Written by Petrit Latifi

In the book “Epic Folk Poetry of Montenegro”, Vido Latković. Grafički zavod, 1964, a Montenegrin folk epic song is given describing the activities of a Montenegrin chauvinist group along the ‘Turkish’ (Krajan) shores of the lake in the early 1800s.

Here is described the group of Gjikan Pejović who gathered three boats and set off for the shores of Kraj, since this place was rich and they had something to take. Remembering the previous groups, where in Ljare they once took a flock of sheep, and in Bobosht where 100 deadly warriors were waiting for them, they decided to go to the Skjes bay where every Saturday 30 boats with white wheat left for the Shkodra bazaar.

According to them, even though the village in Skjes had a tower, there were no guards there, and the robbery would be carried out without victims. These, camouflaged as merchants, with a turban and a scarf on their heads, and covering their boats with laurel leaves, decided to rob these goods.

But during the return trip, a strong wind blew, so that one boat was forced to go to the village of Bobosht where the brave bajraktari Luca (a Christian) would wait for them, who, after meeting them in the tower and taking their weapons, informed his fellow villagers and killed all the Montenegrins and their two leaders, the other boat escaped without damage and the third was hidden in a cave somewhere on the shore of the lake, which after arriving back in Rijeka they learned that they were hiding in a cave on the island of Tophalla, they asked the Bylykbashi of Krajës Kola for allegiance, and they returned again and rescued them.

Text and song from the book:

Посебан оход четована биле су борбе на Skadarskom jezeru, вођене такође ради плийена и одбране. Тух пъесама није сачувано много, али сау као и оне о туприма на овце , испујене програним животом . Четованье вЂикана Пеянова Пейовића може спортивни као примјер . The parts of the composition are surprising. Кад су три омаје чете на ” танким шајкама ” doplovile до пограничног острва Лесендра у Езеру , вођи су ” смийешали ” войску и догово-рили се о цилю напада. У турском бијелу Жезера, „на Цкла под Крајину, било је тридесет лађа , пуних гружие , spremnih да отплове за Skadar ; тай богати плийен should have been taken. Дружини то пође за руком без веће борбе и

жртава , али hit the nerve :
Вјетар звижди , а олуя хучи ,
поломише весла сваколика
покидаше на лађама гужбе,
и чете се разбиђу. Жедна пође према кули вођиног побратима Љуце баряктара , койи их „ на вјeru ” прими , али их изневјери , те nastradaju . Друге се двије упуте према черногорской обали , али је олуя иош ” жешће кидисала ” :
потурили весла и крмане
па у струке замотали галаве,
а панули на таван од лађе
да не виде кад ће умрийети

једну од тих чета бъетар је притъерао до neke пећINE на турској обали, где су неколико дана морали остати „ полумртви у ледној пећини , измучени од зиме и глади . ” Вођ друге чете мислио је за прве да сау нашли смрт ” на- сред хладна Блата зеленога, без икакве юначке замёне ” , па се декізом да са звой другином напусти лађе и послије кроваве битке успије да се врати кући. Тамо чује ( “а глас пође од уста до уста” ) да друга чета у пећини єш живи, па пође тамо и спасе их. И поред малих оскова и мјестимичне недоречености, пъесма је успёла, пуна је живета. У пјесми Юначка смрт ради се о једном турском пљенидбеном походу , али срж садржине чини заиста юначка смрт младог Ивана Николина , који је сам на своем чамцу , зашао међу турске лађе . У объема пъесмама при уобичајеном договорвању о циљу похада помије се и могућност удара на нечије овце , осим тога у объема пъесмама имамо еписоде о давању вјере и изневъеравању побратима ; у пјесми о смрти Ивана Николина невјерни побратим је чак хришћанин . Братимљенье између појединих истакнутијих черногорских юнака и , такође истакнутијих , турких ага и бегова из пограничног жиста житта да није било нимало ријетко, исто такој ни местованье других приятељских веза. Та побратимства и приятељске везе произилазиле су из практических использование: объема странама био је хочество изображения и мир на заједничким и сусједним пасиштима; понекад наравно било је и других побуда за ступаје у кобратимство приятељске одесносе. Пјесма мђутим гатово никада не пъева о неким противім странама u таквог приятељевања ; on the contrary, it’s ready regularly to wear off the case(….)

Четоване Тикана Пейовића узето је из зберке Торђија Драговића – Туричковића – Црногорске юначке пъесме, Цетинје, 1910. Пъесму је забилјежио Владимир Пейовића од Луке Пейовића, учителья у Цеклину.

