Where the Danube bank is high,
The sheepfolds of Shalga lie;
Shalga's shepherds wake to fight
With the raiders at midnight;
Raiders fierce, and in their hands
Daggers sharp and leathern bands;
Dogs lie dead upon the ground;
Every shepherd is fast bound.
The chief shepherd now they bind
Till his elbows meet behind,
Bind him in hard bands so fast
That he cries in pain at last:
" Captain Caracatuci, heed!
Thou who dost so proudly lead
Thy five thousand men and five,
If thou ever yet wast kind
To one wretched soul alive,
Pity me and bid unbind,
For I am in agony;
Oh, in mercy set me free! "

Now for pity of his prayer,
Captain Caracatuci there
Bids them loose the shepherd's bands.
Scarcely have they freed his hands,
When the shepherd hastily
Draws his flute of cherry-tree
That lies hidden in his breast;
To its stops his lips are pressed,
Long and sweet the sound he brings;
Far away the valley rings;
On the trees the green leaves shiver,
And down in the Danube River
Waters boil and fishes leap.
Shalga hears across her sleep
That long cry the flute is making;
Shalga hears in sleep, and, waking,
To her old grandmother goes.

" Hark, oh, hark, grandmother dearest,
Far away thou surely hearest
How the shepherd's flute is singing,
How the valleys all are ringing;
Dearest grandmother, who knows
What ill-fortune is befalling
To my shepherds? are they calling
To my sheep who go astray?
Have the shepherds lost their way
In the woods, or do they fight
With the raiders in the night? "
Said the mother: " Dearest, sleep,
For the shepherds and the sheep
Trouble thy sweet heart no more.
A shepherd of the Danube shore
Will flute all night for mere desire
To see again his own hearth-fire. "

Ere she finished, came again,
Sad and long, the far flute's singing,
Setting all the valleys ringing,
Piercing Shalga's heart with pain.

" Wake, my men, my maids awake!
From your eyes sweet slumber shake!
Saddle my best horse for me
With man's saddle, soldierly,
For manlike to-night I ride. "

To the horse she leaps, astride,
Toward the Danube bank she spurs,
Whirls her ax above her head,
Crying that fierce cry of hers.
Swift are all the raiders fled;
Space for flight they scarce can find,
Shalga comes so swift behind.
Captain Caracatuci hears
Shalga at his very ears,
Crying: " Wait, and let us fight!
Let us try our arms to-night!

" Captain Caracatuci, heed!
Thou who dost so proudly lead
Thy five thousand men and five!
Stay and change two words with me!
Stay and meet me soldierly,
If thou would'st be saved alive,
For by God in Heaven, I swear,
I will teach thee how they fare
Who rob my flocks and bind my men! "
Captain Caracatuci then,
As he listens to her cries,
Only flies and flies and flies;
Dares not turn his head for fear
Of Shalga there and Shalga here.
Shalga fiercely flying past
Strikes his head off as she goes;
Horse and body still ride fast,
Backward falls the severed head,
Like a stream his life-blood flows,
And the dusty road runs red.

Brother, since that night they say,
When the raiders come this way,
That they lose their road no more;
That they never linger by
Shalga's sheepfolds where they lie
High upon the Danube shore.