GARNETT
GREEK FOLK
SONGS
GRAD
GR
170
.G232
1885
BUHR
PROPERTY OF
The
University of
Michigan
Libraries

1817
ARTES
SCIENTIA VERITAS
GREEK FOLK-SONGS
FROM
THE TURKISH PROVINCES OF GREECE,
Η ΔΟΥΛΗ "ΕΛΛΑΣ :
'H
ALBANIA, THESSALY, (NOT YET WHOLLY FREE,)
AND MACEDONIA :
Literal and Metrical Translations
BY
Tanne
LUCY MJ GARNETT,
CLASSIFIED, REVISED, AND EDITED, WITH AN
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION ON THE SURVIVAL OF
PAGANISM.
BY
JOHN S. STUART GLENNIE, M.A.,
¨OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
1
i
LONDON:
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1885.
:
GR
170
.G232
1885
Beehi
Thug e doibh sgeul air Righ na Gréige, agus mar a bha Nighean an
Righ air a gleidheadh 'san Dùn, 's nach robh aon air bith gu AILLIDH,
Nighean Righ na Gréige, fhaotainn ri phòsadh, ach aon a bheireadh a .
mach i le sàr ghaisge.'—SGEUL CHONUIL GHUILBNICH.
'And he told them the Tale of the King of Greece, and how his Daughter
was kept in the Dun, and that no one at all was to get BEAUTY, Daughter
of the King of Greece, to marry, but one who could bring her out by great
valour.'--CAMPBELL, West Highland Tales, Vol. III., p. 258.
:
Re-classed 12-1
نیکی کریمی سایت قام بها
2 Fen. ko. EMM
To
THE HELLENES
OF
ENSLAVED GREECE
(ALBANIA, THESSALY, NOT YET WHOLLY FREE,
AND MACEDONIA),
THE
THESE
GREEK FOLK-SONGS
ARE DEDICATED,
WITH THE EARNEST WISH OF
TRANSLATOR AND EDITOR,
THAT THEIR JOINT WORK-
IN GIVING SOME BETTER KNOWLEDGE OF,
AND KEENER SYMPATHY WITH,
A PEOPLE
WHOSE SPIRIT AND SENTIMENT
ARE STILL CLASSICAL-
MAY GAIN HELP FOR A LAST AND SUCCESSFUL STRUGGLE
FOR THE COMPLETION
OF
HELLENIC INDEPENDENCE.
345399

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE.
REMARKS, POLITICAL AND LINGUISTIC
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM.
SECTION I.-THE FACT OF THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM
PAGAN SANCTUARIES AND FOLK-SONG
SCENES
II.
>>
""
III. THE CAUSE OF THE SURVIVAL OF
PAGANISM
NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR -
1
PAGE
xvii
3
20
42
65
METRICAL TRANSLATIONS.
CLASS I.-MYTHOLOGICAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I.-IDYLLIC
69
II. CHRISTIAN
94
""
III.-CHARONIC
III
""
CLASS II.-AFFECTIONAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION 1.—EROTIC
133
II.-DOMESTIC
157
III.-HUMOURISTIC
184
CLASS III.-HISTORICAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I.-PASHALIC
II.-SOULIOTE -
""
III.-HELLENIC
,,
199
216
240
APPENDIX.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GREEK FOLK-LORE
259

ANALYTICAL TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE.
REMARKS, POLITICAL AND LINGUISTIC.
1. The bearing of the Study of Folk-life and Folk-lore
on Historical Theory, and the Influence of the
latter on Political Forces
2. The importance for Civilization of the Resurrection
of the Greeks, and the completion of Hellenic
independence
3. The 'Policy of the European Concert,' and the
two chief actual objects of that 'Concert' with
respect to Europe
4. The suggested New Policy of a Greco-Albanian
Confederation
5. The relation of Modern to Classical Greek, and the
causes of the different histories of the Greek and
Latin Languages
6. The Greek Patois of Southern Albania, and English.
Patois of Southern Scotland, and the character-
istics of the former in relation to Athenian
Modern Greek
-
7. The Gaelic 'Tale of the King of Greece,' a legendary
reminiscence explained by the facts of Keltic
PAGE
xvii
xix
XX
xxi
xxiii
xxvii
History -
xxix
viii
Analytical Table of Contents.
ޅ
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM.
SECTION I.
THE FACT OF THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM.
PAGE
1. The Plutarchian Legend of the Death of Pan
2. The symbolic meaning given to this Legend, and
its untruth
3
4
3. Testimonies to this untruth by Christian students of
Folk-lore
6
4. The essential and surviving characteristics of
Paganism
8
5. Illustrations in our Folk-songs of the feeling of One-
ness with Nature, and of direct Personalizing of
its phenomena
-
6. Illustrations of the indirect Personalizing of Nature
in the creation of Gods and Demi-gods-
7. Illustrations of unconsciousness of sin in Sexual
Love, and of nonbelief in a supernatural state
of Rewards and Punishments
8
IO
13
8. Illustrations of the feeling of Family kinship, and
of patriotic devotion to the Fatherland -
9. What was the origin of the Legend of which the sym-
bolic truth is thus disproved?
15
16
10. A suggestive proximity of localities, and synchron-
ism of dates
17
II. The fact of survival to be more fully illustrated be-
fore investigating the cause.
18
SECTION II.
PAGAN SANCTUARIES AND FOLK-SONG SCENES.
The sites of the Ancient Sanctuaries, centres of origin
of the Modern Songs
20
Analytical Table of Contents.
ix
SUB-SECTION I.-ALBANIA.
1. The Glen of Dodona, and its ruined later Temples
2. The primitive Sanctuary imaginatively restored
3. The Holy Places of Epeiros, and their systematic
relations
4. The Acherusian Plain, and the Vergilian localities
of the New Ilion
5. The strath of Ioánnina, the Hellopía of Hesiod, and
Hellas of Aristotle
PAGE
2 I
22
23
24
25
SUB-SECTION II.—THESSAly.
1. Roumanian Mézzovo, and the Zygos Pass from
Illyria into Thessaly
27
2. The Mid-air Monasteries as Historical Monuments
3. The Upper and Lower Plains of Thessaly and their
enclosing Hills -
28
29
4. Olympus on its Thessalian and Macedonian sides -
5. The Seat of two Races of Men and Sanctuary of
two Orders of Gods
31
32
SUB-SECTION III.-MACEDONIA.
1. The range of Olympus, and the variety of its aspects
as seen from Saloníca
34
2. Saloníca, and the Homeric Rhapsodist of its Kalla-
meriá Gate
35
3. The original Macedonia, the upland Glens west of
the Axius
36
4. The Promontory of the Holy Mountain and its
Monasteries
37
5. Samothrace, and surviving relics of the worship of
the Kábeiri
39
The wonder and interest of the survival of Paganism
above illustrated
4I
X
Analytical Table of Contents.
SECTION III.
THE CAUSE OF THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM.
1. The history of professed Creeds not the history of
Religion
2. The problem presented by the Overthrowal, yet Sur-
vival and Revival of Paganism -
3. The New Theory of the Unity of History,' and of
European-Asian Civilization.
4. The Sixth Century B.C. the true division between
Ancient and Modern History
PAGE
42
44
45
47
5. The general explanation given of the origin of
Christianity by the facts of the Revolution of the
Sixth Century B.C.
6. The five elements of contemporary sentiment and
thought which Christianity succeeded in com-
bining
7. The general philological and historical proof of the
Semitic character of the Christian God-idea
8. This proved also by the difference between the
Christian and the Neo-Platonic Trinity, and
struggle of the Neo-Platonists against Christianity
9. And by the history of the influence of Neo-Platonism
on Christian Theology -
10. Further verifications indicated of the suggested
cause of Survival
II. The provisional utility of the Semitic God-idea of
Christianity, but return now to the God of our
Aryan Forefathers
49
52
54
56
58
бо
62
NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR -
65
Analytical Table of Contents.
xi
:
METRICAL TRANSLATIONS.
CLASS I.-MYTHOLOGICAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I.
IDYLLIC.
The Sunborn and Hantseri
The Siren and the Seamen
The Shepherd and the Lamia
The Stoicheion and the Widow's Son
The Stoicheion and Yanni
Yanni and the Drakos -
The Witch of the Well -
The Witch Mother-in-Law
The Bridge of Arta
The Enchanted Deer
The Sun and the Deer
The Black Racer
The Shepherd and the Wolf
The Swallows' Return
The Bird's Complaint
The First of May
-
The Soldier and the Cypress Tree
The Apple Tree and the Widow's Son
The River and the Lover
Olympos and Kissavos -
:
SECTION II.
CHRISTIAN.
PAGE
69
74
75
76
78
79
80
81
SI
83
85
86
87
t
1
88
89
90
91
92
92
93
For the Feast of the Christ-Births
Saint Basil, or the New Year
The Feast of the Lights, or Epiphany
Vaia, or Palm Sunday -
94
96
97
98
xii
Analytical Table of Contents.
J
Ode to the Seven Passions
For the Great Friday
The Resurrection
-
The Miracle of St. George
The Vow to St. George
Procession for Rain
The Visit to Paradise and Hell -
SECTION III.
CHARONIC.
I
1
1
1
PAGE
99
ΙΟΙ
104
104
107
IOS
109
1
1
1
The Moirai
Charon and his Mother
Charon's Wedding-Feast for his Son
Charon and the Souls
Charon and the Young Wife
Charon and the Shepherd
The Jilted Lover and Charon
Zahos and Charon
The Rescue from Charon
The River of the Dead
Dirge for a Father
Dirge for a House-Mistress
Dirge for a Son
Dirge for a Daughter
Dirge for a Sister
Dirge for a Young Husband
The Young Widow
The Dead Son to his Mother
The Vampire
Thanásé Vághia
I
1
III
III
I 12
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
121
I22
123
124
124
125
126
1
129
Analytical Table of Contents.
xiii
CLASS II.-AFFECTIONAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I.
EROTIC.
PAGE
The Fruit of the Apple-Tree
The Neglected Opportunity
133
134
The Wooer
The Lover's Dream
The Nuns
The Despairful One
135
136
137
138
The Rake
Elenáki, the Nightingale
The Last Request
The Lover's Return
The Widow's Daughter
The Partridge
-
The Discovered Kiss
The Woman-Hunter
138
139
140
140
141
1
142
143
143
The Forsaken One
144
The Vlach Shepherdess Unkind
145
The Vlach Shepherdess Kind
The Black-Eyed One
The Lover
Fair Ones and Dark Ones
Blue-Eyed and Dark-Eyed Ones
The Blue-Eyed Beauty
The Garden
Yanneótopoula -
The Little Bird
The Cypress
The Broken Pitcher
Distichs
The Bulgarian Girl and the Partridge
The Rose-Tree
The Green Tree
146
146
147
148
1
149
149
150
1
150
+
151
1
•
152
152
1
J
153
153
154
1
1
155
xiv
Analytical Table of Contents.
SECTION II.
DOMESTIC.
SUB-SECTION I.-EARLY MARRIED Life.
PAGE
For the Throning of the Bride -
For the Bride's Departure
For the Young Bridegroom
The Wife's Dream
157
158
1
The Husband's Departure
The Exiled Bird
The Absent Husband
The Husband's Return
SUB-SECTION II.-LULLABIES AND NURSERY RHYMES.
Lullabies I.—IX.
Nursery Rhymes I.—VIII.
SUB-SECTION III.-LATER MARRIED LIFE.
The Parson's Wife
The Forsaken Wife
The Sale of the Wife
Maroúla, the Divorced -
The Old Man's Bride
The Old Man's Spouse
Yannakos, or the Assassinated Husband
The Child Slayer
SECTION III.
HUMOURISTIC.
The Dance of the Maidens
The Feast
The Janissary
The Tree
The Wineseller
The Gallants
1
1
*
t
1
1
159
159
160
161
162
163
!
165
170
175
176
177
178
179
180
180
182
184
185
186.
186
187
188
Analytical Table of Contents.
XV
The Dream
The Refusal
The Lemon-Tree
The Hegoumenos and the Vlach Maiden
The Bulgarian Girl
The Wooer's Gift
The Shepherd's Wife
The Klephts
The Thief turned Husbandman
CLASS III.-HISTORICAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I.
PASHALIC.
PAGE
188
189
190
191
191
192
193
194
196
The Sea-Fight and the Captive
The Sack of Adrianople
The Capture of Constantinople
The Child-Tax
Dropolitissa
Night-School Song
Serapheim of Phanári
The Slave
1
199
200
201
202
202
203
204
206
Metsoïsos
207
Christos Milionis
209
Syros
210
Satir Bey
212
The Capture of Lárissa and Tírnavo
213
Soulieman Pashína
214
Noutso Kontodemos
214
SECTION II.
SOULIOTE.
Koutsonika!
Lambros Tzavelas
216
217
xvi
Analytical Table of Contents.
The Capture of Preveza
The Monk Samuel
Evthymios Vlachavas
Moukhtar's Farewell to Phrosýne
The Capture of Gardiki
1
The Klepht Vrykolakas
Despo of Liakatá
PAGE
219
220
228
233
234
236
237
238
SECTION III.
HELLENIC.
The Exile of the Parghiots
Zito Hellas!
240
Kostas Boukoválas
241
The Klepht's Farewell to his Mother
243
The Klepht's Wintering
245
The Klephts Awaiting the Spring
Haidee
246
247
Nasos Mantalos
Kapitan Basdékis
The Lovelorn Klepht
The Death of the Klepht
Sabbas the Armatole
Diákos the Armatole
The Siege of Missolonghi
The Battle of Kalabáka
Themistocles Doumouzos
248
248
250
250
252
253
254
255
1
257
APPENDIX.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GREEK FOLK-LORE
259
J7
ERRATA.
P. xxviii. For xư, read Ẽxu ; and for vàn vào
P. 8. love, that is, not mere lust-delete second comma.
P. 8, n. 13.
P. 21, n. 2.
P. 23.
For
P. 44, n. I.
For Bulgaresa, read Bulgares.
For δυσχειμέρον, read δυσχειμέρου.
κλιήζετε, read κλήζετε.
After DEMOSTHÉNES, insert (in Neær. 1504, 157, Bekker);
for Τὰς ἐταίρας ἔχομεν ἡδονῆς ἕνεκα, read Τὰς μὲν γὰρ ἐταίρας ἡδονῆς
ἕνεκ᾽ ἔχομεν ; and add to end of sentence γνησίως.
P. 65. For 'Ολίμπου, read Ολύμπου.
P. 90.
F. 104.
Third line from foot, for his, read her.
For ἀνέστι, read ἀνέστη.
P. 115. For young levente, read strapping shepherd; and for levente,
further down, read young hero.
P. 153. For ootprint, read footprint.
In the BIBLIOGRAPHY insert-
BENT.-The Cyclades, or Life among the Insular Greeks, 1885.
For PASHELY, read PASHLEY; and insert—
POLITES.-Νεοελληνικη Μυθολογία.
THIERSCH.-Das Volksleben der Neugriechen.
WACHSMUTH.-Hellenischer Alterthumskunde.

PREFACE: REMARKS, POLITICAL
AND LINGUISTIC.
THOSE Nationalist Antiquarian Researches, to which the
chief impulse was given by the enthusiasm excited by
Macpherson's Ossian (1760), have developed, in the
course of the century since then, into Comparative and
Scientific Studies of Folk-life and Folk-lore. The
results, however, obtained by that earlier Antiquarianism
had an immense effect on the writing, or rather, in most
cases, the rewriting of National Histories; nor was
History affected only in its facts by Antiquarian results,
but in its style by Antiquarian imagination-and this
especially through the influence of those novels of Sir
Walter Scott's, which constitute a single great Romance
of European History. But if that earlier Antiquarianism,
painstaking, yet, in general, sufficiently prejudiced as it
was, had effects so great on the writing of History; still
greater things may, I think, be expected from Anti-
quarianism developed as it now is into a Comparative
Science of Folk-life and Folk-lore. If, like the earlier
Antiquarianism, this new Comparative Science has a
sphere of influence corresponding to its scope of study,
it should cause the rewriting, not of mere National
Histories, but of the General History of Civilization.
Nor is this an inference merely from the greater scope of
the New Antiquarianism. Invaluable as the greater
b
xviii
Preface: Remarks,
}
generalizations of the New Philosophy of History may
be as suggestive hypotheses, they have always been
more or less influenced by the conventional views of the
educated class to which the Philosopher has belonged.
Historical generalizations, therefore, thus influenced,
and yet dealing with large historical facts of Belief and
Conduct, cannot but be importantly corrected, if not
altogether recast, if the evidence as to Belief and Conduct
is sought, not merely, as usually hitherto, in Literature,
but also, and even more assiduously, in the realities of
Folk-life, and the records of Folk-lore. It is this view
and aim, less or more distinctly defined, that has always
guided my historical studies, and that has recently led
me to the study more especially of Greek Folk-songs.
And some results of this study will be found indicated
in the following Historical Essay on The Survival of
Paganism.
But those Nationalist Antiquarian Researches had
results far more important than even the rewriting of
National Histories. It is to these Researches that are
due, if not the kindling, certainly all the consuming
power, of those aspirations to National Freedom and
National Unity, which have been the most revolutionary
Political Forces of the century, and which are certainly
not even yet played out. Nor will the New Anti-
quarianism which, in the intellectual sphere, will cause
the rewriting, not of mere National Histories, but of the
General History of Civilization, be wanting in results
correspondingly great in the political sphere. Histories of
Civilization which take due account of the results of the
Comparative Science of Folk-life and Folk-lore, will be
distinctively theories of Economic Development; and
the Political Forces, to which these theories will give at
once revolutionary heat and determined direction, will
Political and Linguistic.
xix
aim not merely at National Resurrections, but at
Economic Reconstructions. The former must precede
the latter; and it is, I confess, but for the sake of the
latter that I would do what in me lies to promote the
former.
Now, of all National Resurrections, that one which
will, I believe, most profoundly aid general Eco-
nomic Reconstruction, is the Resurrection of the Greeks.
Nor do I think so only because of the position
occupied by the Greeks in the Levant, their progressive
spirit, and their great commercial and administrative
ability. I think so because general Economic Recon-
struction there cannot be without general Intellectual
Progress; and because the Greeks-admirably Pagan
still as their Folk-songs prove-are, beyond all other
East-European peoples, imbued with that spirit of syn-
thetic Intuition and sceptic Curiosity which alone
emancipates from enslaving Superstition; that Classic
Spirit of which a Greek formulated the immortal axioms:
'Nature is not episodic in its phenomena, like a bad
tragedy (Οὐκ ἔοικε δ' ἡ φύσις ἐπεισοδιώδης ουσα ἐκ τῶν
φαινομένων ὥσπερ μοχθηρὰ τραγουδία-Metaph. XIII. iii.);
and 'All men by nature reach forth to know' (IIávτes
Ανθρωποι τοῦ εἰδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει. — Ibid. I. i.).
These are the grounds which should, I think, make
Philhellenes of all who desire that general Intellectual
Progress which is the condition of general Economic
Reconstruction. Nor can the political advantage to Great
Britain of so considerable a commercial and naval ally in
the Mediterranean as a reconstituted Greece might be—
nor can this political advantage be, for a British citizen,
either an unimportant or unworthy additional reason for
Philhellenism, if he has any due conception either of
the Imperial duties of Great Britain, or of the position
3/
b-2
XX
Preface: Remarks,
which England may take in the van of the Economic
Revolution. These are the equally large and solid
grounds of Philhellenism, and especially of British Phil-
hellenism. And hence, not only would I hope, by this
work, to contribute some further suggestions, at least, to
the New Philosophy of History, the theory of the General
History of Civilization; but to contribute also, in some
degree, to the renewal of British Philhellenism, and
to the completion of Hellenic Independence.
Such being the philosophical, and more particularly
the political aim of the Book, as, indeed, indicated by its
Dedication, a few remarks may, perhaps, be desirable
with respect to the Policy that should, as. I venture to
think, be followed in giving political effect to Phil-
hellenic sympathies. And first of all, negatively to
define this Policy. It will certainly not be the Policy
hitherto of Liberals'—the Policy of the 'European
Concert.' No doubt, there does exist a 'European Con-
cert.' But this 'Concert' is very far as yet from being of a
'millennial' character. Its two chief actual objects, so far
as Europe is concerned, are these: first, to suppress the
Socialist Revolution menacing, and justly menacing,
the very foundations of our present Social Order;' and
secondly, what here chiefly concerns us, to prevent such
an enlargement of Greece, however just, as would be
inimical to the diverse, yet, in this, common interests, not
indeed of the Peoples, but of the Governing Factions, of
Germany and Austria, of Russia, of Italy, and of France.
Never, therefore-never, at least, till all other imbecilities
were outdone by the Egyptian blindness and blundering
of a Government tolerated only with the hope of Home
Reforms-never was there such a piece of contemptible
sentimentalism, or still more contemptible hypocrisy, as
the pretence of being able to obtain justice for Greece
Political and Linguistic.
xxi
through the 'European Concert.' The events of the
spring of 1881 verified what I wrote to this effect in the
autumn of 1880. The Powers who hope to benefit by
the expulsion of Pashas from Europe were, notwith-
standing their treacherous invitation,' as opposed as the
Porte itself to conceding to Greece more than, at most,
the Plains of Thessaly, and these only with an indefen-
sible frontier. The 'Naval Demonstration' was, there-
fore, a grotesque, saved only from becoming a tragical
farce, by complete abandonment of the boundary about
which this futile bounce was made. And our sentimental
or hypocritical statesmen were only too glad to get out
of their difficulties by accepting a slight enlargement of
Turkey's long-offered concessions in the Thessalian
Plains.
In a long series of Letters contributed, in 1880 and
1881, to the Manchester Guardian and the Glasgow
Herald, I endeavoured to show that the true solution of
the Greek Question was to be found, not in that proposed
annexation of Epeiros to the Kalamas which, as my
inquiries proved, would certainly have excited strong
anti-Hellenic feeling, and been resisted by the Albanians;
but in such a Greco-Albanian Confederation as I had
already suggested in 1879 in my Europe and Asia, and
illustrated in the politico-ethnographical map published
therewith. Such a Confederation I maintained to be the
first condition of the enfranchisement of Northern
Greece from the Turkish, and of its salvation from a
Slavonic yoke. For it would not only give at once to
Greece an army of hereditary fighters, and a position on
the flank of every anti-Hellenic movement in Macedonia;
but ultimately, as north-western frontier, not the Kala-
mas, which cuts in half the Greek-speaking population
of Albania, but such a true ethnographical boundary as,
xxii
Preface: Remarks,
uniting the racially and linguistically akin Greeks and
Albanians of a New Hellas, would divide them from
the racially and linguistically alien Montenegrins and
Bosnians of a Great Servia. The encouragement and
support, therefore, of Greek efforts towards such a Greco-
Albanian Confederation—and, first of all, by the re-
establishment of the Consulates at Ioánnina and Monastír,
abolished by 'Liberal' economy-should be the first plank
of a British Philhellenic Policy. And, as in keeping only
with that shameful ignorance of knowable, or still more
shameful denying of known facts, which has characterized
the whole history of that disastrous Foreign Policy of
the Gladstone Administration which-not only when we
think of the Transvaal, of Egypt, and of the Soudan, but
of what this Gladstonian Policy has tolerated, and of
what it has prepared-may be summed up in three words,
War with Dishonour-as in keeping only with such a
Policy of imbecility, the Policy of the 'European Con-
cert,' as a means of obtaining justice for Greece, will be
dismissed with deserved contempt, while maintaining,
however, of course, as long as possible the European
Peace.
With reference to the Policy of a Greco-Albanian
Confederation, one or two notes on the ethnographical
relations of Greeks and Albanians may not be out of
place. North of Tepeléni-famous as the original lord-
ship of the great Albanian hero, Alí Pashá—we find
pure Albanian spoken, with but one or two small dis-
tricts in which Greek is the common language, and a
few Vlach villages in which Roumanian as well as Alba-
nian is spoken. But the whole country south of Tepe-
léni is Greek-speaking with certain large districts in
which Albanian as well as Greek, and certain small dis-
tricts in which Roumanian as well as Greek, is spoken.
Political and Linguistic.
xxiii
The more usual, or tripartite division of Albania and
the Albanians, is a tribal, rather than, like that by a
line through Tepeléni, a linguistic division. Upper or
Northern Albania is the country of the Ghegs, with
Scodra, or Scútari as their capital. Middle Albania is
the country of the Tosks, with Berat as their capital.
And Lower or Southern Albania-the ancient Epeiros,
or 'Continent,' of the inhabitants of the islands lying
off it is the country of the Tzames with-but here
one comes on
on a burning question: for of Southern
Albania, in its general sense, Ioánnina is, geographi-
cally, the capital, but ethnographically, it is a Greek
rather than Albanian town. Those of the Albanians
who are Muslims belong, for the most part, to the ex-
ceedingly rationalistic order of the Bektashí Dervishes.
And finally, Albanian bears a closer relation to Greek
than to any other language; nor is the difference
between them comparable to that between the Gaelic
and Scotch of the Highlanders and Lowlanders of that
Keltic Albania (Albain or Albanach) which, in the
eleventh century—the same, very singularly, in which the
former Illyrians were first spoken of as Albanians (Tò
Tŵv "A\Cavwv élvos)—first began to be called Scotland.
Having thus defined the philosophical aim, and indi-
cated the policy by which, as I think, effect may best be
given to the political aim, of this Collection of Greek
Folk-songs, I would now make a few remarks, not indeed
on the Translations, of which Miss Garnett will herself
say all that is necessary, but on the Language of which
they are renderings.
The Originals are in a patois of which some of the
characteristics will presently be noted. But it is im-
portant, first, to point out that, as spoken by an educated
contemporary Greek, the Language, of which this patois
xxiv
Preface: Remarks,
is a rustic dialect, differs less, in its grammatical forms,
from that of the Homeric Rhapsodists of nearly three
millenniums ago, than the Language of an educated
contemporary Englishman differs from that of Chaucer,
only half a millennium ago. There are, it is true,
great and important differences between Classical and
Modern Greek, both in vocabulary and in syntax-
differences which I shall presently state, or rather
summarize (p. xxviii.), and which the student, who
cares to go into more detail, will easily find out for
himself by comparing the Alexandrian Greek of the
New Testament with Attic Greek on the one side, and
Romaic Greek on the other. But it is now more than
thirty years since Professor Blackie first forcibly pointed
out that the Neo-Hellenic of Tricoupis is but such
a Dialect of Greek as the Ionic of Homer, or Doric
of Theocritus; and that, great as are the changes in
English pronunciation since even Chaucer's time, the
accent in Greek is still on the very syllables accented
by the grammarians of the days of the Ptolemies,
more than two thousand years ago. Not even yet,
however, is this fact generally realized, if indeed, known.
This is chiefly due, I believe, to the thoroughly false
views of European History generally prevalent. And
hence it is by indicating, at least, what will, as I think,
be found to be somewhat truer historical views, that
the reader will be most readily enabled to understand,
and hence realize the fact that, while Italian, for instance,
differs from Latin, as a new Language, or new genus,
Modern differs from Classical Greek as but a new
Dialect, or new species.
The unity which, as shown in the Introduction is, for
the first time, given to European-Asian History by the
substitution of the natural Epoch of the General Revolu-
Political and Linguistic.
XXV
tion of the Sixth Century B.C. for the supernatural Era
of the birth of Jesus-this unity, like every unity of
Evolution, is a unity, not of identity, but of correlative.
differences. For if the Sixth Century B.C. shows a
general similarity in the great movements of Human
Development both in Asia and in Europe, it shows also,
as pointed out in the Introduction (p. 49), the origination
then of a profound difference between the Civilizations
of Europe and of Asia. And so it is also in the case of
European Civilization considered by itself. Immortal as
the Decline and Fall must be, the history of Europe is
not truly, as to Gibbon, the history of the Roman
Empire. No sooner had a general European Civilization
been constituted-a civilization, not merely, as in the
Classical Period (500 B.C.-I A.C), of two European
peninsulas, but, as in the succeeding Neo-Aryan Half-
millennium (I A.C.-500 A.C.), a Civilization extending
from Britain to the Bosphorus-no sooner had such a
general European Civilization been constituted than,
under the nominal unity of the Roman Empire, there
arose two distinctly different Civilizations-the Civiliza-
tions of Eastern and Western Europe, the Civilizations
of the Greek and the Latin tongue : Civilizations different
in every regard, economical and political, moral and
religious, philosophical and literary. It is in the inter-
action of these two clearly differentiated Civilizations,
and not in an appellation which, for nearly a thousand
years, was little more than a mere vain and empty name,
that the true unity is to be found of European Civiliza-
tion. And the recognition of this differentiation and
interaction may at least prepare us, if not to expect, to
accept the fact of the utmost contrast between the
history of the Greek, and the history of the Latin
Language.
xxvi
Preface: Remarks,
How it was that Greek remained a Living, while
Latin became a Dead Tongue-how it was that the one
lived on in a new Dialect, while the other gave place to
a new Language, will be further clear on consideration
of the following facts. Though, after the fall of the
Western (470), the Eastern Empire was still called
'Roman,' so little was it in race and language 'Roman,'
that the Institutes of Justinian had already, in the Sixth
Century A.C., to be translated into Greek for popular
use. During the thousand years between the fall of
Rome and the fall of Constantinople (470-1453)
Classical Greek continued to be the literary language of
a State which, through the very loss of its provinces,
became so much more nationally Greek that, when
Constantine IX. died gloriously in the breach, defending
not only his capital, but Christendom, from Mohammed
the Conqueror, he was, though in name a Roman
Emperor, in fact a Greek King. And just as the
conditions of the Slavonian, and of the Frankish
invasions and conquests had formerly been, so the
conditions of the Ottoman invasions and conquests were
now, such as to foster and fan rather than stifle and
quench the flame of distinctive Greek life, and so pre-
pared the Greeks to lead the way in those heroic move-
ments of National Resurrection which made illustrious
the close of the Eighteenth Century. For whereas, in
the time of the Emperors, the polite was very different
from the popular dialect-as we know from the two
poems in that dialect which the monk Theodore
Ptochoprodromos addressed to the Emperor Manuel
(1143)—and no effort was made to approximate them;
yet now, in the general enslavement, such an effort was
vigorously made by patriotic Greeks, and its success was
greatly aided by the invention, at this time, of printing.
Political and Linguistic.
xxvii
Among the results of these patriotic exertions to amal-
gamate the Greeks by assimilating their polite and
popular dialects may be mentioned the Church History
of Meletius, Bishop of Athens (d. 1714); the Romance.
of Kornaro entitled Erotocritus (1737); and the transla-
tion of the Arabian Nights (1792). This movement was
brought to a climax by Adamantinos Koraes of Smyrna
(b. 1748). Since the establishment of the Greek King-
dom, there has been a sustained effort, in the reverse
direction, towards the reclassicalising of the Language.
But still, by poets not of the people, and notably by
Valaorites (b. 1824), the popular dialects, and especially
the Epirote patois, have been largely used for poetry.
Such are some of the general facts which may enable
the reader not only to recognise, but in some degree
also, perhaps, to understand, that identity of Modern,
with Classical, Greek speech, which not only connects,
as with a living bond, the Present with the Classical
Period, but serves also to explain that wonderful identity
of Modern with Classical Greek sentiment which he will
find in the following Translations.
And now with respect more particularly to that
patois of Modern Greek of which these Translations
are renderings. It is in the Epirote patois that most
of the Folk-songs here translated have been composed.
For among rustic dialects of Greek, that of Southern
Albania holds much the same place as, among rustic
dialects of English, that of Southern Scotland. There
is this difference, however, between the two cases: to
Burns, who made the English patois of Southern Scot-
land classical, this patois was his mother tongue; while
to Valaorites, who made the Greek patois of Southern
Albania classical, it was, from the circumstances of his
birth and education, rather his nurse's than his mother's
xxviii
Preface: Remarks,
tongue, and hence his acquaintance with it had, in after
life, to be perfected by special effort. By no means,
however, on this account, is the Epirote of Valaorites
more easy than that of the nameless popular bards who
spontaneously utter in that dialect their native wood-
notes wild.' On the contrary, it is so labouredly rustic
as to be more difficult than the genuinely rustic speech
itself. But M. de Queux de St. Hilaire, in his Intro-
duction to M. Blancard's Translations of Valaorites'
Poèmes Patriotiques, goes, perhaps, too far when he says
of his author's poetical language that it is as remote
from the true popular, as from the new literary lan-
guage- Cette langue populaire s'éloigne autant de la
langue littéraire . . . . que de la langue aussi factice
et idiomatique que Valaorites voulait remettre en
honneur.'
The patois of these Folk-songs may be generally
characterized as simply carrying a stage or two further
those differences which distinguish from Classical Greek,
the Modern Greek of educated speakers. The latter,
as is well known, differs from the former in the loss of
tenses by the verb-the use of the auxiliaries Oéλw and
"yo for the future and perfect, and of và (iva) instead of
the infinitive-and the loss of cases by the noun-the
genitive and dative being confused with the accusative.
And not only thus, as to grammar, but as to words,
Modern differs from Classical Greek in these various
ways in the ordinary use of what were formerly
poetical words; in the use of old words with new
meanings; in the curtailment of words; in the lengthen-
ing of words, particularly for diminutives; and in the
importation of new words from all the languages with
which the Greeks as a people have been brought into
contact-Latin, Slavonian, Italian, Albanian, and Turkish.
Political and Linguistic.
xxix
1
Now, in the patois of these Folk-songs all these differ-
ences as to grammar and as to words between ordinary
Modern and Classical Greek are exaggerated, and there
are besides some interesting peculiarities of pronuncia-
tion rather than of words. These consist either in the
elision, or in the change, not only of vowels, but of con-
sonants. In certain districts v, and in others p, is elided;
in certain districts, x is substituted for 7, and in others,
ρ for λ. And particularly remarkable in this respect is
the difference between the patois of the storm-secluded
old Pelasgian island of Samothrace; and the patois of
the adjoining mainland of Thrace and Macedonia, where
Greeks are mixed with Bulgarians. In Samothrace,
there is an elision of the harsh p in the words in which
it usually occurs; while on the mainland a rasping p
seems to be preferred to a liquid λ, and one hears the
natives address each other as ἀδερφέ, instead of ἀδελφὲ!
The result of these peculiarities, added to the exaggera-
tion of all the differences that distinguish educated
Modern from Classical Greek, is, that one who can read
the Modern Greek of Athens with ease, may find very
great difficulty with the Greek of the Folk-songs; while
one who can easily read the Greek of the Folk-songs
may be almost wholly unable to understand the Literary
Greek of Athens. But just so a foreigner, perfectly
familiar with Literary English, would be unable to
understand Broad Scotch, or the Lancashire, or East
Anglian Dialects, either spoken, or written phonetically
with all their elisions and transmutations.
One word, in conclusion, with reference to the motto I
have chosen from the Gaelic Sgeulachan, translated by
the late Mr. Campbell of Islay. It may, perhaps, be
found to be not without appropriateness. For the occur-
rence in Gaelic Folk-stories of the Tale of the King of
XXX
Preface: Remarks,
Greece' has, I believe, an historical, as well as poetic,
significance. Philologists have now proved that Keltic
has the closest affinities with Greek and Latin-Kymric
more particularly, perhaps, with the former, and Gaelic
with the latter-and hence that Kelts, Greeks, and
Latins probably derived their origin from a primitive
Greco-Kelto-Italic stock-a stock which we may pos-
sibly be able to identify with the Pelasgians whose more
direct representatives now Von Hahn believed to be the
Albanians. Among the chief events of the Classical
Period, or half-millennium before Christ, were the Keltic
invasions, not only of the countries occupied by their
ancient kinsmen in Italy and in Greece, but invasions
also of Macedonia, Thrace, and Asia Minor, in which last
they established their kingdom of Galatia. It is these
historical relations with the Greeks that have, I believe,
given rise to the Gaelic 'Tale of the King of Greece.'
For the history of the Kelts as a great European Race
has been as continuous as that of the Hellenes them-
selves since the upbreak of the Ancient Civilizations in
the Sixth Century B.C. Dating the history of Modern
Civilization from that great Epoch, it is found to be
divisible into five clearly distinguishable half-millennial
Periods. And each of these Periods in the history of
European-Asian Civilization, is characterized by a special
class of events in the history of the Keltic Race. The
first Period is, for it, a Period of Conquests; the second,
of Subjections; the third, of Northern Kingdoms; the
fourth, of Subversions; and the fifth, of Resurrections.
These facts, and particularly the last class of them, do
not, I think, verify the somewhat petulant iterations of a
certain learned and lucid, but not unprejudiced historian,
that the great English-speaking is an Anglo-Saxon, or
English, and not, as it truly is, an Anglo-Keltic Race.
Political and Linguistic.
xxxi
fi
We, therefore, as such a Race, in aiding the Greeks, aid
the representatives of the near, if not nearest, kins-
men of our Keltic ancestors. And it is curious to
remark that the most distinguished of English-speaking
Philhellenes the most distinguished of those who have
sought to deliver from bondage 'Beauty, the daughter
of the King of Greece '-have, almost all, had in their
veins a more than usual proportion of that Keltic blood.
which is common to the whole Britannic Race.
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
'The Oracles are dumb:
No voice or hideous hum
Runs through the archéd roof in words deceiving;
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine
With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving.
No nightly trance, or breathed spe!l
Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell!
MILTON: Ode on the Nativity.
Though the feet of thine high-priests tread where thy lords and our
forefathers trod,
Though these that were Gods are dead, and thou being dead art a God,
Though before thee the throned Cytherean be fallen, and hidden her
head,
Yet thy kingdom shall pass, Galilean, thy dead shall go down to thee
dead?
SWINBURNE: Hymn to Proserpine.
I

THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM.
SECTION I.
THE FACT OF THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM.
I. IN Plutarch's Dialogue 'On the Cessation of Oracles,"
Kleómbrotos, the Lacedæmonian, who had been travelling
in Egypt and the Soudan,' and who had met, among
others, at Delphi, the Grammarian, Demetrius of Tarsus,
who had been travelling in Britain, at the opposite end of
the Roman world³-this Kleómbrotos informs the com-
pany that Æmilian, the Rhetorician, had told him a won-
derful story touching the mortality of Dæmons. On a
voyage made by his father, Epitherses, to Italy, when
they were still not far from the Echinádes Islands, the
wind fell, and they were drifting in the evening towards
the Islands of Paxi. Then, suddenly, as the passengers
were drinking after supper, a voice was heard from one
of the islands, calling on a certain Thamus so loudly as to
fill all with amazement. This Thamus was an Egyptian
pilot, known by name to but few on board. Twice the
voice called him without response, but the third time he
replied; and then the voice said, 'When thou comest over
against Palódes, announce that the great Pan is dead.' On
hearing this, all were terrified, and debated whether it were
better to do as ordered, or not to trouble themselves
1 De Def. Orac., xvii.
2 Περὶ τὴν Τρωγλοδυτικὴν γῆν.
3 Τῆς οἰκουμένης.
I-2
4
Historical Introduction.
further about the matter. As for Thamus, he decided
that if there should be a wind, he would sail past, and say
nothing; but if it were a dead calm and smooth sea, he
would give his message. When, therefore, they were
come over against Palódes, there being neither breath of
wind nor ripple of wave, Thamus, looking towards the land
from the quarterdeck, proclaimed what he had heard:
The great Pan is dead." Hardly had he said this, when
there arose a great and multitudinous cry of lamentation,
mingled with amazement. And as this had been heard
by many persons, the news of it spread immediately on
their arrival in Rome, and Thamus was sent for by the
Emperor, Tiberius Cæsar. Such was the story of
Æmilian, as reported by Kleómbrotos. As Æmilian was
an 'old man' when he told the story, and as his father
had flourished under Tiberius, the period of the ‘Dialogue'
would appear to be about the end of the first century A.C.,
in the reign of the Emperor Trajan. But as Tiberius
died in 37 A.C., having succeeded his stepfather, Augustus,
in 14 A.C., the date of this death of Pan has been plausibly
assumed to coincide with that of the crucifixion of Christ.
6
2. Now, as it singularly chanced, one September day in
1880, it was amid the very scene of this romantic legend
of the death of Pan-and certainly no more splendid scene
could be imagined for such a legend than that vast moun-
tain-girt sea-plain and gleaming land-locked bay identified
with Palódes, on the Albanian coast, opposite Corfu-it
was in my boat in the bay, and while wandering over the
plain of Vutzindró7 (BouvτČITρòv), that an Epirote friend
spoke to me of the recently-published ῎Ασματα τοῦ Ἠπείρου
(Songs of Epeiros '), collected by Dr. Aravandinos, of
Ioánnina, and of which, next day, he was good enough to
4 Ὅτι ὁ μέγας Πὰν τέθνηκεν.
5 Μέγαν οὐχ ἑνὸς ἀλλὰ πολλῶν στεναγμόν, ἅμα θαυμασμῷ μεμεγμένον.
6 Ptolemy, Plutarch, and the word itself, sufficiently identify Palódes
with the muddy bay of Vutzindró.-LEAKE, Northern Greece, vol. i.,
p. 100.
7 Once, perhaps, the property of Atticus, the friend of Cicero.-
Cicero ad Attic., 1. iv., ep. 8.
The Survival of Paganism.
5
present me with a copy. Singularly it thus chanced. For
this Plutarchian legend is often repeated or alluded to as
a fact by mediæval authors, as also by Rabelais, by
Spenser, and by Milton; its essential, if not formal, truth
has, indeed, become almost an article of Christian faith;
and yet the result of the modern study of Folk-lore-and
the result more particularly in my own case of the studies
occasioned by that conversation on the 'Songs of Epeiros'
amid the scenes of this Epirote legend of the death of Pan
-has been a conclusion directly contradictory of what has
hitherto been the popular Christian belief with respect to
the destruction of Paganism. That conclusion may be
thus stated. Among the masses of the Greek people
Christian Church-beliefs have not only not substituted
themselves for, but have hardly even traceably influenced,
Pagan Folk-beliefs; further, a comparison of the Folk-
songs of the Greeks with the Folk-songs of other nominally
Christian peoples shows that this non-penetration of pro-
fessed Christian beliefs is not peculiar to, but only some-
what more conspicuous among, the Greeks; and hence,
finally, we may affirm that, so far as concerned or con-
cerns the masses of the Christian peoples, there was as
little of essential as of formal truth in the legend of the
mystic voice at Paxi, and of the multitudinous lamentation
at Palódes. Or, as one may otherwise express it, the
great Pan of Pagan writers is not, nor ever has been,
dead; and neither the birth nor the death of the great Pan
of Christian writers-' Christ, the very God of all shep-
herds, which calleth Himself the great and good Shepherd's
-neither the birth nor the death of Christ had the effect
so fondly fancied by Christians, and so finely described in
those famous lines of Milton's-
'The lonely mountains o'er,
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard and loud lament ;
8 E. K. (Edward Kirke) commenting on the line
'When great Pan account of Shepherdes shall aske,'
in the May Eclogue of SPENSER'S Shepherd's Calendar.
6
Historical Introduction.
From haunted spring and dale,
Edged with poplar pale,
The parting Genius is with sighing sent;
With flower-inwoven tresses torn
The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.'"
3. Startled as some readers may be by the conclusion
thus expressed, it may be desirable to give, or refer to, some
passages confirmatory of it in Christian writers. At the
outset,' remarks the Rev. Mr. Tozer,10 we may say broadly
that the beliefs of the modern Greeks respecting death
and the state of the dead, so far as we have the means of
judging of them, are absolutely and entirely Pagan. In
9 Ode on the Nativity, s. xx. I venture to think that Professor
Masson (Milton's Poetical Works, vol. iii., p. 356) is probably mis-
taken in imagining that
'A voice of weeping heard'
refers to the Massacre of the Innocents at the birth of the Christian
Pan, and to Matt. ii. 18, and Jer. xxxi. 15; and not rather to the 'great
cry of lamentation mingled with amazement' of the Plutarchian legend
of the death of the Pagan Pan. It is true that 'the mighty Pan' of
line 89 must be interpreted to refer to the Christian Pan. But the
lines
'The lonely mountains o'er,
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard and loud lament,'
are not only, the last one, a tolerably close translation of Plutarch, but
the first two a singularly graphic description of Palódes, the scene of
the death of the Pagan, and no description at all of Bethlehem, the
scene of the birth of the Christian Pan.
I may add that, as these lines can be construed only by such
strained interpolations as the following :
'The lonely mountains o'er,
And [o'er] the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping [is] heard and loud lament,'
one is tempted to suggest 'hoar' for 'o'er.' This would not only be
uncontradicted by any MS., but would be in accordance with Milton's
usage in Allegro,
'From the side of some hoar hill ;'
and in the third song in Arcades,
'On old Lycæus and Cyllene hoar.'
But against such an emendation it is, I fear, a fatal objection that it
would involve a change of tense from that of the context.
ΙΟ
10 Highlands of Turkey, vol. ii., p. 322.
The Survival of Paganism.
7
7
the numerous ballads which relate to these subjects there
is not a trace of any features derived from Christian
sources, while the old classical conceptions are every-
where manifest. It may be said, indeed, that in any
country the views on the subject of religion which might
be gathered from a collection of popular songs would be
of a very questionable description, and would not fairly
represent the beliefs of the people. But this objection
does not apply to the modern Greek ballads, as they are
the simple and straightforward expression of the ideas of
an unlettered people on the points to which they refer.
Some of the songs are intended for Christian festivals,
others are dirges to be sung at funerals, and others relate
to subjects akin to these. But in none of them does the
belief in a Resurrection or a Future Judgment make itself
apparent. That the people at large have no knowledge of
those doctrines it is hard to believe; but, at all events,
they have not a sufficiently firm hold on their minds to
come prominently forward, and they certainly have not
succeeded in expelling the old heathen notions. And if
most of the figures which we associate with the Inferno of
the Greeks, such as Pluto, Persephóné, Hermes, Kérberos,
etc., are now wanting, it should be remembered that, in
ancient times, the popular conceptions of such a subject
were in all probability much simpler than the elaborate
scheme which is found in the poets.' Similar conclusions
are expressed by other scholars." And Archbishop
Whately affirms generally,12 and with equally good reason,
that 'the vulgar in most parts of Christendom are actually
serving the Gods of their heathen ancestors. But they
do not call them Gods, but Fairies or Bogies, and they do
not apply the word worship to their veneration of them,
nor sacrifice to their offerings. And this slight change of
II Compare PASSOW, Carm. Pop. Præfatio; FAURIEL, MARCELLUS,
and LEGRAND, Chants populaires de la Grèce; and the books of
THIERSCH, of SANDERS, and of SCHMIDT on the Volksleben der Neu-
griechen.
