"At that time, as I have said before, the Christians were groaning under the Turkish yoke, and several attempts had already been made to shake it off; nay, many of the struggles which had taken place between the Turks and the men of the Kotar had been most successful, as they had for their chief, Jancovic Stoyan, or Stephen, known in history as 'the clearer of Turkish heads.' These continual skirmishes had weakened our oppressors in such a way, and spread so much fear amongst them, that Kuna Hassan never felt sure whenever he left his castle walls. Finding himself reduced to this extremity, he determined to muster all the troops he could get together and make war upon the Christians.
"And now," said Giulianic, "I think I can give you some of Kacic's verses on this subject;" therefore, taking a guitar, he sang as follows:
"A letter wrote Hassan Aga
From Knin itself, the white-walled town;
He sent it to the bordering Turks,
To Mujo and to Velagic.
"And in this letter Kuna spake:
'Oh! brave men of my border-lands,
Now muster all your borderers,
And hie to Knin, the white-walled town.
"'For we shall raid upon Kotar,
And there rich plunder shall we get
Both gold and young Molachian maids,
Shall be the prize of all the brave.
"'Kotar will be an easy prey
For you, the warriors of the Cross!
Besides, the Sirdars are away,
And Stoyan is in Venice now.
"'Milikovic has fallen sick,
Mocivana has lost his horse,
Mircetic has sprained his hand,
And Klana to a feast is gone.'
"The Bulju Pasha heard all this,
And wisely answered to Kuna:
'Forbear, Kuna Aga; forbear
To make a raid upon Kotar!'"
Giulianic stopped to take breath. "The poem is long," said he, "and I am old; I shall relate the story in my own words: – Well, Kuna Hassan Aga would not be dissuaded, especially as the Dizdars were for it. The expedition took place. Jelascovic and Velagic – called the snakes of the empire, on account of their strength and craft – came to Kuna's castle, bringing each man three hundred men with him. The Agamustered as many men himself, and with this little array they set off for the Kotar. At first they were successful; they fell upon the open country, plundering and sacking, carrying away young boys and girls as slaves, finding nowhere the slightest opposition. It was not a war, but a military march; thus they went on until they reached the lovely meadows at the foot of the hills of Otre, a most pleasant country, watered by many rivulets.
"There they pitched their tents, and began to prepare their meal and make merry. All at once as the sun went down, a slight mist began to rise from the waters and from the marshes of Ostrovizza, not very far off from there. As the day declined, the fog grew denser, and when night came on Jancovic Stoyan, who had returned from Venice, together with the other Sirdars, fell upon them, threw them upon the marshes, and not only obliged them to give back all their plunder, but killed more than six hundred of their men. It was only with great difficulty that the Aga and Dizdars got back to Knin; they were all in a sorry plight, regretting deeply not to have followed Sarè's advice.
"Shortly after this, Kuna Hassan, having recovered from the wounds he had received, gathered again all his chief warriors together. Then he made them a long speech, saying that it was time that the Christian hornets should be done away with, and their nests destroyed, for, if left alive, they would daily become more troublesome; then he made them many promises, so as to induce them to fight, but without much success. At last he offered the hand of his handsome daughter, who, as I have said, was indeed as beautiful as a heavenly houri, and a bride fit for the Sultan, or the Prophet himself, to the bold warrior who would bring him the head of Jancovic Stoyan, or those of the three hundred Christians. The prize he requested was a great one, but the reward he offered was such as to inflame the hearts of the greatest cowards.
"However, amongst the warriors that Kuna Hassan had gathered together that day, neither old Sarè nor his son, the handsome standard-bearer, had been requested to attend, doubtless, because theAga had thought the Bulju Pasha too old, and his son too young and too rash, for such an undertaking. Perhaps he also felt a grudge against the Bulju Pasha for having dissuaded him from the first attack, which had met with such a bad success.
"When poor Hussein heard of the slight he and his father had met with, he was very much grieved, for, though he was the Aga's standard-bearer, he had been treated as a mere boy. Moreover, he was madly in love with the beautiful Ayesha, who returned his affection. In fact, whenever she had an opportunity, she sent him a message by one of the eunuchs, and every time he used to pass under her window she was at the lattice, and she often dropped a flower, or even her handkerchief, if no one was looking on.
"Hussein would have risked his life to try and obtain her; nay, he would even have gone to Zara and fight Stoyan, if he could get her father's consent to wed her.
"As for the Sirdars, they were only too glad that Hussein was not amongst the warriors called forth to strive for Ayesha's hand, nor would they now allow any new pretender to come forth and take part in their raids with them.
"During the many skirmishes that took place round about Knin, Hussein had been left to take care of the castle, and then he had succeeded in bribing the head eunuch to allow him to talk with Ayesha.
"This keeper, knowing how fond his mistress was of the handsome standard-bearer, had consented to allow the lovers to meet, while he watched over their safety.
"At first, when all the Mussulman warriors met with so many losses, the lovers were happy, for they thought it would be years before any of them could ask for their reward; but afterwards, when it was known that Velagic's heap of heads was daily increasing, their gladness of heart changed into the deepest sorrow. Both saw that there was very little chance of their ever being able to marry, and Ayesha, rather than give up the man she loved so deeply and become the wife of the old Dizdar, whom she detested, proposed to her lover that they should run away together.
"They waited till the very last moment, thinking that Velagic might be killed, or some other unforeseen circumstance might take place; but they had no Kismet, for the Dizdar seemed to have a charmed life; he had already got together about two hundred and ninety heads. How he had got them, nobody could understand, for he had never received the slightest wound in any of his many fights.
"The last time the lovers met, they agreed that the day upon which Velagic brought the ten last heads they would make their escape. Hussein, upon that night, was to be on the rocks at the foot of the castle, somewhere near the place occupied by the harem; then, at midnight, when all the town had sunk into rest, and all the lights were extinguished, Ayesha would put a taper by her window to guide him if everything was ready for their flight. After the muezzin had called the faithful to prayers, she would open the lattice and throw out a rope-ladder, by means of which he would climb up into the castle. There he was to be received by the eunuch that had hitherto befriended him – be led to her chamber-door. From there they would pass by an underground passage, the keys of which she had. This passage had an outlet, somewhere beyond the town, near the bridge, where, indeed, there is a kind of den or hole. There Hussein was to have swift horses ready, so that they might at once escape to Zara or Sebenico, and if that was not far enough, they could