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Projekat Rastko Gračanica - Peć: Umetnost: Serbian Epic Poetry: The Miracle of Tsar Lazar |
When the Tsar
Lazar has been beheaded
On the fair and pleasant field Kossovo,
Not a Serbian warrior beheld it,
But a Turkish boy, a slave, was
present,
Born a slave, but of a Serbian mother;
And he speaks thus to
the Turkish
warriors:
"Woe to me, oh Turks, oh my dear brothers,
For this is the
head of a great noble,
And it were a sin 'gainst God Almighty
If the
eagles and the ravens pecked it [2],
If upon it men and horses trampled."...
Takes the head then of Lazar the
holy
Wraps it in his many-coloured mantle,
Bears it to the waters of a
fountain.
There it lay for forty lovely summers,
While the body lay upon
Kossovo,
Pecked not by the eagles and the ravens,
Trampled not by horses
or by heroes.
Now dear God, all thanks to Thee be given!
On a day there came some
youthful teamsters
From the white and pleasant town of Skoplje,
In their waggons they bear Greeks and Bulgars,
They will bring them unto
Nish
and Vidni,
And they spend the night upon Kossovo.
There together sup the youthful
teamsters
And when they have supped they all grow thirsty.
Then amongst
themselves they light a lantern,
Light a lantern with its shining candle,
And they seek for water on Kossovo.
By a hazard, chance has led their footsteps
Led their footsteps to the
chilly fountain,
And thus speaks one of the youthful teamsters:
"See the
moonlight shining in the water."
Speaks the second of the youthful
teamsters:
"It is not the moonlight shining, brothers."
But the third is
silent, no word says he,
And towards the east he turns him straightly
And the one true God he loudly praises,
Praises God and Nicholas the
Holy:
"Help me God, and Nicholas be witness!"
Then he wades into the
chilly fountain
And he takes the head from out the waters,
Takes the
head of Tsar Lazar the holy.
Then he places it upon the green grass,
And
he fetches water in a goblet,
And the three young teamsters drink
together.
When they looked again upon the black earth
Lo, the head was not upon the
green grass,
But it moved along upon Kossovo,
Holy head towards most
holy body,
And the two were once more joined together.
When the white day dawned upon the morrow,
Then the youthful teamsters
brought the tidings,
Brought the tidings to the holy fathers.
And there
came three hundred holy fathers,
And with them there came twelve pious
bishops,
And four patriarchs came with the bishops
From Jerusalem the
holy city,
And from Petch, and
from Constantinople.
They put on their sacerdotal vestments,
They put on
their vestments, and their head-dress,
In their hands the Ancient Books they
carried,
Solemn prayers upon the plain they chanted,
And they kept
unceasing holy vigil--
Three dark nights and three days, kept their vigil.
Never sitting down and never resting,
Never lying down and never
sleeping,
Questioned they the Tsar Lazar, the holy,
Unto which
foundation they should bear him;
Unto Krushedol or to Apóvo,
Unto Jaska
or to Beshenova,
Unto Rakovatz of Shishatovatz,
Unto Kuveždin or unto
Djivsha,
Or if he would go to Macedonia:
But to neither would the saint
be carried---
He preferred to all his own foundation,
He preferred his
splendid Ravanitza
At the foot of the high mountain Kuchaj;
For Lazar built there to God a
temple
While he lived and ruled amongst his people,
Built a church for
his own soul's salvation,
Built with his own bread and his own treasure,
Not with tears of widows and of orphans.
Return to Index.
April 3, 1999
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