the Moorish maiden

Also known as: the Moorish Princess / the Moorish princess · Family: Moors · Role: the Sultan’s daughter · First appears: Chapter IV · Prince Marko and the Moorish Princess

In Chapter IV · Prince Marko and the Moorish Princess, the Moorish maiden is identified as the beloved daughter of the Sultan. When the eighth year of Marko’s imprisonment began, she came morning and evening to his dungeon and offered to free him if he promised to marry her, along with his horse Sharatz and heaps of ducats.

At dusk one evening, believing Marko had sworn faithfulness, she opened the prison and fled with him, taking a charger, ducats and his sabre. When darkness came, Marko mounted Sharatz and rode away, leaving her alone.

Relationship record

Life events

• The Moorish maiden offered to release Prince Marko if he promised to marry her.(Chapter IV · Prince Marko and the Moorish Princess)
  • With: Marko
  • “Give me thy word that thou art willing to marry me and I will release thee, and thy Sharatz too,”
• The Moorish maiden freed Prince Marko from prison and fled with him and Sharatz, carrying ducats and a sabre.(Chapter IV · Prince Marko and the Moorish Princess · 📍 the Moorish lands)
  • With: Marko Sharatz
  • “The maiden believed, in pleasant delusion, that I had sworn faithfulness to her, and so at dusk one evening she opened the doors of my prison, led me along to my spirited Sharatz, having got ready for herself a fine noble charger.”
• Prince Marko abandoned the Moorish maiden and rode away on Sharatz.(Chapter IV · Prince Marko and the Moorish Princess · 📍 the Moorish lands)
  • With: Marko Sharatz
  • “I sprang to my feet, mounted my Sharatz, and galloped away madly, leaving her alone.”

Chapter IV · Prince Marko and the Moorish Princess

• parent: the Sultan (Marko's father-in-God) “When the eighth year broke upon me, it was not my dungeon that distressed me so much as a Moorish maiden, the beloved daughter of the Sultan.”
• admired: Marko “She annoyed me by coming every morning and every evening and calling to me through my dungeon-window: 'Why shouldst thou perish in this prison, O Marko? Give me thy word that thou art willing to marry me and I will release thee, and thy Sharatz too, I would take with me, also, heaps of golden ducats; as much, O Mark, as thou canst ever wish to have.'”
• recipient: Marko “The maiden believed, in pleasant delusion, that I had sworn faithfulness to her, and so at dusk one evening she opened the doors of my prison, led me along to my spirited Sharatz, having got ready for herself a fine noble charger. Both steeds bore on their backs bags filled with ducats. The Moorish maiden brought in addition my best tempered sabre and we sped swiftly through the Moorish lands.”

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Extracted from the original text of Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians (Chapters IV–XIII). Made with Rho MD.