Through the Land of the SerbDurham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
History
Through the Land of the Serb
Durham, M. E. (Mary Edith)
Montenegro -- Description and travel; Serbia -- Description and travel
"A knyghte there was and that a worthy man
That from the time that he first began
To riden out, he loved chivalrie,
Truth and honoure, freedom and courtesie.
Full worthie was he in his lordes warre....
He was a very perfect gentle knyghte," etc.
And had he not too "fought often for his faith" against "a hethen in
Turkeye"? The truth of the mediæval picture charmed me, and the knight
armed with a white cotton umbrella went off in a shandrydan to pay his
respects at the Palace on the beach.
The weather never cleared, so we saw no more of Antivari that time.
Blinding torrential rain and fierce blasts of wind crashed on the
cottage walls. The fat frogs in the pond sat up, and their hoarse
shouts, "brek-kek-kek-kek-koax-koax," resounded in every lull of the
storm. We waited for the only diligence, and returned by it to Virbazar,
and had as travelling companion our old friend of the inn, who, to our
distress, would persist in occupying the small seat back to the horses,
and was miserably uncomfortable in consequence. At last neither of us
dared stir, as the slightest movement on our part brought an apology for
the inconvenience he was sure he was causing us. To make up for this, he
tried to tell us all about the road as we went along, though speaking
Italian was a great labour to him. He had taken part in the siege of
Antivari. "Ah!" he said, "that was terrible. All those weeks. And in the
winter. They are brave men, the Turks." He pointed down the valley
where, through rifts in the mist, we could see the stream. "The Austrian
frontier," he said sadly. "Austrian. And we gave our blood for that
land. It was ours. And they took it from us. They gave it to Austria. I
do not understand it." I do not think that the affairs of the outer
world entered into his head at all. Montenegro and abstract justice were
all he wanted. Russia was a distant Providence who would assist the
right to prevail. But the wheels within wheels and the shuffling of
international politics were a mystery to his primitive, honest soul.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account