,
and some 22,000 in the whole of Herzegovina; some can be seen also in
Dalmatia, for instance, in Kanovli, and in Montenegro, at Nikshitch;
in Serbia, however, they are found only in Podrigne. These stones
are usually decorated with figures, which appear to be primitive
imitations of the work of Roman sculptors: arcades on columns, plant
designs, trees, swords and shields, figures of warriors carrying
their bows, horsemen, deer, bears, wild-boars, and falcons; there
are also oblong representations of male and female figures dancing
together and playing games.
The symbol of the Cross indicates the presence of
Christianity. Inscriptions appear only after the eleventh century. But
many tombstones plainly had their origin in the Middle Ages. Some
tombs, situated far from villages, are described by man’s personal
name in the chronicles relating to the demarcations of territories,
for example, Bolestino Groblye (the cemetery of Bolestino) near Ipek;
Druzetin Grob (the tomb of Druzet). In Konavla, near Ragusa, there
was in the year 1420 a certain point where important cross-roads met,
known as ‘Obugonov Grob.’ Even in our day there is a tombstone here
without inscription, called ‘Obugagn Greb.’ It is the grave of the
Governor Obuganitch, a descendant of the family of Lyoubibratitch,
famous in the fourteenth century.
Classic and Mediaeval Influence
When paganism had disappeared, the Southern-Slavonic legends received
many elements from the Greeks and Romans. There are references to the
Emperors Trajan and Diocletian as well as to mythical personages. In
the Balkans, Trajan is often confused with the Greek king Midas. In
the year 1433 Chevalier Bertrandon de la Broquiere heard from the
Greeks at Trajanople that this city had been built by the Emperor
Trajan, who had goat’s ears. The historian Tzetzes also mentions
that emperor’s goat’s ears otia tragou. In Serbian legends the
Emperor Trajan seems also to be confused with Daedalus, for he is
given war-wings in addition to the ears.
To the cycle of mediaeval myths we owe also the djins (giants) who dwelt
in caverns, and who are known by the Turkish name div–originally
Persian. Notable of the divs were those having only one eye–who
may be called a variety of cyclops–mentioned also in Bulgarian,
Croatian and Slovenian mythology. On the shores of the river Moratcha,
in Montenegro, there is a meadow called ‘Psoglavlya Livada’ with a
cavern in which such creatures are said to have lived at one time.
Significance of the Study
Chapter 1: Moor Presence in Serbia
PRINCE MARKO AND A MOORISH CHIEFTAIN
A great and powerful Moorish chieftain had built for himself a
magnificent castle, rising to the height of twenty storeys. The place
he had chosen for the castle was by the sea, and when it was quite
completed he had panes of the most beautiful glass put in for windows;
he hung all the rooms and halls with the richest silks and velvets and
then soliloquized thus: “O my koula, [30] why have I erected thee? for
there is no one but I who is there to tread, with gentle footsteps,
upon these fine rugs, and behold from these windows the blue and
shining sea. I have no mother, no sister, and I have not yet found a
wife. But I will assuredly go at once and seek the Sultan’s daughter
in marriage. The Sultan must either give me his daughter or meet me
in single combat.” As soon as the Moor, gazing at his castle, had
uttered these words, he wrote a most emphatic letter to the Sultan at
Istamboul, [31] the contents of which ran thus: “O Sire, I have built
a beautiful castle near the shore of the azure sea, but as yet it has
no mistress, for I have no wife. I ask thee, therefore, to bestow upon
me thy beloved daughter! In truth, I demand this; for if thou dost
not give thy daughter to me, then prepare thyself at once to meet me
face to face with thy sword. To this fight I now challenge thee!”
The letter reached the Sultan and he read it through. Immediately he
sought for one who would accept the challenge in his stead, promising
untold gold to the knight who would show himself willing to meet the
Moor. Many a bold man went forth to fight the Moor, but not one ever
returned to Istamboul.
Alas! the Sultan soon found himself in a most embarrassing position
for all his best fighters had lost their lives at the hand of the
haughty Moor. But even this misfortune was not the worst. The Moor
prepared himself in all his splendour, not omitting his finest sabre;
then he proceeded to saddle his steed Bedevia, securely fastening the
seven belts and put on her a golden curb. On one side of the saddle
he fastened his tent, and this he balanced on the other side with
his heaviest club. He sprang like lightning on to his charger, and
holding before him, defiantly, his sharpest lance, he rode straight
to Istamboul.