12 Miscellaneous Remains, p. 274.
8
Historical Introduction.
name keeps most people in ignorance of a fact that is
before their eyes." 13
4. There is, however, something of superficiality in the
Archbishop's notion of modern Paganism as showing
itself only in a veneration of Bogies and Fairies. By
characteristics of a far deeper and more general kind
must Paganism, and particularly Western Paganism, be
defined, if our study of Greek Folk-songs is to have
any important historical result. In Western Paganism,
whether as it flourished before, or as it has survived since,
the destruction of its Sanctuaries, we find, I think, uni-
versally three General Characteristics, which may perhaps,
be thus respectively distinguished: (i.) a profound feeling
of oneness with Nature, and a mythic personalizing of
its phenomena, inanimate as well as animate; (ii.) Un-
consciousness of Sin in sexual love, that is, not mere
lust, and non-belief in a supernatural state of Rewards
and Punishments; and (iii.) a profound feeling of Family
kinship, and patriotic devotion to the Fatherland. By
characteristics of an exactly opposite kind would historical
Christianism have to be distinguished. But here I must
confine myself to pointing out some of the illustrations of
these Pagan characteristics which the reader will find
in the following Folk-songs.
5. First, then, as to the feeling of oneness with Nature,
and the personalizing of its phenomena. The impressions
produced by natural phenomena lead to their being per-
sonalized in two different ways-a direct way, and an
indirect. Personalizing in the direct way, the Sun is
represented as pityingly addressing a sad and lonely
Deer;14 or as angry with the Moon and Stars.15 The
Dawn is spoken of as a man whom alone a widow's
daughter desires as husband.16 The Moon weeps in sym-
pathy with the sorrowing Virgin;17 and is prayed to by a
13 Compare, for instance, for the Teutonic Race, GRIMM's Deutsche
Mythologie; DASENT, Popular Tales from the Norse; and HENDER-
SON, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties;—and for the Slavonic Race,
RALSTON, Songs of the Russian People and Russian Folk-tales; Dozon,
Poésies populaires Serbes, and Chansons populaires Bulgaresa; NAAKE,
Slavonic Fairy-tales; and CHODZKO, Contes Slaves.
16 Ib. p. 141. 17 Ib. p. 101.
14 Trans., p. 85. 15 Ib. p. 112.
The Survival of Paganism.
9
child going to a night-school,18 in the bad times of un-
checked Turkish oppression. The Stars are brimming
with tears;19 and the words used in speaking of the
setting of the Morning-star, as likewise of the Sun-Baσi-
λεύω and βασίλευμαdenote also reigning as a king.20
One boastfully speaks of himself as the son of the Light-
ning, and of his wife as the daughter of the Thunder.21
Mountains are asked questions and respond.22 Proudly
Olympus disputes with Kissavos, and boasts of his glories;
or, falling in love with his fellow mountain, now called by
the feminine name of Ossa, they become the parents of
the Klepht Vlachava;23 whose head, when he is slain, his
faithful dog carries to his mother Ossa, and buries in
the snows of her bosom. Into Rivers lovers would fain
transform themselves, and so consciously embrace their
mistresses and rid themselves of the poison of passion.24
Things inanimate of all kinds are represented as living—
discovering the kiss of lovers ;25 asking questions of, and
making requests to a saint;26 or fascinated by a siren ;27
her pillow and couch sympathetically respond to the
complaint of a forsaken wife; 28 a bridge is rent in
twain and a stream ceases to flow on hearing the sad
lament of a widow;29 and a ship stops sailing, horrified
at the groan of a prisoner.30 Trees, and especially
the Cypress,31 Apple,32 and Rose-tree; 33 and Fruits-
Lemons, and Apples; 35-and Flowers-Basil and Car-
nation--are all endowed with human feeling and with
speech; nay, by the blooming and withering of a Rose-
tree and a Carnation,36 a mother knows of the health,
and finally of the death, of her son, a klepht on the moun-
tains. It is Birds-Eagles,37 Partridges 3 and Crows,39
Cuckoos, Blackbirds¹¹ and Nightingales who sing the
dirges of the slain, or give warning to the living of death
or betrayal; ‘that he may have a gossip with Birds' (växw
μὲ τὰ πουλιὰ κουβέντα), the dying klepht begs that he may
40
19 Ib. p. 101.
24 lb. p. 92.
Ib. p. 125.
34 Ib. p. 137.
39 Ib. p. 254.
20 Ib. p. 79.
20 Ib. p. 79. 21 Ib. p. 80.
25 Ib. p. 142.
26 Ib. p. 96.
30 lb. p. 203.
22 Ib. p. 93.
27 Ib. p. 74.
35 lb. p. 137.
40 Ib. p. 253.
31 lb. p. 91.
36 lb. p. 243.
41 Ib. p. 253.
18 Trans. p. 202.
23 Ib. p. 228.
28 Ib. p. 176.
33 Ib. p. 154.
38 lb. p. 214.
29
32 lb. p. 92.
37 Ib. p. 241.
42 Ib. p. 199.
10
Historical Introduction.
43
be carried up to a mountain-ridge; a Bird, Touλì, bewails
her hard fate in colloquy with a king's daughter;" a
Partridge reproves an erring Bulgarian girl;45 and an Owl
heralds the approach of Vampires.46 Finally, among
Beasts, a Deer complains to the Sun of the cruel hunter
who has killed her child and her husband:47 a Horse
understands the entreaties of his mistress, and wins a
wager for his master;48 and a Wolf, on being questioned
by a shepherd, complains of having been illtreated by his
dogs, when he was about to regale himself on a lamb.49
oi
6. But besides this primitive and eternal poetry of the
direct personalizing of Nature, animate and inanimate,
there is also, in these Folk-songs, what may be called.
an indirect personalizing of Nature in the creation of
Beings mythically representative both of universal and of
special aspects of Nature-in the creation, in a word, of
Gods and Demi-gods. The Fates (Moîpai) and Chance.
(Pikov) still hold the same place as of old, as Powers
above and behind all Gods.5 50 But the most remarkable of
all the mythical Beings mentioned in our Folk-songs are,
perhaps, οἱ τρεῖς Στοιχειὰ τοῦ Κοσμοϋ the three Elements
(or Spirits) of the Universe.51 I strongly suspect,' says
the Rev. Mr. Tozer,52 that here the underlying idea is
that of the Holy Trinity.' And another writer, in alluding
to these Stoicheia, speaks of them as 'the three Earth-
Spirits, whoever they may be.' The song, however, in
which they are mentioned belongs to Saloníca; Thessa-
loníca was famous for its worship of the Samothracian
Kábeiri; and the Kabeirian God of Thessaloníca was
adored as one of a Trinity of which the youngest had
been put to death by the others.53 I venture to think
43 Trans. p. 256.
47 Ib. p. 85.
45 Ib. p. 154.
49 Ib. p. 87.
46 Ib. p. 130.
50 lb. p. 111.
44 lb. p. 89.
48 lb. p. 86.
51 Ib. P. 75.
52 Highlands of Turkey, vol. ii., p. 317, n.
53 See Lactantius, Julius Firmicus Maternus, and Clement of Alex-
andria, as cited by Lenormant in DAREMBERG's Dictionnaire des Anti-
quities, Cabiri, p. 769 and flg. This Christ-like personage appears as a
young man on the coins of Thessalonica. And the story of his death,
with the figures of the other members of the Kabeirian Trinity, is repre-
sented on the metallic mirrors of Etruria, which, in the second half of
the fourth, and in the third century B.C., appears to have been strongly
The Survival of Paganism.
ΙΙ
that, in bringing these facts together, I have identified
these Τρεις Στοιχειὰ τοῦ Κοσμοῦ of Salonica with the
Kabeirian Trinity of the Thessalonians. Next among
the mythical personages of our Songs may be named
Elioyenneté and Hántseri,54 of whom the lay is an evident
Sun-and-Moon myth, or Endymion-and-Seléné story.
And next among the greater Gods of modern Greek Folk-
life, and so holding a place similar to that of the God of
the Underworld in the ancient Mythologies, is Charon.
A Charon we find also among the ancient Etruscans,55 and
both names appear to have been derived from the Egyp-
tian Horus;50 though the emblems of Charon are those
of a Kabeirian God. But it was not till the sixth century
B.C. that there was sustained and general intercourse be-
tween Greece and Egypt.57 Hence, it was not probably
till about this date that Charon took his place in the
imagination of the Greeks; hence, not till about the same
time that the notion of the Devil got separated from that
of God in the Hebrew Mythology.58 And the reason of
Charon being thus adopted as a Greek God or Demi-god,
may be found partly in the fact that Hades could now be
restricted to signifying a place, and not, as hitherto, both
a place and a person.59 But, in the old Aryan Mythologies,
affected by an influence proceeding from Macedonia and the Isles
of the Thracian Sea. See GERHARD, Ueber die Metallspiegel der
Etrusker, in his Gesam. Akad. Abhandl., vol. ii.
54 Trans. p. 69. 55 See DENNIS, Etruria, vol. ii., pp. 182—191-3.
56 See WILKINSON, Ancient Egyptians, vol. v., p. 433.
57 This was in consequence of the establishment, by Psammetichus,
of Greek mercenaries, Ionians and Karians, on the Pelusiac or eastern
branch of the Nile, at a place called Stratopeda, or the Camps (HERO-
DOTUS, ii. 154), and of the permission given by the same Pharaoh for the
settlement of Greek merchants at Navkratis on the right bank of the
Kanopic Nile. See GROTE, History of Greece, vol. ii., pp. 496-97, with
respect to the apparently conflicting statements on this point of
Herodotus and Strabo. But this introduction of Charon into the
Greek Pantheon was but one of the lesser consequences of that open-
ing of the Nile by Psammetichus of which the greater results made an
epoch in Hellenic thought.
58 Compare 1 Kings xxii.—iv. with 1 Chron. xxi. ; and see Roskoff,
Geschichte des Teufels, b. I., ss. 199-2126, REVILLE, Histoire du Diable,
and GOLDZIEHER, Mythology among the Hebrews.
59 Trans. pp. 116, 129.
I 2
Historical Introduction.
there were a vast number of minor mythical Beings below
the Universal Trinity of Heaven, Earth, and Hell, the
Creator, the Preserver, and the Destroyer. Similarly, in
the Neo-hellenic Mythology, below the modern representa-
tives of these Greater Gods, there are a great number of
minor poetic creations more or less obviously expressive
of the impressions made by special natural phenomena.
Among these, the following will be found in the Transla-
tions given below-Stoicheia 60 of Mountains, Rivers, and
Wells; Nereides 1 of Rivers; Lamias 62 of the Ocean;
the Tragoudistria,63 or Siren; the Drakos and Dra-
61
60 Trans. p. 76, 78. Croixεïov appears to be derived from orέxw, to go,
especially, to go after one another in line or order. Hence, σroixεtov, may
have originally signified that which moves. From this it would readily
come to mean, as in present popular usage, 'the principle of life or
spiritual power which lies concealed in every natural object, animate
or inanimate.' Later, in Platonic and subsequent philosophic usage,
σTоIXεiα means 'elements.' Plato's oroixɛia were ideas. Those of
Empedocles were forms of matter, and he endeavoured to show that
there were but four. In another usage of the word, the signs of the
Zodiac were called σroixɛĩa, and the term seems to be used generally
for the 'Heavenly Powers.' Such Biblical critics as, for instance, BAUR
(Christenthum, s. 49) and HILGENFIELD (Galaterbrief, s. 66), are of
opinion that it is certainly in this sense that St. Paul uses the phrase rà
σтоixεia той коoμou, and that he attributes to these Genii, or Spirits
of the Universe, a distinct personality. Compare Gal. iv. 3, etc.;
Col. ii. 8, 20; and Ephes. vi. 12. The Revised Version, however, still
retains the old translation of 'elements' or 'rudiments,' and so misses
completely the true meaning of these passages. See GELDART,
Modern Greek, pp. 201-5; and The Gospel according to St. Paul,
PP. 25-5.
61 lb. p. 125. The Greek Nereids are unlike our Northern Fairies (see
MAURY, Fées du Moyen Age) in being almost universally malevolent,
and not diminutive, but full-grown women. They are, however, called
kaλais kvpádεs, or Good Ladies.' But we use a similar flattery when
καλαῖς κυράδες,
we exclaim 'Good God!' on anything happening particularly bad.
62 lb. p. 75. The Lamia of the Greek Islands seems to be connected
with whirlwinds and waterspouts. The Lamia of PHILOSTRATUS (De
Vita Apollonii) is a serpent in the shape of a woman. Different
as they are, each of these Lamias is a mythical representation of a
fact of human experience, and both convey the idea of serpentine
motion. The Lamia of Keats is taken from the story of Philostratus,
as told by BURTON, Anatomy of Melancholy, p. iii., s. ii.
63 Ib. p. 74.
64 lb. p. 79. 'The Dragon of popular Mythology,' says Mr. Baring
Gould, is no other than the thunderstorm rising at the horizon, rush-
The Survival of Paganism.
13
67
kissa; 65 the Panoukla, 66 or Plague; and Theria, or
Monsters. And in yet another class must be named such
creations as Digenes,68 and the Enchanted Deer-a Chris-
tianized version, apparently, of the story of Agamemnon
and the Sacred Hind of Artemis; Máyissas,"⁹ or Witches,
sometimes of a thousand years old; and most terrible,
though not the last of all,70 Vampires,71 or Animated
Corpses.
7. So far as to the first characteristic of the following
Folk-songs. Now, as to that unconsciousness of Sin in
sexual love, and nonbelief in a supernatural state of Re-
wards and Punishments, which we next remark. For
striking illustrations of the former characteristic, I may
refer the reader more particularly to the Vow to St. George,
and to Yánnakos, or the Assassinated Husband, and to the
Erotic and Humouristic Songs generally.72 Indeed, in the
two songs particularized, there seems to be no con-
sciousness of sin, even in such infamous incidental
crimes as rape and murder. In the Vow to St. George,
the Saint is represented as bribed by a Christian maiden
ing with expanded, winnowing black pennons across the sky, darting
out its forked fiery tongue, and belching fire.'-Werewolves, pp. 172,
and flg. There may also, however, be in the notion some reminiscence
of the monsters of the primeval world. See the author's At a High-
land Hut, Fraser's Magazine, October, 1874.
67 Ib. p. 78. 68 Ib. p. 83.
66 Ib. p. 204.
65 Trans. p. 79.
69 Ib. pp. 80, 81. AFANASIEF, On the Poetic Views of the Old Slavo-
nians, interprets Witches also—very questionably however, I think-as
originally Nature-myths. See RALSTON, Russian Folk-tales.
70 Though not mentioned in the following Folk-songs, there are
such other frightful creations of the popular fancy, as the Empusa,
Mormo, Gorgo and Gello, etc. See B. SCHMIDT, Volksleben.
71 Vampire-tales flourish most luxuriantly among races of Slavonic
descent, and it is from Slavs that the Greeks have borrowed both the
name, and certain views and customs with respect to Vampires. But
the Vampire bears a thoroughly Hellenic designation in the Islands—
at Crete and Rhodes being called καταχανᾶς ; in Cyprus, σαρκωμένος ; and
in Tinos, ȧvaikalоúμɛvos. And a number of passages may be quoted
from classic authors to prove that in Ancient Greece spectres were
frequently represented as delighting in blood. See B. SCHMIDT, Volks-
leben der Neugriechen, ss. 168—171; and RALSTON, Russian Folk-tales,
P. 319.
See also PASHLEY, Travels in Crete. Trans. 126, 129.
72 Trans. pp. 184 and flg.
14
Historical Introduction.
74
to hide her from a pursuing Turkish lover, and as
discovering her place of concealment on being more
largely bribed by the Turk. In Yánnakos, a lover prays
to God Himself that he may find a husband 'in bed,
in his shirt, and ungirt with his sword,' and 'as he had
prayed, so he found Yánnakos.' And in the Humour-
istic Songs, we find either the incontinence of monks and
nuns satirically treated as a matter of course; or the
consequences of attempted continence are satirized in lan-
guage that cannot be reproduced73-yet quite justly, as
the experiences of my sojourn on the Holy Mountain
proved. As for unbelief in a supernatural state of
Rewards and Punishments, every one of the pieces
in the section I have named Charonic may be cited in
evidence. To die is simply to be carried off from home
and friends, and all the joys of ỏ άπávw kóσμos, the
Upper World, by the remorseless Charon. The Earth,
which is sometimes spoken of as the Mother of Charon,
is also identified with him: and hence, in the dialect
of Epeiros, one says for 'he died' either тóv épayev ǹ Tîs,
or Tóv ëpayev ó Xápos-'The Earth,' or 'Charon ate
him.' The abode to which Charon bears off the souls of
mortals, when he does not 'eat' them, is sometimes repre-
sented as an Underground Region to which there is a
descent by stairs;75 and sometimes it is spoken of, with
significant allegory, as a Tent, either green or red outside,
but always black within.76 As for the Dead, they are repre-
sented, in general, as Shades as pale and mournful as in
73 As, for instance, in the last half dozen lines of Yanni, ARAVAN-
DINOS, 367. See also OIKONOMIDES, B. 8, 10, 11, etc.
74 I allude more particularly to the Confessions with which I was
favoured by a monk with whom I had opportunities of becoming
rather intimate. The poor wretch had had the doctrine of Hell so
ground into him, that he really believed he would be eternally
damned for his intrigues with country wenches, when managing the
farms of his convent in the island of Thasos, and on the mainland.
He could not, however, see any real sin in what seemed to him still so
natural; and he consoled himself with the reflection that his future
torments would be as nothing compared with those of his brethren
who preferred more cultured, indeed, but unnatural, objects of passion.
75 Trans. p. 117.
76 Ib. p. 116, 118.
The Survival of Paganism.
15
Homer; and, as also in Homer, it is only the most atrocious
criminals who are, after death, affected by punishment for
deeds done in the body-this, however, not as a Tantalus
or a Sisyphus, but by being transformed into Vampires. In
the Myriológia, or Dirges, the mourners in no single instance
console themselves with the hope or belief that the beloved
dead are in a state of bliss. The dead son can comfort
his mother only by directing her to a hill where she will
find herbs of forgetfulness." And a wife can but say of
her husband that he has taken the Black Earth for a
second wife, and a Tombstone for a mother-in-law.' 78
Even among the Songs specially distinguished as Opno-
KEUTIKȧ-Religious, or Christian-a visitor to the Other
World finds Good and Bad, or rather Poor and Rich, all
in one place, the only difference in their condition being
that the Poor are in the warm sunshine, and the Rich in
the chilly shade.79
8. The third characteristic of the Songs, I have defined as
a profound feeling of Family kinship and patriotic devotion
to the Fatherland. In illustration of the former I may refer
generally to the Exile Songs, and to the Myriológia or Dirges;
and also to such incidents, for example, as that of the
Brothers' rescue of their Sister from Charon; and such
requests by a dying man as that his Mother may be told not
that he is dead, but only that he is 'married in a far country.'
As to devotion to the Fatherland, the whole class of His-
torical Songs may be cited in evidence. The ballad of the
Capture of Constantinoples ends with the assured prophecy
that, after long years, the Panaghía and the Icons shall
dwell again in Ayia Sophia, the Holy Basilicon of the
Divine Wisdom, founded by Constantine, and rebuilt by
Justinian. Never, through centuries of oppression, has the
hope expressed in this prophecy been extinguished. Gene-
ration after generation, mothers have sent their sons to
battle against the Turks; and to mothers less heroic, sons
have cried, Mother, I tell thee, I cannot serve the Turk-
I cannot, it is beyond endurance."81 Again and again, times
77 Trans. p. 125.
So Ib. p. 200.
78 Ib. p. 125.
81 Ib. p. 243.
79 Ib. p. 109.
16
Historical Introduction.
innumerable, there has arisen from patriot ranks the
Homeric shout :82
Λεβέντες, κάμετε καρδιὰ, σὰ Χριστιανοὶ φανῆτε !
Τοὺς Τούρκους να παστρέψωμε.
Heroes, take heart, show yourselves Greeks ! 83
And we'll clear out the Turks.'84
Nor has this been sworn only, but in great part done.
And Souλn "Exλas- Enslaved Greece -is now re-
stricted to those Northern and still Turk-ruled provinces
whence come these Songs.
86
9. Such, then, as evidenced by our Greek Folk-songs,
are the facts of the survival of Western Paganism in
every one of its essential characteristics; and I may add
that nowhere, perhaps, will the reader be more struck
with the absence of distinctively Christian sentiment
than in the 'Odes' for the Feasts of the Christian
Church.85 Recognising these facts, we ask with a new
interest what the origin was of that legend of the death
of Pan which was not improbably told to Plutarch
himself, as well as to the personages of his 'Dialogue,'
at Delphi, and which has been seized on with such
avidity by Christian writers, as at least a mystical type
of, if not a direct testimony to, the overthrowal of Pa-
ganism. This question can hardly, I think, be dis-
missed with the observation that, of the passengers who
heard the mysterious voice, 'many were drinking after
supper,'87 though it may be noted that the story was told
by a professional Rhetorician. Most fictions have a
kernel of fact.88 And, riding one day along the sandy
beach near Nicopolis-the city built to commemorate
that battle of Actium which was not only a battle
85 Ib. pp. 94 and flg.
82 "Ω φίλοι, ἀνέρες ἑστέ καὶ ἄλκιμον ἦτορ ἔλεσθε, ΙΙ. v. 529.
83 Literally' Christians;' but see note, Trans. p. 242.
84 Trans. pp. 240, 242 and flg.
86 Plutarch seems, from what he himself says (IIepi rõv 'El iv Aɛλpoïs),
to have been at Delphi during the Emperor Nero's visit, in 66 a.c.
87 πολλοὺς δε και πίνειν ἔτι δεδειπνηκότας.
88 Wild as it is, even the great British cycle of Arthurian fiction has
been shown by MR. SKENE, (Four Ancient Books of Wales,) and my-
self, (Arthurian Localities,) to have a clear kernel, not only of historic
fact and provable time and place, but of still living local tradition.
The Survival of Paganism.
17
between Augustus and Antony, but a war between the
East and the West, and a victory, though but a political
victory, of Europe over Asia-riding along this historic
beach one day, and observing that the island of Paxi
was within clear view of the city where, according to the
apocryphal Epistle to Titus, Paul' determined to winter '89
Paul who gave a religious victory to Asia over Europe
-there occurred to me what I may offer as a possible
answer to this question as to the origin of the legend of
the death of Pan.
10. Might it not possibly owe its origin to the enthusiastic
imagination of some convert from Paganism, a presbyter
of the Primitive, if not Pauline Church of the City of
Victory; but an Epirote versed in all his country's legends,
and particularly with those which had just been used by
Virgil, and which consecrated to every Roman the en-
virons of Palódes 90-might it not possibly owe its origin
to the poetic fancy of an ecstatic meditation on the very
sea-beach along which I was journeying, outside the walls
of the Pagan, and now long-ruined city ?91 For what was
originally but a fable, making a fine peroration to an
edifying discourse, would naturally get reported as a fact
that had actually occurred. Or-still more probably,
perhaps might not voyagers actually have heard some
enthusiastic convert to Christianity on a still evening,
calling out from the beach of Paxi, 'Aπáyyetλov—Spread
the tidings that the great Pan is dead!' Whether either
or neither of these two suppositions be accepted, I venture
to think that it is, at least, important, with reference to
the origin of this story of the death of Pan, to note, not
only the Pagan consecration of the scenes of it, but-what
has not, so far as I am aware, hitherto been noted in this
89 See for a discussion of the question as to the wintering of Paul at
Nicopolis, RENAN, St. Paul, Introd., pp. xxxvii.-xlvii.
9° See below, p. 25.
91 In the beginning of the fifth century Nicopolis was plundered by
the Goths. It was still, however, in the sixth century, the capital of
Epeiros. But during the Feudal Period it lost its importance, and Pre-
veza, at the end of the promontory, was built out of its ruins.
2
18
Historical Introduction.
connection-the proximity of the Apostolic Church of
Nicopolis. Nor is it, perhaps, less important to note,
along with this proximity of localities, a synchronism of
dates. The date of the reporting of this story of the
death of Pan is the date also of the Apocalyptic litera-
ture, of which the great masterpiece is the 'Revelation
of St. John the Divine.' Probably, also, as we have seen,92
or at least possibly, it was when he was at Delphi with
the Emperor Nero, in 66, that Plutarch himself heard
the legend which, in his 'Dialogue,' is said to have been
reported at Delphi. And the synchronism just noted
becomes especially significant when we reflect on what
Nero was to that last of the Hebrew prophets, the Seer
of Patmos, when writing his 'AπокúλUTσis at Christmas,
68-9.93 Though ignominiously slain in June, 68, Nero was
by some believed to have taken refuge with the Kings of
the East,' the Kings of Parthia and of Armenia; by
others to be resuscitated in the false Nero who established
himself in the island of Cythnos, near that of Patmos.
And Nero was, to the Hebrew Seer, at once the seven-
headed Beast, and that one more particularly of its
heads 94 which was 'as though it had been smitten unto
death, and his death-stroke was healed '95-the Beast the
numeric value of the letters of whose name, Νέρων Καίσαρ,
transcribed in Hebrew, is 'Six hundred and sixty and six."9%
II. Such was the time, whatever may have been the cir-
cumstances, of the origin of this Apocalyptic legend of
the death of Pan. But the announcement of the Prose-
lyte of Nicopolis-if so we may call the originator of the
legend-is now known by all scholars to have been as
visionary as was the revelation of the Seer of Patmos.
None, however, even of those writers who have most
clearly pointed out the survival of Paganism in contem-
porary or recent Folk-belief, have, so far as I can recall,
92 Above, p. 16, note 86.
93 See RENAN, L'Antichrist, chaps. xiii.-xvii.
94 Rev. xvii. II.
95 Ibid. xiii. 3.
96 Ibid. 18.
The Survival of Paganism.
19
seriously attempted to account for this survival. But,
unsatisfied with merely establishing the fact, we shall
here endeavour to ascertain the cause, of the survival of
the Aryan Paganism of the West. For the discovery of this
cause cannot but have an important bearing on our whole
conception of Progress, and on our theory more particu-
larly of the origin, and hence nature and history, of
Christianity. But before proceeding to investigate the
cause, I must say something more of the fact. This I shall
do in pointing out the relations of the scenes of the modern
Pagan Folk-songs to the sites of the ancient Pagan
Sanctuaries. For thus, more powerfully, perhaps, than in
any other way, I may bring home the fact that, though
the sacred Oaks lie prostrate, chopped, and charred, all
about them there has never ceased to flourish a green
and lusty Copse; that, prostrate as may be the Gods of
the poets, never to the Deities of the people have their
sacrifices failed; that never
'From haunted spring and dale,
Edged with poplar pale,'
never have the Nymphs with flower-inwoven tresses'
really departed ;97 nay, that even the greater Olympian
Gods are transformed only, and deformed, 98 in Greek
Christianity, rather than dead - ruined though their
Sanctuaries are; and that every glorious peak or promon-
97 As the Rev. Mr. Tozer mildly puts it, 'When Milton, in describing
the overthrow of Paganism [wrote those lines], he fixed on one of the
most essential elements in Greek mythology, but at the same time
had hardly realized, perhaps, how permanent and ineradicable this
belief was!-Highlands of Inrkey, vol. ii., p. 315.
98 Compare the Christian portraits of Father Jehovah with the
Classic statues of Father Zevs; the Christian portraits of Christ with
the Classic statues of Apollo; the Christian portraits of the virgin
Mary with the Classic statues of the virgin Athená. Christian art
generally portrays its Gods in paintings; Classic art, in statues. But
a statue of the Trinity-an old and a young man with a small bird
between them-adorns the Graben at Vienna-a statue profoundly
instructive for those who would understand why it was that the
believers in an unfigured Allah contemned and conquered their
Christian adversaries, expelled them from Asia, and enchained them
in Europe.
2-2
20
Historical Introduction.
tory, consecrated of old to almighty Zevs, is sacred now
to the Omnipotent (IIаνтокρáτwp); or of old, to the Sun-
god, "Hos, Apollo, now to St. Elias ("Ayios Exías); or
to the virgin Athená (IIap0évos), now to the virgin Mary
(IIavayla).9
99
SECTION II.
PAGAN SANCTUARIES AND FOLK-SONG SCENES.
CROSSING the lake of Ioánnina, and climbing to a
shepherd-village on the steep side of Metzikéli—an out-
work of Pindus, towering some three or four thousand
feet above the level of the lake, itself a thousand feet
above the level of the sea-we gain a platform from which
we see a great part, and can conveniently begin the
description, of the first of those Turkish provinces of
Greece to which the following Folk-songs belong. On
the November morning on which I actually made this
ascent, setting out on a shooting expedition with the
French Consul, lake and mountain were alike covered
with a thick mist that made our crossing of the lake a
long and somewhat anxious voyage. But suddenly, as we
approached the village on the first ridge of the mountain,
the sun arose in unclouded glory on the summits of
Pindus, coming over the Thessalian plains from Mount
Olympus. Before the all-conquering God the mist
vanished from the hollow of the lake; traces only of its
discomfiture were left in disjointed wreaths, some lying
reluctant still on the hillsides, but most floating swiftly
away; and all South Albania, or Epeiros, lay clear before
us, from the Pindus to the Ionian Sea. I look for the
localities of the "Ασματα τοῦ Ἠπείρου, the 'Songs of
Epeiros.' And presently it strikes me that the localities
both of the origin and of the scenes of these modern
99 See POLITES, Νεοελληνικη Μυθολογία ; and compare the books
of THIERSCH, of SANDERS, and of B. SCHMIDT, on the Volksleben der
Neugriechen.
The Survival of Paganism.
21
Songs are identical with the site and environs of the
ancient Oracle of Dodona, and Sanctuaries of Zevs,
Dióné, and Hades. A similar observation we shall make
when looking for the localities of the Songs of Thessaly,
and of the Songs of Macedonia. We shall find, in a word,
that the modern centres of the still characteristically
Pagan Folk-songs of Northern, or Enslaved,' Greece are
none other than the ruin-covered sites of the ancient
Sanctuaries of Dodona, of Olympus, and of Samothrace.
And thus, everywhere in Northern Greece, in describing
the country of the ancient Sanctuaries, I shall describe
the scenes of the modern Songs.
SUB-SECTION I.—ALBANIA.
1. Easily, in the clear air, we descry, from where we
now stand, the rocky bridle-path over those hills of the
Souliots on the opposite side of the valley, which takes
one, in a couple of hours' ride from Ioánnina, to the Glen
of Dodona,¹´of the hard winters,' 2 yet 'the beloved of
Zevs." Some time before standing here on Metzikéli, I
had had a week of exploration and adventure in those
mountains. Arrived at the summit of the ridge of the
bridle-path, we were fitly warned by a clump of fine oaks
that we were about to descend to the Sanctuary of that
Dodonean Zeus πаτýρ, Father Zevs, to whom the oak was
sacred, not only because of the strength of its timber, but
the nourishment of its fruit. A long, steep, and winding
4
I The true site of Dodona seems now to have been proved beyond
dispute by the results of the diggings of M. KARAPANOS, as set forth in
his Dodone et ses Ruines. But it is instructive still to read Colonel
LEAKE'S arguments in support of his conjectural site of the city of
Dodona on the hill of Kastritza, and of the temple of Dodona on the
rocky peninsula of Ioánnina, the former to the side of, and the latter
facing Metzikéli, which he identifies with Tomaros, pointing out that
the name is still preserved in the adjacent village, called Tomarokhória
(Northern Greece, vol. iv., pp. 168—201). Compare also POUQUEVILLE,
Voyage de la Grèce.
2 Δωδώνην δυσχείμερον. ΙΙ. ν. 255. Δωδωνῆς μεδέων δυσχείμερον. II.
xvi. 234.
3 Týde Zeùs epiλnoε. HESIOD, ap. Schol. in Soph. Trachin, 1169.
4 See DE GUBERNATIS, Mythologie des Plantes, t. ii., pp. 68—9.
22
Historical Introduction.
descent brings us down to a retired glen. We ride up to
walls of great stones, nicely fitted to each other, but
uncemented; and of which the few courses that are still
standing form a quadrangular space on an eminence jutting
out from the hills. We dismount, and climbing along the
walls, presently take in the whole scene, and find it worthy
of its fame. East and west runs the glen; low are the
hills to the north, whence we have come; but over them
rise, in the distance, the summits of Pindus. To the
south, to our right, therefore, as we look eastward down
the glen, towers up the great mass of Tomaros-now
called Olytsika-between 4,000 and 5,000 feet above the
level of the glen, which is itself some 1,500 feet above the
level of the sea. This is the grand feature of the scene.
Above the villages on the lower slopes is a fringe of the
primeval oak-forest. And above this again a long range
of grandly precipitous heights.
2. For the ruined and razed later Temples 5 much, but
for the primitive Sanctuary little, restoration is required.
It was probably but a grove of oaks of a somewhat
grander size on this eminence, with a fountain springing
up under their giant branches. Richly mosaic'd, indeed,
is the floor of this Temple. But its pavement is only of
rough stones, covered with lichens and mosses; or of
grasses, with wildflowers interspersed. Rich gifts also
adorn its altars. But they are only the first flowers of
spring, or first-fruits of autumn, or firstlings of the flocks
and herds nourished by these. Music agitates or soothes
the soul in this Temple. But it is the music only of the wind
itself on those sacred vessels of metal which commemorate
the origin of new powers over Nature and Man; or the
music of rustling leaves and tinkling waters; or the music of
thunder-bolts resounding through the re-echoing moun-
tains. And light fills this Temple with joy, and darkness
makes it the abode of terror. But its light is only the
5 A very interesting description of a picture of the temple of Dodona,
with its garlanded oak, and golden dove, its choral dances, sacrificing
priests, and ministering priestesses, is given by PHILOSTRATUS, Icon,
I. ii., c. 34, and is cited by LEAKE, Northern Greece, vol. iv., p. 199.
The Survival of Paganism.
23
Star of our Earthly Day, or the Golden Lamps of the Day
of the Universe. The Temple itself is at once Temple
and Divinity. And the hymn that its priestesses chant is
but a first simple verse of that which every prophet and
poet adds to, and renews—but a verse of the eternal hymn
of man's worship of the divine ensphering Heaven, and
the maternal nourishing Earth.
Ζεὺς ἦν, Ζεὺς ἔστι, Ζεὺς ἔσσεται, ὦ μεγάλή Σετ !
Γᾶ καρποὺς ἀνίει, δύο κλιήζετε μητέρα Γαῖαν 16
Zevs was, Zevs is, Zevs will be, O great Zevs!
Earth bringeth forth fruits, therefore call Earth Mother!
7
8
3. But the Sanctuary of Dodona was only one locality
in a system of Holy Places which together localize all the
chief ideas of the creed of Aryan Paganism. The Glen of
Dodona was the Sanctuary of the Pelasgian God of the
Upperworld, the Sky-god, the Sun-god, Diespiter, Zeus
Tаτýρ, Diaushpiter. With him was joined Dióne, but a
feminine form of Zevs (Zeus, gen. Atós), and the name
under which, by the Pelasgians of Dodona, the Earth-
mother, Tη μńτnp, Anμńτnp, was worshipped. And the
deep and dark ravines of Souli were the Sanctuary of
the God of the Underworld, Hades, "Adŋs, "Aidns, 'Aïdo-
vevs, the Dis (gen. Ditis) of the Pelasgians of Italy, and
the Vedic Aditi, the Earth considered as the Receptacle
of the Dead. And just as, to the north, the strath of
Ioánnina is like a forecourt to the Sanctuary of Zevs; so,
to the south, the Acherusian Plain, with its rivers of
6 PAUSANIAS, X. xii. 10.
9
7 Ζεῦ ἂνα Δωδωναῖε Πελάσγικε. Il. xvi. 233.
8 STRABO, vii. 329. The Dioné of the Pelasgians of Dodona was
afterwards identified with the Héré of the Pelasgians of Pelopon-
nesus. Η "Ηρα Διώνη πάρα Δωδωναίος (Schol. Od. iii. gr); and Héré
would appear to be derived from the old Greek "Epa, the Earth.
9 The proof of this is to be found, not merely in ancient writers, but
in existing facts. Two churches within, and two at Glyky and Para-
mythia, entrances to, the mountains of Souli, and thus no fewer than
four-nearly all-the Souliot churches, are dedicated to Aïdovevs, under
the but slightly changed name of "Αϊ Δονάτο ("Αγιος Δονάτος.) And the
legends attaching to Ai' Donato both as a person and as a place the
most remarkable, perhaps, of the latter being preserved in the first of
the Folk-songs given below-these legends are all of a distinctively
Hades character.
24
Historical Introduction.
C
Achéron and Kókytos,10 was the forecourt of the House
of Hades.' To this forecourt it was that Odyssevs drew
the Ghosts of the Dead athirst for the blood of his
sacrifices; and here it was that passed, according to
Pausanias,¹¹ the whole of the wonderful, and often most
pathetic, scenes of the Eleventh Book of the Odyssey.
For ere he could penetrate to the House of Hades'
itself, 'pale fear gat hold of Odyssevs, lest the high
goddess Persephóné should send him the head of Gorgo,
that dread monster, from out of Hades."12 The intimate
connection of all these localities, and the reason of the
distinctively systematic character of Aryan Holy Places
generally, has not hitherto, I believe, been pointed out.
But here I can only indicate the reason in suggesting
that it is connected with that characteristic relativity of
Aryan conceptions which has caused Aryan theology to be
always Trinitarian,13 and so, the antithesis of that Uni-
tarian Semitic theology in which God is represented as
the absolute One, Yahveh, or Allah.¹4
On a
4. The Acherusian Plain, of old the country of the
Thesprotians, with its capital Pandosia, on an eminence
in the middle of the plain, extends to the sea.
conical rock, swept round by the waves, is the citadel of
the famous Parga, from which come so many of our
Songs, and which was
by inhabitants of the
gathering about the
probably founded, about 1330,
ancient Toróné (Palæo-Parga)
sanctuary of the Hyperaghía
IO 'There seems no reason to doubt that the Gurla, or river of Suli,
is the Achéron; the Vuvo, the Kókytos of antiquity, and the great marsh
or lake below Kastri, the Acherusia. The course of the Achéron
through the lake into the Glykys Limen accords perfectly with the
testimony of Thucydides, Scylax, Livy and Strabo; and the disagree-
able water of the Kókytos is mentioned by Pausanias.'-LEAKE,
Northern Greece, vol. iv., p. 53.
II I. xvii. 5.
12 BUTCHER and LANG, Odyssey, p. 191.
13 As to the distinction between the Aryan Neo-Platonic, and that
monstrous hybrid the Semitic Christian Trinity, see below, pp. 56—8.
14 See further with regard to the modes of conception characteristic
of the Semitic and Aryan races respectively, below, pp. 54—6.
1
The Survival of Paganism.
25
Virgin. The western side of the plain is bounded by
the hilly, and now Muslim-peopled, district extending
to, and beyond, the ancient Thýamis and modern
Kálamas. This was, of old, the southern frontier of
the country of the Chaonians,15 with Kórkyra (Corfu),
imaginatively identified with the Homeric Scheria where
dwelt the Phœacians, 16 lying off its coast-line. And as
the wandering hero of the Odyssey lands on the Thes-
protian shore, TXUKÙs Xv (Sweet Harbour, now Port
Fanari), the wandering hero of the Eneid lands on the
Chaonian shore at the Bay of Palódes (Vutzindró), near
the ancient city of Boveparov (Butrinto).17 According to
Dionysius of Halicarnassus,18 Eneas, landing at Ambracia,
now Arta, journeyed to Dodona, while his son Anchises
sailed on with the fleet to Buthrotum, where Eneas
rejoined them. But whether journeying up from Buth-
rotum, as in the epic of Virgil, or down towards Buth-
rotum from Dodona, as in the legend of Dionysius, the
scene of the pathetic interview of Eneas with Andró-
maché, the widow of Hector, may with equal reason be
placed on the banks of the Thýamis, near the confluence
of the stream now called the Kremnitza. And the ruins
called Palæa Venetia, and the town of Philiates-which
seems to preserve a reminiscence of the name-we may
identify with the New Ilion, said to have been founded
by Hellenus, and of which the actual existence is attested
by Livy, and the Tables of Peutinger.19
5. But now-after this round through the mountains.
of Dodona, down by the Achéron-Gurlá to the sea, and
up by the Thýamis-Kálamas, and the New Ilion to
Ioánnina again—let me describe what lies at our feet as we
stand here on a ridge of Metzikéli. The great strath of
Ioánnina was of old the country of the Molossians, and,
15 Βάρβαροι δὲ Χάονες ἀβασίλευται.-THUCYD., ii. 124.
16 See WELKER, Kleine Schriften, ii.; Die Homerischen Phäaken, und
die Inseln der Seligen.
17 Æn. iii.
18 Antiq. Rom. 1. I, c. 50.
19 See LEAKE, Northern Greece, vol. iv., p. 176 n.
26
Historical Introduction.
at a still earlier period, the many-peopled, flock-and-herd-
covered, harvest-abounding land of Hellopía, described
by Hesiod 20-the original Hellas itself, according to
Aristotle¹-the country of the primitive Selli, Elli,
Hellenes, and Greeks.22 South-eastward, it bends to Arta
and the Ambracian Gulf, on one side of which is the
ancient Nicopolis and modern Préveza; and on the other,
the promontory of Actium; and outside of the gulf is the
gleaming Ionian Sea, with its islands of Levcádia, and
beyond it, on the far horizon, Kephalonía. The town of
Ioánnina probably owes its origin to refugees from
Dodona, after its destruction by the Goths, under Totila,
in the sixth century (551); and its name it certainly owes
to St. John the Baptist, whom its founders chose as their
patron. Its bishops sat at the Council of Constantinople
in 879; it was taken in 1181 by the Norman Behemond,
the bastard of the great Robert Guiscard; and in 1431 it
surrendered to the Turks. On the inland slope of a high
and rocky promontory is the walled upper quarter of the
city; and this magnificently picturesque promontory,
crowned formerly by the Castle of the 'Lion of Ioánnina,’
Alí Pashá, now bears at its highest edge his Tomb (1822),
beside the marble-columned mosque of Arslan Aga.
Having ever before my eyes, in the nunnery at Ioánnina
where I lodged, the stupendous wall of Metzikéli on the
other side of the lake, much had my curiosity been ex-
cited to see what was at the back of it-Zagórie, 23 whence
come many of our Epirote songs. And at length, having
gained the summit of Metzikéli, in our shooting expedition,
the French Consul and I looked down on a vast amphi-
theatre of forested mountains, descending to a bottom at
20 Ap. Schol. in SOPH. Trachin. 1169.
21 Meteorol. i. 14. But according to Homer the name of Hellenes
was originally applied to the inhabitants of Southern Thessaly, and
the Phiotide (I. ii. 683). Homer himself, as is well known, calls the
Greeks Achæans, as these were, in his time, the most numerous of all
the Hellenic tribes. (I. ii. 684; ix. 141; Od. iii. 251.)
22 For a discussion of the derivations and meanings of these names,
see MAURY, Religions de la Grèce'antique, t. i., pp. 38, 39, text and notes.
23 A Slav name, meaning 'Behind the Mountain.'
The Survival of Paganism.
27
a profound depth, with a midway zone of scattered
villages, and with, apparently, no means of communica-
tion with the outer world save over the trackless mountain
summits. A northern realization this out-of-the-world
world seemed to be of the Happy Valley of Rasselas,
Prince of Abyssinia.
SUB-SECTION II.-THESSALY.
1. From the plain of Ioánnina, the land, as we have
seen, of Hellopía, and the primitive country of the
Hellenes, it is a long day's (more commonly a day and a
half's) journey up the hills adjoining Metzikéli; down their
long and steep descents; along a succession of glens;
through their meandering streams times without number;
then again up long winding ascents; and so across the
broad mountain-spine of Pindus. Vlach Shepherdesses
are among the most prominent figures in the Erotic and
Humouristic sections of the following Songs; and a word,
at least, may be said, in passing, of the Capital of the
scattered communities of the Cis-Danubian Roumanians.24
24 From the third (270) to the thirteenth century (1222) we
have no direct historical evidence of the existence, in Roumania, of
Roumanians. Worse still-at the former date they are mentioned
only as being removed from Roumania. Whence had they come,
when, at the latter date, we find again, in Roumania, Roumanians?
For more than a hundred years now this question as to the origin
of the Roumanians has been debated; and among the chief inves-
tigators of the problem may be named Thunmann (1774), Sulzer
(1781), Engel (1794), Rösler (1871), Pic (1880), and Slavici (1881).
According to one theory-that, it must be admitted, of the majority of
these German writers-the Roumanians did actually disappear from
Roumania, emigrating thence when Aurelian created his Cis-Danubian
Dacia (270-75); and immigrating thither only shortly before we have
documentary evidence of them again in Roumania (1222). According
to the other theory-that, naturally, of the Roumanians themselves
-there was never a general immigration from Trans-Danubian Dacia,
notwithstanding the orders of Aurelian; and hence, the origin of the
Roumanians in Roumania is to be traced to no other general immi-
gration than that of the infinitas copias of colonists ex toto orbe
under Trajan (106). The Roumanians have in them not improbably
some strains, at least, of the blood of the ancient Thracians and
Dacians. See below (p. 33), with respect to the connections of the
Thracians with the Trojans, and possibly with the Teutons.
28
Historical Introduction.
This is Mézzovo, the surpassingly picturesque Metropolis
of the Mountains. It was founded by Vlach shepherds,
who, in the sixteenth century, escaping from Turkish
tyranny in the plains of Thessaly-no longer a semi-
independent Μεγάλη Βλαχία, Great Wallachia-sought
here to preserve their freedom. And from Mézzovo it is
but two hours-first down a steep descent, and then up a
long ascent to the knife-like summit, neck, or 'yoke,'-
amazingly narrow, considering that it has been the gate of
so many invading hordes and armies25 passing from
Thessaly into Illyria, or from Illyria into Thessaly-the
Zygos from which, upwards of 5,000 feet above the sea,
we look down on the first of the three great divisions of
Thessaly, the long and ever-widening glen of the Peneiós,
and see afar, over the eastern plain, the summits of
Olympus-of old, the human birthplace, and divine home
of the Olympian Gods; and, in our days, the chief fortress
of Freedom, and cradle of Folk-song in Northern Greece.
2. Through enchanting forest-glades, we ride down
the glen of the Peneiós to those wonderful cliffs, Merέwpa
Μετέωρα
Allo, on which the Metéora Monasteries are perched-
those cliffs which form one side of the gate into the
plains of Thessaly, and the beauty, yet wonder and terror,
of which have, in our Folk-songs, attached to one of them,
the mountain-rock of Varlaam Βουνό τοῦ Βαρλάμη), a
story of a nine-headed Drakos. I passed the night at the
Turkish guard-house of Krea-Vrissi (Cold Fountain), also
mentioned in our Songs. And next day, when, after being
hauled up 300 feet through the air to the cloisters of the
Great Metéoron, I considered the position of these Monas-
teries, it struck me as a rather remarkable fact that between
the ruined and deserted Sanctuaries of Greek Paganism
-between Dodona and Olympus, and between Olympus
and Samothrace—there should have chanced to be es-
tablished the chief, though now declining, Sanctuaries of
Greek Christianism-between Dodona and Olympus the
25 Among others, that of Cæsar, after his failure against Pompey
at Dyrrachium, and before his victory at Pharsalia, 48 B.C.
