Ballad "Atlagići seju udavaše" (A variant of "the frozen bride" ballad)

The plight of "the ill-fated bride" is one of the most common motifs in Bosniac oral ballads. Variants featuring "the frozen bride" are found in the very first collections of oral poetry of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The literature contains a variant of the frozen bride ballad that mentions the famous Vilić family (a feudal family from Rama and Uskoplje): the tragic fate of the "Vilić sister" was immortalised in a poem first recorded by Vuk Vrčević in the first half of the 19th century, later also by Nikola Tordinac and other researchers of this type of verse. 

This version, composed in 36 epic decasyllabic lines, is the most recent recorded variant of the frozen bride ballad. We owe a debt of gratitude to the informant Habiba Sultanić (born 1940) from the village of Podorašac near Konjic, who learnt the poem and passed it on orally. This version mentions the Atlagić family, not Vilić, which shows that the ballad model travels well and is remembered and passed on in new environments where similar characters emerge under new names, all thanks to the efforts of oral poets, who are the witnesses of the times and keepers of traditions.

The lyrics:

Atlagići seju udavaše,
Deset tovar blaga opremiše –
Da im seka zdravo domu dođe. 
Zdravo pošla, do po' puta došla. 
Kad su bili gorom zelenom, 
Smrze joj se devet kavadova 
I deseta od svile košulja. 
Kad su bili kod bijela dvora, 
Sve svatove u vruće halvate –
Mladu nevu u studenu sobu. 
Dolazi joj svekrva na vrata. 
Ne pita je je l' neva ozebla, 
Već joj gleda u čepera veza: 
„Fina veza ako si ga vezla, 
Fina dara ako mi ga dala!”
Dolazi joj zaova na vrata. 
Ne pita je je l' neva ozebla, 
Već joj gleda uz košulju veza: 
„Fina veza ako si ga vezla, 
Fina dara ako mi ga dala!” 
Dolazi joj jetrva na vrata.
Malog Salku nosi u naramku 
I 'vako mu majka progovara: 
„Sine, Salko, ti upitaj strinu 
Je Ii strina kroz goru ozebla 
I je Ii se gore nagledala
I je Ii se konja najahala?”
Mali Salko iz naramka pita: 
„Strina moja, jesi Ii ozebla; 
Jesi li se gore nagledala; 
Jesi Ii se konja najahala?” 
A strina mu tiho progovara: 
„Sine, Salko, jašta mi je bilo! 
Pola ruha podajte mi Salki, 
A pola mi povratite majki!” 
To izusti i dušicu pusti.