The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

MIRDITA 38i When at last they left, he came and told me the story. I can tell it but briefly. I can give no idea of the power of the man who told it. The younger of the two men was an orphan. He had been brought up by an uncle, who had been a father to him and whom he loved much. Two years ago, as the uncle was returning home one evening, he was shot dead on the track. It was a cold-blooded and brutal murder, founded on some fancied slight or dislike, and had no hereditary blood-feud as an excuse. By the law of the mountains it was the young man's duty to avenge his uncle. There was no other way of punishing the murderer; but by so doing he would start yet another blood-feud and a long train of murders. Monsignore sent for him, sympathized with him in his grief, and exhorted him not to follow up one crime with another. After hours of prayer and persuasion he won his point. The young man gave his word to withhold his vengeance for a year. These people live in a state of ' gyak' (blood) or ' bessa' (peace). When they have sworn bessa they never break their word. He went back home, and the murderer lived. When the year was almost ended monsignore sent for him again. He came. This time his bessa was obtained with very great difficulty. Now, the end of the second year was coming, and monsignore had given out in church that the young man was to come to him; but this time he sent a message that he had waited long enough for his

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Title: The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author: Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas: Page 381
Publication: London :: Nelson,; [1905]
Subject terms: Eastern question (Balkan); Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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Collection: Travels in Southeastern Europe
Link to this Item: https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001
Link to this scan: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bosnia/ans3900.0001.001/388

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Full citation: "The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham." In the digital collection Travels in Southeastern Europe. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2025.

The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

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