The Survival of Paganism.
29
Mid-air Monasteries of the Metéora Cliffs, and between
Olympus and Samothrace the Hermitage Convents of the
Holy Mountain. Nor remarkable only seemed this fact,
but instructive the relations thus observed. For Historical
Monuments are the telephones and phonographs by which
communities of men transmit their voices to their fellows
across the abysses of Time. These voices, however, need
generally to be somehow magnified, so that we may hear
them. Nothing magnifies like contrast. Hence, noting
the topographical relations of these Metéora Monasteries
-between Dodona and Olympus-did make their voices
audible. These Mid-air Monasteries are materialized
utterances of social despair and diseased aspiration.
What else could have urged men to the deadly perils of
scaling their inaccessible precipices the prodigious
labours of crowning their untrodden summits with domed
and pillared churches, and galleried and cloistered con-
vents? And when we turn for verification of what we
seem to have heard to the historical facts of the time, and
the circumstances of the building in mid-air and peopling
of these Monasteries, we gain fullest assurance that we
have not misheard their voices.26
3. As we round the eastern horn, 1,000 feet high, of the
crescent-shaped range of the precipices on which the
Convents are perched, and come to the village of Kala-
26 A manuscript, discovered and translated by M. HEUZEY ('Les
Couvents des Météores, Revue Archéologique, March, 1864), gives us
an invaluable detailed account of the foundation of these Monasteries,
and particularly of that of the great Metéoron, in the fourteenth cen-
tury, and of their history up to the middle of the sixteenth century.
Now, in its political anarchy and social misery, the fourteenth century,
the century of the foundation of these Monasteries, was to South-
eastern Europe what the eighth century had been to North-western
Europe. For it was the century of the Latin Kingdoms, Principalities,
and Duchies, into which the Greek Empire had been partitioned; the
century of the encroaching Slav Empire of Stephen Dushan_(1350)
on one side; and on the other, of the extending Ottoman Empire
of Murad I. (1360), presently to be established at Adrianople (1362)
and soon at Thessalonica (1372). And hunted and harried the Greeks
also now were by those sea-and-land-robbers-pirates and brigands-
the vermin ever bred by political anarchy.
30
Historical Introduction.
baka,27
a magnificent view suddenly opens of the vast
Plains of Thessaly, through which the Salemvria, or
Peneiós, henceforward flows till it reaches the Olympian
defile of Tempé. A perfectly flat, unbroken, prairie-like
expanse of corn and pasture-land is the Western or
Upper Plain of Thessaly; and at the extremity of a ridge
that juts into the plain from the Cambunian Hills, that
are its northern boundary, one descries the ancient castle
and town of Trikka (Tрíkкa), which the Byzantines,
changing a name which had ceased to have significance
into one that had significance, turned into Trikala, the
Thrice beautiful.'s The Plain of Trikala, or of Upper
Thessaly, is separated by a low ridge of hills from the Plain
of Lower Thessaly, or of Lárissa, which stands in the mid-
dle of the prairie on the flat southern bank of the Peneiós.
Historic and song-famed Tirnovo is to the north; historic
and song-famed Armyro, Domoko, and Pharsalia, to the
south-Pharsalia, the first of the three great battlefields-
Pharsalia (48), Philippi (42), and Actium (31)-of the
tragic Trilogy of the Roman Civil Wars-the first here
in Thessaly, the second in Macedonia, the third in Epeiros.
To the east of Pharsalia, and thus in the south-eastern,
mountain-encircled corner of Thessaly, was the Phthio-
tide, the Homeric Hellas, the land of the Achæans, the
kingdom of Achilles. As the western boundary of the
Thessalian Plains is the range of Pindus, its eastern
boundary is the range of Pelion, the chief seat of the
Insurrection of 1878, in which Mr. Ogle perished-killed,
or murdered.29 Running down into the Magnesían pro-
27 Kalabaka was the scene of the besung victory (Trans. p. 254)
and ignored rout of the Greek Invasion of 1854; under the name of
Erάyou it was the seat of the Bishopric that so long contended with
the Metéoron for supremacy over the adjoining hermitages and
monasteries; and it was identified by Colonel Leake with Æginion,
where the junction was effected between the forces of Julius Cæsar,
which had come over the Zygos Pass, and those of his lieutenant
Domitius before the battle of Pharsalia.
28 Many similar changes might be instanced in England.
29 Whether killed or murdered was a question debated still with
extraordinary passion, when I was at Volo at; Christmas, 1880–81.
Some time before his death I had made the acquaintance of Mr. Ogle
at the Sclavonic Athens, Ragusa.
The Survival of Paganism.
31
montory, the Pelion range encloses the Pagasan Gulf,
whence Jason sailed; and into which once more will a
'Golden Fleece' be brought to Volo, the ancient Iolcos,
and futureLiverpool of Greece.' The northern and
,
southern boundaries of the Thessalian Plains are the two
great mountain-ribs, as it were, of that mountain-back-
bone of Greece, the range of Pindus. It is the southern
mountain-range that, in the Western Plain, is the more
beautiful; the northern, in the Eastern Plain. The
former are the mountains of Othrys, and those of Agrapha,
so often mentioned in our Klephtic Songs; and the beauty
and grandeur of their mistily blue and serrated wall is, in
Upper Thessaly, a perpetual enchantment. But in Lower
Thessaly it is the northern range that alone attracts our
eye; for that, here, is the 'Shining One,' the sublime
Olympus,30 not an enchantment only, but a religion.
4. Olympus belongs equally to two modern Provinces,
to two primitive Peoples, and to two orders of Gods. Its
vast range extends from the defile of Tempé, which sepa-
rates it from the maritime range of Ossa and Pélion, to
the defile of the Sarandáporos, which separates it from
the inland range of the Cambunian Hills. Its south-
western and landward side belongs to Thessaly, its north-
eastern and seaward side to Macedonia. On the Lower
Olympus, towards the defile of Tempé, I spent a week
with a boar-hunting party; on the Higher Olympus, to-
wards the defile of the Sarandáporos, on both its landward
and seaward sides, and in the adjoining hills, I spent six
weeks with a brigand-hunting expedition. Most strikingly
dissimilar I found the aspects of Olympus on its Thessa-
lian and Macedonian, its landward and seaward sides-
the home-fields each, of old, of a different race of Men-
the temple-precincts each of a different order of Gods.
On its Thessalian side, and especially towards the Saran-
dáporos, Olympus rises in mighty lines, steep and bare,
from an arid and desolate plain. On its Macedonian side,
and especially towards Tempé, Olympus, towering over a
πω
30 "Оλμлос appears to be derived from λáµπw. See CURTIUS, Grund-
füge der Griechischen Etymologie, b. i., s. 231.
32
Historical Introduction.
glorious sea-plain, rises clothed with oak and pine forests.
South of the abysmal rent that severs it in two is the
forest of Kallipeucté, through which the legions of the
Consul Philip forced their way, and turned the position
of Persevs, King of Macedonia, on the Pierian Plain; and
north of that sublimely severing ravine is the Pierian
Forest, defiling through which, by the pass of Petra, the
young Scipio again turned the position of Persevs, who
then, retiring before the united Roman forces, suffered at
Pydna a defeat which incorporated Macedonia in the
Roman Empire.31 Such are some of the historical
memories of the Olympian Forests. But, like a Zevs,
with lower limbs only clothed, Olympus shows a breast of
which the naked heights hold perennial snows in their
crevices, and a brow diademed with marble ³2 peaks that
gleam in the empyrean 10,000 feet 33 above the sea.
32
5. Such is the mountain, or rather the mountain-range
-the unconquered home of Freedom, and cradle of Folk-
song in Northern Greece. But, as I have said, Olympus
was, of old, the seat of two Races of Men and the sanc-
tuary of two Orders of Gods. These two Races were on
its south-western, inland, or Thessalian side, the Pelasgian
Perhæbians; and on its north-eastern, maritime, and
Macedonian side, the Thracian Pierians. Thracians and
Pelasgians-these are the two Races we constantly en-
counter at the origin of Hellenic history. What part had
they respectively in the formation and education of the
Hellenic tribes, very mixed as these certainly were in the
sources both of their blood and of their culture? Can the
two great modern Races of Western Europe-the Teutons
and the Kelts-be connected with either of these two
great primitive Races of Aryan Europe? May the
Teuton, for instance, believe that the ancient Pierians of
31 The topographical details of this famous campaign, as given by
Livy (xliv.), have been admirably worked out by M. HEUZEY, Mont
Olympe, pp. 50 and fig.
32 Frequently in our Folk-songs the mountains of Northern Greece
are characterized as μάρμοραβουνὰ
33 The exact height of Olympus, according to the Admiralty charts,
is 9,754 feet.
The Survival of Paganism.
33
38
the eastern side of Olympus 34-and the Kelt, that the
ancient Perhæbians of the western side 35-were ancestors,
or kinsmen of ancestors? And may Teuton and Kelt
thus reverence Olympus, not as the birth-land only of the
Gods of the Greeks, but as the birth-land of the Gods
given to the Greeks by the ancestors of Teuton and of
Kelt ? These are questions which can here be only
suggested for consideration. I can here only further
point out that, on the Pelasgian side of Olympus, there
was a Sanctuary of Zevs at a more ancient Dodona;36 a
stream flowing from the gorge of the Sarandáporos, to
which an infernal origin was attributed; and, at Æáné, a
Sanctuary of Hades ;37 and that, on the Thracian side of
Olympus, there were the Sanctuaries of quite another
order of Gods-the Sanctuaries of Apollo and the Muses,
and the Tomb of Orphevs. The divine Republic of the
34 DR. KARL BLIND, in a note he has kindly favoured me with,
says that the earliest reference, so far as he knows, to the Teutonic
kinship of the Thracians, is that by JORNANDES in the sixth century;
after which comes a poem by FISCHART, the German scholar and
satirist of the sixteenth century, who claims Orphevs for the Ger-
manic connection. Next came Voss (end of last and beginning of
this century), in the Dedication to his translation of the Iliad and
Odyssey. WIRTH, in his Geschichte der Deutschen (1846), elaborately
argues for this kinship. The same view was upheld by WACKERNAGEL,
and by JACOB GRIMM in his Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache (1848).
Professor SCHŒTENSACK published a special treatise on the subject,
Die Thraker als Stammväter der Gothen (1861). And DR. OSKAR
MONTELIUS, in a treatise published in the Nordiske Tidskrift (1884),
endeavours to show that Germanic populations dwelt in the Danubian
countries in the sixth century B.C. But the Trojans were certainly of
Thracian origin, and hence DR. BLIND'S special contribution to the
controversy has lain in his attempt to prove the Germanic connection
of the Trojans. See his note in SCHLIEMANN'S Troja (1884); the
correspondence, in the Academy of Jan. and Feb., 1884; and his article
in the Leipzig Magazin.
35 In reference to this hypothesis of a connection between the Kelts
and the Pelasgians, it would be desirable that the linguistic relations
of the two great Keltic dialects, Gaelic and Kymric, to Latin, Greek,
and Albanian, were more fully investigated.
36 Called Bodóné in the ancient Æolic dialect of the Perhæbians.
Its site, according to M. HEUZEY (Mont Olympe, p. 62), was probably
near that of the monastery of the Holy Trinity.
37 Il. ii. 753. Compare LUCAN, Phars. vi. 375.
38 It is a great pyramidal mound, up which one may ride, in the
3
34
Historical Introduction.
Olympian Gods arose, in fact, from the armed Peace of
the Olympian Races; and as we find a temple of Zevs on
the Thracian side at Dium,39 we find a temple of Apollo
on the Pelasgian side at Pythion.40
SUB-SECTION III.-MACEDONIA.
1. The two opposite sides of Pindus-Metzikéli and
Zygos-were the stations from which we began our
survey of Epeiros and Thessaly respectively; and now,
from the heights of the Castle of the Seven Towers, the
citadel of Saloníca, we shall begin our survey of Macedonia
41
of the sites of its Sanctuaries and the scenes of its Folk-
songs. The chief feature of the landscape is ó elos "Ovμπos,
the divine Olympus, that magnificently closes in the bay of
Saloníca—the inner reach of the gulf—and makes it like a
vast land-locked lake. Olympus, as has been said, belongs
geographically equally to Thessaly and to Macedonia; but,
pictorially, it is incomparably grander as seen from the
capital of Macedonia, than as seen from the capital of Thes-
saly. I have, indeed, seen nothing yet to be compared with
Olympus as seen from Saloníca. Far overlapping the pro-
montory, now called Karaburnou, which bounds the bay of
Saloníca on the east, and where Eneas founded Eneia,42
the line of the Olympian range begins with the sudden cleft
which marks the defile of Tempé between Ossa and the root
of Olympus. From the summit of the cleft the line gradu-
ally and slightly declines, forming the ridge of the Lower
sea-plain under Olympus. According to PAUSANIAS the monument
was a column with a marble urn on the top of it (Beot., 300).
39 Its probable site, according to HEUZEY, is occupied now by a
church dedicated to "Ayios Пapaokɛvý, St. Friday; and I only succeeded
in bringing away a Christian inscription.
40 Colonel LEAKE (Northern Greece, vol. iii., p. 341), says that he
had not been able to ascertain the existence of any remains' at
Pythium; but, in the midst of our brigand-hunting, I was fortunate
enough to get two or three hours to explore this West-Olympian
Sanctuary of Apollo.
4¹ In Greek, Ежтаяúρуιον; in Turkish, Vedi-Kouléler-Kalessi.
42 DIONYS. HAL., Antiq. Rom., 1. i., c. 50.
The Survival of Paganism.
35
Olympus; and from the end of this lower range there rises
-to the height, as has been said, of 10,000 feet-the grand
outline of the many-peaked Higher Olympus. At the sea-
ward foot of the mountain lies the Pierian plain, the
original home of the Muses-
Μοῦσαι Ολυμπίαδες κουραι Διός αιγιόχοιο ;43
the daughters of Zevs and Mnemósyné-of the resplendent
Sky and Memory. (How profoundly true is this as a
parentage of the Arts-a mythic statement of the causes
of Poesy in every one of its forms!) And away to the
right is the long broken line of the Cambunian Hills-fine,
but without the grandeur of the Ossa and Pelion range on
the left. But it is not the grandeur of its form so much
as the amazing and most poetic variety of its aspects that
makes Olympus so truly a mountain of the Gods. Some-
times it appears in the ordinary light of a naked moun-
tain-mass. More frequently, however, it clothes itself in
all sorts of ethereal garbs. Now its summits are hid in
clouds, while its sides and bases are clear; now its sides
and bases are shrouded in mist, while its summits are
divinely bright; now its peaks, or even its whole mass, is
glittering in the many-folded silver mantle of its snows;
now it is touched with the unspeakably magical lights of
sunrise or of sunset, or with the ineffable beauty of the
everlasting poem of Endymion and Seléné; and now it is
the splendid and majestic seat of the Sky-god's darting
of his lightnings and hurling of his thunderbolts.
2. Such are the views of Olympus that greet and
gratify eye and soul at Saloníca. For nearly a year this
ancient and still populous and many-nationed city-of
which the name was changed from Thermæ to that of
Thessaloníké in honour of the sister of Alexander the
Great-was my headquarters; but never did I return
from one of my various expeditions, of many weeks each,
without being delighted anew with the divine and ever-
varying beauty of Olympus. From Saloníca and its
43 HESIOD, Theog. 25.
3-2
36
Historical Introduction.
suburb, Kallameriá, come many of our Songs. Steeply
the city rises from its wave-washed quay,
or more
accurately, from the Via Egnatia, the old Roman road
from the Adriatic to the Egean, which here, traversing
Saloníca in its whole length, forms its main street. At
the eastern end of the street, and at the Kallameriá gate
of the city, sits, with his primitive sort of lute, an old
blind Homer, a rhapsodist of these Folk-songs, and gene-
rally surrounded by a little crowd of listeners. At this
gate the walls have been in part demolished, in conse-
quence of a sudden and short fit of Turkish improve-
ments,' which exposed and destroyed many sculptured
sarcophagi. Save, however, at this eastern gate, and on
the side towards the sea, Saloníca is still surrounded by
towered and picturesque mediæval walls, of which the
substructures are of Hellenic, and even Pelasgian anti-
quity. Only a passing allusion can here be made to the
almost unparalleled number of great historic events wit-
nessed by these walls-always apparently retaining the
same general lines, however variously reconstructed-
historic scenes extending back to the Persian occupation
under Xerxes (480 B.C.). At the sea-end of the eastern
walls is the Venetian fort, and Turkish prison, known as
the Bloody Tower. And leaving it, the road along the
sea-shore takes one, in twenty minutes, to the charming
marine suburb, with its appropriate Greek name, Kalla-
meriá, ‘Fairquarters,' but over-towered by the Slav-named
Mount Chortiatch-a conjunction of names singularly
significant of the relations of races now in Macedonia.44
3. To the west-to our right, as we stand on the Citadel-
heights-lies the great seaward plain of the Vardar; the
river which was celebrated by Homer as 'the fairest
stream that flows in all the earth,'45 and of which the
Homeric and Classical name, "Ağıos, Axius = Axe or Esk,
is one of the multitude of names that testify to an early
44 Sometimes, however, the name of an inland town or village is
Greek, while the population is Bulgarian, as in the case of Neochóri,
some four miles from Saloníca,
45 Il. ii. 850.
The Survival of Paganism.
37
The
Keltic occupation of Macedonia and Thrace.
term Macedonia I here use with the wide meaning given
to it by later usage. But originally, Macedonia was but
the country west of the Axius, and up to that mountain-
range of Scardus which is a continuation of the great
chain of Pindus. Here, in great upland plains, surrounded
by wild and rocky mountains, and in that particularly of
Pelagónia, now Monastír, 1,500 feet above the sea, was
the Cradle of the Macedonian Monarchy.47 Extending
seaward, its capital was established at Edessa — now,
because of its waters, called Vodhena by the Slavs-with
the upland plain of Emáthia behind it, and under, and
before it, the sea-plain in which the new capital of Pella
was founded by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great.
A semicir ular sweep of hills bounds this plain to the
south; and the Bérrhoea (Vérria) of St. Paul is among the
towns built on their declivities. A stalagmitic cavern at
the foot of the hills between Vérria and Niaousta-the
ancient Kition-with a fountain near it, and with a glorious
view over the broad plain to Pella, may be identified,
by a passage in Pliny,48 with the cave to which Aristotle
often retired with his young pupil, Alexander. It is
called Palæo-Sotíros, having been made into a sort of
church. Its memories, I venture to say, make it worthy of
a nobler consecration. Behind these hills, with this most
august and sacred cave in their northern face, is the valley
of the Haliacmon. And at Æané we enter the region,
already described, of the Holy Places of Mount Olympus.
4. Facing the Olympus range, and forming the eastern
side of the gulf of Saloníca, is the Chalcidic Peninsula,
46 In Thrace these names are particularly numerous : Sadoc, Spara-
doc, Medoc, Amadoc, Olorus, Lutarius, Leonorius, Cormontorius, Lom-
norius, Luarius, Cavarus, Bithocus or Bituitus. See RENAN, St. Paul,
p. 136 and n.; and HEUZEY, Miss. de Mac., pp. 149 and flg. The origin
of many of these names, however, may date only from the later Keltic
Kingdoms established by the Gauls in their eastern migration after the
death of Alexander the Great.
47 See DELACOULONCHE, Mém. sur le Berceau de la Puissance mace-
donienne, Arch. des Missions, 1 Serie, t. viii., 1858.
48 Hist. Nat. xxxi. 20.
just cited (p. 704).
See the Memoir of M. DELACOULONCHE,
38
Historical Introduction.
with its three long finger-like promontories.
Of these,
the westernmost is the promontory of Cassandra, of which
the villages were destroyed, and their inhabitants put to
the sword, in consequence of their having naturally, but
too rashly, declared in favour of the Greek Revolution of
1821. The easternmost promontory is the ridge, some
forty miles long, and four or five broad, of the "Ayiov
"Opos, the Holy Mountain, cut across at its root by the
Canal of Xerxes, and ending in the sublime marble peak
that rises precipitously from the sea to the height of be-
tween 6,000 and 7,000 feet—the peak of the Thukydidean
'AKTY, the Herodotean "A0ws, the Homeric peak on which
Héré rested on her flight from Olympus to Lemnos.*9
But different are its associations now. Not a living
creature of Eve's unholy sex-save inevitable insects,
particularly of the carnivorous tribes is allowed to
set foot on Holy Athos. For since the sixth century,
Athos has been the great pilgrim-visited Sanctuary
of Greek, or Eastern Christendom-indeed, the first
Convents here are said to have been founded by the
Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great,
in the beginning of the fourth century. During the so-
called 'Middle Ages, '50 there were founded on the Holy
Mountain a score of Monasteries. Nowhere in the world.
is there a set of buildings to be compared with them in the
number of their remarkable characteristics-the picturesque
grandeur of their sites; the antiquity of their older walls,
which average, I suppose, some 800 years; the princely
spaciousness of their quadrangles, with gorgeously frescoed
churches in their midst; the priceless treasures of these
churches, and of the convent-libraries; and, above all, the
yet breathing Christian Medieval life of their inhabitants.
These Monasteries, however, as communities numbering
some of them, even still, 300 monks or more, are but on
49 Possibly the legend may have some connection with the tradi-
tional occupation of this promontory of Athos by the Pelasgian creators
and worshippers of Héré. See above, p. 23, and n. 8.
5º See below, p. 47, n. 7.
The Survival of Paganism.
39
a lower grade of ascetic sainthood. Besides the score of
Monasteries, there are a great number of Sketes, 'Aσkŋ-
Týpia, or Σknтia, connected with the Convents, as the
Halls at Oxford with the Colleges. The largest collection
of these ascetic households is in umbrageous and gloriously
picturesque ravines, fitly dedicated of old to Nereids and
to Nymphs. But there is a higher degree still of saint-
hood. In the corries, on the crags, and in the caves, the
most inaccessible all round the seaward face of Athos-
one of the caves to which I climbed could be made utterly
inaccessible by the removal of a narrow plank—live, in
solitary seclusion, an uncounted number of pre-eminently
saintly hermits. And across the sea these miserable
wretches look unashamed on the divine home of the
Olympian Gods.
5. On the other side of Holy Athos one sees, rising sheer
some 6,000 feet out of the eastern sea, the Island-
Sanctuary of still elder Gods, the Gods of Samothrace.
But between us and it is the island of Thasos, an ancient
seat of Phoenician Civilization; in the corner of the main-
land, the sacred birthplace of Aristotle, тáyeipos, now
Isvor;51 and on the coast opposite Thasos, Abdera also of
philosophic fame. I chance to be the only Englishman
who has visited and explored Samothrace; but here I
need only briefly recall what I have elsewhere fully de-
scribed, or pointed out 52—the supreme beauty and sub-
limity of this volcanic, and often earthquake-rent island-
mountain; the antiquity of its deluge-traditions, and of
its consecration as a Sanctuary of the Gods of the Under-
world; the association and identification of the Kábeiri
with these Gods of Samothrace-the Kábeiri who, as I
have endeavoured to show, were originally the divinized
discoverers of, and workers in iron, and hence institutors
of the Iron Age-
δαήμονες ἐσχαρεῶνος
*
*
Θρηϊκίης δε Σάμοιο πυρισθενέες πολιῆται.
51 Described in a letter of mine to the Times, 21st April, 1881.
52 Contemporary Review, May, 1882.
40
Historical Introduction.
*
*
Expert at the Forge
*
*
Fire-powerful inhabitants of Thracian Samos ;53
the significance of the site of the Temple-city of Samo-
thrace, and grandeur of its ruins, dating from the earliest
age of the Pelasgian immigration to the noblest period of
Greek art; and the renown of the Mysteries of the
Kábeiri which brought to Samothrace pilgrims the most
celebrated-here, that Prince of Macedonia and Princess
of Epeiros, who were the parents of Alexander the Great,
first fell in love with each other54-and which made it,
at length, the one common Sanctuary of the Greco-Roman
world. But what it is here chiefly important for us to
note is the extraordinary continuity, to this day, in Mace-
donia, of Hellenic custom, sentiment, and thought, in
connection with Samothrace. The great Festival of
Initiation into the Mysteries of the Kábeiri seems to have
been held about the 22nd of the modern Greek July, and
the beginning of our August.55 And at this very season
pilgrims still resort to Samothrace from all the neighbour-
ing coasts and islands; camping out in tents and huts in
the woods; curing themselves of all manner of diseases
in the miraculous hot sulphur-water; returning thanks
still to the Gods of the old Greek Pantheon, though under
new Christian names; and really keeping still the Feast
of the Kábeiri, though calling it that of the Twelve
Apostles." And still the characteristic Songs of Samo-
thrace are about Gods of the Underworld-about Charon,
who is really a Kabeirian God; though, in name, he
appears to be connected with the Egyptian Horus.56 And
most curious, perhaps, of all—not only is an ancient round
church at Saloníca, built by Constantine, and now the
mosque of Sultan Osman, said to be on the site of a
53 NONNUS, Dionys. xiv. 23, xxix. 193; and see the other authorities
quoted in the above-cited article, pp. 847-8.
54 PLUT., Alex. 2.
55 See CONZE, Archeologische Untersuchungen auf Samothrake,
b. ii., s. 39.
56´See above, P. II.}
The Survival of Paganism.
41
Temple of the Kábeiri-but, in a Folk-song of Saloníca,57
there appears, as already noted,58 to be a distinct reminis-
cence of the Kabeiri themselves in the τρεῖς Στοιχειὰ τοῦ
Kooμoû who watch the flocks of a Macedonian shepherd.
When, on the steep side of Metzikéli, our eye searched
for the localities of the origin, and of the scenes, of the
modern Folk-songs of Epeiros, it found them all in the
mountains of the site and environs of the ancient Oracle
of Dodona, and Sanctuaries of Zevs, Dióné, and Hades;
and similar has been the result of inquiry with reference
to the localities of the Folk-songs of Thessaly and of
Macedonia. Besides this curious coincidence of the chief
scenes of modern Folk-songs in Northern Greece with
the chief sites of ancient Sanctuaries in Northern Hellas,
we have found that these Pagan Sanctuaries have not
only been for ages ruined and deserted, but that their
sites have been all overbuilt with Christian churches;
nay, more: we have found that now there stands, and
has visibly stood for a thousand years, between the ruined
and deserted Sanctuaries of Samothrace and Olympus,
the Holy Mountain, the great Sanctuary of Greek
Christendom, and for half that period, between Olympus
and Dodona, the chief offshoot of this Christian Sanctuary,
the Convents of the Metéora Cliffs. But the most striking
characteristic of the modern Folk-songs of which the
scenes are thus identical with the sites of the Ancient
Sanctuaries we have found to be their almost unalloyed
Paganism. Surely, then, these topographical relations
should not only bring home to us that fact of the unbroken
continuity of Paganism, in all its essential characteristics,
from the Classic to the Modern Period-that fact of the
survival of Paganism which was stated in our First
Section; but should make, at the same time, visible, as
it were, before us, the fact of the domination of Chris-
tianity for nearly 2,000 years; and so, should enable us,
perhaps, in some degree, not only to recognise, but to
58 Above, p. 10.
57 Trans. p. 57.
42
Historical Introduction.
realize the wonder and interest of this fact of the survival
of Paganism-the wonder and interest of the revelation
made to us, not only, though perhaps most strikingly,
by Greek Folk-lore, but by Aryan Folk-lore generally-
the revelation in popular life of a vast and profound
layer of untouched Paganism, similar, in its general
sentiment, if not in its special beliefs, to the prevalent
Paganism of the Higher Culture. And now-the wonder
and interest of the Survival of Paganism having, I trust,
been sufficiently brought home-I would proceed to what I
said, in concluding our First Section, would be our ultimate
task, the investigation of the Cause of the Survival of
Paganism. Those readers who do not care for such
investigations—those readers to whom-slightly to alter
the well-known lines--
A primrose by the river's brim
A simple primrose is,
And it is nothing more—
may now conclude their perusal of this Historical Intro-
duction. But those readers to whom facts are of interest
only in their relation to ideas-in their relation to those
larger facts which are their causes-such readers may,
perhaps, be willing to follow me a little further.
SECTION III.
THE CAUSE OF THE SURVIVAL OF PAGANISM.
1. DULY recognise this fact of the general Paganism, to this
day, of Folk-belief, as evidenced by its most genuine
expressions, and our ordinary histories of Religion, and
particularly of Christianity, will be seen to be merely
histories of religious thinkers who exercised but a more
or less partial, and more or less passing influence on the
great mass of the people. We have, at length, recognised
that a true history of Polity is something very differen
from what it was till very recently—a history of politica
actors-kings, statesmen, and generals. But we have no
yet recognised that a true history of Religion is somethin
The Survival of Paganism.
43
6
very different from what it is still-a history of prophets,
popes, and heresiarchs. Great, however, though the
effect of a Religious Revolution may be on Literature and
Art, its effect on the essential contents of Folk-belief may
be almost nil. And the immensely important historical
fact revealed by study of the Folk-lore and Folk-life of
the Christian Peoples is, that there is such a discrepancy
between nominal and actual Belief and Conduct as is-not
unparalleled, perhaps but extraordinarily exceptional
in the whole history of mankind. The very basis of the
whole system of professed Christian Belief is belief in
Hell. Without the support of this infernal crypt, the
Christian Church, with its every pillar of doctrine, falls
sheer into the chaotic ruin of utter unreason. Yet, as the
study of Folk-lore, and every other mode of experimental
inquiry, shows, only sporadically and spasmodically have
the masses of the so-called Christian peoples really
believed in the Christian Hell, or really, therefore,
believed in that Gospel of popular and historic
Christianity which has no meaning without belief in
Hell. And similarly is it with regard to Conduct. Just
as the most characteristic of the moral prescriptions of
Islam is abstinence from Wine, the most characteristic of
the moral prescriptions of Christianity is abstinence from
Women, or, at least, strict limitation of sexual relations to
but one only of the other sex, and perpetuation of these
relations for the lifetime of the two parties. Subordinate
to this is every other moral prescription of Christianity.
And yet, here again, the study of Folk-lore, and every other
mode of experimental inquiry, shows that the most charac-
teristic of the moral prescriptions of Christianity is as
little obeyed as is the most indispensable of its dogmatic
assumptions believed. Monogamy denotes only the con-
ditions under which the State recognises cohabitation, not
by any means-though this appears often to be assumed
even by philosophic writers-that there are no sexual
relations save under these statutory conditions. With
partial exceptions in certain Protestant countries, the
44
Historical Introduction.
domination of the Christian Creed and Christian Code
has effected almost as little change in the essential
religious beliefs, and actual sexual relations of the Aryan
peoples of Europe,' as is effected in the social customs of
Asiatic peoples by the domination of a new Dynasty. But
the history of saluted Dynasties is not the history of
Polity; nor is the history of professed Creeds the history.
of Religion.
2. Not only, however, is there beneath all our professions
of Christian Belief and Conduct a widespread survival of
Paganism in all its essential characteristics-its feeling of
oneness with Nature, and mythic personalizing of its pheno-
mena; its unconsciousness of Sin in sexual love, and un-
belief in a future state of Rewards and Punishments; and
its feeling of Family kinship, and patriotic devotion to
the Fatherland-not only is there such a survival, but in
no way, perhaps, can, at least, the literary side of
the Modern Revolution be better characterized than as a
revival of Paganism. That great literary movement, the
origin of which will be for ever associated with the names
of Macpherson and of Rousseau,2 is more vaguely and
vulgarly referred to as a 'return to Nature.' But if
we duly study the works of the greater poets of the
Modern Revolution-and especially of Burns, who, as I
have elsewhere endeavoured to show,3 was the first to
give, though in fragmentary form, full, forceful, and poetic
expression to all the moods of what we distinguish as the
Ι
I DEMOSTHENES, in the following sentence, accurately describes
these relations, not only as they were in his own day, but as, notwith-
standing the hypocrisies of Christianity, they still are: Tàs έraipas
ἔχομεν ἡδονῆς ἕνεκα, τὰς δε παλλακὰς τῆς καθ' ἡμέραν θεραπείας τοῦ σώματος,
τὰς δε γυναῖκας τοῦ παιδοποιεῖσθαι.
2 Between 1759 and 1762 ROUSSEAU completed and published the
New Heloise, Social Contract, and Emilius; it was in these very years
that MACPHERSON published his Fragments of Gaelic Poetry, and
Fingal, an Ancient Epic Poem; and the Poems of the Badenoch
Highlander and Aberdeen Graduate excited a European enthusiasm
no less great than that excited by the Romances of his great contem-
porary of the Genevan Lake and Montmorency Woods.
3 Macpherson, Burns, and Scott, in their Relation to the Mod
Revolution (Fraser's Magazine, April, 1880).
The Survival of Paganism.
45
Modern Spirit 4-we shall find that what is really meant
by the vague phrase 'return to Nature,' would be more
clearly defined as a revival of Paganism in all its essential
characteristics. Notwithstanding, however, a revival, as
well as survival, of Paganism in sentiment and in belief;
and notwithstanding that the facts of sexual relations are
practically unchanged among the European as well
as the Indian Aryans; yet overthrown ancient Paganism
was in all its institutions and sanctuaries, and with
new world unquestionably arose.
Christianity a
A
problem thus presents itself of the highest historical
importance-a problem which may be thus stated:
How came it that ancient Paganism was overthrown
in all its institutions and sanctuaries, and that a new
world arose with Christianity; and yet that, notwith-
standing the domination of Christianity for nearly 2000
years, Paganism, in all its most essential character-
istics, still flourishes in the most genuine expressions of
popular sentiment and belief; nor only has thus survived
in Folk-lore, but has everywhere, for more than a century
now, been manifestly reviving in Literature ? Such,
stated in detail, is that question which we have now to
consider with respect to the Cause of the Survival of
Paganism.
3. But with reference more particularly to the first
clause of our problem-What were the causes of the over-
throw of ancient Paganism?-a preliminary question.
arises: Did that Era of the birth of Jesus, proposed by
the Roman Abbot of the barbaric court of Theodoric, the
Ostrogoth, at Ravenna (525)-Dionysius Exiguus, Denis
le Petit-really separate the time before from the time
after it in any such decisive and general way as has been
supposed since the adoption of this Era in the darkest of
the dark ages? Professor Freeman, in the Rede Lecture
of 1872,5 implicitly put this Era aside in insisting on a
4 Fraser's Magazine, April, 1880, p. 523.
5 Published in his Comparative Politics, 1873.
46
Historical Introduction.
(
(
Unity of History in which there is no such thing as
'ancient' and 'modern.' The cause, however, to which
Professor Freeman attributes the origin of the distinc-
tion which he rejects is a very minor one compared
with that which a more philosophic outlook on History
would have shown to be the true cause, namely, the
supreme importance attributed, and necessarily attri-
buted, by the Christian faith to the Era of that con-
ception at Nazareth, and birth at Bethlehem, fondly
imagined to be events in the Incarnation of the Creator of
the Universe. And Professor Freeman's notion of the
Unity of History,' is almost as false as that notion of dis-
unity which he attacks. Because there is no really trenchant
division between the Classical Period and that which
succeeded it, Professor Freeman insists on our casting
away all distinctions between ancient and modern;' and
because the conquests, the laws, and the language of
Rome have immensely influenced a certain age of Western
development, he insists further on the absolute identity
of Roman History with Universal History." But in the
spring of the same year (1873), in the autumn of which
this Rede Lecture was given to the world in book-form, I
published another theory of the 'Unity of History'-a
theory worked out under the influence of Comte, of Hegel,
and of Hume-the latter not only the true Father of the
Scottish School of Philosophy, but the true Founder of
the European, as distinguished from the Syrian Philosophy
of History; a theory which, so far as it differs from the
theories of the thinkers just mentioned, is based, philoso-
phically, on a new generalization of the conception of Law
-the Principle of Co-existence-and historically on the
discovery of a great European-Asian Revolution which,
while it trenchantly divides 'ancient' from 'modern'
history, unites, at the same time, the histories of Europe
6 Professor Freeman's recent article on Some Neglected Periods of
History, in the Contemporary Review, May, 1884, seems to show that
his notions of the Unity of History' have been neither corrected nor
developed since his statement of them a dozen years ago.
The Survival of Paganism.
47
and Asia as at once correlative, and reciprocally influenc-
ing developments; a theory which connects this discovered
fact of the General Revolution of the Sixth Century B.C.
with an Ultimate Law of Thought, more or less clearly,
and more or less generally stated by thinkers so different
as Scottish Pyschologists, Hegelian Transcendentalists,
and Spencerian Evolutionists; and a theory which, in
like manner, connects its profounder historical causes-
Economic and Racial Conditions—with the fundamental
principles of the New Physio-psychology. Ignored, and
so far as it has been in the power of able Editors and
others-suppressed as this theory has as yet been, I
venture to think that the results obtained in the course of
twenty long years spent in the verification of it justify
me in predicting that it will, in the future, be the basis of
all scientific histories of Civilization.
7
4. The monkish Era of the birth, or rather, of the con-
ceptions of Jesus, does not separate the times before from
C
7 See the New Philosophy of History prefixed as an Introduction
to In the Morningland, of which the second edition was published
under the title Isis and Osiris; see also The New Theory of History
and the Critics of Pilgrim-Memories,' and New Principles of a
History of Civilization, prefixed to the third edition of Pilgrim-
Memories. Besides these general statements of my Theory of
European-Asian Civilization, more special statements of branches of
my Theory will be found in Isis and Osiris, Pilgrim-Memories, and
Europe and Asia, and with respect, more particularly, to religious
and philosophic development in the two first, and to economic and
political development in the last. And already in 1869, in that special
study of the Sixth Century A.C., of which some results were given in
my Essay on Arthurian Localities, those five great half-millennial
Periods of European-Asian Civilization, which are constituted by five
great Epochs of synchronous revolutionary events-the Sixth Century
B.C.; the First Century A.C.; the Sixth Century A.C.; the Eleventh;
and the Sixteenth-these Periods had already, in 1869, been stated;
and a protest had been entered against that darkening of History
which arises from lumping together the thousand years from the Sixth
to the Sixteenth Century, and confusing under the single name of
'The Middle Ages,' two utterly different half-millennial Periods.
8 The Era of Dionysius began nine months before the birth of Jesus,
and the Incarnation being the great event that determined the Era,
Christian Chronologists were much exercised by the knotty question,
Whether they should date from the conception or from the birth?
48
Historical Introduction.
the times after it, as different Ages. The combined
results of a vast variety of historical researches show
that it is not the century of Christ, but the sixth century be-
fore Christ, that truly divides the Ancient from the Modern
Civilizations. For the sixth century before Christ was
the century of Confucius, in China; of Buddha, in India;
of Cyrus the Great and the New Zoroastrianism, in
Persia; of the Babylonian Captivity (588-536), the so-
called Second Isaiah, and the triumph of Jahvehism, in
Judæa; of Psammetichus, its last Pharaoh, and of the
worship of Isis and Horus, the divine Mother and Child,
rather than of 'Our Father,' Osiris, in Egypt; of Thales,
the Father of Philosophy, of Pythagoras and Xeno-
phanes, the Fathers also of religious and ethical Reform,
and of Sappho and Alkaios, the first of the new subjec-
tive and lyric school of Poetry, in Greece; and finally, in
this rapid indication of its greater synchronisms, it was
the century of those Political Changes from Monarchies
to Republics which were but the outward sign and seal of
far profounder Economic Changes both in Greece and at
Rome. And of the events of this General Revolution of
the Sixth Century B.C., the most profound, but also the
most powerful, as historic causes, were these Economic
Changes. For they resulted in the destruction of the
economic system of Primitive Socialism, and the initiation
of that separation of Labour and Capital which distin-
guishes our present system of Transitional Individualism.
And having this result in Europe, these Economic
Changes effected, for the first time, a profound differentia-
9 The dates of the birth of Confucius vary only between 550 and
55I B.C.
As to the date of Buddha, see the Academy of 1st March,
1884, in which Professor Max Müller gives new proofs of the date of
his death being 477-8 B.C.; and compare Mr. Müller's discussion of the
date of Chandragupta, the basis of Indian Chronology, in his History of
Sanscrit Literature, pp. 242-300. As to the other synchronisms, see
SPIEGEL, Avesta, b. i.; EWALD, Die Propheten des Alten Bundes,
b. ii., and GOLDZIEHER, Mythology among the Hebrews; SHARPE,
Egyptian Mythology; ZELLER, Presocratic Philosophy, First Period;
GROTE, History of Greece, vol. ii., p. 505 n., and F. DE COULANGES,
La Cité antique.
The Survival of Paganism.
49
tion between Asiatic and European Civilization-an eco-
nomic differentiation which I have been, I believe, the
first to point out as the profoundest fact and cause in the
history of European-Asian Civilization.10 We see, then,
that, in all the countries of Civilization, from the
Hoangho to the Tiber, there occurred movements in
this Sixth Century B.C. that definitively broke up the
previously existing, and decisively initiated, not only
new forms of Civilization, but such new forms of
Civilization—such new forms, that is, of economic and
political, of religious and moral, and of philosophical
and literary development—such new forms as must be
distinguished as genera marking a new Age, rather than
as species marking but a new Period. Of course, con-
tinuity of development can be clearly traced across this
Sixth Century, and that, meagre comparatively as are
our records. But so great is the difference between the
Civilizations on this, and on the other, side of the Sixth
Century B.C., that the men on the other side of that
great Epoch-the men of Old India, Old Assyria, Old
Judæa, Old Egypt, Old Greece and Rome-must be dis-
tinguished as Ancients from Moderns. And so little, in
comparison, is the difference between the men on this and
on the other side of the Christian Era, up to the Sixth
Century B.C., that the name of 'Ancients' in nowise truly
belongs to them; and has, indeed, only been given to them
under the influence of the false monkish theory of Diony-
sius the Little. The men of the half-millennium ante-
cedent to the Christian Era were but Moderns of the
Classical Period.
5. But, overthrown as ancient Paganism thus began
to be in the Sixth Century B.C.; overthrown through the
action of Economic Changes that, in Europe, transformed
the very constitution of society; overthrown through that
10 See Europe and Asia (1879), and particularly pp. 471-4; and
Socialism as a Law of Economic Development, first delivered as a
Lecture to Workmen in April, 1883, and afterwards published in
To-day, of October of the same year.
4
50
Historical Introduction.
portentous succession of Persian, of Greek, and of Roman
World-conquests, which filled the whole of the Classical
Half-millennium, intermingled at once the blood of Peoples
and the rites of Religions, and won for the Aryan Race
supremacy over all other Races; overthrown by the aspi-
rations of that vast Moral Revolution indicated by the
change from the old Religions of Custom to the new
Religions of Conscience preached by the prophets of
that Sixth Century-Confucius, Buddha, Zoroaster,¹¹ the
Second Isaiah, and Pythagoras-that vast Moral Revolu-
tion indicated hardly less by the change from the objec-
tive epic poetry of Homer and Hesiod to the subjective
lyric poetry of Alkaios and Sappho; and overthrown by
those great results of the common use of demotic and
alphabetic, instead of hieratic and hieroglyphic, writing12
-the emergence of Philosophy from the swaddling-bands
of Theology, and the escape of Literature from the colleges
of Priests-how came it that ancient Paganism, by so
many consilient causes overthrown, was not extirpated?
In order clearly to answer such a question, the causes
of the overthrow of, at least, Western Paganism, must
be more closely considered, and more specifically defined.
In other words, we must consider and define the forces
that gave Christianity its triumph. Now, from the point
of view of the great General Revolution of the Sixth
Century B.C., Christianity appears as but the Western
result of 500 years of the working of the forces of a
Revolution which initiated a new Age in the general
development of Humanity. This Revolution, in every
sphere of it, whether economic and political, or moral
and religious, or philosophical and literary, is marked by
the same general characteristic of a new development of
the Individual, and of Conscience, a new development of
11 The date of Zoroaster is still unsettled; but whether he belonged
to the Sixth Century B.C., or to a period long anterior, the doctrines
associated with his name had now their chief vogue and influence.
12 As to the date of the substitution of demotic for hieratic writing,
see GOODWIN, Hieratic Papyri, Cambridge Essays, 1858:
The Survival of Paganism.
5 I
Inwardness and Subjectivity. And hence that develop-
ment of Conscience and of Subjectivity which, though the
central characteristic, is the hitherto unexplained element
of Christianity, is explained by referring it to an an-
tecedent and more general Revolution thus characterized;
and by showing that the new development of the In-
dividual and of Subjectivity characteristic of that ante-
cedent Revolution is in accordance with, and is a verifi-
cation of a Law of Mental Development which has
its analogue in the Law of Physical Evolution.13 But
only a general explanation is thus given of the origin
of Christianity. The causes of its triumph must
be more specifically defined. Note then, that a new
Species does not arise isolatedly, but as one of in-
numerable other variations. Nor is the survivor that
establishes itself as a new Species the best or the most
beautiful, but only that best adapted to the conditions.
of the environment; and hence, that richest in elements
capable of nourishment, rather than liable to destruction,
by the environment. Thus it was with Christianity. It
was the Species, not the best, nor the most beautiful, but
the best adapted to conditions of ignorance, anarchy, and
barbarism. For of all the innumerable Sects, the rivals
or distanced forerunners of Christianity,14 of all the Sects,
Stoic, and Epicurean, Neo-Platonic, Hermetic, and Theo-
sophic-the products of that wonderful intellectual che-
mistry which had in Alexandria its chief laboratory,15 at
the beginning of what we now call the Christian Era-
Christianity alone succeeded in combining the five ele-
13 This Law of Mental Development I have thus stated: Thought
in its Historic Development, advances, under Terrestrial Conditions,
from the conception of One-sided Causation, through the Differentiation
of Subjective and Objective, to the conception of Reciprocal Causation.
14 Če titre leur convient, quoique plusieurs soient contemporaines de
l'ère chrétienne, d'autres un peu postérieures; car l'évènement d'une
religion ne date que du jour où elle est accepté par les peuples, comme
le règne d'un prétendant date de sa victoire.'- MENARD, Hermes
Trismegiste, Introd., pp. x., xi.
15' Cette étonnante chimie intellectuelle qui avait établi son prin-
cipal laboratoire à Alexandrie.'—Ibid., p. x.
4-2
52
Historical Introduction.
ments of contemporary sentiment and thought, not the
most rational, but the most powerful.
ever.
