The Legacy of Serbian Heroes

first time and to stay there forever, we have a collective hero – the Serb-
ian nation. We are no longer a dark and unknown crowd behind the
lonely knights. The songs emphasize two great heroes – Ilija Bircanin
and Karadjordje. Their greatness is completed with support from the
nation, in the name of which they act. They are no longer lonely, nor
are they unknown or exist merely through poet’s imagination. They
stepped into these poems straight from the real life and the real battles.
and the poet is no longer unknown either, his name is filip Visnjic.
He testifies about the first Serbian uprising, his poems are created as
the uprisings are taking place: Battle of Cokesina, Battle of the Salas,
Battle of Misar, Battle of loznica… He was born in 1767 in the village
of Medjasi in Bosnia in the Zvornik region. He lost his sight at a young
age due to chicken pox. later in life he supported himself by singing
to “gusle.” from 1809 to 1813 he went with the Serbian rebels. Vuk Ka-
radzic was convinced that Visnjic “sang alone” “the new songs from
the time of Karadjordje,” for it is from him that he heard these songs,
writing them down in 1815 in Srem. Ilija Bircanin stands out among
the chosen Serbian dukes, whose names are mentioned in the poem,
while Turks are preparing to execute them in order to stop the rebel-
lion. He is also described by dahia Mehmed – aga focic. In that desc-rip-
tion, which the poet created using the classical approach, lies a new spirit:

Till I slaughter Bircanin Ilija
That proud oborknez of all Medjednik –
He has in the last three years grown mighty,
Grown in strength has Bircanin Ilija,
Rides an Arab steed on all his journeys,
Leads another with him by the bridle,
On his saddle-bow a mace he carries,
His moustaches reach beneath his bonnet,
He admits no Turk within his province;…
And when he delivers us the poll-tax
Fully armed he strides before the council,
On his yataghan his right hand places,
With his left hand thrusts at us the taxes:
‘Memed-aga, here I bring the taxes;
All the orphan rayah send their greetings,
Not another para can they spare thee.

That new spirit is the spirit of the poor people (orphan rayah) that are
greeting powerful Turkish chief. He is powerful enough to recognize
that yatagan in Bircanin’s right hand represents hands of thousands
upon thousands of people that have decided to free themselves. and
Bircanin himself, filled with enormous strength, goes to the Kolubara
Bridge to face his death and fulfill his legacy: his cut-off head will be-
come one of the sparks that will later ignite the fire of uprising.
on the wide canvas of our best song about the first Serbian upris-
ing, Karadjordje gathers the force of all the people. He is no longer a
lonely hero. He is the leader of the great nation that shifts the bound-
aries of the Turkish kingdom. This is why the poet identifies his name
with the nation, and therefore whenever he wants to say that nation
did something, he instead says Djordje did:

Then when Djordje the Serbian land had mastered,
And all Serbia with the Cross had christened,
All the country with his wing protected
West from Vidin to the Drina water,
North from Kosovo as far as Belgrade,
Thus spoke Djordje to the Drina water:
"Oh thou, Drina water, a noble barrier,
Thou that partest Bosnia from Serbia!
Soon the day will dawn, Oh Drina water,
Soon will dawn the day when I shall cross thee,
Pass through all the noble land of Bosnia.

And this is the second important aspect; the hawk’s verse in this poem
is Karadjordje addressing the Drina river bequeathing the liberation
and union of all Serbs into a free and strong Serbian state. The poet
and Karadjordje stopped there, and it seems as if time has also stopped
with them. as if suddenly, through so many wars and generations, an
arc was created, an arc of two-hundred years. for years now, Serbs are
still fighting against river Drina being the unnatural boundary in the
middle of the Serbian lands.
Thus, from the time that we must not forget to this new time that we
are yet to remember, a march of epic heroes keeps echoing from the
past. They are ruthless towards anyone who does not know the true
meaning of pride and honour, faith and fatherland. Their legacy is ex-
pressed in the main spiritual testament to the whole nation – loyalty to
their country; loyalty that can only be inherited by worthy descendants.
While I was writing this text, and I have been writing it for a long
time due to interferences of my other projects, I was wondering how
in this time of scarce virtue, when personal benefits rise above the
common good, and our fatherland is ruled by bunch of nobodies, I
decided to revive that righteous fire of heroism from the past. I was
even afraid that my words might extinguish it! and then, on my way
home, I saw it: a white graffiti on the gate of the flower Square, in the
middle of Belgrade; poetic words, surely, written by a young hand: “oh,
my little Serbia, my greatest affection!”
and then I thought with relief – it is okay, it is going to be okay.

Transated. by Nikol Markovi &, Ivana Dobrilovic
Edited by Anastassia Pronsky-Stojanovic