ed as if both heroes had grown fast to their
saddles, so unshakable were they.

At last they jumped from their horses and fought hand to hand with
lances. All day long and all night long they struggled, until Ilia
finally fell wounded to the ground. Zidovin kneeled on his breast, drew
out his sharp knife, and was about to cut off the head of his enemy.

Ilia meantime was thinking, "Surely the holy fathers did not lie to me
when they said that I should not lose my life in battle."

Then suddenly he felt his strength redoubled, and he hurled Zidovin from
him with such force that his body touched the clouds before it fell
again in the moist earth at his feet. Cutting off the warrior's head, he
mounted his horse and rode back to the castle. To his knights he said:

"Thirty years have I ridden in the field and thirty years have I fought
with heroes and tested my strength; but such a mighty man as Zidovin
have I in all that time never met."

KRALEWITZ MARKO OF SERVIA

Kralewitz Marko was the son of a Servian king who lived many, many years
ago. He was very fond of hunting, and one day he rode forth on his horse
Saria to the mountain Sargau. Being tired, he dismounted, tied his horse
to a tree, sat down in its shade and fell asleep.

And as he slept it happened that Arbanes Neda with his seven brothers
rode by. They all dismounted, lifted Kralewitz, bound him to his horse,
and rode away with him to Jedrena, where they presented him to the
vizier.

Highly pleased over the gift, the vizier took the king's son and threw
him into prison. Two long years Kralewitz lay there, longing for liberty
and home. Then he learned that in a few days he was to be executed.

Immediately he wrote a letter to his friend, Milos Obilis, asking for
help. This important message he entrusted to his only companion, a white
falcon. Tying the letter under the bird's wing he set it free.

The falcon easily found its way, alighted on Milos' window, and was
admitted. Scarcely had Milos read the letter, when he and two of his
friends were ready to set out for Jedrena. They reached there the day
before the execution.

In the morning the gate of the city was opened and Marko was led out.
Milos and his companions accompanied the mournful procession to an open
field in which the execution was to take place. Two Arabs stood up with
gleaming swords prepared to cut off Marko's head.

"Hold on, brothers," cried Milos. "I will give you a sharper s