6. These elements were, first of all, the myth of the
dying and re-born God. Shattered as was belief in all
the various Gods to whom this myth was attached, the
belief in incarnation was still as prevalent, the myth
of a God-man dying and rising again as enchanting,
and the death-songs of Linus, of Adónis, and of
Manéros as pathetically affecting as
And at-
tached to a new personage, who had actually exercised
a commanding personal influence, and died on the cross
of the Sun-gods, the central myth of Paganism could
not but have a new vogue and triumph. Secondly, in its
its
doctrine of Immortality, and in its Eschatology,
doctrine of the end of the world, damnation, and glory,
Christianity gave a new form to doctrines no less pre-
valent than the myth of the God-man, though far less
deeply rooted in the Aryan world. Thirdly, in preaching
the new-old doctrines of Christianity, the great Ephesian,
the author of the Fourth Gospel, and Paul of Tarsus, not
only took up all that was noblest in the moral sentiment
of the time, but gave it unsurpassed expression. Paul
made the Christ-legend of the Galilæans a means of con-
vincing of sin and powerfully persuading to righteousness.
And the story of the Galilæan fishermen was told by the
unknown Ephesian with a simplicity, ineffable tenderness,
and sublimity that make it-even more truly than the
story told by Thukydídes—a ктîµa ès άeì, a 'possession
for ever.' Fourthly, uniting the moral sentiment charac-
teristic of the time with the monotheism that had not
only been taught in the Mysteries, but publicly preached
since the Sixth Century B.C., God was proclaimed as a
Father, and this-which would appear to be especially
due to Jesus-in a far closer and more personal sense
than when the same name had been given of old to Zeus
Tаτηρ, Father Zevs. Finally-and this was the special
and triumphant distinction of the new Sect that was to
become a new Religion- not only were these various
π
KT
The Survival of Paganism.
53
sentiments and ideas common to all the Aryan peoples
thus reproduced in Christianity, but-as I have elsewhere
shown¹ in considering the Christian Revolution in its in-
tellectual aspect,' discussing the cause of the uncompromis-
ing hostility between Neo-Platonism and Christianity,
and demonstrating the antagonism of the fundamental
conceptions of the Neo-Platonic and the Christian Trinity
-these various sentiments and ideas were united with
the notion of an External and Personal, as distinguished
from an Immanent and Impersonal God, and hence with
the notion of Creation as opposed to Emanation, and of
Miracle as opposed to Law. But from this notion, as de-
veloped in Christianity, there resulted the most direct
antagonism to every one of the essential characteristics of
Paganism there resulted a demonizing rather than diviniz-
ing of Nature;17 an ascetic as distinguished from a natural
conception of Purity-a conception, that is, of Purity as
consisting, not in the predominance of affection over
passion, but in abstinence from sexual relations; an in-
sistance on superstitions of future Reward and Punish-
ment denounced by every noble Pagan,¹s and uncredited
even by boys' save not yet washed for coin ;'19 and a sink-
ing of the Citizen in the Saint. And hence it is in ex-
amining the nature and origin of the Christian God-idea
that we may, at length, discover what the Cause was of
the Survival of Paganism.
16 Isis and Osiris, chap. i., sec. ii., The Development of the Notion
of Miracle.
17 It is just its exceptional character, as I have elsewhere noted,
that has made so famous the charming letter of Basil the Great (b. 326,
d. 379) to his friend Gregory of Nazianzen, describing his mountain-
hermitage in the Armenian forest overlooking the plain through which
flows the rapid Iris. See BASILEI M., Epist. xiv., p. 93, and ccxxiii.,
p. 339. Only in Gregory of Nyssa, the brother of Basil, do we find,
among the early Christians, a similarly refined feeling of Nature.
18 See, for instance, PLUTARCH, De Superstitione, iv.; Moralia,
t. iv., pp. 197-8. Ed., Dübner.
19 See JUVENAL, Sat. ii. 149-52.
'Esse aliquid Manes et Subterranea Regna,
Et contum et Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras,
Atque una transiere vadum tot millia cumba
Nec pueri credunt, nisi qui nondum ære lavantur?
54
Historical Introduction.
7. The Christian idea of a single Interfering Personal
God is a distinctively Semitic idea; and it is because
this idea of an Interfering God is a distinctively Semitic
idea, obnoxious to the scientific Aryan mind; it is because
of this that Aryan Paganism has survived through all the
long domination of Christianity, and is everywhere now
reviving. Next to, or rather side by side with, Economic
Conditions, stand Racial Conditions, as the most profound
of Historical Causes. Nor is anything, perhaps, in Man's
history more remarkable than the permanence of the
specific characteristics that still distinguish, as they have
ever distinguished, the two great Races of the White
Species or Variety of Mankind-Semites, and Aryans.20
Intellectually, Semites-Jews and Arabs-are still, as
they have ever been, distinguished by absoluteness,
concreteness, personality of conception; Aryans, by re-
lativity, abstractness, impersonality of conception. The
evidence of these specific characteristics is to be found,
first of all, in their respective languages. With the
Semite,' says Professor Sayce, 21 the Universe is an
undivided whole-not a compound resolvable into its
parts. The Semite has never developed a true verb... the
Aryan noun, on the contrary, pre-supposes the verb.
is difficult to compare the rich development of the Aryan
sentence... with the bald simplicity of Semitic expression.
The Aryan sentence is as well fitted to be the instrument
of the measured periods of reasoned rhetoric as the
Semitic sentence is of the broken utterances of lyrical
emotion.' Next, such evidence is to be found in the con-
trasted Semitic and Aryan conceptions of God. To the Jews,
since, at least, the Sixth Century B.C., and to the Arabs,
since, at least, the Sixth Century A.C., and to their respec-
tive prophets previously to those epochs of national mono-
theism, God is a Personal Being, external to the World, an
Absolute One, Yahveh, or Allah. To Aryan thinkers, unin-
It
20 To another great Race of the White Species the ruling castes of
the Ancient Egyptians seem, as I think, probably to have belonged.
21 Science of Language, vol. i., p. 178; and compare RENAN, Histoire
des Langues Semitiques.
The Survival of Paganism.
55
fluenced by Semites, God has ever been either but a name
for the Infinite and Unknowable, 22 or has been conceived as
the Thought or Power immanent in the World, or System
of Things,23 or as a related Trinity, the Supernatural
Persons of which but thinly disguise such natural elements
as those necessary for Generation ; 24 or such natural
objects as Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld; 25 or such
natural processes as Creation, Preservation, and Destruc-
tion. 26 Quibus explicatis, says, in reference to Pagan
Theology, Cicero, who had probably been initiated in
the Mysteries of Samothrace—quibus explicatis, ad ration-
emque revocatis, Rerum magis natura, quam Deorum cognos-
citur.27 And still further and conclusive evidence of the
difference between the fundamental intellectual concep-
tions of Semites and Aryans is to be found in the fact that
those sublime intellectual creations-Science, Jurispru-
dence, and the Drama-Mankind owe to the Aryan Race
alone.28 For the essential condition of these creations.
Can we define Him, they said, or apprehend Him?' writes Max
Müller of the Indian Aryans. 'No,' they replied, 'all we can say of
Him is No, no!... Whatever we have called Him, that He is not. We
cannot comprehend or name Him.'-Origin and Growth of Religion,
p. 360.
23 The God of Aristotle, for instance, was a principle of abstract
Thought which moves a coeternal world of which He, or It, can
neither change nor suspend the immutable Laws.
24 See PAYNE KNIGHT, Worship of Priapus, and Symbolical Lan-
guage of Ancient Art and Mythology; DULAURE, Histoire des
differens Cultes; and INMAN, Ancient Faiths, and Pagan and
Christian Symbolism.
27 De Nat. Deor., i. 42.
25 As in the Trinity of Dodona. See above, p. 23.
26 As in the Brahmanic Trinity.
28 Most of the great names of so-called ' Arabian' Science are names
of Aryans writing in Arabic, the general language of Literature, in the
true Mediæval Period (500-1000) in the East, as Latin was in the
West. And 'cette science,' says M. Renan, 'cette science et philo-
sophie Arabes n'etaient qu'une mesquine traduction de la science et
de la philosophie grecques.'—De la Part des Peuples Semitique, pp. 17,
18. Compare the same author's Averroes (Ibn. Roschd.), p. 88 flg.
The contributions made to Philosophy and Science by persons of
Semitic blood, yet not only speaking and writing, but thinking in Aryan
languages, cannot be taken as evidence of native Semitic capacity for
Philosophy and Science. But even if such Semitic contributions to
Philosophy and Science are considered, it will be found that they are
56
Historical Introduction.
is relativity of conception, and what flows from that, the
notion of God as immanent in, rather than external to
the Universe, and hence the notion of Emanation rather
than Creation, of reciprocal Action, rather than arbitrary
Will, and of Law rather than Miracle. 29
8. But profoundly different as are thus the characteristic
intellectual conceptions of Semitic and of Aryan men,
Economic and Political Conditions may be powerful.
enough to induce in an intellectually higher, the ideas of an
intellectually lower, Race.30 This is not the place to point
out the Economic and Political Conditions that in-
duced in Aryans the lower intellectual ideas of Semites,
and submerged, for a thousand years, the splendid
conquests of the Classical Period of Aryan Science.
I must here confine myself to indicating the further
proof of the Non-Aryan character of the notion of
an External Interfering God, and hence, Creation and
Miracle, which is afforded by the facts of the revolt of the
Aryan mind against this Semitic notion wherever it has
been imposed on Aryans. Of this revolt the first proof is
not so much creative as elaborative; not enunciating new ideas, but
working out ideas already enunciated by Aryan thinkers.
29 And that these antithetic notions characterize Semite and Aryan
respectively, was the opinion also of St. Paul (1 Cor. i. 22). The
Jews,' he says, 'require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom.'
30 This will, I believe, be found to be one of the most important
principles of a Scientific Mythology, and especially important in the
explanation of the origin of that most variously constituted, perhaps of
all Mythologies, the Greek. That Greeks as Greeks, or indeed, that
Aryans as Aryans, were ever savages, is, I venture to think, a contra-
diction in terms. For the abstractness and the inflections character-
istic of Aryan, and particularly of Greek, speech directly negative a
natural savagery—a savagery the result of deficient brain-development.
But Economic Conditions may so lower and degrade men of the highest
Races as to make possible the adoption, or even creation, of myths
monstrous even as those not only possibly but necessarily originating
in the brains of lower Races. And hence, in studying the varied web
of Greek Folk-mythology, I would regard those myths which have their
analogies among the lowest savages, as records certainly of enslave-
ment to masters, either of their own, or of another Race, and as re-
cords probably also of mixture, in their economic or political en-
slavement, with cerebrally lower Races.
The Survival of Paganism.
57
,
to be found in the long, desperate, and, at length, despair-
ing struggle of the Neo-Platonists against Christianity.
For the secret of this struggle-as, following M. Jules
Simon,31 I have elsewhere shown with some fulness32_the
secret of the bitter and unvanquishable antagonism of the
Neo-Platonists to Christianism is to be found, not in any
difference of moral spirit and aspiration, but in a profound
difference of intellectual conception-a difference revealed
especially in the investigation of the but superficially
similar Neo-Platonic and Christian doctrines of the
Trinity. They are, in fact, two rival philosophies, of
which the latter is more particularly characterized by the
entirely new meaning it gave to avμa, and Miraculum,
which, as yet, meant only a Wonder,'34 and not, as after
the triumph of Christianity, a Supernatural Event, or
act of an External God.35 For the Neo-Platonic and
Christian Trinities are not merely contrasted in the
relations of their Hypostases or Persons to each other,
but-what is of far more importance-in the relations
of these Triune Hypostases, or Persons, to Nature, or
the Universe. In the Neo-Platonic Theory, the Uni-
verse itself is a system of Hypostases, more or less divine,
all emanating from God by a necessary expansion, and
returning to Him by a concentration equally necessary.
In the Christian Theory, the World has neither proceeded
31 Histoire de l'Ecole d'Alexandrie, t. ii., pp. 308-41. Thomas Taylor,
in the Introduction to his Translation of the Parmenides of Plato
(1793), sees that there is a difference between the Neo-Platonic and
the Christian Trinity, and calls the latter a dire perversion of the
highest procession from the First of Causes' (p. 185). But he has no
clear, if any, notion of what the difference really is.
32 Isis and Osiris, chap. i., The Christian Revolution in its Intel-
lectual Aspect.
<
33 En comparant la Trinité chrétienne avec celle d'Alexandrie,
M. Jules Simon ne compare donc rien moins que deux philosophies
rivales.'-SAISSET, Revue des Deux Mondes, t. vii., p. 808.
34 And this is all it still means in the Greek Folk-songs. See, for
instance, The Miracle of St. George, Trans., p. 107.
(
35 Hence Professor Huxley's definition of a Miracle' is historically
untrue, and his criticism of Hume's definition has but a superficial
plausibility. See his Hume, pp. 130, Åg.
58
Historical Introduction.
from, nor has it been engendered, but created, by God, who
is conceived as outside and independent of the world,
which may be annihilated by a fiat as arbitrary as that by
which it was created. The relation of the Universe to
God is thus, in the Neo-Platonic theory, reconcilable at
least with the conceptions of Science. For if the theory
of an Emanating Trinity is but a dream, the notion of
Emanation is the pregnant germ of the conception of
Law, and a prophecy of verifiable theories of Evolution, De-
velopment, and Progress. On the other hand, the Christian
conception of the relation of the Universe to God is a
direct negation of the most fundamental conceptions of
Science. For the notion of Creation is but the supremest
form of the notion of Miracle, and a prophecy of the intel-
lectual exercitations alone compatible therewith-barren
disputes of Monks, and logomachies of Schoolmen.
masculine Reason was overpowered by feminine Emotion.
Vicisti Galilæe! And every forecast of Greek Philosophy
as to the consequences of the triumph of this Galilæan
Religion was only too fatally fulfilled. As foreseen and
predicted by the Neo-Platonists, the triumph of Chris-
tianity closed the Schools of Philosophy, and strangled
Science; brought with it a view of Nature and Humanity
which necessarily led to fanatical asceticism, and hateful
intolerance; and by giving to Morality the supernatural
sanctions of Heaven and Hell, gave a new force and con-
secration to that base supernaturalism of the vulgar
Ethics for which Greek Philosophy had begun, at least, to
substitute the natural sanctions of the Individual Con.
science and the Common Good.
But
9. Yet, though vanquished, not in vain had the Neo-Pla-
tonists fought. Not only before, but for a thousand years
after, the closing of the Schools of Alexandria and of
Athens (529), Neo-Platonism, with its notion of Emanation,
and germ, at least, of the conception of Law, urged and
enabled all Christians of greater intellectual capacity to
modify, at least, the Semitic anthropomorphism of their
Creed.
Great was this influence of Neo-Platonism on the
The Survival of Paganism.
59
Greek Fathers; and particularly on St. Clement, Origen,
and Gregory of Nyssa; but little, on the Latin Fathers,
save the greatest, St. Augustine ;36 who, however, knew
the Neo-Platonists only in Latin translations. Yet before
the closing of the Schools of Athens, a Christian contem-
porary of the last Athenian philosophers wrote those
treatises, which go under the name of Dionysius the Areo-
pagite, and which were destined, not only to transmit to the
West the Neo-Platonic tradition and influence, but to
carry it on till the rise of Modern Philosophy with
Descartes and Bacon. For it chanced that the works
of Dionysius, with the Commentary of St. Maximus
the Martyr, were presented by the Emperor of the East,
Michael the Stammerer, to the Emperor of the West,
Lewis the Debonnair, and were translated by that greatest
thinker of the Keltic Race, John Scot (Erigena).37 As in
the political world, Charles the Great, so, in the intellectual
world, John Scot, at the court of the great Emperor'
grandson, Charles the Bald, towers above all contempora-
ries, not only of his century, but of the whole Mediaval
Period (500-1000). And in Scot we see at once the
influence of Neo-Platonism, and the revolt of Aryan
thought against the Semitism of Christianity, in such ideas
as these: Ignorance-or, as we now phrase it, 'agnosti-
cism'-in Theology is to Scot the sign of true wisdom;
Creation is not an arbitrary Miracle, but a necessary
Emanation, and not accidental, therefore, but coeternal
with God; the Universe is a series of God-manifestations,
or Theophanies, of which the Trinity itself is one; Death
is but a metamorphosis; and all Creation returns, at length,
to its primordial unity without losing anything save its
36 Both the fact and the character of the Neo-Platonic influence on
St. Augustine is evident in such fine and profound passages as, for
instance, these: 'Verius enim cogitatur Deus quam dicitur, et verius
est quam cogitatur' (De Trin., vii. 7). Or, again, 'Amemus non
inveniendo invenire, potius quam inveniendo non invenire te, Domine'
(Confess.).
37 See GUIZOT, Hist. de la Civil. en France, t. i. ; and ST. Réné
TAILLANDIER, Scot Erigene.
60
Historical Introduction.
:
miseries and imperfections. But, true to its Semitic.
origin, Orthodox Theology, even in the Greek Church
of the East, has always repelled whatever tended
to weaken the notion of a Personal Cause, free and
intelligent, which by an act of its will has created,
and can similarly annihilate. Still more severe has
been the Latin Church of the West. And Scot, there-
fore, had the honour of having his works condemned
in his lifetime by the Councils of Valence (855) and
Langres (859). But in the next, or Feudal Half-Milen-
nium (1000-1500) Scot's Translation of the Areopagite's
Theologia Mystica became the text-book of all the great
Mystics. The God, however, of the French Mystics-
Hugh and Richard, abbots of St. Victor, Bonaventura,
Gerson, and Thomas-à-Kempis-was still of the orthodox
and Semitic type³⁹—a personal and living God separate
from the world. But the God of the German Mystics—
Eckart, Tauler, Suso, and Ruysbrock-was more charac-
teristically Aryan—an abstract impersonal principle, truly
infinite, and therefore unknowable.
39
10. Nor only is it thus, in the revolt of the Aryan mind
against the Semitic Yahveh-notion of Christianism, that
my theory of the cause of the survival of Aryan Paganism
may be verified. It may be verified also in the similar
revolt against the Semitic Allah-notion of Islamism. But
here I can do no more than point to the profound modifi-
cation of Islamism among the Aryans of India, of Persia,
of Anatolia, and of Albania, and more particularly to
the Creeds of the Sufis, and of the Dervishes generally,
and especially those of the Bektashí Order, to which al-
38 Compare such passages, for instance, as these from the De Divis.
Natur.: Deus per metaphoram amor dicitur, dum sit plus quam
amor, unumquemque superat amorem' (i. 70, p. 73). Nam et crea-
tura in Deo est subsistens, et Deus in creatura mirabili et ineffabili
modo creatur' (iii. 17, p. 238). Nullum miraculum in hoc mundo
contra Naturam Deum fecisse legimus' (v. 23, p. 469).
39 May this possibly have been owing to that large admixture of
Semitic blood in certain parts of the French population, which M. Renan
has recently endeavoured to show grounds for affirming?
The Survival of Paganism.
61
most the whole nation of the Tosk Albanians belong.40
Yet even this twofold revolt of the Aryan mind against
the Semitic Creeds imposed upon it, does not exhaust the
means of historically verifying my theory of the cause of
the survival of Aryan Paganism. It may be verified also.
by the historic result of the attempt to reason as an
Aryan, yet believe as a Semite. The presupposition of
Scholasticism-the origin of which, by the way, we may
locally associate with Canterbury and its archbishop,
Anselm (1093)—the presupposition of Scholasticism was
the rationality of the dogma. Hence St. Anselm's Credo
ut intelligam—‘I believe in order to understand.' But
the attempt to understand ended with the impossibility
of believing. For it ended with the fatal affirmation
that a thing might be at once dogmatically true and
rationally false. By the end of the Fifteenth Century
the Aristotelian Pomponatius boldly applied this con-
clusion, not only to the dogma of the immortality
of the soul, but to all the greater problems of Philo-
sophy. And the Sixteenth Century¹¹ is characterized not
only by that virtual overthrowal of Semitic Christianity
as an intellectual system which was the logical result
of Scholastic disputation; but by a rebirth of Science and
Philosophy, due to the new force given to the struggling
Reason of the West by reconnection with Classical
Aryan thought undominated as yet by Semitism. It
is true that the very century that saw the rise of a
4º See Dozy, Histoire de l'Islamism; GARCIN DE TASSY, Philosophie
et Religion chez les Persans; DE GOBINEAU, Religion et Philosophie
dans l'Asie Centrale; THOLUCK, Sufismus; and Blüthensammlung aus
der Morgenlandischen Mystik; PALMER, Oriental Mysticism; Brown,
The Dervishes, etc.
41 Between the Sixteenth Century, the beginning of the Modern, and
the Sixth Century B.C., the beginning of the Classical Period, many
remarkable analogies might be pointed out. Suffice it, however, here
to note that, as in the Sixth Century B.C. there came into common use
demotic and alphabetic instead of hieratic and hieroglyphic writing;
so, in the Sixteenth Century, writing was superseded by printing. And
similar were the intellectually enfranchising results of the new practical
art that distinguishes each of these Centuries respectively.
62
Historical Introduction.
Science and Philosophy by which thinkers were more
and more emancipated from the domination of the
Semitic notions of Creation and Miracle, this very century
saw, in another direction, a new domination given, in
Western Europe, at least, to these Semitic notions as
anti-social as they are anti-scientific. Yet this very fact
might be cited in proof of the necessity of Special
Economic Conditions to induce in Aryans belief in the
God of Semites. It would, however, be here out of place
even to attempt to indicate the Economic Conditions that,
in the Sixteenth Century, at once created the industrial
Middle Classes, and made successful among them that
Western Reformation, and Evangelicalism which more
closely than ever enchained in Jewish superstitions. It must
suffice to remark that, just as the political Barbarism of
the West caused the Latin Fathers to be far more domi-
nated by Semitism than the Greek Fathers; so, the
economic Individualism of the West has caused the West
European Peoples to be, since the Reformation, far more
dominated by Semitism than the East European Peoples
and particularly the Greeks. And very interesting, I think
it is, to note that, just as the Greek Fathers were less
Semitic in their Theology than the Latin Fathers; so,
the Greek People are more Pagan now in their Folk-songs
than any of the Western Peoples.
II. But was wirklich ist, das ist vernunftlich.42 And the
large view given of the history of Civilization by that General
Theory 43 from which the thesis of the present Essay is a
deduction, should enable us to see, not only the Cause of
the Survival of Aryan Paganism in such a fact as the
irreconcilably antithetic character of the Semitic notion.
at the core of the conquering Religion-but should enable
us to see also the reason, the utility, the justification of
the temporary conquest effected by this Semitic notion—
this notion of an interfering Personal God, and hence
42 By no means, however, do I accept with Hegel the converse of
this maxim Was vernunftlich ist, das ist wirklich.
43 See above, p. 46.
The Survival of Paganism.
63
1
Creation and Miracle. The moral sentiment and enthu-
siasm-the Love, in the highest sense of the term-which,
as the result of the great Revolution of the Sixth Century
B.C., was the chief characteristic of Christianity, was far
in advance of any development yet generally given, in
the West, to the notion of Law. This highly developed i
moral sentiment, therefore, could find adequate support
only in a personal conception of Deity, and a mythology of
Miracle. But ideas are worked clearly out only in con-
flict with their antitheses. It is to the long struggle,
therefore, of the Aryan mind in Europe with the Semitic
notion of Miracle that we must attribute that supreme
development of the idea of Law which, in the Neo-platonic
notion of Emanation, existed only in germ-that supreme
development of the idea which enables us now variously
to define it as Conservation of Energy, Correlation of
Forces, Co-existence, Reciprocal Action, Mutual Determina-
tion. Reciprocal Action, however, or Mutual Determina-
tion, is but the intellectual conception, and technical
expression of that highest moral ideal-Love. Adequate,
therefore, at length, to the development of the moral
ideal, Love, is the development of the intellectual ideal,
Law. When this is seen, there can no longer be, for
Aryans, a moral necessity for belief in that Semitic
Personal God, the very notion of whom is the negation
of the idea of Law. Hence, Atheism. But it is an
Atheism that means denial only of the Semitic God, and
particularly of the God of the Jews. It is an Atheism
that is but a return to the God of our Aryan fore-
fathers; a return to that impersonal conception of the
Infinite and Eternal,45 through which alone we can
44
44 The extreme difference of the conditions of the struggle, in the
East, between Aryan thought and imposed Semitism, as well as the
very much later date of the beginning of that struggle-in Persia, the
Seventh Century (Saad Ibn Abu Wakkus, 636–41), and in India, the
Eleventh (Mahmud of Ghuzni, 1001-24) or rather the Twelfth Century
(Mohammed of Ghore, 1193-1206)-sufficiently explain the fact that, as
the result of that struggle, there was no development there, as in the
West, of the scientific conception of Law.
45 See above, p. 55, n. 20.
64
Historical Introduction.
46
fully enter on our inheritance of the matchless treasures
of classical Aryan thought; a return to that impersonal
God, to whom, through the bonds of imposed Semitism,
at least half the greatest theologians of the Christian
Church, and all the Aryan theologians of Islam,47 have
struggled; a return to that impersonal conception of the
Infinite and Eternal which renders unnecessary the con-
temptible fallacies and degrading hypocrisies of the vain
attempt to reconcile the Semitic notion of an Interfering
Personal God with the Aryan conception of a Living and
Ordered Kosmos, the Aryan conception, in a word, of Law;
a return to that worldview of our Aryan forefathers in
which GOD is the sacred name, not of a fictitious Divinity
independent of Nature, but of the divine facts of Nature
itself, and of that supremest fact of all, the CO-EXISTING
INFINITE.
46 See above, pp. 60-2.
47 Ibid, p. 62, n. 37.

Fra
பி'
NOTE BY THE TRANSLATOR.
MR. STUART GLENNIE, who originally suggested these Transla-
tions, has directed the selection of the Folk-songs with the aim
of giving as complete a view as possible of all the various
phases of Greek Folk-life. As illustrating, therefore, all the
nine Sections of his Classification of Greek Folk-songs-a
classification based on general principles which he may here-
after have an opportunity of illustrating and defending-this
Collection of Translations may, I believe, fairly claim to stand
quite alone in its completeness. The Songs belong, however,
exclusively to the provinces of Albania, Thessaly, and Mace-
donia; and they may thus have an additional interest as
expressions of the Folk-life of 'Enslaved Greece.' The
Originals will, therefore, be found chiefly in ARAVANDINOS'
Songs of Epeiros ("Aqua Ta rou 'Hasigou, 1880), and ECONOMIDES'
Songs of Olympus (Τραγούδια τοῦ ᾿Ολίμπου, 1881). But in
order to the comprehensiveness aimed at, translations are also
given from KIND's Songs of New Greece (Tgaɣwdra sñs véas
Ελλάδος, 1833); Passow's Romaic Songs (Τραγούδια Ρωμαίκα,
1860); VALAORÍTI's Memorial Songs (Mvnuóauva "Aouara, 1861);
and various other Sources.
My Translations have, in every case, been made directly
from the Greek texts, and without reference
reference to other
translations, even in the few cases, among the Songs here
given, in which such translations exist. Mr. Stuart Glennie
having urged the most exact reproduction possible, the Songs
}
4*
56
Note by the Translator.
have been, almost without exception, rendered line for line,
and the peculiarities of the metre and rhythm have been
closely followed. And whatever may still be the imperfection
of these Translations, in every Song I have been indebted to
Mr. Glennie for emendations which have made the rendering
more literal, the metre more correct, and the versification more
vigorous.
I must also gratefully acknowledge my obligations to Mr.
Theodore Ralli-a member of the well-known Chiot family,
mentioned in Song (for instance, below, p. 167) as well as in His-
tory-to whose kindness I am indebted, not only for the interest
he has taken in the book throughout, but also for the true
rendering of many obscure and difficult words and phrases. Nor
must I forget the kind encouragement given by Professor
Blackie, to whom some specimens of these Translations were
submitted two years ago by his former pupil, Mr. Stuart Glennie.
As the veteran Scottish Professor was the first scholar in this
country who drew attention to the identity of Modern with
Ancient Greek, we trust that he will regard this work as a
fruit, and, perhaps, as no unworthy fruit, of his endeavour to
promote the study of Greek, not as a dead, but as a living
Language. And we hope that such study will have not only
speculative and scientific, but practical and political results
in exciting sympathy, and gaining aid, for that reconstitution.
of Hellas which is still unachieved, and the fulfilment yet of
Shelley's prophetic vision in the first year of the War of
Independence (1821)-
'Another Athens shall arise,
And to remoter time
Bequeath, like sunset to the skies,
The splendour of its prime ;
And leave, if naught so bright may live,
All Earth can take, or Heaven can give.'
L. M. J. G.
GREEK FOLK SONGS.
Quin etiam antiquitatum investigatores haud pauca in his popu-
laribus carminibus reperient satis digna, quae respiciant, velut quod
Charontem, fluminum arborumque numina, Parcam adhuc Graecis
pro daemonibus venerari mos est. Sed multo magis miraberis quod
caeci Rhapsodi vicos peragrantes quales ante triginta fere saecula
Ulixis fata et Achilles certamina canebant, etiamnunc festis diebus
populum epicis carminibus delectare solent.'-PASSOW.
'Le plus grand poète de la Grèce contemporaine, c'est le peuple
grec lui-même, avec cet innombrable essaim de rapsodes qu'il engendre
sans cesse, et qui s'en vont, en quelque sorte sans interruption, depuis
le vieil Homère, le premier et l'inimitable, mendiant comme lui,
chantant, improvisant, enrichissant chaque jour le trésor de cette
poésie dont ils sont les fidèles dépositaires, en même temps que les
vulgarisateurs.—YÉMÉNIZ.

7
CLASS I.
MYTHOLOGICAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I.-IDYLLIC.
THE SUNBORN AND HANTSERI.
Η ΗΛΙΟΓΕΝΝΗΤΗ ΚΑΙ Ο ΧΑΝΤΣΕΡΗΣ.
Aï-Donáto (Souli).¹
Ο Χαντσερῆς ἐκίνησε, πῆγε νὰ κυνηγήση
κ' ἐγύρισε 'ς τὸ σπίτι του δίχως καρδιὰ καὶ κρίσι.
(Aravandinos, 446.)
x. T. λ.
YOUNG Hántseri fared gaily forth, for he was going
hunting,
But homeward he returned again, without his heart and
witless.
'My mother, at my heart's a pain; and in my head, my
mother;
A trembling's taken hold of me; I'll die before the
evening!'
'My son, you've at your heart no pain, nor in your head,
my Hánts'ri;
You've only seen Elióyenni, and she your eyes has
dazzled.
¹ See Introd., p. 11, and p. 23, n. 9.
5
70
Greek Folk-Songs.
I'll send the scribes to her for you, and I will send the
bishops,
That they may write the dowry down, and gentlemen
I'll send her.'
They went, and there they stood and knocked, knocked
at her lordly portal.
Elióyenni sat in her hall, five hundred slaves around her,
Some dressed in garments of the blue, and others of the
yellow;
In blue, in azure blue they sat, you'd call them noble
maidens.
She asked the envoys who they were, and what it was
they wanted.
'We're come from Hántseri, to say, he for his wife
would take you.'
'His little body I'd not have for horseblock in my
courtyard,
For men to mount their horses from, and mules around
it tether;
Nor do I want his little eyes to watch and ward my castle.'
When word is brought to Hántseri, it sorely, sorely
grieves him.
He loads a mule with golden coin, and to a Witch he
hies him.
And when she sees his countenance with grief and
sickness written,
Then searchingly she questions him, she questions him
and asks him :
Say, have the brigands robbed thee now, thy cornfields
and thy castle?
Or has thy brother slain thy love, and killed thy best
belovéd?'
'I've neither lost my castle, dame; nor have I yet a brother;
But I have seen Elióyenni, and I for her am dying.'
The Sunborn and Hántseri.
71
'Now go, and take thee Frankish clothes, and dress in
woman's garments,
And hie thee, hie thee then to her, and knock thou at
her portal.'
'Who art thou who art knocking with my portal's rings
of iron ?'
"Tis I. I am thy cousin, come to thee from Aï-Donáto.
My mother dear has sent me here, that I may learn to
broider.'
'And welcome art thou, cousin mine, who comest from
Aï-Donáto.'
Then lovingly she kisses her, and locks in tight embraces,
And tenderly she takes her hand and leads her to the daïs,
And sits her down to teach her guest how she the gold
should broider;
A kindling flame within she feels, she feels a flame un-
wonted.
And when the broidering is done she gives to her the
spindle.
'O what bad customs you have here, you people in this
village;
The day long at the broidery, the evening at the spindle!'
The day was done and evening fell, fast coming was the
darkness,
And Hántseri still was not seen, with musk so sweetly
scented,
With hounds around him in the field, and scouring all
the meadows.
'The night has come, Elióyenni, and fast the shades are
falling;
The cuckoos wend them to their nests, and to their beds
the reapers;
And I, poor homeless nestling, where shall I go for my
slumber?'
5-2
72
Greek Folk-Songs.
'O hush thee, hush thee, cousin mine, and sleep thou
with my servants.'
The daughter of a king am I, I am of royal lineage;
So low am I descended now that I must sleep with
servants?'
'O hush thee, hush thee, cousin mine, and we will sleep
together.'
When they had slept, those two had slept, and when the
Sun had risen
Two bowshots high above the hills, and glittered on the
hoar-frost,
Then Hántseri his bed forsook, and hastened to his
mother.
'O mother, deck the windows now, throw all the doors
wide open;
Elióyenni is coming here, and she will be your daughter.'
'Go, go, my son, do thou be still, I will make all things
ready;
All that is needed I'll prepare, and will await her coming.'
And when the maiden understood and knew that her
heart's burning
Was what none else but Hántseri, he only could extinguish,
Then wildly she began to rave, and madly she discourséd:
'O friends and servants all of mine, and damsels of my
mother,
O light for me the tapers red, and light for me green
candles,
For Hántseri is coming soon, and for his wife he'll take me.'
Then forth fares Elióyenni, to Hántseri she's going,
Within his famous garden ground, within Aïdona's castle;
Bareheaded, naked, too, she goes, sad sight, sigoureméné.¹
Upon the road, as on she goes, to enter in the castle,
1 Sicuramente. Another of the Italian words in this Song is
porta (portal).
The Sunborn and Hántseri.
73
She meets a woman who's a Witch, a thousand-year-old
woman;
Who thus accosts and asks of her, and in these words
she asks her :
'Who has at even seen the Sun, who has seen Stars at
noontide?
Who has seen Elióyenni, a traveller on the highway,
Bareheaded, go, and naked, too, sad sight, sigoureméné?
Go, maiden, go, and do thou knock at Hántseri's high
portal.'
'Where hast thou seen young Hántseri, O Witch, that
thou shouldst know him?'
'Who knoweth not the Sun in heaven, nor knows the
Moon at even,
He only knows not Hántseri that is of Ar-Donáto.
Go, go, my girl, knock at his door, at that same door
stand knocking.'
Then went up Elióyenni, and at his door knocked loudly,
And all the windows saw she closed, and she began to
call there:
'O ope to me, thou Witch's son, O thou of Witch's lineage,
Who with thy spells hast causéd me to wander on the
highways!
If this is of thy spells the work, then let me die this
moment;
But if this be the work of God, then I will go back
homewards.'
Then wakes from slumber Hántseri; he cries, then forth
he rushes.
He finds the windows all are shut, and fastened all the
portals,
He finds, too, Elióyenni; dead at his gate she's lying.
He draws then out a golden knife, which in his breast he
buries;
74
Greek Folk-Songs:
And by fair Elióyenni he lays him down expiring.
The youth a lowly reed becomes, a cypress-tree the
maiden;
And when soft blows the southern wind, they bend and
kiss each other.
And as the wayfarers pass by the fields of Aï-Donáto,
They cross themselves full piously, and sing this lamen-
tation :
'See them, the two, so few of days, who passed away so
quickly,
When living they had never kissed, but, dead, they kiss
each other!'
THE SIREN AND THE SEAMEN.
Η ΤΡΑΓΟΥΔΙΣΤΡΙΑ.
Μιὰ κόρη ν ἐτραγούδαεν ἀπ' ὤρῃο παρεθύρι,
τῆς τῆς ἀγέρας τὴ λαλιά, κάτου γιαλὸ τὴν πῆγε.
(Aravandinos, 457.)
X. T.
λ
A MAID was singing as she sat, within a splendid window,
Her song was on the breezes borne, borne down unto the
ocean.
As many ships as heard her lay, moored, and made fast
their anchors.
A tartan from the Frankish land that was of Love the
frigate,
Furled not her sails by breezes filled, nor yet along was
sailing.
Then to his men the captain called, astern where he was
standing:
'Ho, sailors! furl the sails at once, and climb ye up the
rigging,
The Siren and the Seamen.
75
That to this charmer we may list, list how she's sweetly
singing,
Hear what's the melody to which she her sweet song is
singing.'
But so sweet was the melody, so passing sweet her
warbling,
The skipper turned him once again, and to the shore it
drew him,
And to the masts the mariners kept hanging in the rigging.
THE SHEPHERD AND THE LAMIA
Ο ΒΟΣΚΟΣ ΚΑΙ Η ΛΑΜΙΑ.
Kallameriá, Salonica.
Πέντε χιλιάδες πρόβατα, δέκα χιλιάδες γίδια,
Τὰ φύλαγαν τρεῖς ἀδελφοὶ κ' οἱ τρεῖς στοιχειὰ τοῦ κόσμου.
(Passow, 524.)
x. 5. λ.
FIVE thousand sheep were in the flock, and there were
goats ten thousand,
They tended were by brothers three, and by the three
World-spirits.
And one goes out to win a kiss, the second goes a-wooing,
And Yanni, youngest of them all, alone they leave
behind them,
To watch and tend the flock of sheep, and lead the goats
to pasture.
To Yanni then his mother says, and wisely thus she
warns him :
'If you would earn a blessing now from me and from
your father,
Stand never 'neath a lonely tree, nor rest beneath a poplar,
¹ See Introd., p. 12, n. 62.
76
Greek Folk-Songs.
Nor ever on the water's edge make with thy pipe sweet
music,
Or there will come the Lamia out, the Lamia of the Ocean.'
But Yanni would not her obey, nor do his mother's
bidding;
He stood beneath a lonely tree, he rested 'neath a poplar,
And down upon the water's edge made with his pipe
sweet music.
Then from the sea the Lamia came, the Lamia of the
Ocean.
'O play to me, my Yanni, play, play with thy pipe
sweet music;
If I should weary of the dance, thou for thy wife shalt
take me;
If thou shouldst weary of thy pipe, I'll take away thy
sheep-cotes.'
And all day long three days he piped, three days and
nights he whistled;
And Yanni was quite wearied out, and sorely worn
with piping.
She took from him his flocks of sheep, of all his goats she
robbed him;
And forth he went to work for hire, and labour for a
master.
THE STOICHEION AND THE WIDOW'S SON.
ΤΟ ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΟ ΚΑΙ Ο ΥΙΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΧΗΡΑΣ.
Στοιχειό ξεφανερώθηκε καὶ τρώει τς ἀντρειωμένους,
τοὺς ἔφαγε, τοὺς ἔσωσε, κανεὶς δὲν εἶχε μείνει.
(Aravandinos, 451.)
x. T. λ
THERE came forth once a Stoicheiòn devouring all the
warriors;
The Stoicheion and the Widow's Son. 77
All were devoured and swept away, there was not one
remaining;
The Widow's Son alone remains, alone of all the
warriors.
His spear and sword he takes in hand, and forth he goes
a-hunting,
And hills and mountains o'er he runs, o'er peaks and
mountain-passes;
No game has risen on the wing, no game is roused in
covert.
But as the Sun begins to dip, and nears his kingly
splendour,
He finds a lovely damsel lone, a fair-haired, black-eyed
maiden.
He stops and thus accosts the maid, he stands and thus
he asks her :
'My girl, whose daughter may'st thou be? O say, who
was thy mother ?'
'A mother bore me like to thine, a mother like thine bore
me.'
'What ails thee, maiden ? thou art sad, what ails thee that
thou sighest?'
'Where yonder thou that fig-tree seest, there at its root a
well lies;
Within I've dropped my splendid ring, the ring of my
betrothal.
The man who shall go down the well, and find and
bring it to me,
Him will I wed, and him alone, and he shall be my consort.'
Then quick the youth stripped off his clothes, and down
the well descended,
'O pull me up,girl! pull me up, for I can find no ring here!'
'Now thou art in, my Widow's Son, there shalt thou stay
forever!'
78
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE STOICHEION AND YANNI.
ΤΟ ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΟ ΚΑΙ Ο ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ.
Ο Γιάννης ποὖχεν ἐννηὰ γυιοὺς καὶ τοὺς ἐννηὰ μεγάλους,
μια μέρα ν ἐβουλήθηκαν νὰ πᾶν νὰ κυνηγήσουν.
(Aravandinos, 452.)
K. T. 入
​NINE stalwart sons could Yanni boast, and they were
nine tall brothers,
And they did all agree one day that they would go
a-hunting.
When word of it to Yanni came, he ran to give his orders.
'You everywhere may hunt,' he said, 'roam hither, and
roam thither,
But to Varlámi's¹ hill alone there must ye never venture;
For there an evil Monster lives, with nine heads on his body.'
But unto him they would not list, but would go to Var-
lámi ;
And out to them the Monster came, with nine heads on
his body,
And he snatched up the brothers nine, snatched up, and
them did swallow.
When Yanni heard their dismal fate, then grieved was he
right sorely;
His spear into his hand he took, and his good sword he
girded,
And to Varlámi's hill he ran, and quickly he ascended.
'Come out, Stoicheió! come, Monster, out! and let us
eat each other.'
'O welcome my good supper now, and welcome my good
breakfast!'
Then Yanni on the Monster ran, with sword in hand up-
lifted;
1 The site now of one of the Metéora Monasteries.
The Stoicheion and Yanni.
79
Nine strokes he dealt upon the heads, the nine heads of
his body,
And aimed another at his paunch, and set free all his
children;
And bore them home at eventide, all living, to their
mother.
YANNI AND THE DRAKOS.
Ο ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΚΑΙ Ο ΔΡΑΚΟΝΤΑΣ.
Thessaly.
Ποιὸς ἤτανε ποῦ πέρασε τὴν νύχτα τραγουδῶντα;
Ξυπνάει τ' ἀηδόνι' ἀπ' ταῖς φωλιαῖς καὶ τὰ στοιχειὰ 'π τοὺς βράχους,
(Passow, 509.)
Nr 5. λ
WHO was it that was passing by at night-time and was
singing?
From nests arousing nightingales, and from the rocks.
Stoicheia,
And waking, too, a Drakissa in Drakos' arms enfolded?
The Drakos waxes very wroth and calls out in his fury:
'Who was it that was singing there, for I am going to eat
him ?'
'O leave me, Drakos, let me go, O leave me five days
longer!
For Sunday is my wedding-day, my wedding-feast on
Monday,
And home I must conduct my bride upon the morn of
Tuesday!'
The Sun had darkened, darkened quite, the Moon
herself had hidden,
And now the Morning Star so pure, was going to his
setting.
'O welcome here my dinner comes, and welcome here
my supper"
80
Greek Folk-Songs.
&
Thy dinner-it may be of stones, stones may'st thou
have for supper ;
For I'm the Lightning's son, and she is daughter of the
Thunder!'
'Yannáki, go, good luck to thee, and take thy good-
wife with thee !'
THE WITCH OF THE WELL.
Η ΜΑΓΙΣΣΑ.
Τέσσαρες καὶ πέντ᾽ ἦταν, ἐννέα ἀδερφοί
Τὸν πόλεμον ἀκοῦσαν κι' ἀρματωθήκασι.
(Passow, 523.)
2. T. λ
O THEY were four, five brothers, nine brothers in a band,
Who heard of battle raging, and took their swords in hand.
As on the road they journeyed, and on their way did ride,
With thirst were they tormented, but soon a Well espied,
That wide was fifty fathoms, a hundred fathoms deep.
They cast lots who should venture down that Well's side
so steep;
And as they cast the lot there, on Constantine it fell :
'Let me go down, my brothers-O brothers, tie me well!"
They tied the rope around him, they let him down amain;
But when they would withdraw him, he came not up again.
They tugged, they strained, in vain 'twas, the cord was
snapped in twain.
'Oleave me now, my brothers, leave me and go ye home.
When our good mother asks you what has of me become,
Do not you go and tell her, tell not our mother mild,
I've ta'en a Witch's daughter, and wed a Witch's child.
The clothes she's making for me, tell her to sell them now,
And back to my betrothed, give ye her marriage-vow.'
1 P is frequently substituted for A in the Greek patois of the pro-
vinces of Northern Greece. See Preface, p. xxix., and Trans., p. 115.
The Witch Mother-in-Law.
81
THE WITCH MOTHER-IN-LAW.
Η ΜΑΓΙΣΣΑ.
Διαβάταις κι' ἄν διαβῆτε απ' τὸν τόπο μου,
Μηλιά 'χο ςτὴν αὐλή μου, καὶ κονέψετε.
(Passow, 520.)
2. 5. λ
O WAYFARERS who're passing, who from my birthplace
come,
I've apples in my courtyard, come shake the apple-tree;
Then go and take my greetings unto my mother dear,
And give them to my dearest, my grieving little wife,
And my unhappy children, and all the neighbours round.
O go and tell my dearest, O tell my dear Lenió,
Still if she will to wait me, or marry if she will ;
Or if she come to find me, then mourning let her wear.
For I, alas, am married, in Anatolia wed;
A little wife I've taken, a Witch for mother-in-law,
Who all the ships bewitches, so they no more can sail;
And me she has enchanted, that I no more return.
My horse if I should saddle, unsaddled 'tis again;
My sword if I gird round me, it is again ungirt;
I write a word to send thee, and 'tis again unwrit.'
THE BRIDGE OF ARTA.
Η ΓΕΦΥΡΑ ΤΗΣ ΑΡΤΑΣ.
Σαρανταπέντε μάστορες κ' ἐξῆντα λαβουμέντες
Πύργον ἐθεμελιώνανε τσῆς ᾿Αρτας τὸ διαφθεί.
(Passow, 512.)
%. T. λ.
GOOD five-and-forty masons stout, and labourers full
sixty,
Did build the piers of Arta's bridge, and dig out the
foundations;
82
Greek Folk-Songs.
All day they built with all their might, by night the wall
down tumbled.
The masons wept, they sorely wept, and made great
lamentation,
But all the labourers rejoiced-they were on daily wages.
One Sunday, 'twas an Easter Day, an Easter Day and
Feast-day,
The master-mason laid him down to take a little
slumber;
And in his sleep he had a dream, a vision in his slumber:
'If you slay not a human life, the walls can ne'er be
founded.
No noble may it be, nor serf, nor any 'neath the heavens;
But e'en the master-mason's wife, his wife must be the
victim!'
He called to him a labourer, one who would do his
bidding:
'Go thou, and to thy lady say, go say thou to thy mistress,
Tell her to dress, and busk herself, and put on all her
jewels;
Let her put on her silver gauds, and don her silken
garments.
Go swiftly now, and swiftly come, and swiftly bear my
orders.'
He went, his mistress soon he found, she sewing was and
singing.
'Good morrow to thee, lady mine! good morrow to my
mistress!
The master-mason's sent to thee to say: Put on thy jewels;
Put on thy silver gauds and chains, and wear thy silken
garments;
Come, let us the foundations lay, and build the bridge of
Arta.'
