www.scribd.com/doc/89033/Albanian-Folk-Tales-and-Legends29. Aga Ymer of Ulcinj
Aga Ymer of Ulcinj was in the prime of his life when he married. The day after his wedding the young man received an order from the Sultan saying,
“Aga Ymer of Ulcinj, you must depart immediately for war. The enemy has invaded...”
The order was terrible, for it separated the young man from his young wife, but as Aga Ymer was a true warrior, he lost no words. He rose, saddled his steed, gathered his weapons and bid farewell to his parents. Then he returned to his young bride and said,
“My beloved wife, the Sultan has called me up. I must go to war immediately.”
“Take me with you, Aga Ymer,” she begged him.
“No, I cannot take you with me,” replied Aga Ymer.
“I am going to war and war is for men only.
I want you to promise me not to marry again, but to wait until I return.
Tell me how long you will wait for me, my love.”
“I will wait nine days.”
“Nine days is not very long. I have a great distance to travel and the war can last a long time. If you love me as I love you, you will wait nine years and nine days. When nine years and nine days have passed and I have not returned, you may marry and live happily, for that will mean that I am dead.”
The young wife sighed,
“All right, Aga Ymer, I will wait for you for nine years and nine days.”
They both gave their word of honour (Besa: oath). Aga Ymer bid farewell to his wife, mounted his steed and set off content for war. The steed galloped so swiftly that it left a cloud of dust behind them, for the rider was in great haste to do battle.
Aga Ymer of Ulcinj was heroic but there were many enemies. In his first battle, a multitude of cavalrymen dressed in coats of armour attacked, encircling him and setting upon him with their swords. Aga Ymer fought bravely, slew many an enemy and wounded others until they killed his steed. Aga Ymer continued fighting on foot until his sword was shattered. The enemy took him prisoner and tossed him into the dungeon of a castle surrounded by high walls. They treated him with respect, for Aga Ymer was a hero and heroes are always treated with respect.
Days in the dungeon turned to weeks, weeks turned to months and months to years. But Aga Ymer never lost hope, for his wife had promised to wait for nine years and nine days. He ate, drank, cheered his friends and played the lute. The daughter of the foreign king was quite astonished.
“Who is that man,” she wondered, “who doesn’t seem to mind being prisoner in a
foreign land?”
“He is called Aga Ymer of Ulcinj,” they told her. “He must be a strong man.”
“Yes, he is strong and merry and cheers the other prisoners with his words and songs.”
Aga Ymer was indeed full of hope because he was waiting for the Sultan to pay the ransom for his release.
“I have fought many years in his service,” said Aga Ymer to himself,
“I have always obeyed his orders and gone whenever he summoned me.”
But Sultans have the habit of forgetting the people who have helped them, and Aga Ymer had been forgotten by this Sultan, who had never even considered paying the ransom. And so nine years passed. The fatal day approached, the ninth day which his wife had promised to wait for before she remarried. Aga Ymer fell into a state of profound dejection. His eyes lost their colour, he could no longer eat, drink or make merry. His friends were surprised and asked him what the matter was, but he gave no reply, crouched instead in silence with his head bowed. The king’s daughter heard no more music and asked,
“What is wrong with Aga Ymer? His voice is no longer to be heard.”
“He has not eaten or drunk anything for days,” they told her,
“he no longer sleeps or plays his lute.”
“Call Aga Ymer to me,” said the king’s daughter.
On being brought to her and asked what the matter was, Aga Ymer replied that he could no longer eat or drink because of a bad dream.
“What kind of bad dream?” asked the king’s daughter.
He then told her his dream: “I dreamt I saw my home, blackened and in ruins. My father was dead and forgotten, my mother blind. I saw my wife, too. She was about to remarry. I have only spent one night with her. The next day I received orders to go to war. I fought and was taken prisoner. We had sworn to be faithful to one another and my wife promised to wait nine years and nine days for my return. The nine years have since passed and now the nine days are running their course. I beg of you, daughter of the king, ask you father’s permission to release me for a few days. I will return home, talk to my wife and come back to the dungeon.”
“I can ask him, Aga Ymer, but as you know, my father the king demands nine sacks of silver for your release.”
“But where, oh where, can I get the nine sacks, daughter of the king? I have been a prisoner for nine years now.”
“If I release you, Aga Ymer, what will you give me as a pledge that you will return?”
“I give you my word of honour, daughter of the king.”
Since the king’s daughter knew that Aga Ymer was an Albanian and would rather die
than break his word of honour, she said to him,
“Rise, Aga Ymer, saddle the bay horse and you’ll be in Ulcinj in three days.”
Aga Ymer’s companions lamented,
“How unfortunate we are! Aga Ymer is being released and leaving us behind.”