The instant he reached the walls of the fort, he spread his tent,
struck his lance well into the earth, bound his Bedevia to the lance
and forthwith imposed on the inhabitants a daily tax, consisting of:
one sheep, one batch of white loaves, one keg of pure brandy, two
barrels of red wine, and a beautiful maiden. Each maiden, after being
his slave and attending on him for twenty-four hours, he would sell
in Talia for large sums of money. This imposition went on for three
months, for none could stop it. But even yet there was a greater evil
to be met.
The Entrance of the Moor
The inhabitants of Istamboul were terrorized one day when the haughty
Moor mounted upon his dashing steed entered the city. He went to the
Palace, and cried loudly: “Lo! Sultan, wilt thou now, once and for
ever, give me thy daughter?” As he received no answer he struck the
walls of the Palace with his club so violently that the shattered
glass poured down from the windows like rain. When the Sultan saw
that the Moor might easily destroy the Palace and even the whole
city in this way, he was greatly alarmed, for he knew that there was
no alternative open to him in this horrible predicament but to give
up his only daughter. Although overwhelmed with shame, therefore,
he promised to do this. Pleased with his success, the Moor asked for
fifteen days’ delay before his marriage took place that he might go
back to his castle and make the necessary preparations.
When the Sultan’s daughter heard of her father’s desperate resolution,
she shrieked and exclaimed bitterly: “Alas! Behold my sorrow, O
almighty Allah! For whom have I been taught to prize my beauty? For a
Moor? Can it be true that a Moor shall imprint a kiss upon my visage?”
The Sultana’s Dream
That night the Sultana had a strange dream, in which the figure of
a man appeared before her, saying: “There is within the Empire of
Serbia a vast plain Kossovo; in that plain there is a city Prilip;
and in that city dwells the Royal Prince Marko who is known among
all men as a truly great hero.”
And the man went on to advise the Sultana to send, without delay, a
message to Prince Marko and beg him to become her son-in-God, and at
the same time to offer him immense fortune, for he was without doubt
the only one living likely to vanquish the terrible Moor and save
her daughter from a shameful fate. The next morning she sped to the
Sultan’s apartments and told him of her dream. The Sultan immediately
wrote a firman [32] and sent it to Prince Marko at Prilip, beseeching
him to journey with all speed to Istamboul and accept the challenge of
the Moor, and if he should succeed in saving the Princess the Sultan
would give him three tovars [33] of pure golden ducats.
When Marko read the firman, he said to the Sultan’s young courier,
a native of Tartary: “In the name of God go back, thou Sultan’s
messenger, and greet thy master–my father-in-God–tell him that I dare
not face the Moor. Do we not, all of us, know that he is invincible? If
he should cleave my head asunder, of what avail would three tovars,
or three thousand tovars, of gold be to me?”
The young Tartar brought back Marko’s answer which caused the
Sultana so much grief, that she determined to send a letter to him
herself, once more beseeching him to accept the challenge and this
time increasing the reward to five tovars of pure gold. But Marko,
though generally so chivalrous and courteous to all women, remained
inexorable, replying that he would not meet the Moor in combat even
if he were to be presented with all the treasure the Sultan possessed;
for he did not dare.
The Princess appeals to Marko
When the broken-hearted bride heard that this answer had come from
Marko she sprang to her feet, took a pen and some paper, struck her
rosy cheek with the pen and with her own blood traced the following:
“Hail, my dear brother-in-God, O, thou Royal Prince Marko! Be a true
brother to me! May God and Saint John be our witnesses! I implore thee,
do not suffer me to become the wife of the Moor! I promise thee seven
tovars of pure gold, seven boshtchaluks, which have been neither woven
nor spun, but are embroidered with pure gold. Moreover, I shall give
thee a golden plate decorated with a golden snake, whose raised head
is holding in its mouth a priceless gem, from which is shed a light
of such brilliance, that by it alone you can see at the darkest hour
of midnight as well as you can at noon. In addition to these I shall
present thee with a finely tempered sabre; this sabre has three hilts,
all of pure gold, and in each of them is set a precious stone. The
sabre alone is worth three cities. I shall affix to this weapon the
Sultan’s seal so that the Grand Vizir may never put thee to death
without first receiving his Majesty’s special command.”
When he had read this missive, Marko reflected thus: “Alas! O my dear
sister-in-God! It would be but to my great misfortune if I came to
serve thee, and to my still greater misfortune if I stayed away. For,
although I fear neither the Sultan nor the Sultana, I do in all truth
fear God and Saint John, by whom thou hast adjured me! Therefore I
now resolve to come and, if necessary, to face certain death!”