ЧЕТОВАЊЕ ДИКАНА ПЕЈОВИЋА
Чета се је мала подигнула
одакле се фотоце научила,
од Цеклина , соколова крила .
Пред четом је Пејанов Дикане
од гласите куће Пейовића ,
с побратимом дурашковић Иошом .
Дигоше се двије харамбаше,
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а за њима дружина отала ,
докле чета на Ријеку дође .
У шајке се увезоше лађе ,
танке шайке орахове лађе ,
They turned to Blato greener,
until the company on Lesendra came,
to the border place of Montenegro.
There the turdna company rested,
drank water, pledged bread.
The second company rose
from the solid village of Ljubotinja,
in front of the company Popović Mićune.
Here the company under Seljani came,
ships were loaded into the shacks,
thin shacks walnut ships.
They turned to Blato greener
until the company on Lesendra came.
There the pregnant company rested,
drank water, pledged bread.
The third company rose
from the small village of Trnovo,
in front of the company Petar and Manojle,
until the company Gusjenici came.
The ships were brought into the shacks,
thin shacks of walnut ships.
They turned the greener Blato
until the company reached Lesandro.
There the pregnant company rested,
drank water, pawned bread.
The Harmbashes made the company laugh.
But what did Petar of Trnovo say
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“Brother, Pejanov Djikane,
when you were almost in the Krajina Lujuta,
don’t you know a good fisherman
where we could strike with the company
to take good booty,
and preserve our company?
“But what did Pejanov Đikane say:
“Brother, Petar of Trnovo,
I was recently in Krajina
and I spied a good prey in Livari,
on Ploce livarske,
the very white Malj-Kuka sheep;
there are exactly a thousand sheep,
guarded by a hundred shepherds,
all evildoers, angry Krajina people.
And I spied a second prey
on the bloody Boboviška tower,
but on each tower there are a hundred cops,
it is not easy to snatch prey.
And I spied a third prey
There there in Ckla under Krajina
Thirty ships of white wheat,
Which were chalking Shkodra in the market
On the first Saturday that comes
there is no guard or a whisper from them
except for some two crazy children.
Now let’s go let us obey:
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let us fill the ships with laurel,
let us cover the black ones with sackcloth,
and wrap our heads with shawls,
we will ride three by three in a ship;
when the Turks do not see the Krajina people,
they will think that they are Vranjina people
going to Shkodra for the market.
And let us go to Ckla pod Krajina
so that we may plunder the booty
without a dead or wounded person.
“ There they obeyed wonderfully,
let us fill the ships with laurel,
let us cover the black ones with sackcloth,
and wrap our heads with shawls;
they turned off the greener Blato
straight to Ckla pod Krajina,
no one seemed to be in their way.
There they found two crazy children,
among them a Turan Zorno,
holding a dževerdar across his wings,
and he shot Pejanov Đikan.
But God gave Đikan luck,
and a thin rifle hit him
in his smarly toes,
which were forged in Prizren,
and the hero won them in the fight;
hard toes and heroic chests,
and the grain does not harm him,
but it did little to harm his toes.
Then Đikan spoke the word:
365
Oh, Turk, that you may find from God,
What harm are you doing to me, smarly toes?
I have spent myself well for them:
I have dulled the flaming sword
and I have not yet sharpened it,
I will not do it today, God willing!
“So he took the sword from his belt,
and the Russian cut off his head.
When the rifle was heard in Krajina,
When they heard it, they immediately recognized it,
and the Turks from Krajina jumped up,
and they were late coming
because the Chetniks do not sit in vain,
they already took the Krajina mosques,
they drove them through the green mud
without a dead or wounded person.
But where there is luck and misfortune:
when they were in the middle of the cold mud,
a strong north wind blew and a blizzard,
drove them through the green mud.
Thank God, the miracles of the great
the waves played wildly
and splashed the water against the boat.
But the Chetniks, like dark wolves,
grabbed the oars in the middle,
who was pouring water out of the boat,
and who stood at the stern of the ship
and steered the stern at the helm,
366
some again turned the crowds.
They harried the freedom of the company,
no one seemed to be dying.
But in vain, dear brothers,
the wind whistled and the storm roared,
they broke all kinds of oars
they tore the crowds on the ships,
they already thought they would die.
But Peyan’s Đikane cries out:
“My brothers and dear company,
if you will listen to me,
let us release a good prey,
lest we should scuttle the company.
“But Petar of Trnovo says:
“Brother, Pejan’s Ćikan,
I do not let go of my share,
but I have good brothers,
namely the falcon Ljuca the bannerman
to the bloody Boboviška tower,
he will save my company on faith
and I will give him a share of the šićari.
” And Pejan’s Ćikan says to him:
“Come, goodbye, Peter, brother,
I will not even set foot there;
I know Ljuca the bannerman well
I executed his brother last year,
so I fear some kind of fraud.
” Petar has no idea about that,
367
but he took a share of the šićari,
and turned his company
on the path of the bloody Boboviška tower,
and he shouts with a whiter throat
to his brother Ljuca the bannerman.
Ljuca, the bannerman, responds:
“Whoever shouts to the sea of ​​brothers,
brothers himself with a dead head!”
“But Petar of Trnovo said:
“Brother, Ljuca, bannerman,
you have no enemies here,
but my brother Petar of Trnovo.
Well, I am a good shepherd,
and Blato is not allowed to travel,
but save me and my company
and I will give you a share of the shepherd’s share. “
There Ljuca took them in,
led them into the white tower,
and said to his brother:
“Brother, Petar of Trnovo,
it is not customary for the Turks
to have their guests sit under arms,
but hand over your light weapons,
and I give you God’s firm faith:
nothing will happen to your life!
” Petar of Trnovo was deceived
and you surrendered your light weapons
and his company remained.
But Nešković did not want to Manoila,
368
because the hero is a file

