The Legacy of Serbian Heroes

he cuts his horse’s wings, breaks the sword in half and jumps off the
walls into the river together with Jelica.

Morava has defended us,
and now may Morava bury us!

This act carries a form of sacrifice that has existed since ancient times
and that is used to ensure the help of higher spirits in protection from
the dooms of evil. The reason why the sacrifice is given to the water can
be found in the song that is older than the events it describes. Water
infuses the earth and makes it fertile: life exceeds death because it re-
generates itself. Therefore, the legacy of Prijezda is ever-present: he is a
real example of an achievement, an inspiration for future generations;
he is still remembered and will not be forgotten.
Duke Dojcin (the poem The Ill Dojcin) is our saddest hero, who can-
not die in peace and this poem about him is a critical assessment of
the situation in the country under the Turks. There are no more heroes,
they were all killed in Kosovo; the invaders rob people by taking not
only their possessions but also their honour and pride; the morals of
the past are destroyed, even some Serbs, like Petar the Blacksmith, start
behaving like the oppressors. But what is most important, - the will for
resistance is gone. There is no hero to come out for the mortal combat
with usa the arab, even the oppressed people don’t come together to
confront him: they calmly pay tribute to the conqueror in meat and
bread, wine, brandy and gold coins, in their own sisters and wives.
In order to give a powerful lesson, the national poet awakens his
terminally ill hero from his last sleep on his death bed with his sister’s
tears, just like he would awaken a whole nation if he could, and those
are the tears of the people and of the poet himself who thinks quicker
and sees further. Dojcin must defer death so that he could defend his
heroic honour, his legacy, and his sorrow about the earth on which
such heroes once rode. Wrapped with bandages of linen cloth to keep
his bones together, he calls forth the damned arab, which, according
to Veselin Cajkanovic is a demon from the underworld, and defeats
him easily. Dojcin’s weak hand is supported by the long-gained heroic
fame feared by his opponent and his horse that was taken a good care
of by his wife, as well as his deep connections with the powerful forces
coming from the depths of the earth itself.

In front of the palace he placed his horse,
and so he sat down on the soft chamber,
removing the eyes from the Arab,
throwing them to his dear sister:
Here, sister, the eyes of the Arab,
and may you know that love them you will not,
my sister, for as long as I am alive!”
And so he claws out the eyes of the blacksmith,
and gives them to his love Andjelija:
Here, Andja, the eyes of the blacksmith,
and may you know that love them you will not,
my love, for as long as I am alive!”
This words he uttered, and parted with his soul.

After the revenge is completed, Dojcin will be taken by illness which
would lie heavily upon him for nine years. nonetheless the heroic
deed is completed; he showed that death itself must step back from the
proud man and the hero. This is the most distinguished example of en-
couragement to resist the power of invaders that our national literature
had ever seen.
Duke Kajica is the best looking of all Serbian heroes. His portrait,
that is the most complete among any other descriptions, is sculpted
by a poet who was in love with the heroes and his country. Kajica pos-
sesses manly beauty and the shine and grandeur of the former power-
ful country. It is a different time now, the time of Despot Djuradj
Brankovic, who after he succeeded despot Stefan lazarevic, the son
of St.  Prince lazar, raised the strong city of Smederevo and helped to
delay the after-effects of the Battle of Kosovo (1389), the final collapse
of Serbia that lasted for nearly a century.  He is the ruler of the darkest
times, when the eternal night is about to fall over the Serbian lands.
However darkness that is threatening everyone is chased away, if only
for a moment, by the description of Kajica.

How beautiful is Kajica, the duke!
In that nobleman’s suit!
On his shoulders is a green dolman
of velvet, embroidered with gold
on the dolman are tokens of pure gold,
and beside them thirty buttons
each weighing half a kilo of gold,
and under his through kilo and a half of gold,
which uncoils with a bolt,
and with it the duke drinks wine;
duke wears boots and trousers,
his boots shod with silver,
and his trousers made of blue velvet;
on the dolman the patterns are woven,
all from silver and pure gold;
on the duke is a helmet of white silk,
the helmet with a silver crest,
on it three hundred gold fringe,
each is worth two gold ducats;
on the top two gemstones:
duke is able to travel,
through Krajina leading the dukes,
at midnight, just as at noon;
around the neck a gold chain can be seen,
two lethal arrows placed on the belt;
a tall hero, thin at waist,
with white face, black mustache,
the black pigtail exceeds his waist;
on his lap the sharp sword unprotected
over the unprotected sword he drinks the wine;
by his boot a golden mace.

The poet sees him as a shinning pillar of the empire; the closer the king-
dom to its collapse, the brighter he shines. The Turks are coming even
to this part of the Serbian country, and neighbouring Christian states
succumb to Islam. Kaica, who easily triumphs in combat but is not
proficient in deception, could symbolize a country which Christian
neighbours easily betray.  as he was unable to lure twelve Serbian com-
manders to his side, the Hungarian kills Kaica using trickery, envying
him for his heroism, his wealth and beauty. and the poet’s message
coincides with the actual historical events. In the poem The Death of
the Duke Kaica, King Djuradj speaks over dead Kaica’s body with the
deepest lament ever known among men. Kaica’s legacy lies in the main
idea of the poem – even dead heroes guard our land.

Oh Kaica, my dear child!
My pride, forever on the divan!
Oh, sharp saber always at the duel!
The most alert one among the dukes!
Holder of the pure gold Smederevo keys!
The right wing of the Serbian Krajina!
Who will your grandmother get over you?
How will she leave you alone,
to keep guard on the Beljaca,
without any changes until Krajina exists?

In similar words Shakespeare’s ophelia mourns Hamlet, who was also
brought to death by betrayal.

O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown!
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,

Ugliness and beauty, evil and good – they are all the same everywhere.
Starina novak appears in several songs. He already entices a new
era of the inner resistance to the conqueror. The poet, who usually por-
trays younger heroes in his poetry, gives the role of the most famous
haiduk to this old man. He did this because haiduk, besides the hero-
ism also needs to possess wisdom, war ruse and patience – traits that
youth often lacks. another reason for choosing him lies behind the
fact that one should live a long life and fight well despite difficult and
unfair conditions. So that one can learn a lesson from haiduk who led
heroic life, full of events and dangers, before they can themselves go
into the forest to become one. novak was a really famous haiduk leader