She dressed herself, she busked herself, and put on all
her jewels;
The Bridge of Arta.
83
She put on all her silver gauds, and donned her silken
garments;
And she went forth and found them where they on the
stones were sitting.
'Good morrow, lady mine, to thee! good morrow to thee,
mistress!
I've lost my first ring from my hand, the ring of my
betrothal :
For this I bid thee hither come that thou should'st find it
for me.'
But when she went to seek the ring, went down to the
foundations,
One man upon her mortar threw, lime heaped on her
another;
The master-mason struck her, too, he struck her with
his mallet.
'O we were once three sisters dear, and all the three were
murdered;
Within a church the first was killed, in convent walls the
second;
The third, the best of all, was slain when Arta's bridge
was building.
Then, as my hands are trembling now, so may thy
columns tremble;
And as my poor heart trembles now, may thy foundations
tremble!'
THE ENCHANTED DEER¹
ΤΟ ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΩΜΕΝΟ ΕΛΑΦΙ.
Τρίτη γεννήθ᾽ ὁ Διγενὴς καὶ τρίτη θὰ πεθάνη.
Πιάνει, καλεῖ τοὺς φίλους του κι' ὅλους τοὺς ἀντρειωμένους·
(Passow, 516.)
X. T. λ.
ON Tuesday Dígenes was born, and he must die on
Tuesday.
1 See Introd., p. 13.
84
Greek Folk-Songs.
He to invite his friends begins, and bids, too, all the
heroes;
Minas will come and Mavralís, and Dráko's son is
coming,
And Tremantáheilos will come, who shakes the earth
and kosmos.¹
They go together and they find him lying on the meadow.
'Where hast thou been, O Dígenés, that thou art now
a-dying?'
‘O eat, my friends, eat, eat and drink, for I am going to
leave you;
On Alamána's mountains high, and o'er Arabia's meadows,
Where once not e'en ten men came out, nor even five
were passing,
They come by fifties-hundreds now, and pass by with
their weapons.
And I, unhappy man, came out, came out on foot and
arméd.
Three hundred bears my hand has slain, and sixty lions
conquered;
But I th' Enchanted Deer pursued, pursued and sorely
wounded,
That wears upon his horns a cross, a star upon his fore-
head;
And bears between his antlers proud, between his horns
the Virgin.
That crime has filled my measure full, and now I am
a-dying.
Here in this upper world I've lived, I've lived years full
three hundred,
And none of all the heroes bold e'er daunted or dis-
mayed me.
1 Compare Il. xiii. 18. And the high hills trembled, and the
woodland, beneath the immortal footsteps of Pôseidon.'
The Enchanted Deer.
85
But now I have a hero seen, unshod, on foot, and
arméd,
One who in richest garb was drest, and from his eyes
flashed lightnings.
I with my eyes did him behold, and sore my heart was
wounded;
That stricken Deer's my fatal crime, and now I am
a-dying.'
THE SUN AND THE DEER.
Olympus.
Τρέχουν τὰ 'λάφια 'ςτὰ βουνὰ, τρέχουν τὰ ἐλαφομούσχία,
Καὶ μιὰ 'λαρίνα ταπεινὴ, δὲν πάει μαζὶ μὲ τ᾿ ἄλλα.
(Oikonomides, E. 5.)
x. 7. λ.
THE Deer are racing o'er the hills, their Fawns around.
them frisking;
One humble Deer walks all alone, nor with the herd is
going.
She saunters only in the shade, and to the left reposes,
And where she bubbling water finds, mixed with her
tears she drinks it.
The Sun has seen her from on high, and standing still
he asks her :
‘O humble Deer, what is thy grief, thou go'st not with
the others,
But only saunter'st in the shade, and to the left reposest?'
'My Sun, as thou hast questioned me, thus even will I
answer:
For twelve long years I barren lived, without a fawn and
barren;
But after the twelve years were passed, a Fawn had me for
I
mother.
gave it suck, I tended it till it had lived two summers;
6
86
Greek Folk-Songs.
Then the inhuman hunter came, and shot my Fawn and
killed it.
Curst mayest thou, O hunter, be, both thou and all thy
treasures,
By whom I now am twice bereaved, of dearest child and
husband.'
THE BLACK RACER.
ΤΟ ΣΤΟΙΧΗΜΑ.
Ὁ Κοσταντῆς κι' ὁ βασιλιὰς ἀντάμα τρῶν καὶ πίνουν,
κι' ἀθηβολὴν εὑρηκανε ποιὸς ἔχει κάλλιο μαῦρο.
(Passow, 515.)
x. T. λ
THE king and Constantine did eat, they ate and drank
together,
When rose the question twixt them twain-whose was
the best black racer?
The king he stakes him golden coins, for he has wealth
in plenty;
And Constantine so poor is he that he his head must
wager.
But when the wife of Constantine, his well-belovéd
heard it,
Down to the horse's stall she went, and filled with oats
his manger.
'The king's black horse if thou canst pass, and win the
race, my Black One,
Thy daily rations I'll increase to five-and-forty handfuls;
I'll give these gauds that on me hang, and into horse-
shoes change them;
I'll give my golden earrings too, nails for thy shoes I'll
make them.'
They ran for forty miles apace, abreast they ran together;
¹ All our misfortunes after gaining the summit of Olympos (below,
p. 93, n. 1) were attributed to the fawn of a gazelle having been hit
by a wild volley poured into a herd on the highest ridge of the
mountain.
The Black Racer.
87
When they had run the forty-fourth, and neared the five-
and-fortieth,
He stopped his course, and him bethought of what his
lady'd told him.
Like lightning-flash he came in front, came from behind
like thunder,
And 'tween his rival and himself he left ten miles of
country.
'O stay, O stay, for I'm the king, and shame me not 'bove
The
measure;
wager that we two have laid I'll pay to thee twice
over!'
THE SHEPHERD AND THE WOLF.
Ο ΒΛΑΧΟΣ ΚΑΙ Ο ΛΥΚΟΣ.
᾿Αποκοιμήθ᾽ ὁ πιστικὸς μὲς τὸ ῥαβδὶ τ' ἀπάνω·
Και χάνει χίλια πρόβατα καὶ δυὸ χιλιάδες γίδια·
(Passow, 503.)
A SHEPHERD laid him down and slept, slept with his
crook beside him,
While strayed away a thousand sheep, and wandered
goats two thousand.
Then he along a lonely road, a lonely path betook him,
And meeting soon an aged Wolf, he stopped, and thus he
asked him :
'O Wolf, say, hast thou seen my sheep? O Wolf, hast
thou my goats seen ?'
'Perhaps I am thy shepherd then, and I thy goats am
tending?
There, on that far, far distant hill, away upon the
mountain-
There, in the distance, graze the flocks, and goats upon
the mountain.
$
6-2
88
Greek Folk-Songs.
I went there, too, to eat a lamb, a tender kid to choose me,
When quick the lame dog seized on me, and then the
mad dog pinned me;
They've broke between them all my ribs, my spine, too,
they have broken !'
THE SWALLOWS' RETURN.
ΧΕΛΙΔΟΝΙΣΜΑ.
Χελιδόνι ἔρχεται,
Θάλασσαν ἀπέρασε,
Passow, 305.
κ. τ. λ.
SWALLOWS are returning fast,
Over wide seas they have past;
'Neath the eaves they build their nest,
Sing as they from labour rest.
March, O March, thou snowest amain;
February comes with rain;
April, sweetest of the year,
Coming is, and he is near.
Twitter all the birds and sing,
All the little trees do spring;
Hens lay eggs, and O, good luck,
Already they begin to cluck.
Flocks and herds, a numerous train,
To hilly pastures mount again;
Goats that skip and leap and play,
Nibbling wayside shrub's green spray.
Beasts and birds and men rejoice,
With one heart and with one voice;
Frosts are gone, and snow-wreaths deep,
Blustering Boreas fallen asleep.
1 A survival of the xeλidóvioμa of ancient Greece. A similar wel-
come is given to the birds of passage at St. Kilda. See Report of
the Crofters' Commission, vol. i., p. 467.
The Bird's Complaint.
89
THE BIRD'S COMPLAINT.
ΠΑΡΑΠΟΝΟ ΠΟΥΛΙΟΥ.
Ενα πουλ' ἔκαμε φωλιὰ 'ςτῆς λεϊμονιᾶς τὸ φύλλο,
Φύσισ᾽ ἀνεμοστρόβιλος κ' ἐπῆρε τὴ φωλιά του.
(Passow, 497.)
X. 7. λ.
AMONG a lemon-tree's green leaves a bird its nest had
woven ;
But wildly soon the whirlwind blew, afar the nest it
whirléd.
With her complaint she flew away, and with her sore
heart-burning,
And built herself a nest again, at a well's lip she built it;
The maidens there for water went, and all her work was
wasted.
With her complaint she flew away, and with her sore
heart-burning,
And now upon a reedy marsh her little nest she built her;
But fierce and wildly Boreas blew, and far and wide he
whirled it.
With her complaint she flew away, and with her sore
heart-burning,
And 'mong the almond-leaves she sat, she sat and sad
lamented.
Then from a castle-window high a king's fair daughter
heard her.
'Would, birdie, I'd thy beauty bright, and would I had
thy warbling!
And would I had thy gorgeous wing, thy song of passing
sweetness!'
'Why would'st thou have my beauty bright, why would'st
thou have my warbling?
୨୦
Greek Folk-Songs.
Why would'st thou have my gorgeous wing, my song of
passing sweetness,
Who eat'st each day the daintiest fare, while I eat
pebbles only;
Who drinkest of the finest wines, I water from the court-
yard;
Who liest on the softest couch, on sheets with broidered
borders;
While me my hard fate only gives the fields and snow to
lie on ?
Thou wait'st the coming of the youth for frolic and for
dalliance,
While I can but the sportsman wait, the sportsman who
would shoot me ; ·
Who'd shoot and roast me at his fire, and sit and sup
upon me.
O lady, stay thou in thy place, I've naught that thou
shouldst envy ;
For every heart its sorrow knows, nor may another
know it.'
THE FIRST OF MAY¹
Ω. ΔΗ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΠΡΩΤΗΝ ΤΟΥ ΜΑΙΟΥ.
Εμπῆκε ὁ Μάης, εμπῆκε ὁ Μάης, εμπῆκε ὁ Μάης ὁ μῆνας,
ὁ Μάης μὲ τὰ τριαντάφυλλα, 'Απρίλης μὲ τὰ ρόδα.
(Aravandinos, 440.)
X. T. λ.
O MAY has come, the month of May, the month of May
is with us,
May, with her thirty-petalled flowers, and April with
his roses.
Thou, April, art in roses drest; and May, thou month
most cherished,
1 Sung by children at the doors of houses.
The First of May.
91
Thou floodest all the gladsome world again with bloom
and blossom;
And me thou twinest tenderly in the embrace of beauty.
Go, tell the maiden that I love, go, give the maiden
warning,
That I am coming with a kiss before the rain or snow falls;
Before the Danube shall come down, and draw the rivers
to him.
When it is raining I go forth, and when the shower ceases,
And when the still small rain falls down, then springs
the sweet carnation.
O open us your little purse, your purse with pearls
embroidered !
If it has groats in, give them us; and if but pence, yet
give them,
And if sweet wine within you find, give us that we may
drink it.
THE SOLDIER AND THE CYPRESS TREE.
Ο ΛΕΒΕΝΤΗΣ.
Zagorie.
*Ενας λέβεντος κ' ἕνας καλός στρατιώτης,
κάστρο γύρευε, χωριὸ νὰ πάη νὰ μείνη.
(Aravandinos, 414.)
%. T. λ.
THERE was a youth, he was a valiant soldier,
Who sought a tower, a town wherein to sojourn :
The road he found, and found he too the footpath ;
Tower found he none, nor town wherein to sojourn.
He found a tree, the tree they call the Cypress:
'Welcome me, tree! welcome me now, O Cypress!
For I have strayed away from field of battle,
And now my eyes in sleep would fain be closing.'
'Lo here my boughs, upon them hang thy weapons;
Lo here my roots, thy steed to them now tether;
Here lay thee down, rest here, and slumber sweetly.'
92
Greek Folk-Songs.
f
THE APPLE TREE AND THE WIDOW'S SON.
Η ΜΗΛΑ ΚΑΙ Ο ΥΙΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΧΗΡΑΣ.
Zagora.
Μπρέ μηλιά, γλυκομηληά,
δάνεισε μας τ' άνθια σου,
2. 5. 2.
(Aravandinos, 232.)
'APPLE-TREE, sweet apple-tree,
Lend us now, I say, your flowers,
From your boughs rain leaves in showers!'
'I my flowers do not lend,
Nor my leaves from branches send.
With my arms, and all full-drest,
To the dance I'll with the rest.
More than one I'll wrestling throw,
Three times nine my strength shall know.
On my side the Widow's Son,
That far-famed, illustrious one ;
Whosoe'er belies my hand,
And against me dares to stand.'
THE RIVER AND THE LOVER.
Ο ΠΟΤΑΜΟΣ.
Ioannina.
Ποταμέ, σύντα γιομίζεις
κι' ἀρχινᾷς νὰ κυματίζης,
(Aravandinos, 398.)
x. T. λ.
RIVER, as thou sudden gushest,
And in crested wavelets rushest,
Bear me on thy waters dancing,
On thy whirling eddies glancing;
Let the fair ones come a-washing,
Let the black-eyed come a-bleaching;
The River and the Lover.
93
Let me here my old love find,
Who to suff'ring me consigned;
Then I'll wash her body small,
Till come from me the poison all.
OLYMPOS AND KISSAVOS (OSSA).
Litochori.
Ο Όλυμπος κι' ὁ Κίσσαβος τὰ δυὸ βουνὰ μαλόνων,
Γυρίζ' ὁ γέρο "Ολυμπος καὶ λέγει τοῦ Κισσάβου,
(Oral Version.¹)
2. T. λ.
OLYMPOS old and Kissavos, the mountains great, disputed;
Olympos turns him round, and says to Kissavos says he,
'You
With me you dare to wrangle, you, Turk-trodden
Kissavos, you!
With me, Olympos old renowned, renowned e'en to the
City?
I seventy mountain-summits have, and two-and-sixty
fountains ;
To every bush an Armatole, to every branch a Klephtë.
And perched upon my highest peak there sits a mighty
eagle ;
A mirror, in his talon grasped, he holds on high exalted,
And in it he his charms admires, and on his beauty gazes!'
1 After weeks of Brigand-hunting, we were ascending Olympus
from the Pass of Petra, in the glorious sun-filled atmosphere of an
August morning; and when near the probable site of the more
ancient Pelasgian Sanctuary of the Olympian Dodona, my servant
Demosthenes burst out with this Song, the last lines of which, how-
ever, he but imperfectly remembered. By the treachery of our
guides, in league probably with the Brigands, the detachment of
twenty infantry and two troopers, under a Yuz-bashi, got dispersed,
and we narrowly escaped capture during the night which was spent
on the mountain. But some two or three days later, our hostess at the
village of Litochóri, above the Plain of the Muses, completed my
servant's version of the Song. And there and then, with the help
of Demosthenes, as much friend as servant, I made the translation
here given. The three last lines seem to me a splendidly bold
poetic way of saying that there is a magnificent view from the
highest peak' of Olympos.
1
Greek Folk-Songs.
94
SECTION II.-CHRISTIAN.
FOR THE FEAST OF THE CHRIST-BIRTHS?¹
ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΟΡΤΗΝ ΤΩΝ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥΓΕΝΝΩΝ.
Parga.
Χριστὸς γεννᾶται σήμερον ἐν Βηθλεὲμ τῇ πόλει,
οἱ οὐρανοὶ ἀγάλλονται, χαίρει ἡ κτίσις ὄλη.
(Aravandinos, 151.)
x. 5. λ
THIS day in Bethlehem's famous town is Christ our
Saviour born;
The heavens rejoice and earth is glad upon this happy
morn.
In stable lowly He's brought forth, laid in a horse's stall,
The King and the Creator, and the choir of Angels all
Sing to the Holy Trinity, 'Praise be to Highest God,
That over all the earth shall now be spread the faith
abroad.'
From out of Persia Magi three were coming on their way,
Led by a shining star that failed them not by night or
day;
And on to Bethlehem they go, and ask, with anxious
mind,
Where Christ is born; for Him they seek, and Him they
fain would find.
When of the Christ-child's birth he heard, then troubled
was the King;
Possessed with rage, he said, they must to him the Magi
bring.
1 Having been unable to get any more satisfactory explanation of
this plural, I would suggest that it may be a survival of the old
conception of the Sun-Gods as reborn every year.
For the Feast of the Christ-Births.
95
The Magi came; he asked of them where Christ to seek
they'd go?
In Bethlehem, in Bethlehem, the Scripture saith, we
know.'
Saith he 'Go ye and find Him me, go ye and find this
Lord;
And when ye Him have worshipped there, then come and
bring me word.'
For he himself would also go to worship and to pray,
With the most wicked treachery intending him to slay.
The Magi went with hastening feet, and when they saw
the Star
Descend upon a lowly cave, they hurried from afar,
And, entering in the cave, they saw the Virgin Mother
mild;
Within her arms and on her breast she held the holy Child.
They lowly bend and worship Him, to Him their gifts.
they bring,
The gold and frankincense and myrrh, and praise to God
they sing.
When they had worshipped the Christ, they turned them
back again,
To carry to King Herod word their search had not been
vain.
An angel out from heaven came down, he said they must
not go;
Another road he bade them take, another path did show.
The Magi came not. Herod saw his orders had been
vain.
He said: 'In Bethlehem's town shall not a single child
remain.'
And fourteen thousand, in one day, they fourteen
thousand killed;
With lamentation, tears, and woe, was every mother filled.
96
Greek Folk-Songs.
SAINT BASIL, OR THE NEW YEAR.
Ο ΑΓΙΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΗΣ.
Αγιος Βασίλης ἔρχεται ἀπὸ τὴν Καισαρείαν,
Βαστᾷ λιβάνι καὶ κερί, χαρτὶ καὶ καλαμάρι.
(Passow, 296.)
x. c. λ.
SAINT BASIL, see, is coming out, from Cesaræa coming;
He carries incense in his hand, and candle, ink, and paper.
The ink upon the paper writes, the paper likewise asks him:
'Whence, Basil, comest thou, O whence, and whither art
thou wending?'
'I've from my mother come away, and now to school
I'm going.'
'O sit and eat, and sit and drink, and sit and sing thou
for us!'
''Tis only letters that I learn, of singing I know nothing.'
O then your letters well you know, say us your
Alpha, Beta!'
He leant him there upon his staff, to say his Alpha, Beta,
And though the staff was dry and dead, it put forth buds
and branches ;1
And from the branches forth there gushed and flowed
out freshest fountains,
And all the birds came flying down to wash and preen
their plumage;
And with them came his sire to bathe, his aged, aged
father.
'For thee, my father, it were meet, to seat thee on a carpet,
And counting out with thy right hand, and with thy left
hand lending.
More meet by far 'twould be for thee wert thou on horse-
back seated,
1 See note, p. 123.
Saint Basil, or the New Year.
97
And see that thou touch not the ground wher passing
through the river.
More meet by far 'twould be for thee to pass o'er in a
vessel,
And that the cordage of the ship should all with gold be
covered.
Much have I spoken of my sire, now let me praise my
mother;
A lady with a marble neck, a crown upon her forehead,
In Basil's chamber they have limned, and thus thy
portrait painted.
Thou hast a son who letters learns, who learns to use his
pencil,
And may God's blessing rest on him, and may he wear
the cassock.
Thou hast a lovely daughter too, a maid without a
blemish ;
She's neither in the city seen, nor e'en in Cesaræa.'
THE FEAST OF THE LIGHTS, OR EPIPHANY.
Ω. ΔΗ ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΟΡΤΗΝ ΤΩΝ ΦΩΤΩΝ
Ioannina John the Baptist Town).
Εβγάτε γιὰ νὰ μάθετε τὸ θαῦμα ὁποῦ ἐγείνῃ,
ποῦ συγκατέβηκε ὁ Χριστὸς πολλὰ νὰ ὑπομείνῃ:
(Aravandinos, 153.)
X. T. ኢ
O COME and learn the wonder great, the wonder great
that happened,
How Christ did condescend for men, and much for them
did suffer.
And then went down to Jordan's brink, and into Jordan's
waters,
With the command to be baptized, baptized by John
the Baptist.
98
Greek Folk-Songs.
'Come, O My John, come hither now, come and do thou
baptize Me,
For in this awful wonder thou may'st serve Me and
attend Me,'
'My Lord! O no, I cannot look, cannot look on Thy
beauty,
Nor can I gaze upon the Dove that o'er Thy head is
hov'ring.
My Lord! O no, I cannot touch Thee from above
descended,
For the wide earth and all the heavens submit them to
Thy orders.'
Come, O My John, come unto Me, and linger thou no
longer;
To this great mystery we perform thou shalt become the
sponsor.'
Then John baptized his Lord forthwith, that might be
cleansed and purgéd
The sin that Adam first had sinned, and that it might
be cancelled;
And to confound the Enemy, to foil the thrice accurséd
Beguiler of mankind, that he in hell may dwell for ever.
VAIA, OR PALM SUNDAY¹
ΒΑΙΑ.
Καλ' ἡμέρα σας, καλή χρονιά σας
Καλῶς (σὰς) ηύραμεν τὴν ἀφεντιά σας.
(Passow, 304 a.)
x. T. λs
GOOD day! and may a glad year for you shine,
And glad are we to meet you, masters mine;
1 Sung by children at house-doors.
1
Vaia, or Palm Sunday.
99
The nightingales are singing in the trees,
The swallows spread their wings upon the breeze.
O bring me balsams, lemon-trees now bring,
And plant them in the gardens now 'tis spring;
The gardens of these lordly houses gay,
Which breathe forth sweetest scents by night and day.
Laz'rus has come, the eve of Passion Week,
Come, too, has he, the Virgin's Son so meek;
And March, rejoicing, him goes forth to meet,
He worships, lowly bending at his feet.
It seems but yesterday that Laz'rus slept,
Lying within the cave while sisters wept;
Grieve ye, and sorrow with the sorrowful,
Show pity, mercy to the merciful.
And raise for me my brother from the grave,
My brother dead, whom yet my heart doth crave.
And many other things to you I'd say,
My lords and ladies, on this day;
Long may you live, and fruitful may you be,
In coming years!
ODE TO THE SEVEN PASSIONS.
Ω. ΔΗ ΕΙΣ ΤΑ ΣΕΠΤΑ ΠΑΘΗ.
Parga.
Καλό εἶναι τ' "Αγιος ο Θεός, καλὸ εἶναι νὰ τὸ λένε,
ὅπου το λέγει σώνεται, ὅπου τ᾿ ἀκούει ἁγιάζει.
(Aravandinos, 157.)
x. T. λ.
O GOOD is He, our holy God, and good it is to say it;
And whoso says it, he shall live, and he who hears is
sainted;
And he who lists and understands, in paradise shall enter.
Away in far Jerusalem, upon the tomb of Jesus,
100
Greek Folk-Songs.
Erst not a tree was seen to grow, and now a tree is growing:
For Christ our Saviour is that tree, its branches the
Apostles;
Its green leaves are the Martyrs meek, its spreading roots
the Prophets,
Who prophesied and said to men what Christ would
come to suffer.
My Christ, and Thou hast borne the pain, and borne the
suffering grievous,
When martyrized and tortured Thee those curst and
sinful Hebrews,
The unbelieving wicked men, a thousand times accursed!
Unto the Smith they hurried them, for three great nails
they wanted;
And he, that day, not only three, but five nails for
them fashioned.
'O Smith and Master-craftsman, say, what wouldst
thou with these five nails?'
'I'll tell you why I made them, sirs, and this request fulfil
me:
The two you through His feet shall drive, two through
His hands you'll fasten;
The fifth and longest of them all you through His heart
will thrust me,
That out may flow the blood and gall, yea, flow from out
His vitals.'
And when the Panaghía heard, she sank to earth and
fainted.
O bring ye meat, and bring ye wine, and light cakes
bring ye to her,
That I may show the Comforter to all unhappy mothers,
To all the grieving sisters, and to all the grieving brothers;
They should not go and hang themselves, nor take a
knife to slay them.
For the Great Friday.
101
FOR THE GREAT FRIDAY.
ΤΗΣ ΜΕΤΑΛΗΣ ΠΑΡΑΣΚΕΥΗΣ,
Η Παναγιὰ ἐκάθετο μόνη καὶ μοναχή του,
Τὴν προσευχήν της ἔκαμνε γιὰ τὸ μονογενῆ της.
(Kind.)
x. T. X
THE Panaghía sits alone, alone she sits and lonely;
She prays, and all her prayers are for her only Son
belovéd.
A noise she hears, and tumult loud, and very great
confusion;
And forth she comes outside her door, and from her
street she sallies.
She sees the Heavens darkened o'er, and sees the Stars
all tearful;
She sees the bright Moon in the sky, in tears the
dear Moon swimming;
St. John she sees, who comes to her, he weeps, his
breast he's beating.
And in one hand he holds the hair torn from his head
in anguish,
The other holds a handkerchief that with his tears is
dripping.
'Now tell me, tell me, my St. John, O my St. John, now
tell me,
Hast thou not seen mine only Son, hast thou not seen
thy Teacher ?'
I have no mouth to tell of it, nor lips have I to speak it!
Nor can my breaking heart endure to share with thee
the tidings;
But, as thou askest me of this, so let me even tell thee.
See'st thou that hill, see'st thou that hill, that hill both
broad and lofty?
7
102
Greek Folk-Songs.
There have the Hebrews thrust Him forth, thrust Him
all bound and pinioned ;
Laid hands on Him as on a thief, and as a murderer led
Him.'
And when our Lady heard these words she swooned
away and fainted.
They jars of water poured on her, three jars of musk
they emptied,
And afterwards rose-water sweet, until she was recovered.
And when our Lady spake again, these were the words
she uttered:
'Let Martha come, and Mary come, Elizabeth come with
them,
Let them come where He may be found before they
crucify Him,
Before they thrust the nails in Him, before they yet have
slain Him!'
As they were journeying on the road, and on the road
were passing,
Long time our Lady wept, she wept, long time was she
lamenting.
And by a Gipsy smith they passed, a smith who nails was
making.
'Thou dog, thou Gipsy dog," said she, 'what is it thou
art doing?'
'They're going to crucify a man, and I the nails am
making.
They only ordered three of me, but five I mean to
make them;
Two for his two knees I design, two for his hands I fashion,
The fifth, the sharpest of the five, within his heart
shall enter.'
1 Gipsies are generally credited in the East with being ready for
any base work. See below, p. 231.
For the Great Friday.
103
'Thou dog, thou Gipsy dog,' said she, 'henceforth make
thou no ashes.
If thou henceforth shalt ashes make, the wind shall
whirl them from thee.'
And then her way she took again unto the Door of
Robbers.
The doors were fast shut every one, they fastened were
with boulders;
But from their fear they opened wide, all of themselves
they opened,¹
1
And entered there our Lady in, with tears and lamentation.
There stood the Hebrews all around, they all around
were standing,
One spat on Him, one water threw, and mocked at Him
another.
She saw her Son upon the Cross, upon the Cross beheld
Him:
Is there no knife to kill me with, no cord that I may
hang me?'
And from her Son the answer came, and from the Cross
He answered :
'My Mother, shouldst thou slay thyself, then all the
world would slay them.
Have patience, Mána; then, like thee, will all the world
have patience.'
Tell me, my Son, O tell to me, say when may I expect
Thee?'
'On Easter Day, on Easter Day, the Lord's Day and the
Sabbath.
Go, Mána, go now, to our door, return among our
neighbours,
1 Compare Il. v. 749.
Self-moving groaned upon their hinges the gates of heaven.'
Also Paradise Lost, v. 251.
The gate self-opening wide,
On golden hinges turning.'
7-2
104
Greek Folk-Songs.
Spread in the midst a table low, within our dwelling
spread it,
With mothers let the children eat, and children with
their mothers,
And there let all the goodwives eat, they with their
worthy husbands;
Let all who love us there sit down, all who for us feel
sorrow,'
THE RESURRECTION.
Ο ΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΣ.1
Χριστὸς ἀνέστη ἐκ νεκρῶν,
θανάτῳ θάνατον πατήςας,
Καὶ τοῖς ἐν τοῖς μνήμας ζωὴν χαρισάμενος.
THE Christ has risen from the Dead,
By death He death hath trampled on,
To those laid in the Graves Life having given.
THE MIRACLE OF ST. GEORGE.
ΤΟ ΘΑΥΜΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΓΙΟΥ ΓΕΩΡΙΟΥ.
Ακοῦστε τὸ τί γίνηκε σὲ τόπο ξακουσμένο
'Ex'
Εκ' ητανε κ' εφώλιαζε θεριό καταραμένο,
(Aravandinos, 159.)
x. 5. λ.
O LIST and hear what once befel within a famous land!
A Monster foul had made his lair, and taken up his stand;
And gave they him not men to eat at morn and eve enow
To take the water from the Well no one would he allow.
For that they cast lots every one, he who the lot should
draw,
Must to the Monster send his child, a gift for his foul maw.
¹ During Easter, the usual salutation is Xpươròs ávέorn! ('Christ
has risen to which the reply is 'Anous avέori! (Truly he has
risena salutation which greatly impressed me when it was
exchanged between passing strangers on the road.
The Miracle of St. George.
105
Then fell the lot upon the King, fell on his daughter fair,
And to be eaten she must go, that maid of beauty rare.
And then, with tears and loud lament, the King cries out:
'O stay!
Take all my life away from me, but leave my child, I
pray!'
But with one voice the people say, and with one mouth
they cry:
'Give us thy daughter, O our King, or thou instead shalt
die !'
'O dress, adorn her, to the Well then lead my child.
forlorn ;
That when the Monster eats her, she may not be chewed
or torn !"¹
Away in Cappadocia far, St. George hears, mounts his
steed,
On his swift horse he rides apace, he's coming with all
speed.
As o'er the road they hasten on, and pass with flying feet,
Within a dreary desert place, they Satan chance to meet,
'O great St. George, O great St. George, why such dire
haste and speed?
Why do you spur your good swift horse, and forward
urge your steed?'
'How, Satan, curséd Satan, how my name com'st thou to
know?
I am a stranger in these parts, my family also.'
And sorely whipping his good horse, he to the Well
comes down,
And finds the maiden standing there, like faded apple
grown.
'O fly, O fly, thou gallant youth, for fear he should eat thee.
1 He, no doubt, hoped that the stiffness of the embroidered and
silver-ornamented national costume would necessitate her being
bolted.
106
Greek Folk-Songs.
That Monster fierce, that Monster fell, by whom I'll
eaten be!'
'Be thou not troubled, damsel mine, nor yet be thou
afraid,
But on the name of our bless'd Lord thy thoughts be
firmly stayed.'
Then he alights and lays him down to take a little sleep,
Until the Monster shall come up from out that Fountain
deep.
When forth the Monster came the hills did shake and
were afraid,¹
1
And from her fright all deadly pale and bloodless stood
the maid.
'Awake! arise, O gallant youth, for, see, the water's
fretting;
The Monster grinds his jaws; his teeth, his teeth for me
he's whetting!
He quickly mounts upon his horse, with spear in hand he
<
goes,
Soon from the Monster's open mouth a bloody fountain
flows.
See, maiden, I've the Monster slain, go back unto thy kin,
That all thy friends and folk may joy, when thee they
back shall win.'
'O tell, O tell, thou gallant youth, O tell to me thy name,
That I may gifts for thee prepare, and send my lord the
same.'
They call me George where I at home in Cappadocia
live;
But let thy offering be a church, if gifts to me thou'dst
give.
And set a picture in the midst, a horseman let it bear,
A horseman who a Monster slays, slays with his good
stout spear.'
1 See note, p. 84.
The Vow to St. George.
107
THE VOW TO ST. GEORGE.
ΤΟ ΤΑΞΙΜΟΝ.
Ενα μικρό Τουρκόπουλο τοῦ βασιληῶς ριτζιάλι
μιὰ Ρομηοπούλ᾽ ἀγάπησε, κ' εκείνη δὲν τὸν θέλει·
(Aravandinos, 443.)
x. T. λ,
A LITTLE Turkish youth was he, one of the Sultan's
pages,
Who loved, who loved a Romeot maid, but she did not
desire him.
Before her does she put the hills, the mountains leaves
behind her,
Within the church she gains at last, she kneels and
says three prayers:
'Effendi mine, O dear St. George, O save me from the
Muslim!
Of candles litras thee I'll bring, and litras bring of
incense,
And oil in hides of buffalo I'll bring thee by the skinful!'
There opened then a marble slab, within it hid the maiden.
But see! see there the Turkish youth is drawing near
on horseback,
And at the church door he dismounts, and there himself
he crosses.
'Effendi mine, O dear St. George, now show to me the
maiden ;
I'll bring thee candles by the load, and by the load bring
incense,
And by the shipful I'll bring oil, I'll bring it by the
boatload!'
108
Greek Folk-Songs.
Now gapes the marble slab again, and there is seen the
maiden.
Then lifts she up her voice on high, cries loud as she is
able:
‘O list, ye mountains and ye hills, ye vilayets and town-
ships,
The Saint for gain has me betrayed, for treasure he's
betrayed me!'
PROCESSION FOR RAIN
Thessaly and Macedonia.
ΠΕΡΠΕΡΙΑ.
Περπεριά δροσολογιὰ
Δρόσισε τὴν γειτονιά.
(Kind 76.)
x. T. λ.
PERPERIÀ, all fresh bedewed,
Freshen all the neighbourhood;
By the woods, on the highway,
As thou goest, to God now pray :
O my God, upon the plain,
Send thou us a still, small rain;
That the fields may fruitful be,
And vines in blossom we may see;
That the grain be full and sound,
And wealthy grow the folks around ;
Wheat and barley
Ripen early,
¹ In times of prolonged drought it is customary to dress up in
flowers a girl, who heads a procession of children to all the wells
and springs of the neighbourhood; and at each halting-place she is
drenched with water by her companions, who sing this invocation.
Procession for Rain.
109
Maize and cotton may take root,
Rye and rice and currant shoot;
Gladness in our gardens all,
For the drought may fresh dews fall;
Water, water, by the pail,
Grain in heaps beneath the flail;
Bushels grow from every ear,
Each vine-stem a burden bear.
Out with drought and poverty,
Dew and blessings would we see.
THE VISIT TO PARADISE AND HELL.
Η ΚΟΛΑΣΙΣ.
Παρακαλώ σε, Παναγιά, καὶ διπλοπροσκυνῶ σε,
νὰ μοῦ χαρίσης τὰ κλειδιὰ, κλειδιὰ τοῦ παραδείσου.
(Aravandinos, 160.)
X. T. λ
O PANAGHIA, thee I pray, and twice before thee bend me,
That thou wouldst give to me the keys, in Paradise to enter;
To enter as a living man, to walk there strong and healthy,
And see the rich men how they fare, see how the poor
are lodged there.
The poor sit in the sun's glad light, they bask them in
the sunbeams,
The rich are wallowing in the pitch, and rolling in the
darkness;
And lying there is the Exarch, upon the edge supported,
And looks across towards the poor, and thus he them
beseeches :
'O poor, take ye my aspras¹ now, and give to me a taper!'
1 The Aspra, from aσrрoç, white, was the smallest silver coin;
but the word was used in the plural for money generally, as pará
(πapádɛç), the smallest copper coin, now is.
IIO
Greek Folk-Songs.
'Here aspras are not current coin, and tapers are not
purchased.
Exarch, rememberest thou when we in th' other world
existed,
Thou gav'st no alms unto the poor, nor helpedst those
in sickness?
Exarch, rememberest thou when near thou unto death
wert drawing,
Thou wentest not to evensong, nor often unto matins,
Nor yet to holy liturgy, which makes the world to tremble?
Rememberest how, by usury, to fifteen, ten thou changedst,
Didst mingle water with the wine, and with the flour mix
ashes?'

Charon and his Mother.
III
SECTION III.-CHARONIC.
ода
THE MOIRAI.
᾿Απὸ τὸν "Ολυμπον τὸν κόρυμβον,
τὰ τρία ἄκρα τοῦ Οὐρανοῦ,
(Heuzey, p. 139.)
%. T. λ.
OH from the summit of Olympus high,
The three extremest heights of Heaven,
Where dwell the Dealers-out of Destinies,¹
Oh may my own Fate hear me,
And, hearing, come unto me!
CHARON AND HIS MOTHER.
ΧΑΡΟΣ ΚΑΙ Η ΜΕΤΗΡ ΤΟΥ.
Ο Χάρος εκαλίγωνε ἔξω στὸ φεγγαράκι,
Καὶ ἡ μάννα του τὸν ἔλεγε, κι' ἡ μάννα του τὸν λέγει,
(Oikonomides, г. 3.)
x. T. λ.
OUT in the little moon's white light, his horse was
Charon shoeing,
And thus his mána said to him, and thus his mother
charged him :
'My son, when thou go'st to the chase, when thou go'st
forth a-hunting,
Take not the manas who have sons, nor brothers who
have sisters,
Take not those who have just been wed, nor those just
crowned in marriage.'
'Where I find three will I take two, where I find two,
one only,
And if I find one man alone, him, too, will I take with me.'
1 Αἱ Μοῖραι τῶν Μοιρῶν.
II 2
Greek Folk-Songs.
CIIARON'S WEDDING FEAST FOR HIS
SON.
ΧΑΡΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΧΗΡΑΣ ΠΑΙΔΙ.
Βγῆκεν ὁ ἥλιος μαλακός, μαῦρος καί πεισμωμένος,
Μήνα μὲ τ' ἄστρα μάλωνε, μήνα με το φεγγάρι,
x. T. λ
(Oikonomides, г. 4.)
The Sun has risen clouded o'er, and dark is he and
threatening;
Say, is he angry with the Stars, or with the Moon in
heaven,
Or angry with the Morning Star that's with the Star of
Evening?
He is not angry with the Stars, nor with the Moon in
heaven,
Nor angry with the Morning Star that's with the Star of
Evening;
But Charon's making merry now, he's keeping his son's
wedding;
And boys he slays instead of lambs, and brides for goats
he slaughters;
And he has ta'en the widow's son, no other son is left
her;
And by his side she weeping goes, walks by his side
lamenting:
O leave him, Charon, leave me him, and I will pay
his ransom;
O woe is me, I have but him, beside him I've no other;
I promise gold unto the Earth,¹ piled heaps of pearls I
promise,
And Earth shall wear them as a sword, and wear them
for tophaiki,
At this glad feast ye celebrate, instead of flowers and
violets.'
¹ See Introd., p. 14.
Charon and the Souls.
113
CHARON AND THE SOULS.
ΧΑΡΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΦΥΧΗ.
Γιατ' είναι μαῦρα τὰ βουνὰ καὶ στέκουν βουρκομένα ;
Μὴν άνεμος τὰ πολεμᾷ, μήνα βροχὴ τὰ δέρνει;
(Oikonomides, г. 2.)
X. T. 人
​WHY do the mountains darkly lower, and stand brimmed
o'er with tear drops?
Is it the wind that fights with them? is it the rain that
beats them?
'Tis not the wind that fights with them, nor rain that's
on them beating;
But Charon's passing over them, and with the Dead he's
passing.
The young men he before him drives, and drags the old
behind him,
And ranged upon the saddle sit with him the young and
lovely.
The old men beg and pray of him, the young beseech
him, kneeling :
My Charon, stop thou in a town, or near cool fountain
tarry,
That water may the old men drink, the young men cast
the boulder,
And that the little bairnies all may go the flowers to
gather.'
'At no town will I stop to lodge, nor near cool foun-
tain tarry;
The mothers would for water come, and recognise their
children;
And know each other man and wife; nor would there
be more parting.'
114
Greek Folk-Songs.
CHARON AND THE YOUNG WIFE.
O XAPOE KAI H KOPH.
Μιὰ λυγερὴ παινέθηκε, πῶς Χάρο δὲ φοβάται,
Γιατ᾽ ἔχει τσοὺς ἐννιὰ ἀδερφοὺς, τὸν Κωσταντίνο γι' άντρα.
(Passow, 413.)
x. T. λ.
THERE boasted once a cherished one, she had no fear of
Charon :
For she had nine tall brothers bold, and Constantine for
husband.
And Charon somehow heard of it, some bird the tale
had told him,
And he set forth and came to them while seated at
their dinner.
Good greeting to you, árchontes. I greet you, noble ladies.'
'Sir Charon, you are welcome here, Sir Charon, you are
welcome.
O sit you down and eat with us, sit down and eat your
dinner.'
"Tis for no dinner I have come, I came not for your dishes,
I came but for the cherished one, who has no fear of
Charon.'
He seized her by her flowing hair, and on her back he
threw her;
'Let go thy hold upon my hair, and hold my arm,
O Charon;
I'll farewell to my mother say, and farewell to my sisters,
And farewell to my father dear, and farewell to my
brothers.
Oh, mother, when comes Constantine, afflict him not,
nor grieve him,
But spread his dinner that he dine, and ready make his
supper;
For I with Charon must depart, and he no more will see me.'
Charon and the Shepherd.
115
CHARON AND THE SHEPHERD.
Ο ΒΟΣΚΟΣ ΚΑΙ Ο ΧΑΟΣ.
Samothrace.
Λεβέντης εκαταίβαινε τὸ 'να ψηλὸ παγίι·
Εἶχε τὸ φέσι του στ' αβὰ καὶ τὰ πετζά του κάτω.1
(Passow, 432.)
%. 5. X.
FROM tow'ring mountain-summit down there strolled a
young levénté,
His fez on one side cocked he wore, and loosely hung
his gaiters.
And Charon looked at him, he looked, and much was he
displeased;
And seized him by his flowing hair, and by his right hand
held him.
To take thy soul I'm sent by God, to take thy soul he's
sent me.'
'Let go thy hold upon my hair, and hold my hand, O
Charon,
And come and let us wrestle on a threshing-floor of
marble,
And whoso of the twain is thrown, then his soul be it
taken.'
When the levénté grasped his foe, then out the red blood
spurted;
But when he was by Charon grasped, with flesh were
fed the mountains.
'O Charon, I beseech thee now, take not my soul out
from me,
1 The peculiarity of the Samothracian dialect, as the scholar will
remark, even in these two lines, is the elision of p. May this pos-
sibly be owing to the known survival here to a very late period of the
Pelasgian language, which seems to have been connected with the
old stem of the Æolic, from which the Dorian and Ionian dialects
branched off? Elsewhere becomes p. (See Preface, p. xxix., and
Trans., p. 80, note.)
་
116
Greek Folk-Songs.
For I have flocks of sheep unshorn, and in the press the
cheeses;
And I have, too, a lovely wife, not meet to leave a
widow,
And I have little ones besides, and they should not be
orphans.'
Thy flocks of sheep may shear themselves, and press
themselves the cheeses,
The widows can get on alone, and they can rule the
children.'
'O Charon, I beseech thee now, take not my soul out
from me;
Show me where thou thy tent hast pitched, and thee
to it I'll follow.'
'When on my tent thine eyes shall look, fear will take
hold upon thee,
For outside it is green of hue, within 'tis blackest dark-
ness;
But open now thy mouth, for I will take thy soul out
from thee.'
THE JILTED LOVER AND CHARON.
Ο ΓΕΛΑΣΜΕΝΟΣ ΑΓΑΠΗΤΙΚΟΣ.
Στὸν ἅδην δὲ νὰ 'πάγω, τὸν Χάρο νὰ σμιχτῶ
Νὰ τόνε πιάσω φίλο, καὶ αδερφοποιτὸ.
(Oikonomides, B. 37.)
X. T. X
I WILL go down to Hades, with Charon I'll unite,
And for my friend I'll take him, and brotherhood we'll
plight,
And then perhaps some arrows, some arrows keen he'll
lend,
That I, against those darlings, a deadly bow may bend,
Who kisses did me promise, all three so sweet and coy,
Then jilted me and cheated, as if I were a boy.
Zahos and Charon.
117
(
(
ZAHOS AND CHARON.
Ο ΖΑΧΟΣ ΚΑΙ Ο ΧΑΡΟΣ.
Ζάχος εκαβαλίκεψε νὰ πάῃ νὰ βρῆ τὸν ἅδη
Μὲ ἕνα σιδερίκ᾽ ἄλογο, μὲ χρυσωμένη σέλλα.
(Passow, 433.)
%. T. λ.
入​。
As Záhos pricked along the road, in search of Hades
going;
The horse he rode was made of iron, and golden was his
saddle.
Step after step descended he, and steps again ascended.
Earth saw him, and she shrank with dread; and Charon,
fearing, hid him;
And all the Dead who saw him come assembled around
and questioned:
Why, Záhos, hast thou hither come? What, Záhos, is't
thou seekest?'
'I'm hither come to see my friends, and then I'll turn
me homeward.'
Thy golden saddle, Záhos, say, hast thou another given,
Who com'st whence there's no return, to regions spider-
woven ?
Here children are from mothers torn, and mothers from
their children.'
Then Charon's courage came again, and by his hair he
seized him.
'Let go thy hold upon my hair, and take my hand, O
Charon;
And Záhos' valour thou shalt see, and see if he will fear
thee.'
Then from his hair he loosed his hold, and by his hand
he held him.
And Záhos wrestled sore with him, and three times
down he threw him
8
со
118
Greek Folk-Songs.
But Charon once more courage took, and by his hair he
seized him.
Let go thy hold upon my hair, and take my hand, O
Charon!
Again will I stand up with thee, do with me what thou
pleasest.'
'Come, let us go and see my Tent that there thou may'st
recline thee;
Outside I hangings have of red, but black the inside
hangings.
As for the tent-pegs of my Tent, they are the hands of
heroes ;
The knots and ropes around it spread, are maiden's
twisted tresses.'
THE RESCUE FROM CHARON.
Η ΑΔΕΛΦΙΚΗ ΑΓΑΠΗ.
Ανάθεμά τον ποῦ τὸ εἰπῆ_ “ τ' αδέρφια δεν πονιοῦνται,”
τ' αδέρφια σκίζουν τὰ βουνὰ καὶ δέντρα ξερριζώνουν,
(Aravandinos, 456.)
%. T. ^.
ACCURSED may he be who said: 'Can Brotherhood know
sorrow?'
By Brotherhood the hills are rent, and torn the spreading
tree-roots;
Out in pursuit goes Brotherhood, and triumphs over
Charon !
Two Brothers had a Sister dear, through all the world.
renownéd,
The envy of the neighbourhood, the belle of all the village;
And Charon looks with jealous eye, and for himself he'd
take her;
And to the house he runs and cries, as if he were the
master :
'Ho! open, maiden, let me in, with me to go prepare thee;
The Rescue from Charon.
119
For I'm the son of the black Earth, the spider-woven
Tombstone!'
