Part 7

"Ako bi te u pjesmu pjevala, Pjesma ide od usta do usta, Pa ce doci u pogana usta; Ako bi te u rukave vezla, Rukav ce se odma izderati, Pa ce tvoje ime poginuti; Ako bi te u knjigu pisala Knjiga ide od ruke do ruke, Pa ce doci u pogane ruke."

Vuk i. p. 200 ]

[Footnote 20: The popular national dance of the Serbians. (S. J. B.)]

[Footnote 21: _Bosiljak_, the _Ocimum basilicum_ of Linne (S. J. B.)]

[Footnote 22: As the Serbians have had during the long Ottoman rule to attend to much sterner duties than that of cultivating literature and art, and, as the greater part of the population (sixty per cent at least) are even to this day completely illiterate, ability to read and write is still considered an 'art' with the peasantry. (Edit.)]

[Footnote 23: _Kaloper_, balsamita vulgaris of Linne. (S. J. B.)]

[Footnote 24: _Vila_ (pronounced veelah) is with the Serbians a female deity (Muse or Grace) of incomparable beauty and tenderness. But she can be very hostile to mortals. (Cf. note 16. Edit.)]

[Footnote 25: The cuckoo (_Kukavica_), according to Serbian tradition, was a maiden who mourned so unceasingly for a dead brother, that she was changed into a bird, and thence continues without rest her melancholy note. A Serbian girl who has lost a brother never hears a cuckoo without shedding tears.--"I a poor cuckoo," is equivalent to "woe is me!" (S. J. B.)]

[Footnote 26: _Ban_ is obviously a corrupt form of the Polish or Cech or Ruthenian title _Pan_, meaning "Mr." or, in direct address, "Sir." To this day that word has been conserved only by those Serbians who have lived in the Austro-Hungarian territory called Croatia, and is applied as a title to their political chief. (Edit.)]

[Footnote 27: Lado is the vocative of _Lada_, the goddess of love, in the old Slavonian mythology. _Lado!_ is a melancholy interjection in Serbian, whereas _Lele!_ the vocative of Lela, the god of love, has frequently a cheerful association. _Polela_ (after love) the goddess of marriage, is also sometimes apostrophised. Talvj remarks, that _Ljad_, in Russian, signifies misfortune. In common parlance, _Lele mene_ (Serbian) imports "Woe is me!" (S. J. B.)]

[Footnote 28: _Mlinar_, the miller. (S. J. B.)]

[Footnote 29: Wesely imagines that this expression has been introduced into Serbian poetry by the influence of the interesting ballad on the marriage of Maxim Cernojevic (see _Quarterly Review_ for December, 1826). The intimate intercourse which existed between Serbia and Venice may account for the phraseology. (S. J. B.)]

[Footnote 30: This song, as also others signed "O. M.", has been transversified by Robert Bulwer Lytton (Owen Meredith), "Serbske Pesme; or National Songs of Serbia," London, 1861. (Edit.)]

[Footnote 31: _Kolo_, signifying literally a wheel, is the generic term for all the Serbian national dances in most of which the dancers, either taking hands, or united each to each by a handkerchief tied round the waist or to the girdle, form a ring and advance or retreat to and from the centre to a monotonous music, either of the voice or some very simple wind instruments. Both sexes take part in these dances, which are frequently in the open air. (O. M.)]

[Footnote 32: This song as also those signed "J. W. W.", has been transversified and published by J. W. Wiles, "Serbian Songs and Poems: Chords of the Yugoslav Harp," New York, 1917.]

[Footnote 33: _Hodza_, i. e. Mohammedan priest. (J. W. W.)]

[Footnote 34: Turkish seminary. (J. W. W.)]

[Footnote 35: _Kalfa_, governess. (J. W. W.)]

[Footnote 36: _Koledo_: In ancient times the Serbians, as all the Slavs, often used this word as a refrain in their bucolic songs. It was an address to _Ledo_, the ancient Slav divinity who presided over the process of fertility and protected fields and flowers. (J. W. W.)]

[Footnote 37: Loud lamentations, by women rather than men, are an ancient custom among the Serbs. These dirges are again and again extemporized with spontaneous poetic feeling. Girls let down their hair and lament in the orchards and precincts of the house. (J. W. W.)]

[Footnote 38: This song, as well as others signed "B. S. S.," has been rendered into English by the Editor.]

[Footnote 39: "The Prayer of Karageorge's Lady" is number 685 of Vol. I of Vuk Karadzic's collection. (Edition of 1891.)

[Footnote 40: No. 428 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 41: No. 445 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 42: No. 468 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 43: No. 474 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 44: No. 581 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 45: No. 792 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 46: No. 765 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 47: No. 247 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 48: No. 314 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 49: No. 338 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 50: No. 409 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 51: No. 446 Vol. V. (Edition of 1898).]

[Footnote 52: No. 298 Vol. V. (Edition of 1898).]

[Footnote 53: No. 279 Vol. V. (Edition of 1898).]

[Footnote 54: No. 335 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 55: No. 309 Vol. V. (Edition of 1898).]

[Footnote 56: No. 294 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 57: No. 466 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 58: No. 459 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 59: No. 453 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 60: No. 287 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 61: No. 472 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 62: No. 473 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 63: No. 482 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 64: No. 487 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 65: No. 488 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 66: No. 491 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 67: No. 300 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 68: No. 359 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]

[Footnote 69: No. 422 Vol. I. (Edition of 1891).]