Marko prepares to succour the Princess
Having sent away the Princess’ messenger without telling him what he
had resolved to do, Marko entered his castle and put on his cloak and
a cap, made of wolves’ skins; next he girded on his sabre, selected
his most piercing lance, and went to the stables. For greater safety
he fastened the seven belts under the saddle of his Sharatz with his
own hands; he then attached a leathern bottle filled with red wine on
one side of his saddle and his weightiest war-club on the other. Now
he was ready and threw himself upon Sharatz and rode off to Istamboul.
Upon reaching his destination he did not go to pay his respects either
to the Sultan or to the Grand Vizir, but quietly took up his abode in
a new inn. That same evening, soon after sun-set, he led his horse to
a lake near by to be refreshed: but to his master’s surprise Sharatz
would not even taste the water, but kept turning his head first to
the right, then to the left, till Marko noticed the approach of a
Turkish maiden covered with a long gold-embroidered veil. When she
reached the edge of the water she bowed profoundly toward the lake
and said aloud: “God bless thee, O beauteous green lake! God bless
thee, for thou art to be my home for ever more! Within thy bosom am I
henceforth to dwell; I am now to die, O beauteous lake; rather would
I choose such a fate than become the bride of the cruel Moor!”
Marko greets the Princess
Marko went nearer to the maiden and spoke thus: “O, thou unhappy
Turkish maiden! What is thy trouble? What is it that has made thee
wish to drown thyself?”
She answered: “Leave me in peace, thou ugly dervish, [34] why dost
thou ask me, when there is nought that thou canst do to help me?”
Then the maiden related the story of her coming marriage with the
Moorish chieftain, of the messages sent to Marko, and finally she
bitterly cursed that Prince for the hardness of his heart.
Thereupon Marko said: “O, curse me not, dear sister-in-God! Marko is
here and is now speaking to thee himself!”
Hearing these words the maiden turned toward the famous knight,
embraced him and earnestly pleaded: “For God’s sake, O my brother
Marko! Suffer not the Moor to wed me!”
Marko was greatly affected, and declared: “O dear sister-in-God! I
swear that so long as my head remains upon my shoulders, I shall never
let the Moor have thee! Do not tell others that thou hast seen me
here, but request the Sultan and thy mother to have supper prepared
and sent to the inn for me, and, above all things, beg them to send
me plenty of wine. Meanwhile I shall await the Moor’s coming at the
inn. When the Moor arrives at the Palace, thy parents should welcome
him graciously, and they should go so far as to yield thee to him in
order to avoid a quarrel. And I know exactly the spot where I shall
be able to rescue thee, if it may so please the true God, and if my
customary good luck, and my strength, do not desert me.”
The Prince returned to the inn, and the maiden hastened back to
the Palace.
When the Sultan and the Sultana knew that Marko had come to their aid,
they were much comforted, and immediately ordered a sumptuous repast
to be sent to him, especially good red wine in abundance.
Now all the shops in Istamboul were closed, and there was silence
everywhere as Marko sat drinking the delicious wine in peace. The
landlord of the inn came presently to close his doors and windows,
and, questioned by Marko as to why the citizens were all shutting
up their dwellings so early that day, he answered: “By my faith,
you are indeed a stranger here! The Moorish chieftain has asked
for our Sultan’s daughter in marriage, and as, to our shame, she is
to be yielded to him, he is coming to the Palace to fetch her this
day. Therefore, owing to our terror of the Moor, we are forced to close
our shops.” But Marko did not allow the man to close the door of the
inn, for he wished to see the Moor and his gorgeous train pass by.
The Moor in Istamboul
At that very moment, as they were speaking, Marko could hear from
the city the clangour caused by the Moorish chieftain and his black
followers, numbering at least five hundred, and all in glittering
armour. The Moor had roused his Bedevia, and she trotted in such
a lively manner that the stones, which she threw up with her hoofs,
whizzed through the air in all directions, and broke windows and doors
in all the shops she passed! When the cavalcade came up to the inn,
the Moor thought: “Allah! I am struck with wonder and astonishment! The
windows and doors of all the shops and houses throughout the entire
city of Istamboul are closed from the great fear the people have of
me, except, I see, the doors of this inn. There must either be nobody
within, or if there is anybody inside, he is assuredly a great fool;
or perhaps he is a stranger, and has not yet been told how terrible
I am.” The Moor and his retinue passed that night in tents before
the Palace.