‹ O leave me, Charon, leave me now, to-day take me not
with thee,
On Saturday betimes I'll bathe, I'll change my clothes on
Sunday,
On Monday morn I'll come to thee, I'll come to thee
unbidden.'
But by her hair he seizes her; in terror shrieks the
maiden.
See where her Brothers follow them, among the moun-
tain passes,
They fast pursue old Charon till they've snatched from
him their Sister!
THE RIVER OF THE DEAD.¹
Ο ΠΟΤΑΜΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΝΕΚΡΩΝ.
Απόψε τί μ' ἐπόνεσε τὴ μαύρη ἡ καρδιά μου,
Καὶ ξύπνησα κ' ερώτα την, πάλι ξαναρωτώ την
(Passow, 386.)
2. T. λ.
入​。
LAST night so sorely in my breast my woeful heart was
aching,
That I awoke and asked of it, and once again I asked it:
‘O say, my heart, what is thy pain, why heavily art
sighing?
Thou art not keeping the Bairám,² a hill thou art not
climbing.'
1 In most of the Thessalian Songs about the 'River of the Dead'
it is identified with the great river of Thessaly, the Salembría or
Peneiós; and according to Homer, the stream by which the
Peneiós is joined near Tempé, and which flows from the gorge of
Sarandáporos, has an infernal origin. See Introd., p. 33.
2 The ordinary phrase among the Greeks of the Turkish Pro-
vinces for any national festivity which, being usually accompanied
with over-eating, is naturally followed by indigestion.
8-2
I 20
Greek Folk-Songs.
O it were better far to climb a hill with leaden burden,
Than see the marvel that I saw, that I saw late last even :
The river swept two brothers down, with kisses inter-
twinéd;
And one unto the other said, and one said to the other :
"O tightly, tightly grasp me now, nor, brother, from me
sever,
For, if we once should separate, we'd ne'er be reunited."'
DIRGE FOR A FATHER.
ΕΙΣ ΟΙΚΟΓΕΝΕΙΑΡΧΗΝ ΤΑΦΕΝΤΑ.
Γιὰ κάτσετε τριγύρω μου νὰ ἰδοῦμε ποιὸς λείπει !
Μᾶς λείπει σ' κάλλιος του σπιτιοῦ, τῆς φαμιλιᾶς ὁ πρῶτος,
(Aravandinos, 428.)
κ. τ. λ.
Now sit around me, children mine, and let us see who's
absent:
The glory of the house is gone, the family's supporter,
Who to the house a banner was, and in the church
a lantern.
The banner's staff is broke in twain, the lantern is
extinguished.
Why stand ye, orphan'd children, there, like wayfarers
and strangers?
And from your lips comes forth no wail like nightingale's
sad singing?
Your eyes, why weep they not amain, and stream like
flowing rivers?
Your tears should spread a mere around, should flow a
cool fresh fountain,
To bathe the dusty traveller, and give the thirsty water.
Dirge for a House-Mistress:
I2I
DIRGE FOR A HOUSE-MISTRESS.
ΕΙΣ ΟΙΚΟΔΕΣΓΟΙΝΑΝ:
Τ᾽ εἶν' ὁ ἀχὸς π' ακούεται κ' ἡ ταραχ' ἡ μεγάλη !
μήνα σε γάμο γένεται, μήνα σὲ πανηγύρι ;
(Aravandinos, 429.)
%%. 5. 2.
WHAT is this noise falls on our ears, and what is this
loud tumult?
Say, can it for a Wedding be, or can it be a Feast-day?
The Goodwife now is setting forth, to Hades she's
departing,
She hangs her keys upon the wall, and sets her house in
order,
Ayellow taper in her hand. The mourners chant sad dirges;
And all the neighbours gather round, all those whom
Death has stricken.
Whoso would now a message send, a letter let him give her;
She who a son mourns unadorned, now let her send his
fin'ry;
Whosoa sonunarméd mourns,now let her send his weapons;
Write, mothers, to your children dear, and ye, wives, to
your husbands,
Your bitter grief, your suffering, and all your weight of
sorrow.
DIRGE FOR A SON.
ΕΙΣ ΥΙΟΝ.
Εσύ, παιδί μ' ἐκίνησες νὰ πᾶς ἐς τὸν κάτου κόσμο,
κι' αφίνεις τὴ μανούλα σου πικρή, χαροκαμμένη
(Aravandinos, 432.)
2. 5. λ.
入​。
O THOU, my son, departest now unto the Lower
Regions,
122
Greek Folk-Songs.
And leav'st thy mother sorrowful, heartbroken, and
despairing!
Where shall I hide my pain for thee, how shall I throw
it from me?
For if I throw it on the road, the passers-by will take it,
And should I hang it on the trees, the little birds would
find it.
Where shall I hide my bitter tears, my tears for thy
departure?
If on the black earth they should fall, the grass no more
would flourish;
If they should in the river fall, they would dry up its
sources;
If they should fall upon the sea, the vessels there would
founder;
But if I lock them in my heart, I quickly shall rejoin thee.
DIRGE FOR A DAUGHTER.
ΕΙΣ ΘΥΓΑΤΕΡΑ.
Γιὰ πές μου, πές μου, κόρη μου, πότε νὰ σὲ παντέχω
να σε παντέχω ξάμηνο, να σε παντέχω χρόνο;
(Aravandinos, 435.)
%. T. X..
'O TELL me, tell me, daughter mine, how long shall I
await thee;
Say, six months shall I wait for thee, or in a year expect
thee?
Six months-it is a weary time; a year-it is unending!'
'My mother, were it but six months, or were it but a
twelvemonth,
Then would the evil be but small, the time would fly full
quickly.
Now will I tell thee, mother mine, when to expect
my coming :
Dirge for a Daughter.
123
When thou shalt see the ocean dry, and in its place a
garden;
When thou shalt see a dead tree sprout, and put forth
.1
leaves and branches ;"
When thou shalt see the raven black, white-feathered
like a pigeon.'
DIRGE FOR A SISTER.
ΕΙΣ ΑΔΕΛΦΗΝ.
Δὲν τώξερ', ἀδερφοῦλά μου, πως τὤχες νὰ πεθάνης,
'ς τὴν Πόλ᾿ νὰ στείλω γι' ἄλαγο, 'ς τὴ Βενετιὰ γι αμάξι.
(Aravandinos, 437.)
%%. 5. λ
I KNEW not, little sister mine, that thou to death wert
destined;
To Stamboul I'll for horses send, and for a hearse to Venice,
To Corinth will I send to find, to find and bring me
masons,
That they may marble hew for thee, and build a
mausoleum.
O masons, build it long and wide, and build it proud and
lofty,
That she may stand and gird herself, or she may cross-
legged rest her;
And in the wall at her right hand leave her an open
window,
That she may see when comes the spring, may see when
shines the summer,
When warble all the birds around, the nightingales
of springtide.
1 Compare II. A. 234. 'Verily by this staff that shall no more
put forth leaf or twig, seeing it hath for ever left its trunk.'
124
Greek Folk-Songs.
DIRGE FOR A YOUNG HUSBAND.
ΕΙΣ ΝΕΟΝ ΣΥΖΥΓΟΝ.
Παρακαλώ σε χάρε μου, και διπλοπροσκευῶ σε,
τὸν νειὸν αὐτὸν τοῦ κάλεσες μὴ τὸν παρακρατήσης,
(Aravandinos, 430.)
κ. τ. λ.
O CHARON mine, I beg of thee, and twice I'll bow before
thee;
The youth whom thou hast bid to thee, thou wilt not
keep him alway;
For he a wife has all too young that she be left a widow.
For if she briskly walk they'll say: "She seeks another
husband!"
If she walk softly then they'll say: "It is but affectation !"
A little son, too, is his care, a baby in the cradle.'
'No mother dear of his am I, nor yet am I his sister.
The son of the black Earth am I, the spider-woven marble;
And youths I eat, and maids devour, and young men are
my quarry.
I eat the bridelings with their coins, the bridegrooms
flower-becrowned;
And now I've waited forty days, this withered straw to
gather,
And on the fortieth day and last shall all his ties be
severed.'
THE YOUNG WIDOW.
H NEA XHPA.
Μιὰ κόρη πικροτράγουδει απάνου 'ς τὸ γεφύρι
καὶ το γεφύρι ερράγισε καὶ τὸ ποτάμ᾽ ἐστάθη.
(Aravandinos, 473.)
κ. τ. λ.
UPON a bridge there sat a girl, a doleful lay she
chanted,
The Young Widow.
125
Which rent the bridge in twain, and caused the stream
to cease its flowing.
The Stoicheión of the stream came out, and sat
upon
the
margin:
'O change, my girl, that melody, and sing another sonnet!'
'How shall I change my melody, and sing another
sonnet,
Who have a pain within my heart, for which there is no
healing?
I had my husband lying ill, sore sick upon his mattress ;
He bade me go up to the hills, and healing food to bring
him;
He bade me bring him cheese of deer, and milk of wild
goats seek him.
And while I up the mountains went, and to the fields
descended,
To set the pen and sheepfold up, and catch a hind
to milk her,
My husband married him again, another wife he took
him;
The black Earth for his wife he wed, a Tombstone his
wife's mother.'
THE DEAD SON TO HIS MOTHER.
ΕΙΣ ΥΙΟΝ ΑΡΤΙ ΘΑΝΟΝΤΑ.
Πέρα 'ς ἐκεῖνο τὸ βουνό ποὖναι ψηλὸ καὶ μέγα,
ὁπὤχει ἀντάρα'ς τήν κορφὴ, καὶ καταχνιὰ 'ς τὴ ρίζα.
(Aravandinos, 434.)
x. T. λ.
入​。
FAR, far away within that hill, which is both broad and
lofty,
Upon whose bosom thick mists roll, and fogs at its founda-
tions;
1 Compare Iph. in Aul., 461. 'Hades, as it seems, will speedily
attend on her nuptials.'
126
Greek Folk-Songs.
Wild amaranths bud there and bloom, two other herbs
beside them;
The roedeer eat them, and they die; the brown bears,
and they sicken.
There, little mother, thou must mount, those herbs three
thou must find thee,
And thou must eat them, mother mine, and so thou
may'st forget me.'
THE VAMPIRE.
Ο ΒΟΥΡΚΟΛΑΚΑΣ.
Τσὴ καλομάνας τὸ παιδὶ, τσὴ χήρας θυγατέρα,
Ποῦ προξενιὰν εφέρανε μὲς ὀχ τὴ Βαβυλῶνα.
(Passow, 518.)
%. 5. 7..
THERE came to the good mother's child, and to the
widow's daughter,
From Babylon a go-between in marriage to demand her.
Her seven brothers all say nay, but Constantine is willing.
'Why should we not wed Areté, my mother, with a
stranger?'
'But who will bring her back to me, that I may see my
daughter?'
'I, I will bring her back again, and thou shalt see thy
daughter;
Twice in the winter shall she come, and three times in
the summer.'
When Areté was wedded thence, and married to a
stranger,
Then died her seven brothers all, and Constantine was
murdered.
The mother sat all sad and lone, a reed upon the prairie ;
By night and day she grieved and wept, she wept upon
the tombstone,
The Vampire.
127
M
And tore her hair for Constantine, for her beloved Costa.
'Arise, arise, O Constantine, arise, and bring her to me,
And keep the promise thou hast made that thou to me.
wouldst bring her—
Twice in the winter she should come, and three times in
the summer!'
And God has heard her weeping sore, and listened to her
sorrow:
The tombstone cold a horse becomes, and the black earth
a saddle;
The worms are changed to Constantine, who goes to fetch
his sister.
'A happy meeting, Areté !' 'My Constantine, thou'rt
welcome.'
'Come, Areté, let us depart-and let us go back home..
wards.'
'Tell me if 'tis for joy I go, and in my best I'll dress me;
Or if for evil I must go, I'll go as thou hast found me.'
Come, Areté, let us depart-come just as I have found
thee.'
As they were riding on the road, a little bird was
warbling:
'O God, who art all-powerful, a wonder great Thou
workest;
That there should walk a living soul, with one that has
been buried.'
'O listen, listen, Constantine, to what the bird is saying!'
"Tis but a bird, so let him sing; a songster, let him
warble.'
And by the path, as on they rode, again the bird was
singing:
'O God, who art all-powerful, a wonder great Thou
workest,
That there should walk a living soul with one that has
been buried.'
128
Greek Folk-Songs.
And Areté, who'd heard his song, which rent her heart
in twain, said:
'O listen, listen, Constantine, to what the bird is
saying!'
"'Tis but a bird, so let him sing; a songster, let him
warble.'
And as they went along the road, and near the town
were drawing:
<
Go on before, my Areté—go enter in our dwelling;
And I will go and sleep awhile, for I'm o'ercome with
slumber,
And sorely wearied am I too, and tired with my long
journey.'
Come, Constantine, and let us go together to our
mother.'
'I smell of incense, sister dear; with you I cannot enter.
Once more within her home arrived, she joyful hails her
mother:
'I'm glad to see thee, mana dear!' 'My Areté, thou'rt
welcome.
But whom hast thou come home to see? Wouldst see
thy eight tall brothers?
Ah! they are dead, the seven are dead, and Constantine
is murdered.'
"Why, mother, now, our Constantine has brought me
home to see you!'
Then tightly they embraced and kissed, the mother and
the daughter;
And they were left, those two forlorn, all sad those two
and lifeless;
They hid themselves beneath the earth, the soil all spider-
woven.
Thanásé Vághia.
129
THANASE VAGHIA.
ΘΑΝΑΣΗΣ ΒΑΥΙΑΣ. ΙΙ. Ο ΒΡΥΚΟΛΑΚΑΣ.
Πές μου τί στέκεσαι, Θαναση, ὀρθός,
Βουβὸς τὰ λείψανο στὰ μάτια ἐμπρός;
(Valaoritis, Μνημόσυνα.)
%. T. 7.
'O WHY, Thanásé, thus dost thou arise,
Corpse-like and speechless, erect 'fore mine eyes?
O why, Thanásé, at eve dost thou roam,
Find'st thou no sleep e'en in Hades, thy home?
Over the world many seasons have rolled,
Low since we buried thee under the mould;
Go! for thy presence drives peace from my breast,
Leave me, Thanásé, in quiet to rest!
'Direful on me thy crime's shadow is thrown—
See my condition! Thanásé, begone!
All the world flees from me, none will receive;
Alms to thy widow lone, no one will give.
'Come not so near me! Why frighten and daunt me?
What have I done thus to startle and haunt me?
Livid thy flesh is, and earthy thy smell,
Canst thou not yet turn to dust in thy cell?
'Closer around thee yet gather thy shroud,
Loathly worms crawl on thy face once so proud;
O twice-accurs'd, see'st thou not how they cower,
Ready to spring, and me likewise devour!
'Whence through the wild storm com'st, trembling and
shaking,
See'st how the whole earth is rocking and quaking?
Out from thy silent grave how couldst thou flee?
Tell me, whence comest thou, what wouldst thou see?'
130
Greek Folk-Songs.
'This very night, as I lay in my tomb,
Lonely and silent, 'mid darkness and gloom,
Shrouded, bound, helpless, and turning to clay,
Deep in my grave at the close of Earth's day,
.1
Cried there above me a dread kukuvághia ;¹
Still did he call and say, "Thanásé Vághia!
Rise! for the Dead Men will come thee to wake
Rise, for away with them thee they will take!"
'Hearing my name, and the words that he spake,
Made all my rotten bones rattle and shake;
Strove I to hide myself deep in the ground,
By their revengeful eyes not to be found.
""Out with thee, traitor!" they cry in their ire;
"Out with thee! thee for our guide we require.
Out with thee! fearful one, not as wolves seek we;
Show us the way to our long-lost Gardíki !"
'Thus cry the Dead Men as on me they fall,
Thus, as all wrathful, they scream and they call,
Talon and tooth root up rank weeds and tear,
Scatt'ring the black soil, my corpse they lay bare.
'Thus from the quiet Dead me they unbury,
Out of the grave they quick rout me and hurry;
Laughing and gibing, they wildly deride,
On to Gardíki we run side by side.
'Fly we, and run we, all breathless and fast,
'Neath us the fair Earth we blight and we blast:
Where our black cloud passes on as it flies,
Tremble the cliffs, and from Earth flames arise.
1 The owl, the herald of the vampire.
Thanásé Vághia.
131
'Flutter our winding-sheets now far behind,
Flutter like white sails filled out by the wind;
Far on our path, 'neath the light of the moon,
Rotten bones, falling, behind us are strewn.
"Fore us went flying the dread kukuvághia;
Still did he call and say, "Thánasé Vághia!"
Near to the desolate ruins we drew,
Where this accurséd hand so many slew.
'O what dread witnesses! fear made me cower.
Deep were the curses on me they did shower!
Bloody the draught was they forced me to drain;
See! on my lips still the horrible stain!
Gathering to rend me, upon me they fastened;
Then was a cry heard, and tow'rds it they hastened :
"Glad we're to find you, O Vízier Alí;”
Into the courtyard they rush without me!
'On him the Dead Men fall furiously;
One and all leave me; then I, fearful, flee,
Breathless I flee from them; come I to rest
Here with my dear wife, for one night her guest.'
'Now that I've heard thee, Thanásé, begone,
Back to thy grave, though 'tis dreary and lone.'
'Give me for comfort, 'mid darkness and gloom,
Kisses three give me to take to the tomb!'
'When on thy corse oil and wine they did place,
Came I in secret, and kissed thy cold face.'
'Years long and many have passed since that day,
Torment thy kisses hath taken away.'
132
Greek Folk-Songs.
'Go! for thy wild look my terror increases;
Rotten thy flesh, 'tis all falling in pieces.
Leave me! O, hide those hands! For like to knives.
Seem the foul fingers that took those brave lives!'
'Come to me, O my wife! is it not I?
Me, thy Thanásé, in years long gone by?
Do not thou loathe me, and thus from me fly!'
'Go! I'm polluted if thou comest nigh!'
On her he throws himself, seizes and grips.
Close on her mouth press his cold clammy lips;
From her poor bosom, its covering rags,
Tearing in fury, he ruthlessly drags.
Bare he has laid it. His hand forward prest,
Wildly he plunges, and runs o'er her breast.
Turns he to marble, and cold as a snake,
Shivers the Vampire, with fear doth he shake;
Howls like a Wolf, like a leaf trembles he,
Touched have his fingers the All-Holy Tree.
Her Guardian had saved her when helpless she cried,
Vanished the Vampire; like smoke from her side.
Out in the darkness the dread kukuvághia
Still was repeating his 'Thánasé Vághia!'
1 Thánasé Vághia was a Greek lieutenant of the tyrant, Alí
Pashá, of Ioannina. When all his other officers had refused to
massacre the men of Gardíki, eight hundred in number, entrapped
by falsehood and treachery in the courtyard of the Khan of Valieré,
Thánasé Vághia offered to begin the butchery. For this deed,
according to the Greek superstition, his body, after death, could not
decompose, but walked the earth as a Vrykolokas or Vampire, in
company with his victims and the Vízier Alí, who had ordered
their slaughter.

٠١١١/١١/١١/
CLASS II.
AFFECTIONAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I-EROTIC.
THE FRUIT OF THE APPLE-TREE.
Ο ΚΑΡΠΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΜΗΛΑΣ.
῾Ο νειὸς μὲ τὰ λαγωνικὰ ἐβγῆκε 'ς τὸ κυνήγι
κ' ἐκράτει καὶ 'ς τὸ χέρι του ἕνα μικρὸ γεράκι.
(Aravandinos, 240.)
%. 5. λ.
WITH all his greyhounds fleet around, a youth goes out
a-hunting;
A falcon small upon his wrist he bears as forth he
sallies.
It frees itself, and flies afar, and in a garden enters;
But quick, his falcon to regain, the hunter follows after.
A maiden fair within he finds, at marble fountain
washing ;
With whitest pearls she is bedecked, and strings of
golden sequins.
"Call off thy dogs, Sir Hunter bold, and tie them to
the bushes!
9
134
Greek Folk-Songs.
1
I fear they'll bite me, Hunter bold-I fear that they
will chase me.'
'My little dogs are better taught, 'tis only hares they
worry;
And ne'er to maidens fair as thou do any kind of evil.
O tell me, tell me, maiden mine, what dowry canst thou
bring me?
No dowry do I ask of coin, nor dowry of adornment.'
'No dowry dost thou ask of coin, nor dowry of adorn-
ment ?
Then will I give this apple-tree, all covered o'er with
blossom;
All laden, too, with rosy fruit, with fairest, sweetest
apples.'
Thou, maiden, art the apple-tree, and now let fall the
apples!
She broke the strings, and far and wide her pearls and
sequins scattered.
'Come, gather, youth! come, gather them, the apples of
my fruit-tree;
$2
And gather them again, again, and stoop again and gather!'
THE NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY
Zagórie.
Η ΑΠΟΛΕΣΘΕΙΣΑ ΕΥΚΑΙΡΙΑ.
Δικό μ᾽ ἦταν τὸ φταίξιμο,
νὰ χάσω τόσο τρέξιμο.
X. T.
(Aravandinos, 211.)
MINE was the failing, idiocy,
λ
That lost my running's prize, ah me!
I found thee all alone, I wot;
With kisses sweet I fed thee not;
The Neglected Opportunity.
135
I gazed on thee unsatisfied,
And thus I sat, by Love tongue-tied.
Thy mother mild, where then was she?
Thy father stern, where then was he?
Thy mother at the church did pray,
Thy sire at Yánnina did stay;
And by thee sat the idiot meek,
Whose downcast eyes the earth did seek.
THE WOOER.
Parga.
Η ΜΝΗΣΤΗΡ.
Παρακαλῶ σε, πέρδικα, καὶ προσκυνῶ σε, κόρη,
νὰ μοῦ δανείσης τὰ κλειδιὰ νἀμπῶ ἐς τὸ περιβόλι.
(Aravandinos, 212.)
2. T. λ.
O PARTRIDGE, I entreat of thee, thee I salute, O
maiden,
That thou the keys would'st lend to me to enter in the
garden;
Carnations sweet, and lemons ripe, that I for thee may
gather;
And I a ring of diamonds bright will send thee for a
token;
In far Venetia it was wrought, and bought it was at
Stámboul,
And for the finger of my bride 'tis by my mother
destined.
Thy mother dear I love full well, and I do kiss her hand
now;
I'll make of her a mother-in-law, and thou'lt be my
sweet consort.
9-2
136
Greek Folk-Songs.
1
THE LOVER'S DREAM.
Zagórie.
ΤΟ ΟΝΕΙΡΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΕΡΑΣΤΟΥ.
Στὴ ρίζα τοῦ βασιλικοῦ, ἐς τὴ ρίζα τοῦ βαρσάμου,
ἀκούμπησα νὰ κοιμηθῶ, λίγον ὕπνο νὰ πάρω,
(Aravandinos, 213.)
x. 5. λ.
AMID sweet roots of balsam hid, amid green basil's
fragrance,
All wearied I lay down to sleep, to take a little slumber;
As on the ground I sleeping lay, there came to me a
vision-
My love was being married, and her husband was my
rival.
'Twas not enough that she did wed, and did my rival
marry,
But me they asked to crown them twain, as groomsman
at the wedding.
The golden crowns, too, I prepared, the candlesticks of
silver;
The wedding veil I brought to her-it was with pearls
inwoven.
My dream, should it be true, and she for husband take
another,
All may unto her wedding go, but I will to her shrouding;
All may to her take flocks of sheep, I'll lead a black
cat¹ only.
1 With the hope of bringing ill-luck to the wedding.
The Nun.
137
THE NUNS.
Grévena.
ΑΙ ΚΑΛΟΓΡΑΙΑΙ.
Ένας λεβέντης λέβεντος, ὤμορφο παλληκάρι,
μῆλο κρατεῖ 'ς τὸ χέρι του, λεμόνι 'ς τὴν ποδιά του,
(Aravandinos, 225.)
x. T. x.
It is an agile, nimble youth, a handsome pallikári ;
An Apple in his hand he holds, and in his lap a Lemon.
The Apple, bending, kisses he, and thus consults the
Lemon :
'O Lemon, little Lemon mine, i' faith I wish to marry.'
'Young man, seek'st thou companionship, a wife art thou
now seeking?
Go to the monastery high, where are the great store-
houses,
There wilt thou find a worthy Nun, with three adopted
daughters;
Panaghio is the eldest called, and Déspo is the second;
The third, the youngest of the three, Thanásio the black-
eyed,
Who golden coins and fairest pearls the livelong day is
sifting.
The siftings bright, both gold and white, she places on
her bosom,
That she may make her bosom smell of Summer and of
Winter;
Of Summer with its cooling dews, of Winter with its
comfort;
And of fair Spring the beautiful, with all her flowers and
sweetness.'
1 YuxоKópais, literally 'soul-daughters.' The monks have Yuxo-
Taidia, soul-boys,' many of whom afterwards become Bishops and
Archbishops, to whom marriage is forbidden.
138
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE DESPAIRFUL ONE.
Η ΑΠΕΛΠΙΣΙΑ.
Δὲν σοῦ τὸ εἶπα, σκύλλα κόρη, 'ς τὸ γιαλὸ μὴν κατεβῆς,
τὶ ὁ γιαλὸς θὰ φουρτουνιάση, κι' ἂν σὲ πάρη θὰ πνιγῆς !
(Aravandinos, 208.)
κ. τ. λ.
HAVE not I bid thee, she-dog's child, not go to ocean
down?
For wild and stormy are the waves, and if thou'rt seized,
thou'lt drown.'
'If I am seized, and I am launched upon the angry sea,
My body I will make a boat, my arms two oars shall be;
And swimming still, thus will I gain that opposite fair isle,
And there will I my lover find, there we'll the time be-
guile;
I'd sooner die, in wild waves lost, if such should be my fate,
Than here remain, by day and night, alone and desolate!'
ELENAKI, THE NIGHTINGALE.
Preveza.
ΤΟ ΕΛΕΝΑΚΙ ΚΑΙ ΑΗΔΟΝΑΚΙ.
Το 'Ελενάκι τὸ μικρό, θέλησα νὰ μερέψω
καὶ νὰ τὸ βάλω 'ς τὸ κλουβί, νὰ τὸ μοσχοταΐζω.
(Aravandinos, 224.)
Hi T. Xo
FAIR Elenáki, my wee one, I wished to tame and
lead her,
A cage within to prison her, and there with musk to
feed her.
From fragrance rank of musk exhaled, and stifling
odour shed,
Offended with the cage was she, my nightingale has fled.
The hours I pass in calling her, o'er hills I questioning
rove:
The Last Request.
139
Have you not seen Elenió, my faithless, faithless love?"
'But yesterday we her beheld, the reedy fields among,
And there the wanderer beloved had perched, and sat
and sung.
With fire I all the reeds consume, and all to spoil
endeavour,
But Elenáki, my wee one, has fled from me for ever!
THE LAST REQUEST.
Ioánnina.
Η ΤΕΛΕΥΤΑΙΑ ΕΝΤΟΛΗ.
"
Οταν θέμαῦρά μου μάτια,
· ὅταν θέλω ν' ἀπεθάνω,
μιὰ παραγγολὴ θὰ κάνω.
(Aravandinos, 219.)
WHEN dark Death, my black-eyed maiden,
When dark Death his grasp shall lay,
On my soul, this boon I'll pray:
That they spread, my black-eyed maiden,
That they spread, in heaven's pure air,
My last couch, and wash me there.
Let her come, my black-eyed maiden,
Let her come and bury me;
Love shall then my sexton be.
Let her see, my black-eyed maiden,
Let her see, and let her know
What it is has laid me low.
Let her say, my black-eyed maiden,
But two words, but two sweet words;
Love's sad dirge these two sweet words.
After that, my black-eyed maiden,
Tears still on me let her shower,
Ere the black Earth me devour.
140
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE LOVER'S RETURN.
Η ΕΠΑΝΟΔΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΕΡΑΣΤΟΥ.
Δύο χρόνους περπατούσα τὸ γιαλό γιαλό,
κι' ἄλλους δύο τριγυροῦσα τὸ βουνό βουνό.
(Aravandinos, 242.)
x. T. λ
A WANDERER o'er the seas two years I've been, I've been;
A wanderer o'er the hills, two more I ween, I ween;
I leave the distant lands, and now my home is near;
But ere my friends I seek, I haste to find my dear.
Within a garden, lo! among the rosy bowers,
She from a crystal vase the coolest water pours.
An apple then I throw, of it she takes no heed;
I gold and silver throw, and now she's roused indeed.
She raises her dark eyes, and angry is her gaze;
She opes her rosy lips, and then to me she says:
"Where hast thou, pousté¹ vile, and base deceiver, been?
Nor last year, nor 'fore that, nor yet this winter seen?'
'In foreign lands I've toiled, with foreigners have wrought;
All I, poor fellow, earned, to thee I've fondly brought.
I've brought a mirror, comb, and knife of silver white:
The mirror in its depths to see thy beauties bright;
The comb, with it to smooth thy golden tresses twined;
The silver knife to pare the apple's ruddy rind.'
THE WIDOW'S DAUGHTER.
Η ΚΟΡΗ ΤΗΣ ΧΗΡΑΣ.
Μάνα μου, κόρ᾽ ὁποῦ εἶδα 'γὼ 'ς τὸν ποταμὸ νὰ πλένη,
εἶχε ἀσημένιον κόπανο και πλάκα μαρμαρένια.
(Aravandinos, 221.)
x. T. λ.
'MANA, a fair maid I have seen; she washed beside the
river;
¹ A word originally Persian, but borrowed by Greek and Albanian
from Turkish. See DozoN, Langue Chkype.
The Widow's Daughter.
141
(
Like silver bright her mallet shone, her slab was whitest
marble.
I gave my gallant steed to her in payment for her kisses;
She hundreds, thousands still can give, and yet again
two thousand;
And I her humble slave would be, a servant in her
courtyard.
Sweep, widow, sweep again and oft, within thy beauteous
courtyard-
Sweep, too, thy doorway, that, through it, in passing and
repassing,
Thy lovely daughter I may see, in musk so softly
nurtured;
All hearts she witches; mine, alas! beneath her spell has
fallen.'
My only one, my daughter dear, is Sun and Moon in
heaven;
The Dawn alone doth she desire, as spouse to lie beside
her.'
THE PARTRIDGE.
Η ΠΕΡΔΙΚΟΥΛΑ,
Αγάλι αγάλια περπατῶ σἄν τὸ κομμένο φείδι,
νὰ μὴ μ' ακούσ' ἡ πέρδικα καὶ πεταχτῆ καὶ φύγη.
(Aravandinos, 222.)
x. T. λ
I STEALTHILY and silent tread, as soft as wounded
snake,
So that the partridge hear me not, for then to flight
she'd take.
I come, approach the partridge hid among the thickest
green;
She flutt'ring shakes her wings and plumes her feathers'
silver sheen.
142
Greek Folk-Songs.
'O say what mother gave thee birth, O thou enslaver
bright?'
'For mother I a partridge had, for sire a thrush so gay;
In pigeon's plumage me they dressed and decked in
bright array.'
THE DISCOVERED KISS.
Parga.
ΟΙ ΕΡΑΣΤΑΙ.
Κόρη, όταν εφιλιώμαστε νύχτα ἦταν, ποιὸς μᾶς εἶδε ;
Μᾶς εἶδε τῆς νυχτός τ' ἀστρί, μᾶς εἶδε τὸ φεγγάρι,
(Aravandinos, 209.)
x. T. λ
'My girl, when we each other kissed, the night had
fall'n; who saw us?'
'The stars of night looked down on us, the moon on us
was gazing;
She, stooping, whispered to the waves, and to the waves
she told it;
The ocean told the oar the tale, the oar then told the
sailor;
And gay and loud the sailor sang, and all the neighbours
heard it;
So the confessor heard of it, and told it to my mother;
From her my father learnt it soon, and sorely he
reproached me;
Hard were the angry words he said, and strictly he
forbade me,
Nor yet without the door to go, nor yet unto the window.
But I will to the window go, to gather my sweet basil,
And I the youth whom I love best will take for my
companion.'
The Rake.
143
THE RAKE.
ΤΟ ΜΑΡΓΙΟΛΙΚΟ.
Γιὰ ἰδέστε τὸ μαργιόλικο καὶ τὸ μαργιολεμένο,
πῶς στρίψει τὸ μουστάκι του σὰν νὰ ἦταν μεθυσμένο
(Aravandinos, 233.)
Ho To λ
'Look at this cunning fellow here, so roguish he and sly;
See how he strokes his long moustache, and leers with
tipsy eye!'
'I am no cunning fellow, nor a tipsy rogue am I,
My love she has forsaken me, and left me here to sigh.
Bright yellow sequins forty, see, strung on a single
thread-
They're thine, Maroúsio, if thou'lt make with me one
night thy bed.'
'With fire be all thy coins consumed, and burnt thy
sequins all;
My charms they were not given me within thine arms
to fall,
Nor are these eyes of mine so sweet, this neck as white
as snow,
That they with thee and such as thee should ever
trysting go!'
THE WOMAN-HUNTER.
Ο ΓΥΝΑΙΚΟΘΗΡΑΣ.
Πέρα 'ς τὸν ἄμμο, 'ς τὸ ρῄμονῆσι,
ἀητὸς 'απέρασε νὰ κυνηγήση.
(Aravandinos, 226.)
%. T. λ
DOWN on the beach of an islet lone,
An eagle in search of his prey has flown;
144
· Greek Folk-Songs.
No stag does he stalk, neither hunts he the hare,
He hunts but the black-eyed, the maidens fair.
'Lips red as rosebuds and sloe-black eyes,
Look from the window and hear my sighs!
Wandering eyes, that are dark as sloes,
How, without me, can ye sleeping close?'
'Braid I am weaving, nor may I stay;
When my task's finished, I'll not say nay.'
Cursed be the braid, and the braider too,
Cursed, who have aught with the braid to do!
I'll send a letter, when in thy hand,
This be assured of, and understand,
That when thou readest it, shouldst thou tear,
Thou, my Light! doom'st me to dark despair!'
THE FORSAKEN ONE.
Parga.
Η ΕΓΚΑΤΑΛΕΙΦΘΕΙΣΑ ΕΡΩΜΕΝΕ
Απόψε κρύον ἔκαμε, κρύο και τρεμουντάνα,
κ' ἐχιονιστῆκαν τὰ βουνά, παχνίστηκαν οι κάμποι.
(Aravandinos, 228.)
x. 5. X.
COLD is the wintry night, and cold the mountain-wind is
blowing;
The hills are whitened o'er with snow, and all the fields
are frozen.
But you, my little gardens lone, do not you freeze and
harden,
For I my lover dear have lost, my faithless, faithless
lover,
Who swore when we so sweetly kissed that he would
love me ever ;
And now he has abandoned me, a reed beside the river,
The Vlach Shepherdess Unkind.
145
A reed from which the top's been cut, and but the stalk's
left standing.
At what gay table sits he now, where eating, and where
drinking?
Whose are the hands pour out to him, the while that
mine are trembling?
Whose are the eyes that gaze on him, the while that
mine are weeping?
THE VLACH SHEPHERDESS UNKIND.
ΒΛΑΧΑ, Η ΠΟΙΜΕΝΙΣ.
Διφᾷν οἱ κάμποι γιὰ νερά, καὶ τὰ βουνὰ γιὰ χίονια,
καὶ τὰ γεράκια γιὰ πουλιά, κ' εγώ, βλάχα μ', γιὰ σένα·
(Aravandinos, 235.)
%. T. λ.
THE fields are thirsting for the rains, and for the snows
the mountains;
The falcons for the little birds, for thee, my Vlach, I'm
thirsting.
Thy hand so fair, so soft and white, thy hand so cool
and snowy,
Three long, long days, three long, long nights, I want it
for my pillow;
Sweet kisses then I'd feed thee with, I'd feed thee with
caresses.
But, ah! thou fleest from me, my Vlach, thou fleest, and
hast undone me!
Up to the branches I will fly, and there I'll sit bewailing;
My weeping great a mere shall make, and flow out a
cold fountain.
For water will the fair ones come, and come, too, will
the black-eyed;
And with them my Vlachoúla dear-oft shall I give her
water.
146
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE VLACH SHEPHERDESS KIND.
ΟΙ ΒΛΑΧΟΠΟΙΜΕΝΕΣ.
Ἦρθ' ὁ καιρὸς νὰ φύγουμε κ' ἡ ὥρα γιὰ νὰ πᾶμε,
રા
να πάμε πέρα σὲ βουνό, σ' ἕνα μαρμαροβούνι,
(Aravandinos, 369.)
x. T. λ.
'THE time has come that we may go, the hour for our
departure;
Now let us climb up to the hills, up to the marble
mountain;
There will we find a hollow tree, in which we two may
enter.'
My Vlách, where shall we water find to drink when we
are thirsty ?'
'I have my gourd, thou hast thy gourd, and we can
drink together.'
'My Vlácha, bread where shall we find to eat when we
are hungry?'
'I have my cake, thou hast thy cake, and bread we'll
eat together.'
'My Vlácha, when we feel the cold, what shall we have
for covering?'
'My shepherd's cloak, thy shepherd's cloak, will cover
us together.'1
THE BLACK-EYED ONE.
Η ΜΑΥΡΟΜΜΑΤΑ.
Παίρνουν ν' ἀνθίσουν τὰ κλαριά, κ' ή παχνη δεν τ' ἀφίνει,
θέλα κ' ἐγὼ νὰ σ' ἀρνηθῶ, καὶ δὲ μ' αφίν' ὁ πόθος.
(Aravandinos, 234.)
κ. τ. λ.
Now would the branches bud and bloom, but hoar-frost
holds them prisoned;
1 ‘Come under my plaidie, the nicht's gaun to fa’;
Come under my plaidie, there's room for us twa.'
The Black-Eyed One.
147
Now would I sit and spin for thee, but my desire
prevents me.
Arise, unto thy mother go, and tell her not to curse me;
I'll make of her a mother-in-law, and she shall be my
mother,
Through thee, her second daughter dear, through thee,
thou black-eyed maiden.
Thine eyes are like the olive ripe, and like to braid thine
eyebrows;
And like a Frankish bow are curved the lashes long that
fringe them.
Thy plump, soft hand, so fair and white, thy hand so fair
and snowy,
Fain would I make my pillow now upon a marble
mountain!
I'd feed thee there with kisses sweet, I'd kiss thine eyes
and eyebrows.
Still lower wear thy little fez, thine eyebrows let it
cover,
For fear my kisses should appear, for fear they should
betray thee,
Lest jealous be the little birds, the nightingale of spring-
time;
Lest Basil 'gainst thee wrathful be, and wrathful too be
Rígas.
"
THE LOVER.
ΕΡΩΤΙΚΟΝ.
Νὰ μὴ σὲ βλέπω, δεν βαστῶ,
Οταν σε βλέπω αρρωστώ
(Passow, 532.)
%. 5. λ.
I CANNOT live when absent thou,
Thou present, sickness lays me low;
'Tis thou my life art stealing,
'Tis thou who art my healing.
148
Greek Folk-Songs.
I look on thee, I madly love-
I gaze, my pulses wildly move;
My heart doth faint within me,
No longer reason's in me.
When absent, much I'd say to thee,
Naught can I say when thee I see;
My lips refuse their duty,
My tongue's tied by thy beauty.
I look upon thee, and I burn;
And when I see thee not, I mourn;
Though mad when I behold thee,
I die if thou withhold thee.
FAIR ONES AND DARK ONES.
ΑΣΠΡΑΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΛΑΧΡΟΙΝΑΙΣ.
Μπήκαν ή ασπραις ἐς τὸ χορό,
σἂν ἡ βαρκούλαις ἐς τὸ γιαλό.
(Aravandinos, 378.)
To the dance the fair ones go,
Little boats to sea that row;
%% 5. Me
Out come troops of maids brown-eyed,
Oranges in tassels tied;
Out comes many a black-eyed maiden,
Who's with moles like olivesi laden;
Out comes one with eyes of blue,
Waist so slim and fair to view.
Out comes, too, a partridge small,
But with widest skirts of all;
As she danced and skipped around,
One poor youth cast eyes to ground.
1 Literally, 'covered with olives.' For olives being brown or
black when ripe, λaía (or λŋà), an olive, is the name given to a
mole. See next page.
Blue-eyed and Dark-eyed Ones. 149
BLUE-EYED AND DARK-EYED ONES.
Zagórie.
ΑΣΠΡΑΙΣ ΚΑΙ ΜΕΛΑΧΡΟΙΝΑΙΣ.
Μπῆκαν ἡ ἀσπραις ἐς τὸ χορό,
βαρυὰ μὲ κάνουν κι' ἀρρωστῶ·
(Aravandinos, 379.)
To the dance the fair ones go,
Sorely lovesick I'm laid low;
x. T. λ.
Dark ones come, too, in my sight,
Girls whose waists are slim and slight.
Out, too, come the maids black-eyed—
Curse them! I for them have died.
Still come those with eyes of blue,
Wearing aprons green of hue;
Out, too, come the partridge-eyed,
Flower bedecked, and rosy dyed.
THE BLUE-EYED BEAUTY.
Zagórie.
ΓΑΛΑΝΗ, ΠΕΡΗΦΑΝΗ.
Ανάθεμα που φύτευε τὸ κλῆμα 'ς τὴν αὐλή σου,
κ' ἐφούντωσεν ἡ πόρτα σου καὶ δὲ μπορῶ νὰ γλέπω.
(Aravandinos, 385.)
2. T. 7.
MAY he be curs'd who planted there the vine within
thy courtyard,
Thy doorway filling with its leaves that I no more can
see thee.
Come to thy bowered window now, and from it hang thy
tresses;
Let them a ladder be, and steps, that I may place my
feet on,
And I will kiss thee on thy neck, and on thy precious
olive.
ΙΟ
150
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE GARDEN.
Parga.
ΤΟ ΠΕΡΙΒΟΛΙ.
Περιβόλι μου γραμμένο,
μαργαριταρογραμμένο,
κ. τ. λ.
(Aravandinos, 382.)
PICTURELIKE, dear garden ground,
Bordered all with daisies round,
Next the daisies leeks abound,
Marjoram next in rows is found,
In the midst an Apple-tree,'
Soon to earth 'twill falling be.
To the fruit a youth approaches,
Him the Apple-tree reproaches:
1
'Come not, youth, the apples gath’ring;
See, the leaves are sere and with’ring ;
Counts the master every one,
And for thee, youth, there are none.'
YANNEOTOPOULA.
Ioannina.
Η ΓΙΑΝΝΗΟΤΟΠΟΥΛΑ.
Μωρή Φράγκα, Φραγκοπούλα,
Κι ὤμορφη Γιαννηοτοπουλα.
(Aravandinos, 392.)
κ. τ. λ.
O THOU Frank, thou Frankopoúla,
Beautiful Yanneotopoúla !
Who has said I do not love thee,
That in worn-out clothes thou'st dressed thee,
By the apple-tree and its master an elderly husband is probably
meant; and by the desirable fruit, his wife.
Yanneotopoula.
151
And in soiléd dress remainest?
Busk thee, busk thee, in thy gayest;
Come with me when evening cometh.'
'Why with thee to come dost bid me,
Who art faithless and deceiving?
With thy kisses, and embraces,
One step more and thou wouldst blight me,
Like the dew-drop on the herbage;
Like the wheatear on the meadow,
Wither'd, left alone, and lonely.'
THE LITTLE BIRD.
Zagórie.
ΤΟ ΠΟΥΛΑΚΙ.
Τοῦτο τὸ καλοκαιράκι
κυνηγοῦσα ένα πουλάκι.
(Aravandinos, 395.)
%. 7. λ.
ALL this summer, this long summer,
One small bird have I been hunting;
Hunting been, and much desiring,
It to catch in vain aspiring ;
Snares I set, and birdlime lay—
All my pains are thrown away.
Other method I did choose,
That my bird I might not lose.
I began to sing a lay,
On my violin to play ;
Then my songs and violin
Brought my bird my chamber in;
I with my devices all,
Caused her in my arms to fall.
10-2
152
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE CYPRESS.
Ioánnina.
ΤΟ ΚΥΠΑΡΙΣΣΙ.
Φύτεψα ένα κυπαρίσσι
σὲ μιὰ μαρμαρένια βρύση.
(Aravandinos, 397.)
I ONE day a cypress planted
Close beside a marble fountain,
X. T. λ.
That to wash might come the fair ones,
And the black-eyed with their bleaching.
Came there one, and came another,
Poor, but she with charms was wealthy;
She illumed the sea and fountain.
(
'Maiden, where did'st find such radiance ?'
Chief of Klephtës was my father,
War-chief's daughter was my mother:
From the Sun his charms they'd stolen,
From the Moon they stole her radiance,
They in two shares these divided;
I, from them, received my portion.'
THE BROKEN PITCHER.
Préveza.
ΤΟ ΣΤΡΑΒΟΠΑΤΗΜΑ,
Ἡ κόραις ὅλαις εἶν' ἐδῶ
δὲν εἶν᾿ εκείνη π' ἀγαπῶ·
(Aravandinos, 396.)
ALL the maidens here I see,
All but her who's dear to me.
Water she has gone to bring;
I'll go seek her at the spring.
2. T. 2.
Distichs.
153
There will I her pitcher crack;
Empty-handed she'll go back.
Her mother asks when she gets home,
What of her pitcher has become.
'I tripped, my mother, near the well,
And broke my pitcher as I fell.'
'It was no tripping broke your jug,
But likelier far some gallant's hug!'
DISTICHS.
(Passow, 103.)
BEFORE thy doorway as I pass, thy ootprint there I know;
I bend, and fill it with the tears that, as I kiss it, flow.
(Aravandinos, 214.)
LOVE me as I am loving thee-as I desire, desire me;
The time may come for thy desire when I no more
desire thee.
(Aravandinos, 234.)
BE curst thou, plane-tree, curst be thou and thy wide
branches green,
The pallikars no longer can by Elenió be seen.
THE BULGARIAN GIRL AND THE
PARTRIDGE.
Grévena.
Η ΒΟΥΡΓΑΡΑ ΚΑΙ Η ΠΕΡΔΙΚΑ.
Μικρή Βουργάρα θέριζε σ' ἕνὰ κοντό κριθάρι,
είχε δρεπάνι δαμασκί, παλαμαριά 'σημένια.
(Aravandinos, 281.)
2. 5. λ.
THERE reaped a little Bulgar girl amid a field of barley;
Her sickle was of damascene, her binds were all of silver.
154
Greek Folk-Songs.
Right briskly did she reap the grain, but soon her heart
was aching.
Upon her reaping-hook she leaned, that she might bear
her baby,
And in her apron folding it, to bury it she hastened.
A Partridge met her on the way, at four cross-roads she
met her:
Where goest, Bourgára, with the child-the child where
wouldst thou bury?
Say, is it not a cruel sin, thou rock'st it not in cradle?
Twelve birdlings have I in my nest, and I have not
killed any;
And one, an only one is thine, and him wilt thou not
cherish?"
