…When the plague had ravaged Mostar,
in Mostar no one was left,
No one except a widow, Mara,
and her two frail sons;
One was named Milos, the other Milinko.
She fed grief and misery to them,
She fed them with other’s misery.
But soon tough years arrived.
An oke of wine costed one coin,
an oke of flour two groschen.
Mara couldn’t feed them anymore.
She gave Miloš to the Turkish emperor
and Milinko to the Austrian ruler.
Nine years had passed since then,
And the Turkish and the Austrian emperor
started to fight against each other.
Two armies were formed,
one fought on the Turkish emperor’s side,
the other on the Austrian one.
Among the Austrian emperor’s soldiers,
a hero stood out, a good hero on a pale horse,
He sought a duelist
Among the Turkish emperor’s soldiers.
Many of them accepted the duel,
but none of them ever came back.
Within three days of heroic duels,
The Turkish emperor lost nine duelists.
As the fourth morning dawned,
The hero on a pale horse
threw down the gauntlet again,
but nobody dared to accept the challenge.
The Turkish emperor sent a messenger
among the soldiers:

Hasn’t your mother given birth to a hero,
Hasn’t a sister raised her brother
so that he could come here today,
accept the duel
and kill the young duelist?
That would be an act of valor!

As poor Miloš heard this,
He went to the emperor’s tent
And spoke to the emperor:

Stepfather, emperor Otmanović,
I will boldly accept the challenge!

The emperor Otmanović answered to him:

Let it be so, dear child,
If God brings you good luck,
If you kill the young duelist,
I will richly reward you.

Miloš mounted his horse
And bravely rode away,
To the field
were the Austrian’s emperor duelist was waiting.
As he arrived there,
both of them started to fight with their spears,
But their spears suddenly broke,
And none of them was wounded.
They pulled out their maces,
Tried to stike each other with them,
The mace’s heads got broken,
But none of them was wounded.
They threw the broken maces away,
grabbed sharp sabres,
And tried to kill each other with them.
But the sharp sabres crumbled to pieces,
And none of them was wounded.
When they broke all of their weapons,
They dismounted from their horses,
They grasped each other with bare hands,
Tore each other’s clothes,
So they fought from dawn to noon,
None of the two duelists could subdue the other.
Both exhausted, they split
and sat face to face.
Later, the younger man asked Miloš:

You unknown hero,
which city are you from?
Where does all your strength come from?

Milinko answered:

Since you ask, I will tell you.
I am a hero from Mostar,
I have no family left
except for a brother.
Do you remember
the times when the plague ravaged Mostar?
in Mostar no one was left,
No one except a widow, Mara,
and her two frail sons;
But soon tough years arrived.
An oke of wine costed one coin,
an oke of flour two groschen.
Mara couldn’t feed us anymore.
She gave me away to the Austrian emperor,
And my brother to the emperor Otmanović.

When Miloš heard that,
He jumped to his feet:

Is that you, brother Milinko?
I am Miloš, from Mostar.

They started hugging and kissing each other,
Then they sat and drank wine together.
The two adverse armies, confused,
watched the duelists.
They had broken all of their weapons,
and now, they were kissing each other
and drinking wine from the same bottle.
Miloš said to Milinko:

What should we do now, brother Milinko?
Brother Miloš,
go to the Turkish emperor,
I will head to the Austrian emperor.
We will ask them to make peace,
Not to let righteous heroes die anymore,
Not to let brothers kill each other in duels anymore.

They kissed each other again
and each of them went his way.
Miloš spoke to the emperor Otmanović
and Milinko to the Austrian emperor.
They succeeded in bringing the two emperors together
and in reconciling them.
The emperor Otmanović said:

Very well, dear merciful emperor.
I will grant Milinko to the rank of general,
And you, reward Miloš however you wish!

And the emperor Otmanović said:

Wait, dear emperor,
separate two brothers would be a pity.
I will grant them lands,
and you will grant them goods.

So he granted Mostar to Miloš,
and Foča to Milinko.
The Austrian emperor gave them many goods,
and they went to visit their mother.
Miloš is the ancestor of the Milodragovićs,
Milinko of the Vasiljevićs,
Today, their descendants boast around the world
and proudly speak about their heroic ancestors!