,
and hid the forged coffin,
if he was in trouble,
so that he would be in trouble.
When it was midnight,
the Turks attacked them.
Not that Nešković Manojle,
but he took the forged coffin,
with it the hero cut down the Turks
while the whites hurt his hands.
There Petar and Manojle
and their entire company perished.
But see, dear brothers,
what is happening to Blato, greener
than the falcons Još and Đikan.
Their fierce torment overcame them,
and the storm raged more fiercely,
and separated the two brothers.
But Đurašković Jošo shouted:
“Brother, Pejanov Đikan,
turn around so I can see your face.
Do you know, brother, what we used to say:
Where Đurašković Jošo dies,
so Pejanov Đikan dies.
“ At that Đikan was about to turn around,
but God’s power did not allow him.
369
Again Đurašković Jošo shouted:
“Brother, Pejanov Đikan,
turn around so I can see your face.
My company was frightened,
they lowered their oars and rudders,
and wrapped their heads in their waists,
and leaned on the roof of the ship
so they would not see when they would die.
But so you, good brother,
if God and luck give you,
then you come safely to Rijeka,
where the young men of Ceklin are swimming,
there you will find my cousin,
cousin Bogdanović Luka.
Luka will want to ask you
where Jošo died for him,
and you will tell him rightly:
that Jošo died for him
in the middle of the cold Green Swamp
without any heroic replacement.
“And Jošo could speak more,
but Đikan could not listen to him,
because the whirlwind had caught him,
under the angry Krajina,
under the fortress(…)
When Đikan saw himself in trouble,
he shouted with a whiter throat:
“Behind me, brothers, the gray falcons,
And
370
(page 371 is missing)
For the grave of cold Đurašković Joša
who has remained for me today
in the middle of the cold green swamp
without any heroic replacement “.

Reluctant Đikan got up,
healthily came to Rijeka Mala.
There he found the Ceklinjane people at a gathering,
among them Bogdanović Luka.
So Đikan rightly told him
that Jošo had remained
in the middle of the cold Green Swamp
without any heroic replacement.
But word spread from mouth to mouth
that the knight in life was Jošo
in a cave in the middle of Topohan,
where the wind had caught him
and broken his dark ships.
Bogdanović Luka shed tears,
wrote a small book on his knee,
and sent it to the angry Krajina
Kol-Šušter, the Turkish buljubashi.
In the book, Luka greeted him
to give him faith for Sunday
to rescue his brother Jošo.
The Turk gave faith for Sunday.
Then Luka gathered his company,
they boarded a dark ship,
until they reached the strong Topohan.
There they found Joša Đurašković
and his remaining group,
half-dead in an ice cave
372
exhausted by winter and hunger.
They brought them to Rijeka Mala,
they saw them for a year,
they saw them and scouted them.
But the falcon Joša did not scout
nor did he go in a group anymore

373

Photo: Ceklina boats on Lake Shkodra, Dodoshi 1860