But he replied, “What is wrong with you, my friends? As long as I survive, I will return and we will wait out the time together. Farewell!”
They wished him luck on his journey. Aga Ymer saddled and mounted the bay horse and set off
towards Ulcinj.
The horse sped like an arrow over mountains and valleys.
“Swiftly, horse, swiftly so that we may reach my beauty before she remarries.”
The horse galloped day and night until it was exhausted. Aga Ymer, too, was fatigued, but they continued their course. In three days and three nights they arrived, catching sight of the fair town of Ulcinj shimmering before them on the water.
“Oh, Ulcinj, Ulcinj, I have carried your image in my heart my whole life long!” sighted
Aga Ymer. “Night after night for nine years I dreamt of you! For nine years now I have been
longing to kiss your earth.”
The waves were breaking on the beach, a fresh breeze was blowing, the sea-gulls circled in the sky above. And there glimmered the house of Aga Ymer, too, as if in a dream.
“Am I really here?” he asked himself.
As he was dying of thirst, he stopped as a fountain to drink. There he saw his aged mother who did not recognize him.
“Greetings, old woman.”
“Good day, prisoner!”
“How do you know I am a prisoner?” inquired Aga Ymer.
His mother replied,
“By your long shoulder-length hair. Where have you come from, prisoner?” “I have just arrived from Spain.”
The mother then asked, “Have you ever seen my Aga Ymer or heard anything about him?”
“Yes, I saw him three weeks ago,” he replied,
“Aga Ymer was killed. I myself washed his corpse, mourned him and paid my last respects.”
The aged woman began to weep and, although it caused him great pain, he did not reveal the truth to her. Instead he inquired,
“Who are those people over there passing in such a hurry, old woman? What are the volleys of fire echoing inthe hills?”
“They are the companions of Pasha Veli, that son of a dog, who have come to collect the bride and take her back to his home. The cannon fire is for the wedding.”
“Which bride are they collecting?” “It is the wife of my son Aga Ymer.”
Aga Ymer sprang to his horse and rode off towards the wedding party.
“Greetings, wedding attendants.”
“Greetings prisoner. Which land have you come from?”
“From Spain.”
“Have you ever seen Aga Ymer or heard anything of him?” they asked.
Aga Ymer told them, as he had his mother, that Aga Ymer had been killed three weeks before. The wedding attendants were relieved to hear this, but the bride began to weep under her veil.
Aga Ymer became angry and said,
“Aga Ymer gave me a message. May I speak to the bride for a moment?”
“Yes, as long as you wish, prisoner.”
Aga Ymer approached the bridal coach and asked the bride,
“Would you recognize Aga Ymer?”
She replied,
“How could I possibly recognize him? I only slept with him one night and then waited nine years for him. His poor mother, however, told me that he has a scar on his right arm where a horse bit him.”
Aga Ymer rolled up his sleeve and showed her the scar. The bride recognized him instantly,
rejoiced, got out of the coach, threw off her veil and said to the attendants,
“Have a pleasant journey, companions of mine. I am accompanying my true husband. This is Aga Ymer whom I married and who will be my husband forever and ever.”
Aga Ymer made room for his bride on the horse and they went home.
The next morning he mounted his bay horse again to set off for Spain as he had promised. “Swiftly, horse, swiftly, for I gave the king’s daughter my word of honour!”
They left fair Ulcinj behind them and the horse galloped day and night.
But what was going on in Spain in the meanwhile? The king had not seen or heard of
Aga Ymer for some time. He asked for news of him and was told that his daughter had released
him, but that he would return. The king summoned his daughter immediately and asked right
away,
“What happened to the prisoner Aga Ymer?”
“I let him go, father,” she replied, “he had to see his wife because she was going to marry someone else. He gave me his word of honour that he would return in three days. Today is the last day and he will return.”
The king was furious, crying,
“No, he has deceived you. He won’t return!” and ordered his daughter to be beheaded.
“Wait until dark, father,” the daughter implored him,
“Aga Ymer will return. He won’t break his word.”
“He’ll never come back,” countered the king. “Once they escape from prison, they never return. They are like birds in a cage. Once you open the door, they’re gone.”
“He will return. He gave me his word of honour,” insisted the king’s daughter.
“A word of honour is but a word, my daughter, and words are soon gone with the wind. Even kings break their word.”
At that moment, a horseman appeared on the horizon, approaching swiftly. Soon he was at the gates of the fortress, dismounted from his sweating horse and greeted the king’s daughter!
“I gave you my word and have returned. I was your prisoner and now I am your prisoner again.”
The king looked down at him in amazement and said,
“Aga Ymer, you are indeed an honest man and have kept your word. You shall be released!”
He then turned to his guards and gave orders,
“Release Aga Ymer and his nine companions and let them go wherever they wish.”