Hearing this, the young prince sprang joyfully to his feet and opened his arms to the beauteous maiden. He was by no means insensible to her charms, and he exclaimed with fervour: “Thou hast my princely promise that I shall love thee and be faithful to thee—as it is the duty of a true knight so to be. May the Lord Jhesu in Heaven be my witness!”
Then the vizier’s daughter opened the twelve doors one after the other and the young couple soon stood in the glorious fresh air under the sky, which was bespangled with silver stars, and radiant with the light of the moon.
From the vizier’s treasury they took three tovars of gold, and from his stables his two best horses. And the maiden gave Stephan a sabre studded with large diamonds—it was worth half of Novi Bazar—saying: “Take this sword, my darling lord: that thou mayest not be compelled to give way to inferior heroes, if we should be molested on our way!”
Then they mounted the horses and urged them swiftly away: in one night they put a distance between them and the vizier’s castle which a caravan could not cover in less than three days and three nights. At dawn of the next day they reached Belgrade, and Prince Stephan immediately summoned twelve monks, who baptized the fair Turkish maiden, after which the young couple were happily united.
The Ending of the Ballad
The bard finishes his ballad with the following stereotyped ending very usual with Montenegrins:
“This happened once upon a time; let us, O brethren, pray of God to grant our holy Vladika[7] good health! Amen, O God, to whom we always pray!”
Serbian bards did not as a rule end in this manner, but contented themselves with wishing good health to their audiences.