Heroic Ballads Of Servia

The purpose of the present volume is to give specimens of the best portions of a ballad literature that is among the most remarkable in Europe. For the translation of the ballads from the Servian, and for the introduction and notes, I am responsible; Mr. Bacon has transformed my prose texts into English verse. Each of us, however, has of course made suggestions as to the work of the other. Most of the material in the introduction I have taken from Karájich (see below, p, 11), and from the concise Sketch of Servian Literature (in Servian) of Professor Pópovich (Belgrade, 1909). For various minor details in the book as a whole I am indebted to several previous translators from the Servian and writers on Servia and its literature; to be exact, to Bowring, Servian Popular Poetry (London, 1827); Elodie Lawton Mijatovich, Kossovo (London, 1881); D’Avril, La Bataille de Kossovo (Paris, 1868); Vogl, Marko Kraljevits (Vienna, 1851); Chedo Mijatovich, Servia and the Servians (Boston, Page, 1908); Lazarovich-Hrebelianovich, The Servian People (New York, Scribner, 1910); W. Miller, The Balkans (New York, Putnam, 1896); Ranke, Serbien und die Türkei im neunzehnten Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1879; also translated by Kerr, London, 1847). To Messrs. Charles Scribner’s Sons and G. P. Putnam’s Sons I am indebted for their courteous permission to reprint passages of some length from the copyright works published by them. Next to Karájich and Pópovich, however, I owe most to Mr. Milivoy S. Stanoyevich, a graduate of the University of Belgrade, who has aided me in various ways, notably in the selection of the later ballads, in the translation of difficult passages, and in the accentuation of the Servian names. Without his kindly help this volume would be much more imperfect than it is at present.