'But thou, twelve birdlings if thou hast, thou hast them
with thine honour;
And I, if I have only one, it is without a husband.'
'Alas for her who murder does that she her shame may
bury!'
THE ROSE-TREE.
Grévena.
Η ΤΡΙΑΝΤΑΦΥΛΛΙΑ.
Τριανταφυλλιά μου κόκκινη ;
τὸ ποῦ νὰ σὲ φυτέψω;
%. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 408.)
O LITTLE Rose-tree mine, so red,
O say, where shall I plant thee?
I dare not plant thee in the sea,
For I should fear the sailors;
I dare not plant thee on the hill,
For fear thou shouldst be frozen.
Oh, I will plant thee in a church,
The Rose-Tree.
155
In beauteous monastery;
And just between two apple-trees,
Between two orange-bushes;
That down the oranges may fall,
And in thy lap the apples ;
And all their blossoms flutter down
In showers upon thy roses;
And at thy roots I'll lay me down,
Lie there, and sweetly slumber.
THE GREEN TREE.
Dancing Song.
ΤΟ ΠΡΑΣΙΝΟ ΔΕΝΤΡΙ.
Ποιός εἶδε πράσινο δεντρί,
—μαυρομματοῦσα καὶ ξανθή,
(Aravandinos, 406.)
%. T. 7..
WHOEVER did green tree behold—
Thine eyes are black, thy hair is gold—
That with silver leaves was set ?—
Jet black eyes, and brows of jet-
And on whose bosom there was gold—
O eyes that so much weeping hold—
At its root a fountain flowing-
Who can right from wrong be knowing?
There I bent, the fount above,
To quench the burning flame of love;
There I drank that I might fill me,
That my heart I thus might cool me.
But my kerchief I let slip-
O what burning has my lip!—
Gold-embroidered for my pleasure;
'Twas a gift to me, the treasure.
156
Greek Folk-Songs.
That one it was they broidered me,
While sweetly they did sing for me:
Little maids so young and gay,
Cherries of the month of May.
One in Yannina was born,
Robe of silk did her adorn;
T'other from Zagórie strayed,
Rosy-cheeked this little maid.
An eagle one embroidered me—
Come forth, my love, thee would I see!-
T'other a robin-redbreast tidy,
Thursday—yes, and also Friday.¹
Should a youth my kerchief find,—
Black-eyed with gold tresses twined-
And a maiden from him bear it,
Round her slim waist let her wear it.
¹ Literally' Monday and Tuesday;' but as these words are merely
brought in for the rhyme, I have taken a similar liberty.
}

Bridal Song.
157
SECTION II.-DOMESTIC.
SUB-SECTION I.-EARLY MARRIED LIFE.
FOR THE THRONING¹ OF THE BRIDE.
Parga and Preveza.
ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΕΝ ΤΩ ΘΡΑΝΙΩ
ΤΟΠΟΘΕΤΗΣΙΝ ΤΗΣ
ΝΥΜΦΗΣ.
%. T. λ.
入​。
Εἰς τὸ σκαμνὶ τοῦ κάθησες, ξηρὰ ἤτανε τα ξύλα,
κι' ἀπὸ τὴν ὡμορφαδα σου ἀνθοῦν καὶ βγάνουν φύλλα.
(Aravandinos, 285.)
THOU didst but sit upon the stool, when lo! its wood
all lifeless
Thy beauty quickened into leaf, and flushed all o'er with
blossom.
The very deer made holiday the day thy mother bore
thee.
For dowry the Apostles Twelve bestowed on thee thy
beauty.
Of all the Stars of heaven so bright one only thee
resembles-
The Star that shines at early dawn, when sweet the
morn is breaking.
From out the heavens Angels came, the Saviour's
orders bearing:
The brightest radiance of the Sun they brought thee on
descending.
Thou hast the hair of Absalom, the comeliness of
Joseph;
¹ Literally, however, Opaviov is but a 'stool,' and a 'throne' is
Θρόνος.
158
Greck Folk-Songs.
He'll fortunate and lucky be, the youth who thee shall
marry.
The Bridegroom's mother should rejoice, gay be the
Bride's new mother,
Who such a noble son has borne, a mate for such a
maiden.
What proxenétés made the match, who cinnamon has eaten,¹
When such a Partridge was betrothed, and wed to such
an Eagle !
FOR THE BRIDE'S DEPARTURE.
Ioánnina.
ΕΙΣ ΤΗΝ ΑΝΑΧΩΡΗΣΙΝ ΤΗΣ ΝΥΜΦΗΣ.
Κάτου 'ς τὰ λιβάδια,
καὶ 'ς τὰ λιβαδάκια
2.5. %.
%. T.
(Aravandinos, 299.)
DOWN among the meadows,
'Mong the little meadows,
Come the mules a-grazing,
Cool, and quiet gazing;
One is not a-grazing,
Cool, and quiet gazing.
'Mule, why art not grazing,
Cool, and quiet gazing?'
'What enjoyment can I have?
Or what grazing can I crave?
I am going from my father,
And am wan and withered;
I am going from my mother,
And am wan and withered ;
I am going from my brother,
And am wan and withered.'
¹ The eating of cinnamon by the požεs, or matchmaker, and
the mothers of the couple, is one of the ceremonies of betrothal.
The Young Bridegroom.
159
FOR THE YOUNG BRIDEGROOM.
Epeiros.
ΕΙΣ ΝΕΟΝΥΜΦΟΥΣ.
Ἐδῶ σὲ τούταις ταῖς αὐλαῖς, ταῖς ὠμορφοστρωμέναις,
σὲ τοῦτο τὸ ἀρχοντόσπιτο, τὸ μαρμαροχτισμένο,
(Aravandinos, 331.)
%. T. 7.
WITHIN these sumptuous lofty halls, with carpets fine,
and cushions,
Within this lordly, princely house, this palace built of
marble,
A youthful bridegroom lies asleep, he like a lamb is
sleeping;
And there's a maiden well beloved, and fain would she
awake him.
Should she upon him water throw, she fears that it
might chill him;
And should she sprinkle him with wine, she fears 'twould
make him tipsy.
Sweet sprigs of basil now she takes, and marjoram she
gathers;
Therewith she hits him on the face, and on the lips she
strikes him:
'Awake, O golden comrade mine, and sleep thou not so
soundly;
The sun is high within the sky, the nightingales are
silent.'
THE WIFE'S DREAM.
Epeiros.
TO ONEIPON.
Κοιμᾶται ἡ ἀγάπη μου, καὶ πῶς νὰ τὴν ξυπνίσω ;
πήρα ζαχαρομύγδαλα 'ς τὸν κόρφο της τὰ ρίχνω.
(Aravandinos, 337.)
%. T. λ.
O SOUNDLY my belovéd sleeps, and how shall I awake.
her?
160
Greek Folk-Songs.
I take of sugared almonds now, and throw them on her
body.
• My Partridge, thou dost soundly sleep!'
have slept soundly;
My lord,¹ I
And in my sleep I've dreamed a dream—I pray thee now
expound it :
All saddleless I saw thy bay, and broken saw the
saddle;
Thy gold-embroidered kerchief, too, all in the mud was
trodden.'
'My bay-it means the road I take; my saddle-
foreign countries;
My broidered kerchief all besoiled-it is our separation.'
'Where thou art going, my hero, now, O let me ride
beside thee!
That thou may'st have me ever near, before thine eyes
for ever!'
'Where I must go, my dearest girl, there beauty may
not venture;
For I'd be murdered for thy sake, and thou'dst be taken
captive.'
THE HUSBAND'S DEPARTURE.
Zagórie.
Ο ΞΕΝΕΤΕΥΟΜΕΝΟΣ.
Στὰ ξένα πᾷς, λεβέντη μου, κ' ἐμένα που μ' αφίνεις ;
Πάρε κ' εμένα, βάλε με σἂν φοῦντα 'ς τ' άλογό σου.
་
(Aravandinos, 336.)
%. T. λ.
'My hero, wilt to foreign lands, and wilt thou leave me
lonely?
Oh, take me with thee! let me cling, a tassel, to thy bridle!'
'What can I do, my well-beloved-what can I do, dear
lassie?
1 'AvÕévte (àv0evTiKoç, lordly, authentic), in Turkish, Effendi.
The Husband's Departure.
161
Thy hands are made of precious gold, thy bosom is of
silver.
If thou wert but an apple red, thee in my breast I'd
carry;
But thou'rt a full-grown mortal now, nor canst hang
like a tassel!
And should we pass the hills across, the klephts I would
be fearing;
And should we travel through the towns, the Turks I'd
aye be fearing.
At monastery, or at church, the very prior would scare
me!
At morn will I a goldsmith bring, and he shall twice
refine thee;
A silver cup he'll make of thee, a ring and cross he'll
fashion.
The ring I'll on my finger wear; the cup I'll ever drink
from ;
And on my breast the cross I'll wear, by day and night
suspended.'
THE EXILED BIRD.
ΤΟ ΞΕΝΙΤΕΜΕΝΟ ΠΟΥΛΙ.
Ξενιτεμένο μου πουλί,
Και παραπονεμένο.
x. 5. 2.
(Oikonomides, B. 35.)
My bird in exile far away,
And lonely and sad-hearted,
The foreign lands give joy to thee,
And I'm consumed with longing.
What shall I send thee, exile mine,
And what shall I prepare thee?
Should I an apple send, 'twould rot;
162
Greek Folk-Songs.
A quince, 'twould dry and shrivel.
Oh, I will send my tears to thee,
Upon a costly kerchief;
My tears are such hot, burning drops.
That they will burn the kerchief.
Arise, O exile, and return!
Thy family awaits thee;
Thy sister longs to see thee come;
Thy wife awaits thy coming,
Her eyes all wet with weeping.
THE ABSENT HUSBAND.
Malakassi.
Η ΣΥΖΥΓΟΣ ΑΠΟΔΗΜΟΥΝΤΟΣ.
τά
Ἠθέλησε τ' ἀηταϊρί μου 'ς τὰ ξένα να πηγαίνη.
Ανάθεμά σε, ξενητειά, καὶ σὲ καὶ τὸ καλό σου,
(Aravandinos, 343.)
x. T. λ.
'O HE would go, my comrade dear, away to foreign
countries.
O be ye cursed, ye foreign lands, you and your wealth be
curséd,
Which take from us our blooming boys, and send
them back when married ;
Ye take the husbands when they're young, and send
them back when agéd!
O exile mine, thy kerchief fine, why soiléd dost thou
keep it?
O send it me, my wanderer, O send me thy white
kerchief;
I'll wash it thee in water warm, with soap I'll wash it
for thee.'
The water warm where wilt thou find, and where the
soap, my lassie ?'
The Husband's Return.
163
<
For water warm I have my tears, for soap I have my
spittle;
My slab shall be the marble black-send, let me wash it
for thee!'
THE HUSBAND'S RETURN.
Parga.
Ο ΠΑΛΙΝΟΣΤΩΝ ΣΥΖΥΓΟΣ.
Γλυκοχαράζ', ή 'Ανατολὴ καὶ γλυκοφέγγ' ή Δύσι,
πᾶν τὰ πουλάκια 'ς ταῖς βοσκαίς, γυναῖκες πᾶν ἐς τὸ πλύμα,
(Aravandinos, 348.)
2. 5. λ.
DAY sweet in Anatolia dawns, and sweet the West is
shining;
The birds unto the meadows go, the women to their
washing,
And I go with my good black steed, I go to give him
water;
And there, close by a deep well's side, I find a darling
woman.
'My girl, for my black steed and me, I prithee draw
some water.'
Twelve pailfuls from the well she drew, and yet her eyes
I saw not;
But as the thirteenth pail she drew, her head at length
she lifted;
Then loudly neighed my good black steed, and sadly
sighed the woman.
'Tell me, my girl, why art thou sad, why sorrowfully
sighing?"
'My husband's gone to foreign lands, and ten long years
he's absent;
164
Greek Folk-Songs.
But two years more I'll wait for him me more will I
expect him ;
And comes he not on the thirteenth, hide me in
a nunn'ry.'
Now tell me what your husbands ike, it may be that
I know him.'
'Oh, he was tall, and he was slim, himself he proudly
carried,
A travelling merchant, too, was he, in all the country
famous !'
'My girl, your husband he is dead, five years ago was
buried.
I lent to him some linen then-he said thou wouldst
return it;
And tapers, too, I lent to him-he said thou wouldst
repay me;
A kiss I lent to him besides-he said thou wouldst return
it.'
'If thou hast linen, tapers lent, be sure I will repay thee;
But if a kiss thou'st lent to him, that he himself must
pay thee !'
'O lassie, I am thy goodman; see, am not I thy
husband?'
If thou art he, my husband dear, himself, and not
another,
Tell me the fashion of the house, and then I may believe
thee.'
'An apple-tree grows at thy gate, another in thy court-
yard;
Thou hast a golden candlestick that stands within thy
chamber.'
'That's known of all the neighbourhood, and all the
world may know it;
Tell me the signs my body bears, and then I may believe
thee.'
Lullabies.
165
'Thou hast a mole upon thy chest, another in thine
armpit ;
There lies between thy two soft breasts a grain, 'tis white
and pearl-like.'
'Thou, thou my husband art, I know-oh, come to my
embraces !"¹
SUB-SECTION II.-LULLABIES AND NURSERY
RHYMES.
LULLABIES?
I.
Parga.
Κοιμήσου, χαϊδεμένο μου
καὶ μοσκαναθρεμμένο μου
(Aravandinos, 163.)
2. 5. 2.
SLEEP, my little darling one;
Sleep, my sweet musk-nurtured one-
Náni-nani, náni-nani-
On his eyes, Sleep, softly lie—
Nani-nani, nani-nani,
Or be whipped by mammy dear,
Or scolded by his daddy dear.
1 Compare the recognition of Odysseus by Penelópé, and of
Laertes by his son in the Odyssey, 4.
2
Νανάρισμα, from ναναρίζω, to lull to sleep, singing Νάνι νάνι, the
equivalent of the English By-by, or the (far sweeter?) Scotch Ba-loo.
I I
166
Greek Folk-Songs.
II.
Parga.
Κοιμήσου, σαββατόλουστο,
τὴν Κυριακὴ ἀλλασμένο.
x. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 164.)
O SLUMBER, washed on Saturday,
On Sunday dressed in clean array,
On Monday morn to school away,
As sweet as apple, bright and gay.
Sleep, the nightingale has flown ;
To Alexandria she has gone.
Náni, thou canary bright,
Who my brain bewilders quite.
III.
Parga.
Κουνιέται τὸ γαρύφαλο,
κουνιέται και τ' ασήμι,
x. T. 2.
(Aravandinos, 170.)
O ROCK the sweet carnation red,
And rock the silver shining,
And rock my boy all softly too,
With skein of silk entwining.
Come, O Sleep, from Chio's isle;
Take my little one awhile.
Náni, though no nightingale
Sweeter is in any vale;
White as curd, or winter snows,
Delicate as any rose.
Lullabies.
167
IV.
Parga.
Κοιμήσου, χαϊδεμένο μου,
κάτι νὰ σοῦ χαρίσω,
%. T. 7.
(Aravandinos, 165.)
Go to sleep, my darling one!
Something would I give to thee;
Yea, a gift I'd make to thee:
Arta fair and Ioannina,
Arta fair and Ioannina.
Give thee Chio with its vessels,
And Stambóli with its jewels.
Náni-nani, shut that eye!
Or with rocking I shall die.
For Ralli's son, Sleep, do not tarry,
He a General's child shall marry.
V.
Parga.
Τὸ δικό μου τὸ παιδὶ
εἶν' ἀσήμι καὶ φλωρί,
%. 5. λ.
(Aravandinos, 171.)
My dear child, my darling boy,
Is silver and gold without alloy;
Other children of the street
Are money false and counterfeit.
My good child fain would I see,
When a bridegroom he shall be;
I'll rejoice when by his side,
I shall see his own dear bride.
II-2
168
Greek Folk-Songs.
VI.
Parga.
Υπνε, που παίρνεις τὰ μικρά,
ἔλα, πάρε καὶ τοῦτο,
2. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 169.)
O SLEEP, who takest little ones,
Take to thee my darling!
A tiny one I give him now,
A big boy bring him to me;
As tall as any mountain grown,
And straight as lofty cypress;
His branches let him spread about;
From the West to Anatólia.
VII.
Parga.
Κοιμήσου, ποῦ νὰ σὲ χαρῆ
ἡ μάνα που σ' ἐγέννα,
%. 5. λ.
7..
Aravandinos, 166.
O SLUMBER now, and she'll thee bless,
The mother dear who bore thee;
He too, thy sire, who hopes to see
Thy children grow before thee.
O Slumber, come; come softly now,
And lie upon my wee one's brow;
O come, and in thine arms now take him,
And in the morning sweetly wake him.
Lullabies.
169
VIII.
Ioánnina.
Το παιδί μου τ' άσπρο, τ' ἄσπρο
τὸ καλέσανε 'στὸ κάστρο,
x. T. X.
(Aravandinos, 174.)
My dear boy, so white, so white,
The Kadi's daughters fair invite:
They ask him to the Castle, where
They honey-cakes for him prepare.
Honey-cakes with almonds spread,
Sweetmeats too with sugar red.
Going, going; he's going, he's going!
May the Panaghía guard him!
Going, going; he's going, he's going!
May the Christ watch o'er and ward him !
IX.
Parga.
Πάρτε το, κρατεῖτε το
κι' ὅλῳ τραγουδείτε το.
%. T. λ
(Arabantinos, 179.)
TAKE you him, and keep you him,
All sing gaily songs to him;
He'll fly light as any bird,
Like a lamb leap, 'pon my word;
Stare like any peacock proud,
Laugh as any angel loud.
Take him, dance him on your knee,
Softly dandle him for me;
Bid him live, grow strong and tall,
So to win the maidens all.
170
Greek Folk-Songs.
NURSERY-RHYMES.
I.
Ήταν ἕνας γέρος
ν' εἶχ᾽ ἵνα πετίενι.
x. T. λ.
(Passow, 274.)
THERE was an old man,
And he had a cock,
That crowed in the morn,
And awoke the old man.
But there came a cat
And ate the cock, etc.
And there came a fox
That ate the cat, etc.
And there came a wolf
And ate the fox, etc.
And there came a lion
And ate the wolf, etc.
And there came a river
And drowned the lion, etc.
II.
Salonica.
Μιὰ γρηά, κακή γρηά
Μὲ ταῖς κότταις μάλωνε
(Passow, 276.)
x. T. λ.
ONE old dame, a bad old dame,
Quarrelled with her cocks and hens,
Quarrelled with her little cat.
Tsit! and Xoo!
I say, old woman, where is your spouse?
Nursery-Rhymes.
171
One old dame, a bad old dame,
Quarrelled with her cocks and hens,
Quarrelled with her little cat,
Quarrelled with her little dog.
Oust! and Tsit! and Xoo!
I say, old woman, where is your spouse?
One old dame, a bad old dame,
Quarrelled with her cocks and hens,
Quarrelled with her little cat,
Quarrelled with her little dog,
Quarrelled with her little pig,
Quarrelled with her little ass,
Quarrelled with her little cow,
Quarrelled with her little hut.
Phoo! Oo! Aa! Youts! Oust! Tsit! Xoo!¹
I say, old woman, where is your spouse?
III.
Salonica.
Νάχαμε, τί νάχαμε ;
Νάχαμ' ἕνα γέροντα,
%. T. λ
(Passow, 275.)
WE will have-what shall we have?
We will have an old, old man,
Who shall dig our little garden,
Where the roses gaily grow.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have a little donkey,
For our old, old man to ride on, etc.
1 In the Levant there is a special exclamation for driving out
each of the domestic animals. Tsit! for a cat; Xoo! for poultry:
Oust! for a dog; Youtz! for a pig; Aa! (with nasal sound) for
a donkey; Oo! for a cow; Phoo! for things in general.
172
Greek Folk-Songs.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have a little wasp,
That shall sting the little donkey,
That shall throw the old, old man, etc.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have a little cock,
That shall eat the little wasp, etc.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have a little fox,
That shall eat the little cock, etc.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have a clever dog,
That shall kill the little fox, etc.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have a little stick,
That shall beat the little dog, etc.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have an oven big,
That shall burn the little stick, etc.
We will have-what shall we have?
We will have a river wide,
That shall quench the oven's fire, etc.
IV.
Parga.
βρέχει, βρέχει, καὶ χιονίζει,
κι' ὁ παπᾶς τυρομυρίζει.
0
7.
x. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 188.)
IT rains, it rains, and soon 'twill freeze,
And the parson smells of cheese;
Where shall we put our lady bride?
Beneath the chickpea-stalk she'll hide.
Where shall we put our bridegroom gay?
Beneath the cross he'll sit all day.
"Nursery-Rhymes.
173
V.
Ioánnina.
Λέλεκα, παπᾶ χατζῆ!
μὴν εἶδες τά πρόβατα,
7.
%. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 197.)
STORK, O father pilgrim, say!
Did you chance to see my sheep?'
'Yes, I saw them yesterday,
Grazing by the lakeside deep.
A wolf came up and on them fell,
A fox stood by in great delight;
The dogs did bark and bay right well.
The shepherd cried with all his might.'
VI.
Ioánnina.
Στὸ κελὶ μιανῆς καλόγρῃας
πουχ' ἀνάγῃα καὶ κατώγγα,
(Aravandinos, 195.)
2. 5. λ.
I WENT to a good nun's storehouse,
Which has upstairs and has downstairs,
Oped the door and in I entered.
There I found a wolf a-dancing,
And a fox who food was cooking,
A hare who on the lyre was playing,
A weasel on a pipe was whistling,
And a giant of a hedgehog
At a tortoise eyes was making.
And the tortoise was quite shamefaced,
And within her hole she hid her.
Then upon her bed I mounted,
Found a cake and a round biscuit;
Milk beside them in a pitcher.
174
Greek Folk-Songs.
VII.
Ioánnina.
*Αναψα κλωνί δαδί,
κ' ἔκαψα τὴν τσέπη μου,
2. T. 2.
%. λ.
(Aravandinos, 198.)
I A PINE-TORCH lighted me,
To my pocket I set fire,
Which has echoes, which has wheels,
Which has fields and mountains high.
Trees upon the mountains grow,
Branches on the trees, I trow,
In the branches nests abound,
In the nests the eggs are found;
From the eggs young birds come out,
On the birds will feathers sprout.
VIII.
Ioánnina.
Κατέβα, μήλο,
νὰ σ' ερωτήσω,
Χ. τ. λ.
(Aravandinos, 191.)
'COME down, O apple,
And tell me true,
What does the maiden
That I love, do ?'
'Braid she is plaiting,
By night and day.'
'For whom does she plait it?'
'For Yanni, they say.'
The Parson's Wife.
175
SUB-SECTION III.-LATER MARRIED LIFE.
THE PARSON'S WIFE,
Η ΠΑΠΑΔΙΑ.
Κορίτσια, μπᾶτε στὸ χορὸ νὰ μάθετε τραγούδια,
Νὰ δῆτε κεντισταῖς ποδιαῖς, πράσινες καὶ γαλάζιαις.
(Oikonomides, B. 7.)
x. 5. λ.
O MAIDENS, to the dance come out, and learn our lays
and ballads,
And see the broidered aprons gay, green aprons and blue
aprons;
And see, too, how the Parson's Wife comes out among
the gallants.
The Parson follows close at hand, and at her side goes
begging :
'O most shortwaiting papadia,¹ two words I want to ask
thee :
How canst thou leave our house unkept, and all alone
the children?'
'Go, Parson, go, do thou go home-go stay thou with
thy children,
And I with the young men will go, and with the
pallikaria.
'I say, where are the Hierá, that I may chant the
service?'
The fire may burn the Hierá, the house, and thee
within it !'
1 llamadia, the title given to the wife of a Пanás, or parish priest.
176
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE FORSAKEN WIFE.
Zagórie.
Η ΣΥΣΥΓΙΚΗ ΕΥΚΑΤΑΛΕΙΨΙΣ.
Μάνα μ', γιατί μὲ πάντρεψες καὶ μὤδωκες Βλαχιώτη;
δώδεκα χρόνους 'ς τὴ Βλαχιὰ καὶ τρεῖς βραδυαὶς ἐς τὸ σπίτι.
(Aravandinos, 340.)
2. 5. λ.
WHY didst thou, mána, marry me, and give me a
Vlach husband?1
Twelve long years in Wallachia, and at his home three
evenings.
On Tuesday night, a bitter night, two hours before the
dawning,
My hand I did outstretch to him, but did not find my
husband;
Then to the stable-door I ran: no horse fed at the
manger.
I sped me to the chamber2 back, I could not find
his weapons;
I threw me on my lonely couch, to make my sad
lamenting.
'O pillow, lone and desolate; O mattress mine, forsaken,
Where is thy Lord³ who yesternight did lay him down
upon thee?'
'Our Lord has left us here behind, and gone upon
a journey-
Gone back to wild Wallachia, to Bucharest unhappy.'
¹ The population of the secluded mountain valleys of Zagórie (see
Introd., pp. 26, 27) is, in considerable part, Vlach, and the men are
famous for their energetic enterprise in commerce during their
customary years of exile.
"Ovra, Turkish Oda. Rooms are made into bedrooms by simply
bringing the mattress, etc., out of the cupboard.
3 See above, p. 160, n. 1.
The Sale of the Wife.
177
THE SALE OF THE WIFE.
Epeiros.
Η ΠΩΛΗΣΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΣΥΖΥΓΟΥ.
Ενας κοντὸς κοντούτσικος, ποῦχ᾽ ὤμορφη γυναῖκα,
τοῦ την ζηλεύ᾽ ἡ γειτονιά, τοῦ τὴν ζυλεύ᾽ ἡ χώρα
(Aravandinos, 280.)
x. T. 7.
A MANNIE, a wee mannikin, once had a wife so bonnie,
That all the neighbours envied him, and all the town was
jealous;
But many debts the mannie had, and he would go and
sell her.
He washes her on Friday well, on Saturday adorns her,
And when the Sunday morning comes, to the bazaár he
takes her.
'I have a damsel dear to sell, she's fair-haired, and she's
black-eyed!'
The Widow's Son comes forth to see, and he the seller
questions:
'Say, Stumpy, what's the beauty's price-how much will
cost the black-eyed ?'
Two thousand for her upper lip; two thousand for the
lower;
Her precious body has no price, and it cannot be valued.'
'Hold, Stumpy, hold thy cap in hand, and I will count
the money.'
He leads her to the sea-beach down, and in a boat
embarks her;
The Darling seats her in the stern, and all the sails are
swelling;
And that gay youth, the Widow's Son, embarks, too, for
a frolic.
1
178
Greek Folk-Songs.
MAROULA, THE DIVORCED.
Η ΜΑΡΟΥΛΑ.
Σήκου, Μαρουλ', ἀπὸ τὴ γῆς, καὶ τίναξε πὸ χῶμα,
σύρε, καὶ στρώσε τὸν ὀντᾶ ἐς τὸ πέρα σαχνισάνι,
(Aravandinos, 241.)
κ. τ. λ.
'ARISE, Maroúla, from the earth, and shake the dust
from off thee;
Arise, and on the balcony now spread for us thy
bower.
Go hasten, make us coffee, too, bring wine and fill the
beakers;
And take and bathe thyself, and change, and don thy
brightest raiment ;
Then hie thee to the dance away, then hie thee to the
village,
That all the belles may gaze on thee, and all the
pallikária;
There will thy husband see thee, who another wife
has taken.'
'And if I am divorced, what then? 'Twas he who had
the worst o't!
At two o'clock I'll to the bath, at four I'll change my
raiment ;
And out of fourteen pallikars I'll choose another husband.
And then I will my house set up right opposite his
dwelling;
And there beside his garden gay will I plant me my
garden;
I'll come, and go, that he may see, and boil with rage, and
burst him!"
1 Him thus used for himself is common in English patois, and
may be allowable in translating this Greek patois.
The Old Man's Bride.
179
THE OLD MAN'S BRIDE
Η ΣΥΖΥΓΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΕΡΟΝΤΟΣ.
Τρεις αδερφάδαις ἤμασταν κ' ἡ τρεῖς παντρευθηκάμαν,
ἡ μιαν ἐπῆρε βασιληά, ἡ ἄλλη τὸ Βεζύρη.
(Aravandinos, 206.)
%. 5. λ.
O WE were once three sisters dear, and all we three did
marry;
A King one to herself did take, and his Viziér the other,
And I, the fairest of them all, I took a rich old fellow.
They roasted at the Palace sheep, at the Vizieri's,
poultry;
But rams and calves they roasted whole to grace the
Ancient's² wedding.
Uncounted flocks I found were his, and his were herds
of oxen,
Unmeasured vineyards, countless casks, and grain in
great storehouses.
But what, unhappy orphaned one, want I with all these
riches,
Who on my mattress by my side such company must
suffer?
Thou oldest man,³ thou stinking-mouth'd, thou skeleton,
thou blear-eyed!
Curst may my mother be; and Earth, dissolve not in thy
bosom
4
The go-between whom she employed to settle my
betrothal !
1 Compare BURNS, 'What can a young lassie do wi' an auld man?'
2 Παληόγερος.
3 Πρωτόγερος.
The consequence of which would be that, after death, the
προξενήτρα would become a Vampire.
180
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE OLD MAN'S SPOUSE.
Zagórie.
Η ΣΥΖΥΓΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΓΕΡΟΝΤΟΣ.
Δε μὲ βαροῦν τὰ ξένα καὶ τὰ μακρυνά,
μόν' μὲ βαροῦν τῆς κόρης τὰ μηνύματα·
(Aravandinos, 207.)
x. 5. 7..
%. T.
I WEARY not of foreign lands, of journeys long ;
I'm wearied only by the message of the girl,
Who sends me word by birds, and by the eagles swift:
'Where'er thou art, my Exile, quickly, quickly come!
Because they have betrothed and married me, alas!
A husband me they've given, slothful, oh! and old.
About the mattresses I'm scolded every night;
At morn he drives me forth the water cold to draw;
A heavy pail he gives to me, too short a rope ;
No water can I reach, though low I stoop and strain;
Of wool nine fathoms I have cut, a cord to make:
Where'er thou art, my Exile, quickly, quickly come!'
YANNAKOS, OR THE ASSASSINATED
HUSBAND.
ΓΙΑΝΝΑΚΟΣ Η Ο ΔΟΛΟΦΝΗΘΕΙΣ ΣΥΖΥΓΟΣ.
0
Τ' ἄκουσμα ποὖχ' ὁ Γιαννακός, ποὖχ᾽ ὤμορφη γυναῖκα,
ποῦσαν ψηλή πούταν λιγνή, ποὖσαν καγκελοφρύδα.
(Aravandinos, 481.)
κ. τ. λ.
THE fame that Yannakós enjoyed a lovely wife he'd
married,
Who slender was, and who was tall, and who had thick
dark eyebrows,
Yannakós, or the Assassinated Husband. 181
And white as swan's was her fair neck, her eyes like
eyes of partridge,—
Syropoulo made to set forth from Yannakós to take
her.
As on the road alone he went, to God he said a prayer,
That he might Yannakós surprise upon his mattress lying,
Barefooted and ungirded too, clad only in his singlet.¹
And as he prayed, so it fell out; for Yannakós was
sleeping.
Health, joy to thee, O Yanniké, I wish thee health,
good morrow.'
'Syropoulo, thou welcome art, now eat and drink thou
with me,'
'I came not here to eat and drink, I came here for thy
fair one;
Give her to me of thy free will, thy life if thou dost love it.'
To keep my head in safety, I five fair ones good would
give thee;
I'd give to thee my mother first, I'd give thee my two
sisters;
For fourth one I'd my cousin give, my much bepraiséd
cousin ;
And last of all my crown I'd give, she who of all is
envied.'
But as he spoke ran Yannakós, he ran his sword to
fetch him;
Ill-fated man! he reached it not, before his head was
severed.
1 Пokaμioάki, a diminutive from the Italian camísa.
I 2
182
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE CHILD SLAYER.
Η ΠΑΙΔΟΚΤΟΝΟΣ.
Τρίτη Τετράδη θλιβερή, Πέφτη φαρμακωμένη,
Παρασκευή ξημέρωνε να μ' εἶχε ξημερώση,
(Aravandinos, 455.)
%. T. λ.
O SAD is Tuesday, Wednesday too, and bitter, bitter
Thursday;
And Friday now is dawning, would that it had dawnéd
never!
Forth Kostas wends at morning light, and for to go
a-hunting;
And to his teacher Johnny goes, that he may learn his
letters.
A paper he at home forgets, and turns again to
fetch it.
And in the house a youth he sees, who's with his mother
playing.
'Unfaithful mother, who is this? And what wants here
this stranger?
At evening when my Lord' comes home, all this I shall
relate him.'
His mother laughed, and mocked at him, and dragged
him to the cellar,
And like a lamb she slew him there, the b-, just like
a butcher.
And now is Kostas coming home, home from a hard
day's hunting,
A living deer he brings with him, he brings a stag he's
wounded;
¹ See note, p. 160.
The Child Slayer.
183
(
And in a leash a little fawn, for little John to play
with.
My darling, health and joy to thee! where is our son
now, tell me?'
'He went at morning to the school, and has not yet
returnéd.'
He mounts his mare and rides away, and hies him to the
teacher.
Ho, teacher, where's my little John? are not yet done his
lessons?'
'To school to-day no Johnny came; I have not seen your
Johnny.'
Back to his house he then returns, but there he finds no
Johnny.
He runs and seizes on the keys, and hies him to the
cellar,
And there he finds his little son, like lambkin finds
him slaughtered.
In pieces small he chops her up, chops up that she-dog
mother,¹
And gathers up the pieces all, and puts them in a
wallet.
Away he bears them to the mill, like any madman
running:
'Grind now, my mill, O grind for me the bones of this
adult'ress!'
1 'He cuttit him in pieces sma'
On fair Kirkconnel lee.'
12-2
184
Greek Folk-Songs.
:
SECTION III.-HUMOURISTIC.1
THE DANCE OF THE MAIDENS.
Ο ΧΟΡΟΣ ΤΩΝ ΝΕΑΝΙΔΩΝ:
Εμπᾶτε τσιού πραις, 'ς τὸ χορό,
τώρα που ἔχετε καιρό,
(Aravandinos, 410.)
x. T. λ.
'OUT, now, maidens, to the dance!
Out while you have still the chance;
For very soon you'll wedded be,
From household troubles never free;
When children round you 'gin to grow,
How to neighbours' can you go?'
'We shall beat them well, I trow;
Leave them all at home, I vow!'
'Time to dance how can you take,
When you have to cook and bake?'
'We will leave the bread to burn,
All the meat to smoke may turn !'
1 The most humorous Folk-songs are almost always too coarse
for reproduction in translations-compare, for instance, Bishop
PERCY'S Loose and Humorous Songs. But even omitting these,
the Songs in this Section appear to be sufficient to refute the Rev.
Mr. TOZER'S remark (Highlands of Turkey, vol. ii., p. 257) that
' of real humour there is hardly any trace in their composition.'
This fancied fact Mr. TOZER attributes to, or rather deduces from,
the 'sad and serious condition of a people conscious of living under
oppression.'
•
•
The Dance of the Maraens.
185
'You must sit at home and spin;
Weaving, too, will keep you in.'
'Both we laugh at gaily, pooh!
Loom and twirling spindle too!'
'Your husband you indoors will close,
And with his stick he'll give you blows.'
'The stick should have two ends, he'd see!
And we would have a second key!'
THE FEAST.
ΤΟ ΣΥΜΠΟΣΙΟΝ.
Πίναμαν καυκιὰ γιομάτα
κ' εἴχαμαν καὶ μαυρομμάτα.
(Aravandinos, 411.)
%. T. λ.
DRINK we beakers filled to brim,
With us black-eyed maidens trim;
Black eyes with us at our wine;
Black eyes from the windows shine.
If I were a klepht I'd steal them,
Or were cunning, I'd beguile them!
To the market they should go,
While the crier went to and fro;
I would sell them, I'll be bound,
Sell them for five hundred pound!
But these eyes can not be sold,
Nor can trafficked be for gold;
Truly given they ever are,
To a worthy pallikar!
186
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE JANISSARY.
Salonica.
Ο ΓΙΑΝΙΤΣΑΡΟΣ
Στὴν πόρτα τοῦ Σαλονικιοῦ
Κάθετ' ένας γιανίτσαρος,
x. 5. λ.
(Aravandinos, 424.)
AT Saloníca's gate of yore,
There sat a Janissary;
A Janissary boy was he,
And in his hand a lute he bore.-
A lute of gold. He strikes its strings.
'Play little lute,' to it he sings:
'And tell me, for thou know'st, I wis,
What is the value of a kiss?'
'A matron's, sequins twelve will cost;
For widow's, just fourteen you'd pay;
To kiss a sweet unmarried maid,
Venetian sequins five are lost.'
THE TREE.
Eperios.
ΤΟ ΔΕΝΔΡΟΝ.
Δέντρον ἦτον 'ς τὴν αὐλή μου,
μιὰ παρηγοριὰ δική μου.
x. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 415.)
A TREE within my courtyard grew,
To me 'twas pleasure ever new ;
I gave fresh water to its root,
That it might thrive and bear me fruit.
:
The Tree.
187
Its leaves were all of gold so bright,
Its branches all of silver white;
Fair pink and white the flowers it shed,
Its fruit was like the apple red;
And I believed it was for me
That they had made it fair to sec.
When the apples from the tree
Gathered were, the housewife (she
Was a b——) would give me none;
Into stranger's hands they're gone.
THE WINESELLER.
Epeiros.
Η ΟΙΝΟΠΩΛΙΣ.
Πέρα 'ς τὴν ᾿Ανατολή
καὶ 'ς τὴν Αντριανούπολι,
%. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 421.)
IN Anatólia, so they tell,
In Adrianople town as well,
Sweet wine, red wine, there they sell.
There the Turks come every day;
Drink, and then their reck'ning pay.
One old Koniár¹ who's drunk his wine,
To pay his score refuses.
'O give me, Turk, my aspra,? now,
And I'll to thee a lady bring,
Who has sequins by the string.'
'Thou no lady need'st me bring,
Who has sequins by the string;
But a Vlácha, mountain-bred,
One who wears an apron red.'
1 An Asiatic Turk, settled in Europe, and so called from the
ancient Turkish capital, Konieh (Quonya), Iconium, in Asia Minor.
2 See Trans., p. 109, note 1.
188
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE GALLANTS.
Zagórie.
ΟΙ ΓΥΝΑΙΚΟΠΛΑΝΟΙ.
Τζελέπιδες περνούσανε
καὶ ταμπουρᾶ λαλούσανε.
x. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 390.)
ALONG are passing gallants gay,
And on their lutes they sweetly play.
'O play, my little lute, an air!
Who knows? we may entice some fair,
As through the quarter down below,
Or lordlier mahallá² we go!'
A high-born maid awakes from sleep,
And from her mattress off doth leap;
Her casement gains with hurrying feet,
And glances down into the street.
O lordly little window high,
What song wouldst hear as I pass by?
It is a sin, if e'er was one,
So fair a maid should sleep alone!'
THE DREAM.
Zagórie.
ΤΟ ΟΝΕΙΡΟΝ.
Μέσ' τὴν ἁγιὰ Παρασκευή,
κόρη κοιμῶνταν λυγερή,
2. T. λ.
(Aravandinos, 405.)
DOWN in St. Paraskeví
Sleeps a maid, and fair is she.
1 Chelebis, a commonly used Turkish word for 'Gentlemen.'
2 ' Quarter.'
The Dream.
189
(
Sleeps she soft, and dreams a dream—
Sees her wedding, it would seem.
This has turned the maiden's head;
She decks her when she leaves her bed,
Bathes herself, and combs her hair,
Gazes in the mirror fair;
Throws her eyes about and plays,
Casts them down, and to them says:
'Little eyes, I'll bless you so,
To the dance as now we go,
If you there yourselves will use,
Husband for me well to choose.
Age and gold I don't desire;
Youth and beauty I require.
An old man's hard to satisfy;
One may not laugh when he is by;
Soft on his mattress must he lie;
His pillows one must pile up high;
And all the night he's snoring lying,
While by his side the maid is sighing.'
THE REFUSAL¹
Ioánnina.
Η ΜΑΥΡΟΜΜΑΤΑ.
Απόψε, μαυρομμάτα μου, ἐδῶ θέλω νὰ μείνω.
—Ἐδῶ κι' ἄν μείνης, ξένε μου, ἔξω θὰ ξενυχτίσης.
(Aravandinos, 389.)
x. T. λ.
TO-NIGHT, to-night, my black-eyed one, 'tis here that
I'd be biding.'
'And if thou bidest here, my guest, thou'lt pass the night
outside there.'
Outside it rains, I shall be drenched; it snows, I shall
be frozen.'
1 Compare BURNS, 'O Lassie, art thou sleeping yet? and her
answer.
190
Greek Folk-Songs.
Within, my guest, there is no room; my house it is too
narrow.'
'A knife I'll take, and slay myself; thou'lt of the crime be
guilty!'
'If thou shouldst wound and slay thyself, 'tis little I'd be
caring.'
THE LEMON-TREE.
Ioannina.
HAEMONIA.
Λεμονιᾶς ζητῶ, λεμόνι ένα,
κι' αὐτὴ μοῦ ἔλεγετἄχει ἄλλος μετρημένα
(Aravandinos, 418.)
2. 5. λ.
OF the Lemon-tree ask I one lemon alone.
She answers-'They've counted them every one!'
Of the Lemon-tree ask I for lemons but two.
She answers-'Not one even is there for you!'
Of the Lemon-tree ask I, I ask lemons three.
She answers me- Poústé ! I owe none to thee.'
(
Of the Lemon-tree ask I, four lemons I claim.
She answers-'Who art thou? I know not thy name.'
Of the Lemon-tree ask I, five lemons so bright.
She says 'Hold the candle and show me a light!'
Of the Lemon-tree ask I, six lemons I pray!
She says 'Hold it still till it's all burnt away.”
1 See above, p. 140, n. 1.
2
Compare such Children's Rhymes as
Oranges and lemons say the bells of St. Clements,' etc., etc.;
which suddenly ends with
'Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
Here comes a chopper to chop off the last one's head.'
The Hegoumenos and the Vlach Maiden. 191
:
THE HEGOUMENOS AND THE VLACH
MAIDEN.
Ioánnina.
Ο ΗΓΟΥΜΕΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ Η ΒΛΑΧΟΠΟΥΛΑ.
Σ τὸν ἀπάνου μαχαλά
καὶ ἐς τὴν κάτου γειτονιά,
(Aravandinos, 383.)
To the upper quarter go,
X: T. X.
Or the neighbourhood below;
Vlach girls sit, and wash them there-
Sit and wash, and comb their hair.
This a 'goúmenos¹ was told,
Breathless ran he to behold.
'Vlachopoúla, thee I love;
This I've come to tell my dove.'
'Goúmenè, if thou lov'st true;
Go and fetch a boat, now do;
'Handsome let its boatmen be,
To pull the oars for thee and me.'
THE BULGARIAN GIRL.
Epeiros.
Η ΒΟΥΡΓΑΡΟΠΟΥΛΑ.
Δώδεκα χρόνους έκαμα
'ς τῆς Πόλης τ' αργαστήρια,
(Aravandinos, 425.)
x. T. λ.
LONG years a doz'n I toiled and moiled,
Within Stambouli's workshops;
1 'Hyouμεvos, Hegumenos, or Abbot.
192
Greek Folk-Songs.
Sequins a thousand there I earned,
Piastres earned five hundred ;
All of them in one night I spent,
With one Bulgarian damsel.
Give me, O Bulgar, back my coin,
And give me back my sequins!
THE WOOER'S GIFT.
Parga.
ΤΟ ΔΟΡΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΜΝΗΣΤΗΡΟΣ,
* Αγουρος μήλο μὥστειλε καὶ κόκκινο γαϊτάνι,
καὶ κόκκινο γαϊτάνι,
(Aravandinos, 384.)
x. 5. λ.
A YOUNGSTER me an apple sent, he sent a braid of
scarlet-
He sent a braid of scarlet.
The apple I did eat anon, and kept the braid of scarlet-
And kept the braid of scarlet.
I wove it in my tresses fair, and in my hair so golden-
And in my hair so golden.
And to the sea-beach I went down, and to the shore of
ocean-
And to the shore of ocean;
And there the women dancing were, and drew me in
among them—
And drew me in among them.
1 This Song recalls the story of that famous satire of Sappho's,
in which she ridiculed her brother Charaxas for having lost all his
profit on a cargo of wine with the beautiful Thracian hetaira,
Doricha, usually called 'Rosycheeks' ('Podwrós), once the fellow-
slave of Æsop, the fable-writer,' and brought to Navkratis, at the
eastern mouth of the Nile, by the Samian merchant, Zanthes.-
See ATHENÆ US, Deipn., xiii. 596.
The Wooer's Gift.
193
The youngster's mother there I found, and there, too,
was his sister—
There was his eldest sister.
And as I leapt and danced amain, and as I skipped and
strutted-
And as I skipped and strutted—
My cap fell off, and ev'ryone could see my braid of
scarlet-
Could see my braid of scarlet.
'I say, the braid you're wearing there was to my son
belonging—
'And if the braid
belonging-
My dearest son belonging.'
that now I wear was to your son
Your dearest son belonging-
He sent an apple, it I ate, my hair the braid I wound
through;
And I will soon be crowned, too.¹
THE SHEPHERD'S WIFE.
Epeiros.
Η ΤΣΟΜΠΑΝΙΣΑ.
Μι ἁγυναῖκα ἑνοῦ τζομπάνη,2
οὔτε τὸ γιαγοῦρτι φτιάνε.
(Aravandinos, 354.)
%. 5. λ.
A SHEPHERD once a wife had he,
To curdle milk she'd ne'er agree;
His cheese to him she'd never bear,
To leave him was her only care;
1 That is, married. For, in the Greek marriage-service, the
priest places garlands on the heads of the bride and bridegroom,
saying : Στέφετε ὁ δούλος τοῦ Θεοῦ την δούλην τοῦ Θεοῦ. Servant of
God, So-and-so, crown the servant of God, So-and-so.'
2 Choban, a commonly used Turkish word for 'Shepherd.'
194
Greek Folk-Songs.
And to the town she fain would go,
And she would be a lady O!
'O leave me not, my partridge dear;
Still with me bide-live with me here.
I'll sell the pig that's in the sty,
A fur-lined cloak for thee to buy ;
I'll sell the goats, and have a ring,
Made with the money that they bring ;
And all the kids for thee I'll sell,
To buy thee earrings fine, as well;
I'll sell the sheepfold for thy sake,
So I a dress can for thee make ;
I'll sell the farm, and land I'll lack,
So thou mayst have a mantle black."
THE KLEPHTS.
ΟΙ ΚΛΕΦΤΑΙ.
Βγήκαν κλέφταις στὰ βουνά,
Γιὰ νὰ κλέψουν ἄλογα
%. T. λ.
