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from Volkslieder (Folksongs)
Translation from Volkslieder (Folksongs)

from a Serbian epic
Language: English  after the Serbian (Српски) 
Our translations:  GER
In the lovely village of Nevesinje,
Bey Lujibovic writes a letter
and sends it to the Rocky Piva,
into the hands of Bey Pivlyanahin:

"Listen you, Bey Pivlyanahin,
You bit right into my heart, 
for you killed my brother.
Ahi! Ahi!
Come out you, I dare you to fight!
I give you three choices:
First at the rocky Korita,
second on Trusina Hill,
the third, where ever we should meet by chance:
If you lack the courage to fight,
I will send you an embroidering frame and a distaff,
and moreover an Egyptian cotton reel 
with a boxwood spindle;
you may weave for me a shirt 
and a lacy apron."

When the letter reached Baya,
he understood the contents:
he reached for his inkwell,
and wrote the Bey an answer.

Text Authorship:

  • from Volkslieder (Folksongs)  [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in Serbian (Српски) from Volkslieder (Folksongs)  [text unavailable]
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Judith Weir (b. 1954), "from a Serbian epic", from Songs from the Exotic, no. 2. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Available translations, adaptations, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • GER German (Deutsch) (Frieder Anders) , title 1: "Aus einem serbischen Epos", copyright © 2013, (re)printed on this website with kind permission


Researcher for this page: Clive Robinson

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 23
Word count: 130

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