Then the maid replied to Osman’s mother:
“Lady Anka! Osman Aga’s mother—
I have falcon eyes—and eyes of devils:
With them I can ope thy maple dwelling—
With them visit, too, thy Osman Aga.”
BROTHERLESS SISTERS.
Two solitary sisters, who
A brother’s fondness never knew,
Agreed, poor girls, with one another,
That they would make themselves a brother:
They cut them silk, as snow-drops white;
And silk, as richest rubies bright;
They carved his body from a bough
Of box-tree from the mountain’s brow;
Two jewels dark for eyes they gave;
For eyebrows, from the ocean’s wave
They took two leeches; and for teeth
Fix’d pearls above, and pearls beneath;
For food they gave him honey sweet,
And said, “Now live, and speak, and eat.”
MISFORTUNES.
On the hill, the fir-tree hill,
Grows a tall fir-tree:
There a maiden, calm and still,
Sits delightedly.
To a youthful swain she pledges
Vows: “O come to me:
Lightly spring across the hedges:
Come—but silently.
Come at eve—lest harm betide thee.
If any home thou seek,
In our quiet dwelling hide thee;
Not a whisper speak.”
As he o’er the hedges sprung,
Lo! a twig he tore:
When the house-door ope he flung,
Noisy was the door.
When he enter’d in, there fell
Shelves upon the floor,
’Twas the broken china’s knell—
O the luckless hour!
Then her mother comes afeard,
Trips and cuts her knee;
And her father burns his beard
In perplexity.
And the youth must quench the fire,
And the maiden must retire.
TIMIDITY.
Lo! upon the mountain green
Stands a fir tree tall and thin—
’Tis no fir tree—none at all—
’Tis a maiden thin and tall.
Three long years the enamour’d one
Fed upon her eyes alone;
On the fourth, he sought the bliss
Of the maiden’s primal kiss:
“Why, thou witching maid! repel me—
Why with foot of scorn dost tread,
On my feet, my boots of red!
Why despise me, maiden! tell me.”
“No, my friend, I will not tread
On thy feet, thy boots of red!
Come at evening—come and string
Pearls for me—and thou shalt fling
O’er me my embroider’d shawl.
We will go at morning’s call
To the Kolo—Friend! but thou
Must not touch the maiden now—
Know’st thou not that busy slander
Follows us where’er we wander?
Evil tongues are ever talking;
Calumny abroad is walking.
Know’st thou that a simple kiss
Ample food for slander is?
‘Never did we kiss,’ you’ll say,
‘Till last evening and to-day.’
Come at evening—come my dear!
Sisters’ eyes will watch thee here.”
YOUTH ENAMOURED.
“Where wert thou, Misho! yesterday?”
‘O ’twas a happy day to me!
A lovely maiden cross’d my way,
A maiden smiling lovelily.
And those sweet smiles for me were meant;
I claimed her—mother answer’d ‘No!’
Would steal her—vain was the intent,
For many guardians watch’d her so.
There grows a verdant almond-tree
Before her house—its boughs I’ll climb;
Wail like a cuckoo mournfully,
And swallow-like, at evening time,
Pour forth my woe in throbbings deep,
And like a sorrowing widow sigh,
And like a youthful maiden weep.
So may her mother turn her eye,
Pitying my grief, her heart may move,
And she may give me her I love.’