{105} Of the Servian heroes, _Marko_ (ob. 1392) is without comparison the most illustrious. He (says Goethe) is represented as holding almost equal intercourse with the Adrianople sultan, and appears like a coarser representation of the Grecian Hercules or the Persian Rustan, though indeed in a most Scythian and barbaric shape. He mounts a steed (Sharaz), aged a century and a half, himself being three centuries old. He perishes at last in all the plenitude of his strength; nor is it easy to discover why. {106} There are other accounts of Marko’s death, which are more accordant with historical records. Some state that he fell in a battle between the Turks and the Wallachian Voivode Mirscheta, which took place near the village of Rovine. Others say that he perished with his horse in a morass, in Krania, not far from the Danube; and the morass is yet pointed out, where the ruins of an old church are said to mark his burial-place. Others narrate that he was miraculously conveyed away from the field of battle above mentioned, to a mountain-cavern, where his wounds were healed, and where he still lives.—Talvj, vol. i. p. 285. {112} Of this little poem, which Goethe calls “wonderful,” the following is an almost literal translation:— Full of wine, white branches of the vine-trees To white Buda’s fortress white had clung them: No! it was no vine-tree, white and pregnant! No! it was a pair of faithful lovers, From their early youth betrothed together. Now they are compell’d to part untimely. One address’d the other at their parting, “Go! my soul! burst out and leave my bosom! Thou wilt find a hedge-surrounded garden, And a red-rose branch within the garden; Pluck a rose from off the branch, and place it, Place it on thy heart, within thy bosom; Then behold!—ev’n as that rose is fading, Fades my heart within thy heart thou loved one!” And thus answer’d then the other lover: “Thou, my soul! turn back a few short paces. There thou wilt discern a verdant forest; In it is a fount of crystal water; In the fount there is a block of marble; On the marble block a golden goblet; In the goblet thou wilt find a snow-ball. Love! take out that snow-ball from the goblet, Lay it on thy heart within thy bosom; See it melt—and as it melts, my lov’d one! So my heart within thy heart is melting.” {116} _Smilia_, the _grapharium arenarium_, or “lovely love.” Also a woman’s name. {117} This song is sung at the close of the harvest, when all the reapers are gathered together. Half as many reeds as the number of persons present are so bound that no one can distinguish the two ends which belong to the same reed. Each man takes one end of the reeds on one side, each of the women takes one end at the other:—The withes that bind the reeds are severed, and the couples that hold the same reed kiss one another. {118} _Kalpak_—the fur cap of the Servians.