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 Vili\u0107 family (a feudal family from Rama and Uskoplje): the tragic fate of the “Vili\u0107 sister” was immortalised in a poem first recorded by Vuk Vr\u010devi\u0107 in the first half of the 19th century, later also by Nikola Tordinac and other researchers of this type of verse.<\/p>\n
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 Sultani\u0107 (born 1940) from the village of Podora\u0161ac near Konjic, who learnt the poem and passed it on orally. This version mentions the Atlagi\u0107 family, not Vili\u0107, 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.<\/p>\n
The lyrics:<\/p>\n
Atlagi\u0107i seju udava\u0161e,
\nDeset tovar blaga opremi\u0161e \u2013
\nDa im seka zdravo domu do\u0111e.
\nZdravo po\u0161la, do po’ puta do\u0161la.
\nKad su bili gorom zelenom,
\nSmrze joj se devet kavadova
\nI deseta od svile ko\u0161ulja.
\nKad su bili kod bijela dvora,
\nSve svatove u vru\u0107e halvate \u2013
\nMladu nevu u studenu sobu.
\nDolazi joj svekrva na vrata.
\nNe pita je je l’ neva ozebla,
\nVe\u0107 joj gleda u \u010depera veza:
\n\u201eFina veza ako si ga vezla,
\nFina dara ako mi ga dala!\u201d
\nDolazi joj zaova na vrata.
\nNe pita je je l’ neva ozebla,
\nVe\u0107 joj gleda uz ko\u0161ulju veza:
\n\u201eFina veza ako si ga vezla,
\nFina dara ako mi ga dala!\u201d
\nDolazi joj jetrva na vrata.
\nMalog Salku nosi u naramku
\nI ‘vako mu majka progovara:
\n\u201eSine, Salko, ti upitaj strinu
\nJe Ii strina kroz goru ozebla
\nI je Ii se gore nagledala
\nI je Ii se konja najahala?\u201d
\nMali Salko iz naramka pita:
\n\u201eStrina moja, jesi Ii ozebla;
\nJesi li se gore nagledala;
\nJesi Ii se konja najahala?\u201d
\nA strina mu tiho progovara:
\n\u201eSine, Salko, ja\u0161ta mi je bilo!
\nPola ruha podajte mi Salki,
\nA pola mi povratite majki!\u201d
\nTo izusti i du\u0161icu pusti.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":27060,"template":"","section":[],"class_list":["post-27059","item","type-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n