Battle Reports

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Gather 'round, little children now
Hear the songs of Christendom's defenders!
Hear the song of mighty Markianos!
And his father was a man named Pavlos,
Who fell at the bloody Manzikert,
And grandfather was a man named Thomas,
Who fell in a war against the Arabs,
And the son did fall at Caesarea.
And when Markos had been a small boy
Then the Turk had come in to his home
And he had to flee to Macedonia.
And he loved to drink the good red wine,
Drink it from the early morning sunrise,
Drink it 'till the sun was gone again,
And he loved a woman from the north.
But above all he had been a servant
To his people and to his good King,
And to Christ who was above them all.
So when it came time to fight with the Turk,
He was first to saddle up his horse,
And these are the words he told his love:
"Oh, my love, my darling from the north,
There is no one in this world I love,
There is no one that I love like you.
And my mother has died long ago
And my sister when she was a child
And my father fell at Manzikert.
Not one friend did I have in this world,
Not one friend 'till I had found you.
And you are the one for whom I fight,
'Cause the Turk will never rest his head
'Till he has destroyed all we have,
And so I must go and give him battle
For you and for all of our dear children.
Our son who has grown so very fast,
And our daughter who can now talk,
And the one who's still within your womb
And whom I will never get to meet
If I fall in battle with the Turk.
But please now dry away your tears,
For whatever happens to me now,
I will find you in this very city,
Or I'll find you in Jerusalem."
And he left her never to return.

And he marched his army very far,
He marched over mighty mountains,
And he marched through Anatolia.
And the first of the Turks that he saw
They were led by Davud Oguzhan,
And he killed them down to a man.
Then he came to mighty Caesarea,
And here was the Sultan of the Turks,
And his name was Sultan Mustafa,
And his army was not very big.
But there was another from the north,
A big army coming in to help,
Which was led by Saim Sabanoglu,
Biggest cur there was among the Turks.
And he left his Sultan to be sieged
And he marched his army to the south.
So the time had come for an attack
And the armies were put in the field.
One one side was the brave Markianos,
On the other was the Turkish Sultan.
And then Markos came in front of his line,
And these are the words he told his foe:
"Oh, come now Sultan and be brave,
Do not hide yourself behind the walls,
Do not hide yourself behind your men,
But come here and face me as a man.
And let him who ever takes this fight,
Let him also take this field of battle."
And the Sultan was not with no honor,
So he came to meet the challenge given.
And brave Markos did take up his lance,
And the Sultan did take up his lance,
And brave Markos did charge at the Sultan,
And the Sultan did charge at brave Markos!
So who was it that was hit among them?
Was it Markos who fell off his mount?
Or was it the Sultan falling down?
And it had been Markos who was hit,
But the Sultan had been hit as well!
As the mounts ran off from the battle,
Swords were drawn and battle was on foot.
And it had been in the early morning
That the battle had only begun,
And it went on 'till the noon of day.
And brave Markos still attacked with fury
But the Sultan had grown somewhat weary,
Though he had been of a younger age,
And no longer could he hold his feet,
But he fell and this is what he said:
"Oh brave Markos, bravest of the Romans,
Allah praise you, do not kill me now!
You have won the battle we have fought.
You have won it and can have the city."
And brave Markos was a man of honor,
So he let the Sultan to the city,
And the Sultan was to keep his word,
But his captains who were great big fools
Thought that they could yet defend the city.
When the Sultan ordered them to leave,
They did kill him and then locked the gates.
But brave Markos then did storm the city,
And no Turkish soldier did escape.

And then Markos sat in Caeasrea,
And he drank the wine from dawn to dusk,
And his thoughts were on her whom he loved.
But then came back Saim Sabanoglu,
And a mighty army did he have,
Three times bigger than what Markos had.
And this was no weakly peasant rabble,
Like that which had been the foe at Belgrade,
They had good militia with good training,
Equals of the Romans that were there,
Though they did have five-fold more in number,
And they had some other troops on foot,
And they had so many horsemen too.
Mighty Markos challenged Saim too,
But this coward did refuse to face him,
And this is what Markos told his men:
"In the field, their army we'd defeat,
Though it is big, it's led by a fool.
But there is no need to go to battle
For they'll never storm this city's walls,
And near by is army of Ioannis
And together if we make attack
Then will we lose even fewer men."
But his knights were eager for a fight,
So they said that he was only brave
With his numbers greater than his foe's.
And this had been untruth that was spoken
And brave Markos wouldn't have it said,
So he put his army into battle,
And the Turk had done the very same.

"Forward, Forward," Markos said,
"Forward 'till you've found them."
But the Turkish horses came
On the left and on the right,
And the arrows came from left
And the arrows came from right,
And they fell on horse and men
And men and horse both then fell,
But the army pressed on forward.
And they hit the Turkish line
And they hit it on the left
While Markos took the horsemen,
Took them flanking on the left,
And when they went up a hill
That is when they made their dive
Made it on the Turkish line!
And the ground wept its tears
As the hooves upon it beat,
And the Turkish line did buckle
And the Turkish line did break
On the left in any case.
That is when they took the center
Took to fighting in the center,
And again the same was tried.
"Charge them, charge them," Markos said,
"Charge them, charge them yet again!"
And more Turkmen took their feet
Beat a very quick retreat,
And it had been half their army
That lay slaughtered on the ground
That lay bleeding on the ground.
But it had been a black day
When the Roman courage faltered!
And it had been the damned Bulgars
Who were first to run away,
And militia followed them
And the horsemen after them,
And it was the Trebizines
Who were last to run away.
Only Markos and his knights
And the brave Armenians
Had been left there in the fight.
And they all fell one by one,
'Till it had been only Markos
That was left there in the fight.

And it was that Markos lost his mount,
Mount died and Markos fell to ground,
And it was a great sin then committed
That a hero's head was cut away
And his body lay among his men.
And this was the song of Markianos!