Next morning the Sultan himself presented his daughter to the Moorish
chieftain, together with all the wedding gifts, which were known to
weigh twelve tovars. As the wedding procession passed the inn where
Marko waited, the Moor again noticed the open door, but this time he
urged Bedevia right up to it to see who might be there.
Sharatz and Bedevia
Marko was seated at his ease in the most comfortable room the inn
could boast, leisurely drinking his favourite red wine; he was not
drinking from an ordinary goblet, but from a bowl which held twelve
litres; and each time he filled the bowl he would drink only one
half of its contents, giving, according to his habit, the other half
to his Sharatz. The Moor was on the point of attacking Marko, when
Sharatz barred his way and kicked viciously at Bedevia. The Moor,
meeting such unexpected resistance, promptly turned to rejoin the
procession. Then Marko rose to his feet, and, turning his cloak
and cap inside out, so that to the first glance of those who saw
him he presented the terrifying appearance of a wolf, inspected his
weapons and Sharatz’s belts carefully, and dashed on his charger after
the procession. He felled horsemen right and left, till he reached
the dever and the second witness, and killed them both. The Moorish
chieftain was immediately told of the stranger who had forced his way
into the midst of the procession, and of those whom he had killed, also
that he did not look like other knights, being clad in wolves’ skins.
Marko and the Moor
The Moor astride his Bedevia, wheeled round and addressed Marko thus:
“Ill fortune is indeed overtaking thee to-day, O stranger! Thou must
have been driven here by Satan to disturb my guests and even kill my
dever and second witness; thou must be either a fool, knowing nothing
of to-day’s events, or thou must be extremely fierce and hast gone
mad; but maybe thou art merely tired of life? By my faith, I shall
draw in the reins of my Bedevia, and shall spring over thy body seven
times; then shall I strike off thy head!” Thereupon Marko answered:
“Cease these lies, O Moor! If God, and my usual luck, do but attend me
now, thou shalt not even spring near to me; still less can I imagine
thee carrying out thy intention of springing over my body!” But,
behold! The Moor drew in his Bedevia, spurred her violently forward
and indeed he would have sprung over Marko, had not Sharatz been
the well-trained fighter that he was, and in a trice he reared so
as to receive the adversary against his forefeet and swiftly bit
off Bedevia’s right ear, from which blood gushed forth profusely
and streamed down over her neck and chest. In this way Marko and
the Moor struggled for four hours. Neither would give way, and when
finally the Moor saw that Marko was overpowering him, he wheeled
his steed Bedevia round and fled along the main street of Istamboul,
Marko after him. But the Moor’s Bedevia was swift as a veela of the
forest, and would certainly have escaped from Sharatz if Marko had
not suddenly recollected his club, and flung it after his adversary,
striking him between his shoulders. The Moor fell from his horse and
the Prince severed his head from his body. Next he captured Bedevia,
returned to the street where he had left the bride, and found, to his
astonishment, that she with her twelve tovars of presents, was alone,
awaiting him, for all the wedding-guests and the retinue of the Moorish
chieftain had fled at full gallop. Marko escorted the Princess back
to the Sultan, and cast the head of the Moorish chieftain at his feet.
The hero now took his leave and started at once on his journey back
to Prilip, and the following morning he received the seven tovars of
gold which had been promised to him, the many precious gifts which
the Princess had described, and last of all a message thanking him
for the marvellous deeds he had done, and telling him that the vast
stores of gold belonging to his father-in-God, the Sultan, would for
ever be at his disposal.
The Spread of Christianity
When the pagan Slavs occupied the Roman provinces, the Christian
region was limited to parts of the Byzantine provinces. In Dalmatia
after the fall of Salona, the archbishopric of Salona was transferred
to Spalato (Splyet), but in the papal bulls of the ninth century it
continued always to be styled Salonitana ecclesia, and it claimed
jurisdiction over the entire lands as far as the Danube.
According to Constantine Porphyrogenete, the Serbians adopted the
Christian faith at two different periods, first during the reign of
the Emperor Heraclius, who had requested the Pope to send a number of
priests to convert those peoples to the Christian faith. It is well
known, however, that the Slavs in Dalmatia even during the reign of
Pope John IV (640-642) remained pagans. No doubt Christianity spread
gradually from the Roman cities of Dalmatia to the various Slav
provinces. The Croatians already belonged to the Roman Church at the
time when its priests were converting the Serbians to Christianity
between the years 642 and 731, i.e., after the death of Pope John IV
and before Leon of Isauria had broken off his relations with Rome.
