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Islamic Studies 3 6 : 2, 3 ( 1 9 9 7) 143
features; Aga hie, BuljubaSa Dianan, Ghazi Khusrew Beg, Him Beg DjumiSiC,
Smail Aga Cengic, and others, of the most distinguished of whom, the Beg
Ljubovic, the folk song says:
Lend ear, forsooth, my Beg, you Ljubovic,
From the wolf only wolf, from the brigand a brigand springs.
Always was a falcon only of a falcon born,
And always falcons have been given birth
At the hearth of Beg LjuboviC's home!13
The following translation is an example of the epic poetry of the
Bosnian Muslims. The song concerns the marriage of Ajkuna, the sister of Beg
Ljubovic (no relation to the Hrnjica brothers).
Never, since the world had its beginning,
Never did a lovelier flow'ret blossom
Than the flow'ret we ourselves saw blooming
In the white court of the Bey Ljubovid.
High above the level Nevesinje
Tower'd the fascinating maid Ajkuna;
She, the Bey Ljubovic's lovely sister.
She was lovely - nothing e'er was lovelier;
She was tall and slender as the pine tree;
White her cheeks, but tinged with rosy blushes,
As if morning's beam had shone upon them,
Till that beam had reach'd its high meridian;
And her eyes, they were two precious jewels;
And her eyebrows, leeches from the ocean;
And her eyelids, they were wings of swallows;
Silken tufts the maiden's flaxen ringlets;
And her sweet mouth was a sugar casket;
And her teeth were pearls array'd in order;
White her bosom, like two snowy dovelets;
And her voice was like the dovelet's cooing;
And her smiles were like the glowing sunshine;
And the fame, the story of her beauty
Spread through Bosnia and through Hercegovina.
Many a suitor on the maiden waited:
Two were unremitting in their service;
One, the old grey-headed Mustafl-Aga -
He of Krajina, from the Novi fortress,I4
And the other, Suko of Udbina,15
Both together met the self-same evening,