“If thou dost I’ll fill thy ribs with sand,
Bury thee in mud, change thee to solid land.
Perhaps thou knowest not the guest
I bring to break the sultan’s rest.”
So the sea insisted,
For he loved the brave Slavonic band;
And Bosphorus desisted,
While in slumber lay the Turkish land.
The lazy Sultan in his harem slept,
But only in Skutari the weary pris’ners wept.