The second conversion of those of the Southern Slavs who had remained
pagans was effected, about 879, by the Emperor Basil I.
At first the Christian faith spread amongst the Southern Slavs only
superficially, because the people could not understand Latin prayers
and ecclesiastical books. It took root much more firmly and rapidly
when the ancient Slavonic language was used in the church services.
Owing to the differences arising over icons and the form their worship
should take, enthusiasm for the conversion of the pagans by the Latin
Church considerably lessened. In the Byzantine provinces, however,
there was no need for a special effort to be made to the people,
for the Slavs came in constant contact with the Greek Christians,
whose beliefs they adopted spontaneously.
From the Slavonic appellations of places appearing in certain official
lists, one can see that new episcopates were established exclusively
for the Slavs by the Greek Church. The bishops conducted their
services in Greek, but the priests and monks, who were born Slavs,
preached and instructed the people in their own languages. Thus they
prepared the ground for the great Slav apostles.
The Slav apostles of Salonica, Cyrillos and his elder brother
Methodius, were very learned men and philosophers. The principal of
the two, Cyrillos, was a priest and the librarian of the Patriarchate;
in addition he was a professor of philosophy in the University of
the Imperial Palace at Constantinople, and he was much esteemed on
account of his ecclesiastical erudition. Their great work began in 862
with the mission to the Emperor Michel III., with which the Moravian
Princes Rastislav and Svetopluk entrusted them.
The Moravians were already converted to Christianity, but they wished
to have teachers among them acquainted with the Slav language. Before
the brothers started on their journey, Cyrillos composed the Slav
alphabet and translated the Gospel.
Thus the Serbians obtained these Holy Books written in a language
familiar to them, and the doctrines of the great Master gradually,
but steadily, ousted the old, primitive religion which had taken
the form of pure Naturalism. But the worship of Nature could not
completely disappear, and has not, even to our day, vanished from the
popular creed of the Balkans. The folk-lore of those nations embodies
an abundance of religious and superstitious sentiment and rites handed
down from pre-Christian times, for after many years’ struggle paganism
was only partially abolished by the ritual of the Latin and afterwards
of the Greek Christian Church, to which all Serbians, including the
natives of Montenegro, Macedonia and parts of Bosnia, belong.
Superstition
The foundations of the Christian faith were never laid properly in
the Balkans owing to the lack of cultured priests, and this reason,
and the fact that the people love to cling to their old traditions,
probably accounts for religion having never taken a very deep hold on
them. Even to this day superstition is often stronger than religion,
or sometimes replaces it altogether. The whole daily life of the
Southern Slav is interwoven with all kinds of superstition. He is
superstitious about the manner in which he rises in the morning and
as to what he sees first; for instance, if he sees a monk, he is sure
to have an unfortunate day; when he builds a house, a ‘lucky spot’
must be found for its foundation. At night he is superstitious about
the way he lies down; he listens to hear if the cocks crow in time,
and if the dogs bark much, and how they are barking. He pays great
attention to the moment when thunder is first heard, what kind of
rain falls, how the stars shine–whether or not they shine at all,
and looks anxiously to see if the moon has a halo, and if the sun
shines through a cloud. All these things are portents and omens to
his superstitious mind, and they play a considerable part in all his
actions. When he intends to join a hunting expedition, for example,
he decides from them whether there will be game or not; he believes
that he is sure to shoot something if his wife, or sister (or any
other good-natured person) jumps over his gun before he calls up his
dogs. Especially there are numberless superstitions connected with
husbandry, for some of which fairly plausible explanations could be
given; for others, however, explanations are hopelessly unavailing,
and the reasons for their origin are totally forgotten. Nevertheless,
all superstitions are zealously observed because, the people say,
“it is well to do so,” or “our ancestors always did so and were happy,
why should we not do the same?”
The planting of fruit-trees and the growing of fruit must be aided by
charms, and numerous feasts are organized to secure a fruitful year,
or to prevent floods, hail, drought, frost, and other disasters. But
undoubtedly the greatest number of superstitions exist regarding the
daily customs, most of which refer to birth, marriage and death. Charms
are used to discover a future bridegroom or bride; to make a young man
fall in love with a maid or vice versa; also, if it seems desirable,
to make them hate each other. Sorcery is resorted to to ensure the
fulfilment of the bride’s wishes with regard to children; their
number and sex are decided upon, their health is ensured in advance,
favourable conditions are arranged for their appearance. Death can
come, it is believed, only when the Archangel Michael removes a soul
from its body, and that can only happen on the appointed day.