(Passow, 507.)
To the hills the klephtës came,
Stealing horses was their game;
But no horses did they find,
So my little lambs they took,
I
Flocks of kids from 'neath my crook.
All gone, all gone, all gone, all!
Alack, alack, alackaday !
Little lambs of mine,
Little goats of mine,
Ohone !2
1 The ordinary outer garment of shepherd's wives is of unbleached
and undyed wool.
2 Bai! an exclamation either of mere surprise, or of distress and
dismay.
i
と
​The Klephts.
195
They took from me my milk-pail new,
In which my flocks' sweet milk I drew;
They took from me my reed-pipe true-
From out my hand they took it, too.
All gone, all gone, all gone, all!
Alack, alack, alackaday !
Little pipe of mine,
Little pail of mine,
Ohone!
My wether's gone, too, from the fold;
He had a fleece as bright as gold,
And horns of silver on his head.
All gone, all gone, all gone, all!
Alack, alack, alackaday,
Little flocks of mine,
Little wether mine,
Ohone!
Panaghía, I pray of thee,
Punish all these klephts for me!
Ay, and on them sudden fall;
Take away their weapons all.
In their strongholds punish them,
Yea, and all the like of them.
Alack, alack, alackaday!
Little flocks of mine,
Little wether mine,
Ohone!
Panaghía, if heard by thee,
And thou smite the klephts for me;
And again within the fold
I
my ram, with fleece of gold,
196
Greek Folk-Songs.
See; when comes Good Friday round,
Lambs I'll roast thee, I'll be bound,
Till from spit they fall to ground.
Alack, alack, alackaday!
Little flocks of mine,
Little wether mine,
Ohone!
THE THIEF TURNED HUSBANDMAN.
Epeiros.
Ο ΑΠΟ ΛΗΣΤΟΥ ΓΕΩΡΓΟΣ.
*Αφηκε ὁ Γιάννης την κλεψιὰ κ' ἔπιασε το ζευγάρι,
κ' ἔκιασ' αλέτρι ἄπὸ συκιὰ καὶ τὸ ζυγὸ ἀπὸ δάφνη,
(Aravandinos, 352.)
x. T. λ.
THE robber's trade had Yanni left, and now would be a
farmer;
His plough he made of figtree-wood, the yoke he made
of laurel ;
He made of bullrushes his team, an old spade was his
ploughshare;
As for his goad, it was a stick, cut from a branch of
olive.
He sowed, and when the autumn came, he reaped his
corn nine measures.
The five he owed, and paid them back, three by the
Turks were taken,
The one, poor one, that's left to him, he to the mill will
carry.
He finds the clapper on the mill, and cut off is the water;
And while he makes the water run, and sets the mill
agoing,
The rats come out on every side, and gnaw his sack to
tatters.
The Thief turned Husbandman.
197
'I say, boo, boo, my little sack! Ah me! I am unlucky!'
And while he's twisting him his thread' to mend his
torn sack's tatters,
A wolf comes out from t'other side, and kills and eats
his donkey.
'I say, boo, boo, my donkey dear! Ah me! I am un-
lucky!'
Away he goes and climbs a hill, and sits him in the
sunshine;
And takes him off his breeches wide, to rid them of the
vermin.
From high above an eagle swoops, and carries off his
breeches.
'I say, boo, boo, O breeches mine! Ah me! I am un-
lucky!'
He sets out down the hill again, and soon his children
spy him.
'O mana, here Effendi comes, and from the mill he's
coming,
Without the sack, without the ass, and oh! without his
breeches !'
Yannóva to the door came out-she for the flour was
waiting-
And called to him: 'Come, hurry now! the cakes I must
be kneading;
For hungry all the children are, and for their food
they're screaming.'
'Now hold thy tongue, thou featherbrain ! I'm deafened
with thy chatter;
For unbreeched home thou seest I've come, and come
without the donkey!'
1 Unspun yarn, which is dexterously twisted with the hands as
required for use.
See above, p. 160, n. 1.
3 Ζαλιάρικα, from Ζάλη, giddiness.
13

CLASS III.
HISTORICAL FOLK-SONGS.
SECTION I.-PASHALIC.1
THE SACK OF ADRIANOPLE.
(1361.)
ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟΥΠΟΛΙΣ ΚΟΥΡΣΕΥΜΕΝΗ.
Κλαίγουν τἀηδόνια τῆς Βλακιᾶς καί τὰ πουλιὰ στὴν δέσιν,
Κλαίγουν αργά, κλαίγουν ταχυὰ, κλαίγουν τὸ μεσημέρι.
(Passow, 193.)
%. T. λ.
WALLACHIA'S² nightingales lament, the birds within the
forests;
1 The most natural division of these Historical Folk-songs seems to
be into three Periods-the First extending from the Ottoman Conquest
to the first Greek Insurrections in the last quarter of the Eighteenth
Century-those, namely, of the Cypriotes in 1760, of the Mainotes
in 1770, and of the Souliotes in 1787; the Second Period extending
from about 1760 to the Greek War of Independence in 1821; and
the Third, from the latter date to the present time. The First
Period and Section of the Songs may be distinguished as the
Pashalic; the Second, in at least Northern Greece, as the Souliote;
and the Third as the Hellenic. For it was only in this last Period
that the idea of Hellas was developed, and that Greeks fought as
Hellenes, and not merely as Mainotes or Souliotes, etc., or, at best,
as Christians against Muslims.
2 Wallachia here means Thrace, not the Trans-Danubian country
now known by that name. Thessaly was for long a semi-inde-
pendent principality under the name of Great Wallachia, Mɛyáλn
Blaxia. See Introd., p. 28; also p. 29, n. 26.
13-2
200
Greek Folk-Songs.
They weep at morn, they weep at eve, and weep they too
at noontide.
They're weeping for the pillaged town, sore pillaged
Adrianople,
That at the year's three festivals the Turks despoil and
pillage.
At Christmastide they tapers take, the palms on Passion
Sunday,
And on the morn of Easter Day, break up our ‘Christ is
Risen!'1
THE CAPTURE OF CONSTANTINOPLE.
(14.53.)
ΑΛΩΣΙΣ ΤΗΣ ΚΩΝΣΤΑΝΤΙΝΟΥΠΟΛΕΩΣ.
Πῆραν τὴν πόλι, πῆραν τὴν, πῆραν τὴ Σαλονίκη,
Πῆραν καὶ τὴν ἁγιά Σοφιά, τὸ μέγα μοναστήρι.
(Passow, 194.)
%. T. 7..
THE city's taken, it is lost, they've taken Saloníca!
Ayiá Sofiá they've taken too, the Minster great they've
taken,
Which has three hundred wooden bells² and sixty-four of
metal;
And every bell has its own priest, and every priest his
deacon.
With them come out the holy Saints, the Universal
Ruler,
A message comes to them from heaven by mouths of
holy Angels-
1 The reference is to the Resurrection Song, of which a transla-
tion is given above, p. 104.
2 Perhaps wooden gongs' would be a better translation of the
Greek onμavτpa, which are simply suspended boards struck with
a wooden clapper hung beside them.
The Capture of Constantinople.
201
'Cease ye that psalmody, and lower the Saints down
from their niches,
And send word to the Frankish lands that they may
come and take them,
That they may take the golden Cross and take the Holy
Gospels,
The Holy Table let them take, that it may not be sullied.'
The Virgin heard the words and wept, all tearful were
the Icons ;
'O hush thee, Virgin! Icons, hush! mourn not, and
cease your weeping;
Again, with years, the time shall come when ye again
shall dwell here.'
THE CHILD-TAX¹
(1565-1575.)
ΤΟ ΠΑΙΔΟΜΑΖΩΜΑ.
Ανάθεμά σε, βασιληά, καὶ τοὶς ἀνάθεμά σε,
μὲ τὸ κακὸν ὁπὤκαμες, μὲ τὸ κακὸ 'ποῦ κάνεις !
(Aravandinos, 1.)
x. 5. λ.
X. T.
O CRUEL King, accurs'd be thou, and be thou thrice ac-
curséd,
For all the evil thou hast done, the ill thou still art doing!
Thou send'st and draggest forth the old, the primates
and the parsons,
The tax of Children to collect, to make them Janissaries.
The mothers weep their darling sons, and sisters, brothers
cherished;
And I am weeping, and I burn, and all mylife I'll sorrow;
Last year my little son they took, this year they took my
brother!
1 The Child-Tax was enforced till 1675, the last year of the
Vizierate of Achmet Kiuprili.
202
Greek Folk-Songs.
DROPOLITISSA.
Μωρή Δροπολίτισσα,
αὐτοῦ τοῦ πᾶς τὴν ἐκκλησιά,
x. 7. λ.
(Aravandinos, 420.)
DROPOLÍTISSA, I say,
As to church you go to-day,
Apron all in front so gay,
And with cap worn all sideway,
Now at church you're going to pray,
A little prayer for us you'll say,
That the Turks take us not away
To be enrolled as Jan'serai,
Nor take us to the Kislar Bey¹—
Like the lambs on Easter-Day!
NIGHT-SCHOOL SONG.
Φεγγαράκι μου λαμπρὸ
Φέγγε μου νὰ περπατῶ,
(Passow, 278.)
x. 7. λ.
LITTLE moon of mine so bright,
As I walk now shed thy light
On my way to school to-night;
To learn my letters now I go,
To learn to broider and to sew,
And the things of God to know.2
1 Literally 'Bey of the Women,' the Chief Eunuch of the Sultan,
who was Governor of Greece.
2 TоŨ ĐEOʊ Tà πрáуμата. That is to say, the old Aryan myths of
a Trinity, a God-man, and a Resurrection, instead of the unmytho-
logic Semitic monotheism adopted by the Turks.
The Sea-Fight and the Captive. 203
THE SEA-FIGHT AND THE CAPTIVE.
1574.
Η ΝΑΥΜΑΧΙΑ ΚΑΙ Ο ΕΚΛΑΒΟΣ,
Νὰ ἤμουν πουλί γλυκαηδονί, νὰ ἤμουνα χελιδόνι,
νὰ ἤμουν καὶ χρυσοφάναρο 'στο φάρο της Μεσσήνας.
(Aravandinos, 2.)
7. τ. λ.
WOULD that I were a nightingale, or would I were a
swallow,
Or golden lantern I would be that's in Messina's beacon,
That I might see, that I might spy when Ríga spreads his
canvas!
They joyful sail, and as they row, all gaily sing the
sailors;
They seek no port to enter in, no harbour where to anchor;
Their quest is for Alí Pashá, they long to give him battle.
When in mid-sea meet those two fleets, those battle-ships
so many,
Then roar the guns above the deep, and day is quenched
in darkness.
One prow is with another locked, and mast with mast
entangled;
The blades are flashing in the air, and loudly crack the
muskets;
With feet and hands the ships are filled, filled all with
bleeding corpses.
Alí Pasha's among the slain, that worthy pallikári.
Astern of him comes Riga now, with his great galliot,
Riga;
Within, a hundred prisoners all lie with fetters laden.
One pris'ner groaned so heavily the vessel sailed no
longer,
204
Greek Folk-Songs.
And Riga feared, and called to him the captain of the
galliot :
'He who has groaned so heavily that still has stood the
vessel;
If he be of my followers, I will increase his wages;
And if he of my captives be, he shall receive his freedom.'
'I am the man who groaned so sore the vessel sailed no
longer;
For I a horrid dream have dreamt, a dream as here I
slumbered.
I saw my wife whom they had crowned and married to
another.
A bridegroom only four days old the Turks took me a
captive,
And ten long years I've passed since then on Barbary's
soil in durance;
Ten walnut trees I planted there within my dreary
prison,
Of all of them I ate the fruit, but Freedom found I never.'
SERAPHEIM OF PHANÁRI.
(1612.)
Ο ΦΑΝΑΡΙΟΥ ΣΕΡΑΦΕΙΜ.
Τοῦ Φαναριοῦ τὸν ᾿πισκυπο τον Γερο Σεραφείμη
oi
'ς την ἀφανιὰ τὸν ἔῤῥιξαν οἱ Τοῦρκοι των Φαρσάλων.
(Aravandinos, 3.)
x. T. λ.
THE Bishop of Phanário, the aged Serapheimë,
By calumny the Turks o'erthrew, the Kóniars of Phar-
sália ;
They chained him in the pillory, and cruelly they tor-
tured;
Serapheim of Phanári.
205
And near to a dark cypress tree his reverend head they
severed.
The roots of the sad cypress tree all faded soon and
withered.
To keep the bishop company they slew with him three
Klephtës,
And on the spot where their four heads had all been
thrown together,
A light was seen to shine at night, seen by a simple
shepherd,
Who ran to bring his master word and tell him of the
wonder.
His master bade him go again and steal the head from
thither,
That head from which the bright light shone, and bear it
down to Doúsko.
The shepherd took it, and he ran unto Salambria's
margin.
But follow swiftly at his heels two Yánniniots pursuing,
And in his fright the simple swain has dropped it in the
river,
Then back unto his master runs to tell of his adventure.
They two, when midnight dark had come, went down to
the Salambria;
They search, and soon its radiance bright the head to
them discovered,
And running joyfully they came, as morning broke, to
Doúsko.
And hurried there both young and old, the men of the
White River ;¹
With holy rite they buried it within the sanctuary.
The folk of Agrapha were told; they wrote and prayed
the Patriarch
1 Ασπροποτάμος.
206
Greek Folk-Songs.
To send an order that the skull the Doúskiots should
give them.
They took it and they placed it high upon the hill
Korona,
That they might hold a feast to it, and build a roof to
shelter.
A picture too they made of him, limned by a skilful
painter;
Above was seen the Yánniniots the shepherd swain
pursuing ;
And at the foot the Plague was crouched, the Plague
with aspect dreadful,¹
Whom he was piercing with a sword and under foot was
treading;
And since that time in Agrapha the Death has never
entered,2
THE SLAVE.
Ο ΔΟΥΛΟΣ.
Εμένα ὁ ἀφέντης μου με βάνει καὶ κερνάω,
κι' ἀπὸ τὸ συχνοκέρασμα κι' ἀπ' τὰ ψηλὰ τραγουδια,
(Passow, 49a, 1.)
κ. τ. λ.
My Master bade me pour the wine and fill for him the
winecup.
From often pouring it, and from the high songs that I
sang him,
I'd weary grown, my trembling hand the cup could
hold no longer.
It fell not on the marble floor, nor on the pebbled pave-
ment,
1 The Plague is represented as a hideous old hag.
This song is still sung on his Feast-day in the Church dedicated
to the martyred Bishop.
The Slave.
207
But on my Master's lap it fell, and in my Lady's apron.
Sore wrathful waxed my Master then, and he would go
and sell me ;
And criers he sent round about in all the neighb'ring
country:
'Who wants to buy a handsome slave, to pour wine for
his drinking?"
'O sell me not, Effendi mine, make not of me a bargain;
For am I not thy handsome slave, and thy experienced
servant?'
'But I shall sell thee now, my slave, and make of thee a
bargain.'
'It is not just, Effendi mine, to such a pallikari;
For I am known of all the world, and everybody knows
me!'
'Go, go, my slave, good luck to thee; but come thou
never nigh me!'
METSOÏSOS.¹
1690-1715.
Ὁ Μετσοΐσος 'ςτὰ βουνὰ, ψηλὰ 'ςτὰ κορφοβούνια,
μαζωξε κλεφτόπουλα, ὅλ᾽ Αρβανιτοπαίδια.
(Aravandinos, 31.)
%. 5. 入​。
BRAVE Metsoïsos on the hills, high on the mountain-
ridges,
Has gathered round him gallant klephts, and they are
all Albanians.
1 This robber-chief, whose real name was Mustapha, was the
great-grandfather of Alí Pashá, and the son of Hussein Kapoudji,
who is said (though probably really an Albanian) to have come
from Constantinople about the middle of the Sixteenth Century,
and settled at Tepeléni.
208
Greek Folk-Songs.
He gathered them, he counted them, he counted them
three thousand,
'Now eat and drink, my brave boys all! rejoice, and let's
be merry;
This lucky year that's with us now, who knows what next
will bring us,
If we shall live, or if we'll die, to t' other world be
going?1
Now list to me, my pallikars-now list to me, my
boys all:
'Tis not for eating I want klephts, I want no klephts for
mutton;
I want the klephts for their good swords, I want them
for their muskets.
For three days' marching must we do, and do it in one
night too;
That we may go, and set our feet within Nikólo's
houses;
Which have of coin a right good store, and which have
plates of silver.'
'Nikólo, may thy day be good!' Thou'rt welcome,
Metsoïsos.'
'The boys want lodging here with thee, the pallikars
want dinner;
And I myself want five fat lambs, I want two good fat
wethers;
A damsel fair besides I'd have, to pour the wine out for
me.
No, no! I want no damsel fair, nor mutton killed and
roasted;
Piastres2 in my lap I want, and sequins³ in my pocket.'
1 'ς ἄλλον κόσμο πᾶμε.
2 Γρόσια.
3 Φλωριά.
Christos Milionis.
209
CHRISTOS MILIONIS.
(1700-1710.)
Ο ΧΡΗΣΤΟΣ ΜΗΛΙΟΝΗΣ,
Τρία πουλάκια κάθουνταν στὴν ἑάχη στὸ λημέρι ;
Τίνα τηράει τὸν ᾿Αρμυρό, τἄλλο κατὰ τὸν Βάλτο.
(Passow, 1.)
•
κ. τ. λ.
THREE little birds perched on the ridge hard by the
Klephtes' stronghold,
One looked towards fair Armyró, the other down to
Válto;
The third, the best of all the three, a dirge was singing
sadly :
'Lord Jesus! what can have become of Christos
Miliónis?
No more in Valto is he seen, nor yet in Kréavrisi.¹
They say he has gone far away and entered into Arta,
And taken captive the Kadí, and made the Agas pris'ners.
The Mussulmans have heard of it and sorely are they
troubled;
They've called the Mavromáta out, and called Mouktar
Kleisoúra.
If you your bread would have of us, and if you would
be leaders,
First must you Christos execute, kill Captain Miliónis:
So has our Sultan ordered it, and he has sent a firman."
When Friday dawned, and when the day had broke and
morn was shining,
Then Soulieman set forth in quest, for he would go to
find him.
At Armyró they met as friends, as friends they kissed
each other;
1 Introd., p. 28.
210
Greek Folk-Songs.
And all the livelong night they drank, until the day was
dawning.
And as the dawn began to shine, they passed to the
leméria ;¹
And Soulieman loud shouted there to Capitán Miliónis :
"You're wanted, Christos, by the King, and wanted by
th' Agádes !"
While life and breath in Christos are, to no Turk will
he yield him!"
With gun in hand they run to meet, as one would eat
another;
Fire answers fire, they fall, and, dead, both lie upon the
mountain.'
SYROS.
(1750-1760.)
Macedonia.
Ὁ Σύρος ἀπὸ τὴ Σερβιὰ, κι' ὁ Νάννος ἀπὸ τὴ Βέροια
Κονάκια 'χουν τὴν Τσαπουρνιά, κονάκια 'ςτὰ Κανάλια,
(Passow, 30a.)
2. T. λ.
FROM Servia2 has Syros come, and Nanno out from
Vérria ;³
They houses have in Tsapourniá, and houses in Kanália,4
A lodging-place at Kerosiá, within the Parson's dwelling.
'Now bring forth, Parson, bread and wine, and fodder for
the horses;
1 The hiding-places of the klephts, supposed to be derived from
όλη μέρα, ' all day.
2 The stronghold defending the pass of the Sarandáporos, and
originally occupied by the Servians settled in the valley of the
Haliacmon, by the Emperor Heraclius, about 620.
3 The Bérrhoea of St. Paul. See Introd., p.37.
4 Identified by M. Heuzey with the Olympian Sanctuary of the
Muses. See Introd., p. 35.
Syros.
2 II
Bring, Parson, too, thy daughter out, our Capitan demands
her.'
'I'll give you bread, I'll give you wine, and fodder for
your horses;
But I have not my daughter here, she's gone out to the
vineyard.'
The words had hardly left his mouth, the words he'd
hardly uttered,
When lo! his daughter dear is seen, with apples heavy
laden.
She apples bears, her apron full, and quinces in her
kerchief.
He bends, from her the apron takes, and then her hand
he kisses.
Come, maiden mine, upon my knee, and wine now pour
out for me;
I'll drink until the morning break, and birds go seek
their breakfast.'
'I am a Parson's daughter, sir-I am a Parson's
daughter;
And for no Captain of them all have I e'er filled a wine-
cup.
For it would be a shame to me, a shame to all my
lineage;
A shame 'twould to my father be, who is a man of rank,
sir.'
'Then will I take thee with my hand, and with my
sword I'll take thee;
Of no Pashá am I afraid, me no Vizier can frighten ;
For I am Syros the renowned, the celebrated Syros.
By night and day I am at .war, at early morn in am-
bush;
And famous captains, too, are mine, and chosen men my
soldiers-
212
Greek Folk-Songs..
And mine is Tséghi the renowned; and mine brave
Captain Tásos;
For when they see my hand and seal, and when they see
my writing,
They turn the night to day to come, to come apace and
join me.'
SATIR BEY.
(1760-1780.)
ΣΑΤΗΡ ΜΠΕΗΣ
Σαββάτο ἡμέρα, κυριακὴ προτοῦ νὰ ξημερώση,
Κίνεσαν ὁ Σατίρμπεης 'ς τὸν πόλεμο νὰ πάνη.
(Aravandinos, 45.)
x. T. λ.
IT happened on a Saturday before the dawn of Sunday,
That Satir Bey from his konak fared forth to battle going.
But as he travelled on the road, and on the road was riding,
A little Bird did cross his path, and sadly him accosted:
'Turn back, my Bey, I pray of thee, turn back, for Death
will meet thee!'
'Where didst thou learn, thou little Bird, that Death
would come to meet me?'
'Up in the sky, but yesterday, among the holy Angels;¹
They wrote thy dwelling desolate, they wrote thy wife a
widow,
They wrote thy young beys fatherless, they wrote them
poor and beggars.'
The words had hardly left his mouth, the words he'd
hardly uttered,
A rattle's heard, and Satir Bey lay dead upon the
highway.
¹ Compare with 'The Moirai, or Fates,' above, p. 111.
The Capture of Larissa and Tirnavo. 213
THE CAPTURE OF LARISSA AND TIRNAVO.
(1770.)
ΥΠΟΤΑΓΗ ΤΟΥΡΝΑΒΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΛΑΡΣΗΣ.
Απόψ' εἶδα στὸν ὕπνο μου, στὸν ὕπνο που κοιμώμουν,
Σὰ μάτ' εκάη ὁ Τούρναβος, σὰ μάτ' ἐκΐη ἡ Λάρσα.
(Passow, 199.)
%. 5. 7.
LAST night a dream there came to me, a vision as I
slumbered,
In flames did Tírnova appear, and burning, too, was
Lár'ssa;
They took the mothers with their babes, and wives took
with their husbands;
They took with them a youthful wife-but three days.
born her baby.
A thousand went in front of them, behind them marched
five hundred.
'O wait awhile, my pallikars! O wait awhile, leventës!
My babe in swaddling bands I'd bind, milk from my
breast I'd give him.'
The pallikars awaited her, and waited the leventës:
'O Peter, thee I leave my child, O guard him well, and
tend him ;
For ere I go, and come again, and back can be
returning,
The raven shall have feathers white, and shall become a
pigeon!'
14
214
Greek Folk-Songs.
SOULIEMAN PASHINA.
(1786.)
Η ΣΟΥΛΕΙΜΑΝΠΑΣΣΙΝΑ.
Ηοιὸς θέλ' ν' ἀκουση σκούσματα καὶ μαῦρα μοιρολόγια,
ἄς πάγη μέσ' τὰ Γιάννενα, ἀντίκρ᾽ ἀπὸ τὸ κάστρο.
(Aravandinos, 6.)
x. T. λ.
WHOEVER mournful cries would hear, and doleful
lamentation,
O let him go to Yánnina, before the lofty castle,
And to the great Pashína list, to Soúlieman Pashína,
Who cries and loud laments her lord, and bitter tears
is shedding.
'Ye women all of Yánnina, and ladies of the castle,
Now put off all your garments red, and in the black
array you,
For they have slain my Soúlieman-have slain the great
Viziéri,
The Vizier of all Yannina, and Voïvode, too, of Arta !'¹
NOUTSO KONTODEMOS.
(1798.)
Ο ΝΟΥΤΣΟΣ ΚΟΝΤΟΔΗΜΟΣ.
Ψηλὰ 'ς τοῦ Βίκου τὴν κορφή, 'ς τὴ μέση ἀπ' τὸ Βραδέτο,
μιὰ πέρδικα κατάμαυρη ἐπικροκελαϊδοῦσε.
(Aravandinos, 7.)
%.
κ. τ. λ.
UPON the breast of Bikou high that is within Vradéto,
There had a black-plumed partridge perched, and sang
full sorrowfully.
¹ This Soulieman was the predecessor of the famous Alí, the
'Lion of Ioannina '; and his widow built to his memory a sculptured
Fountain, and a large Khan, called the Khan of Kyria, or the Lady,
on the other side of Mount Metzikeli from Ioánnina, and on the road
across Pindus to Mezzovo-a Khan where I spent a memorably
stormy night.
Noutso Kontodemos.
215
She sang not as a bird should sing, but a sad dirge was
wailing:
'What is this evil that has fall'n upon deceived Zagóri?
The primate they have massacred, good Noútso Konto-
démos,
Who was the greatest 'mong the great in all the Vilayéti.
O Noútso! said I not to thee-My brother, with me
tarry.
Thou wouldst not hear me, wouldst set out, to Yannina
wouldst hasten,
That Turkish woman to salute, that Souliemán Pashína.
And she, to thank thee, thy poor head did sever from
thy body,
And on the dunghill cast it forth, and let the dogs
devour it.
On thee be curses, Páshina, and thrice be he accursed,
Thy husband, Alisót Pashá,¹ whom to thy side thou'st
wedded.'
1 Her second husband.

14-2
216
Greek Folk-Songs.
SECTION II-SOULIOTE.
ما
KOUTSONIKA.
(1792.)
Ο ΚΟΥΤΖΟΝΙΚΑΣ.
Τρία πουλάκια κάθουνταν στὸν "Αϊ Ελιά στη ράχη,
Τόνα τηράει τὰ Γιάνινα, τ' ἄλλο τὸ Κακοσοῦλι.
rà
(Passow, 203.)
X. T. X.
THREE birds were on a summit perched-the ridge of
St. Elias;
To Yannina did one look down, and one to Kakosoúli;
The third, the best of all the three, a sad dirge sang and
chanted:
'Albania has gathered her, and gone to Kakosoúli,
Three companies are on the road, all three drawn up in
order.
One's headed by Moukhtar Pasha, and one by Mitsovónos,
The third, the best of all the three, the Selikhtár is
leading.'
And from the mountain opposite, a parson's wife was
gazing;
'Where are ye, sons of Métzovo, and Kakosoúli's children?
The Albanians have come down on us, they want to
make us captives.
To Tepeléni we'll be dragged, and there they'll make us
Muslims.'
And Koutonsíka answered her, from Avaríko answered:
Koutsonika.
217
'Fear not, Papadia, have no fear, and far from you be
terror,
For now you shall the battle see of Klephtës' long
topháikia-
See how the valiant Klëphts can fight, and they of
Kakosoúli !'
But scarce had Koutsoníka said, his say he'd hardly ended,
When, see! the Turks are flying fast, on foot and horse-
back flying.
One fled, and, flying, another said: Pashá, be thou
accurséd!
Much evil hast thou wrought for us, hast brought to us
this summer;
Thou'st wasted many Turkish swords, and many of
Albania.'
And Bótsaris cried out and said, while his good sword he
brandished:
'Come now, Pashá, why art thou grieved, that thus post-
haste thou fleest?
Turn here again unto our land, to desolate Kiápha;
There thou mayest raise thy throne again, and there
thou may'st be Sultan.'
LAMBROS TZAVELAS.
(1792.)
Ο ΛΑΜΠΡΟΣ ΤΣΑΒΕΛΑΣ 1
Εφώναξε μιὰ παπαδια μες απ' τὸν ᾿Αβαρίκο
σε Ποὖστε τοῦ Λάμπρου τὰ παιδιά; ποὖστε οἳ Μποτσαραίοι.
(Passow, 207.)
%. T. 2.
入​。
THERE called aloud a parson's wife in Avaríko's village :
'Where are ye, Lámbro's boys, and ye, the followers of
Botsáris ?
1 This song commemorates the great Souliot victory of the 20th
July, 1792, over the forces of Alí Pashá of Ioánnina, who is said to
have killed two horses in flying from the field of battle.
218
Greek Folk-Songs.
A cloud has fall'n upon us now; on foot and horseback
soldiers;
They are not one, nor are they two, but nineteen thousand
are they.'
'Let come the Turks, those worn-out Turks, for they
can never harm us!
Let come the battle, let them see the long guns of the
Soúliots!
And let them know our Lámbro's sword, and Bótsaris'
tophaiki-
The weapons of the Soúliot maid, the celebrated Haidee!'
The fight began, and loud around the guns their rattle
opened.
To Zervas and to Bótsaris cried loudly brave Tzavélas :
'Out with your swords, my gallant boys, and let your
guns be silent!'
"Tis not yet time,' said Bótsaris, ''tis not yet time for
sword-play.
Keep ye within the fortress still, nor from the walls yet
sally;
For without number are the Turks, and few, alas! the
Soúliots!'
'What is it, fellows, that ye fear?' Tzavélas boastful
answers:
'Our craven heads still must we hide before those dogs
th' Albanians ?'
Each man his scabbard takes in hand, in pieces twain.
he snaps it;
They fiercely fall upon the Turks, like rams they fall
upon them.
Calls to his men Velí Pashá-'Turn not your backs like
cowards!'
And thus they answer him again, while they their guns
are firing :
1
Lambros Tzavelas.
219
This place it is no Délvino, nor is it yet Widini;
But it is Soúli the Renowned, whose praise the world
has sounded!
It is the sword of Lámbros brave, with Turkish blood 'tis
stained-
The sword that's caused Albania's folk in mourning to
array them.
The mothers mourn their fallen sons, and wives their
slaughtered husbands.'
THE CAPTURE OF PREVEZA¹
(1798.)
Η ΠΡΕΒΕΖΑ.
“ Βάστα καϋμενη Πρέβεζα τ' 'Αλη πασᾶ τ' ἀσκέρια.”
“ Τί νὰ βαστάξω, δὲν μπορῶ καὶ τί νὰ νταγιαντίσω,
%. T. 7.
(Passow, 201.)
'YIELD not, sore leaguered Preveza, to Ali Pasha's
soldiers !'
'How sayest-yield not, dost thou not see I cannot
hold out longer?
Ali Pasha is pelting me with soldiers twice five thousand;
His cannon pierce me like the rain, his shot are like the
hailstones;
And those small arms shower down on us like still rain
in the springtime !'²
The captives go to Yannina, as slaves to Tepeleni;
They've taken dame Yorgákaina, and all her sons' wives
with her.
1 'Remember the moment when Preveza fell,
The shrieks of the conquered, the conquerors' yell,' etc.
BYRON, Childe Harold, c. ii.
2 Compare 17. xii. 278: 'But as flakes of snow fall thick on a
winter's day when Zevs the Counsellor hath begun to snow, showing
forth these arrows of his to men.'
220
Greek Folk-Songs.
The youngest daughter lags behind, she walks not with
the others.
'Walk faster, my brave daughter dear, behind us do not
loiter;
It is, perhaps, thy many coins, thy many pearls oppress
thee?'
'My strings of coins oppress me not, nor do my pearls.
oppress me;
It is my child oppresses me, I've left him in the cradle.
O cradle ! rock my little babe, O rock and feed him for me,
Till I can go and come again, and back can be returning,
To where they slew my husband dear; upon my knees
they slew him,
Cut off his hands, which bleeding fell-they fell upon
my apron!'
THE MONK SAMUEL.
(1803.)
Ο ΣΑΜΟΥΗΛ.
Καλόγερε, τί καρτερεῖς κλεισμένος μες τὸ Κοῦγι ;
Πεντε νομάτοι σῶμεέναν κ' ἐκεῖνοι λαβωμένοι.
Valaorites, Μνημόσυνα.
%. T. λ.
'KALÓYER, what art thou waiting for, imprison'd within
Koúnghi?
Five men alone are left to thee, and all the five are
wounded,
And thousands are the enemies that are encamped
around thee.
Come out, give up the keys to us, and give in thy sub-
mission;
Our general, Velí Pasha, will make of thee a bishop!'
Within the church's lofty walls is Samuel beleaguered,
And on the wind are borne to him the words of traitor
Pélios.
The Monk Samuel.
221
No psalms are sung, no incense burnt, no holy tapers
lighted;
But mournful 'fore the sacred gates, five Soúliots are
kneeling.
They speak not, motionless they kneel; yet see, anon
and ever
A hand is raised, that reverent makes the sign of their
salvation.
And still, upon the marble floor, their blood-stained
swords are lying,
Swords that so well have fought and striven for their
belovéd Soúli !
Not with them there is Samuel seen; alone before the
altar,
The mystic offering he prepares, and there, alone, he
worships.
And firmly in his aged hands he holds the sacred vessel,
While many, many secret words he murmurs to his
Maker.
His undimmed eyes, though heavy grown, red-rimmed
with many vigils,
Intently contemplate the feast, the Sacred Blood and
Body.
An ocean they, of which the waves, with secret hopes
are surging!
Hushed be ye now, ye thundering guns! and cease, ye
cries of battle!
For Samuel will celebrate on earth his last Communion.
And as upon the Flesh Divine the priest in rapture gazes,
Falls from his eye the cup within, one tear, like dew
transparent.
'My God and Father, buried here within Thy house, I
thirsted;
222
Greek Folk-Songs.
Unmixed with water, incomplete would be Thy Holy
.1
Supper;1
Accept, Creator, this sad tear, and do not Thou despise it,
From my heart's leaves, all clean and pure, Thou seest
that forth it floweth ;
Accept it, my Creator, now; I have no other water.'
A ray of sunlight streaming in, illumed the sacred vessel,
And warmed the Blood, until, at last, it rose in wreaths of
vapour.
And when the grace divine he saw, then Samuel exulted.
The sacred cup he trembling held, and to his bosom
pressed it :
And as he kissed, with reverent lips, he heard, like
heart's pulsation,
That soft, with newly given life, the Sacred Blood was
throbbing.
And lowly bend the pallikars, as ope the Holy Portals,
So low that on the marble floor they strike their valiant
foreheads,
And thus await, immovable, the words of the Kalóyer,
Unmoved the priest approaches them, upon his face a
glory,
As bright as snowy mountain-top, illumined by the moon-
beams.
A barrel in his hand he bears, those hands so maimed
and wounded;
Imprisoned in its staves are death, and fire, and
desperation.
That one alone is left to him, and that alone suffices.
Before the Holy Portal, now, he sets it up unaided,
Three times he consecrates it there, three times he
before it,
pray's
¹ This is the Orthodox, which differs from the Catholic version.
The Monk Samuel.
223
As if the Holy Table 'twere, or as it were the Platter.
The priest above the Sacred Cup extends his hands in
blessing,
And calmly, silently he lights the match to fire the barrel;
Then violently his knees resound upon the marble pave-
ment.
His hands he lifts, his countenance with light celestial
kindles ;
Then raise their eyes the Soúliots, and gaze on the
Kalóyer.
THE PRAYER.
My Father, I have done Thy will,
Right faithfully, for years two-score;
And now my race is nearly run,
Thou givest to me trouble sore!
Thy Will be done, not mine, O Lord!
Let us Thy mercy now obtain ;
Have pity, and Thy wrath restrain.
An orphan, whom the world forsook,
I gave my youthful soul to Thee;
I Souli to my bosom took,
My only child on earth to be.
Alas! my Souli I have lost,
And now my latest hour has come,
Receive me in Thy heavenly home.
O count, and see how few remain ;
The others slain and slaughtered fall;
In valleys lone, upon the plain,
They're dead and wounded, scattered all!
Untombed and unlamented strewn,
Their bones are rotting in the shade
Of rocky pass, or grassy glade.
224
Greek Folk-Songs.
Fierce wolves by night and birds by day
Upon our blackened flesh have fed;
Have pity, Father, Thee we pray;
Forgive our sins, for Thee we've bled.
And now that we to Thee draw nigh,
And to Thy bosom hasten home,
Oh! let us as Thy children come!
Behold, O Lord, our wounded hands,
That unto Thee we raise on high,
From blood of the unfaithful bands
They've ta'en this stain of crimson dye.
And sanctify us, Thee we pray,
And say to each,-Thou hast well done,
My faithful, blessed, valiant one.
Now Soúli has expired indeed!
And not a single valiant hand
Is left of all the Soúliot breed,
That can with finger grasp his brand.
Almighty Father, be to us
A Fatherland. Of life bereft,
To us no other hope is left!
Above, in heaven, around Thy throne,
Among the many mansions fair,
Give, Father, to Thy servants lone,
Such mansions, and such dwellings there,
That Soúli still we may recall.
And cliffs and crags, too, let there be,
That still my Koúnghi I may see.
Of Soúli free no soil remains
Enough for her defenders' grave.
Have pity, Father, heed our pains;
O Father, hear us, hear and save,
The Monk Samuel.
225
And unto me this favour grant-
That Koúnghi mine, this holy dome
And altar, may be Samuel's tomb.
Here infidel, with foot of scorn,
Shall never, though he triumph, dare—
Shall never, I have said and sworn-
To tread my Koúnghi's rocky stair.
With me to heaven the keys I bear ;
No man the keys shall take from me,
Nor will I give them up to Thee.
There high in heaven before Thy face,
Still will I wear them at my side;
Thy servant Samuel asks this grace,
That with him still they may abide.
Grant him this favour, gracious Lord;
Be not Thou angry, but forbear,
For I alone the keys would wear.
And now that in Thine ears we've poured
Our pain and all our grief and woe,
To Thee we come : accept us, Lord.
From our sweet Soúli we must go.
Ah, Soúli! thou art lost to me!
Be still, my soul! thou must not weep;
The time has come when thou may'st sleep.
Then to his five companions his outstretched hands
extending
O Thou, my God, all-merciful,
From earth I, a poor fugitive,
Must to Thy holy shadow flee,
And in Thy presence come to live.
226
Greek Folk-Songs.
One favour grant, Creator mine-
That these brave five with me may come,
And share with me that heavenly home.
Within my arms they've nurtured been,
None have they loved but Thee and me,
No other master have they served;
They martyrs are for liberty.
Then take from me my blessing now;
And fear ye not, my children dear,
With me ye'll live-be of good cheer.
Drop after drop, drop after drop, their bitter tears are
falling,
Where they bedew the marble floor they crack and
rend the pavement.
'Tis sorrow deep that tears their hearts, death has for
them no terror;
And weeping rises Samuel too, and from the Holy Table,
In one hand takes the Blessed Cup, the Spoon takes with
the other,
To celebrate the Sacrament of his belovéd Saviour.
He gives the first, the second too, the third and fourth
receive it,
And it suffices for the last, and now to him is offered.
Then, as the papas sweetly sang, the holy service.
chanting,
'Of thy mystic supper,
To-day, O Son of God. . .?
Resounded with redoubled cries the blows and war's
contention.
The Infidels surprise thee, Monk! what is it thou art
doing?
The Monk Samuel.
227
His eyes he lifts as loud the blows upon the door are
falling,
And from the Spoon within his hand lets fall upon the
barrel,
Of Christ's pure Blood one flaming drop, one drop alone
has fallen.
'Tis struck as with a lightning-flash, and the whole earth
is thund'ring.
One moment shines the unsullied church, one moment
glitters Koúnghi.
Ah! what a consecration dire she's at her death re-
ceiving!
Black Souli the unfortunate-what smoke, what incense
burning!
The monk's black cassock, floating still, towards the sky
ascended,
And spread, and spread upon the wind in wide and fearful
darkness,
And rising with the smoke it soared, and with it on was
sailing.
And sailing, floating on it went, and still like death was
poising;
And where its flaming shadow fell, upon the hills and
valleys,
Like mystic fire it burnt the groves, and scorched the
wooded hillsides.
But with the first rain-storms of spring, and with the
showers of summer,
Shall spring again the freshest grass, with laurels, olives,
myrtles ;
With slaughters, victories, and hopes shall spring fresh
joys and Freedom!
228
Greek Folk-Songs.
EVTHYMIOS VLACHAVAS¹
ΕΥΘΥΜΙΟΣ ΒΛΑΧΑΒΑΣ
Βλαχάβα, πεις σ' εγέννησε, ποια μάνα, πειὺς πατέρας ;
*
*
*
*
Ο Ολυμπος ἀγάπησε την ὤμορφη την Όσσα,
Valaoritis, Μνημόσυνα άσματα.
%. 5. 7.
VLACHAVA, son of whom art thou, what mother, and what
father?
*
*
*
Olympus loved the much-desired, the proud and lovely
Ossa;
For many years he gazed on her, his eyes with love's
fires burning;
And she would blush beneath his gaze, and she in fear
would hide her.
One night, one night of spring, the joy of gods, serene
and tranquil;
In heaven the stars all glorious shone, from very fulness
trembling,
As though they held love's hidden flame, love's burning,
love's heartbeating.
No sound was heard but bleating flocks, or sheep-bell's
muffled tinkle,
As wandered o'er the fields the sheep, and grazed within
the meadows.
¹ Nothing was ever known of the parentage of this hero of
Olympus and Pindus, and hence the following splendid myth.
After many victories over the troops of Ali Pasha, his band was
attacked by ten times their number, and he himself was taken
prisoner, diabolically tortured, and put to death. The heroic monk
Demetrius, who had been his friend and constant companion, was
soon afterwards taken prisoner, and built into a cell with his head
only free, in order thus to prolong his agonies.
Euthymios Vlachavas.
229
Anon and ever, on the ear sweet strains of woodland
music
From shepherd's pipe lulled lovingly to sleep the trees
and flowers;
And fragrant from the laurels blew the breeze, and from
the myrtles,
And from the joyful lily who from out the stream had
risen,
As white as purest maiden's face the Sun has ever
gazed on.
The lily curved his slender neck, and darted loving
glances,
To woo his shadow in the wave, within the deep blue
water.
O sweetly, sweetly, Echo brought upon the ear the
carol
Of Klepht, who calls to mind the deeds of Christos
Miliónis.¹
And winds and trees and waters now stand still, all else
forgetting,
And breathless listen to the praise of him their ancient
comrade;
While softly falls the crystal dew, pure as the tears of
children,
As if a sudden grief had seized upon the new bride's
being,
While listening to the dirge he sings for Christos
Miliónis.
Why, hills, surrounded by such wealth of love, and joy,
and gladness,
Girt with a life so manifold, with harmonies so varied,
Why hear I not 'mid rustling leaves, and willow's sway-
ing branches,
1
¹ Singing probably the ballad, given above, p. 209.
15
230
Greek Folk-Songs.
And in the rippling of the streams, the voice of Free-
dom whisper?
Such was the night Olympus chose to tell his love to
Ossa;
To show the love he bore for her, and tell her of his
passion.
See how the lover is adorned! across his ample
shoulders,
All white and wide his beard is spread, in soft and
waving billows,
That combed are by the moonbeams rays, and tinged
with mellow radiance;
Around him snowy clouds he draws, like foam-flecks
freshly gathered ;
The opal mist of sweet May dew he wears, as fustanella.
And brightly gleams, girt round his waist, and glitters on
his shoulder-
The lightning-flash for his good sword, the thunder-bolt
for musket.
Joy to the maiden who is loved, loved by the Klepht
Olympus!
The mountains whispered all night long, and one another
questioned;
And when the Morning Star arose, and woke from sleep
the roses,
That with the Dawn sprang up the hills, and to the
highest summits,
On Ossa, lovely Ossa, still Olympus fond was gazing,
And saw her blush beneath his glance, blush like a bash-
ful maiden.
He stooped, he bent his crest to her, and on her lips he
kissed her;
And quick that kiss, that kiss alone, like life and flame
commingled,
Euthymos Vlachavas.
231
Thrilled through the veins of the new bride, and all her
being kindled.
Ere many years had come and gone, ere many months
and seasons,
A sound was heard on Agrapha, and in the lofty
Pindus-
The footsteps of the Armatole, the terrible Vlachavas;
The voice of eagles too that cried, the voice of falcons
screaming:
'Ye forests, open wide a path, and gather up your
branches;
And let the Stoicheiò pass by, the Drákontas of Ossa!'
Fallen into the power of Ali Pasha, Vlachavas, after
being cruelly tortured, is dragged through the streets of
Ioannina for three days, and dies. He is then decapitated
by a Gipsy, who places his head on a stone pillar. But
his faithful dog has followed unnoticed in the crowd.
The night had fallen, and, satiate, the wild beasts had
departed.
The dog alone remained behind; upon the earth he
stretched him,
And moaned, and moaned incessantly, poor hound, from
his great sorrow.
But when the midnight dark had come, he sudden leapt
and bounded,
And in his mouth, and with his jaws, to seize the head
he struggled;
But, maimed and bleeding, his poor claws upon the stone.
slip, broken.
It is too high, he cannot reach. Yet still he clings, and
stretches,
15-2
232
Greek Folk-Songs.
And slips, and falls; but, eagerly, again he leaps un-
daunted;
And with a last, wild, hopeless bound, he stands upon
the summit.
That head, that head so terrible between his teeth he
seizes;
And with it swift he flees away, across the hills and
valleys.
And as their rapid course they take, the forest trees, all
startled,
<
Ask one another, Who is this ?'-the pine-tree asks the
plane-tree,
The willow asks the cypress tall, the elm-tree asks the
laurel-
'Who is this who is passing by? say, is it not
Vlachavas?'
And with their eyes they follow them, but they are
fleeing ever.
When, near the dawning of the day, they reach the
heights of Ossa,
Upon her topmost, topmost ridge, among the deepest
snow-wreaths,
The faithful dog a deep bed digs, and there the head he
buries,
And by its side he stretches him, and lays him down
expiring.
O happy be the snowy bed where buried lies Vlachavas!
The mother who the hero bore again her bosom
opens,
And spreads a couch that he may rest, like babe within
the cradle.
Moukhtar's Farewell to Phrosýne. 233
MOUKHTAR'S FAREWELL TO PHROSÝNE.
Σὰ φύλλο κίτρινο και μαραμμένο τ
Μὲ πέρνει ὁ ἄνεμος μὲ τὰ φτερὰ
Μακρ' ἀπὸ σένανε, παραδαρμένο,
Φροσύνη, αγάπα με, στην ξενιτειά.
%. T. λ.
7.
Valaorites, Η Κυρά Φροσύνη.)
TOSSED like a yellow leaf, withered and waning,
Now on the wind's restless wings must I rove;
Far, far away from thee, sadly complaining,
To foreign lands wand'ring, Phrosýne, my love.
The wavelets e'en now the lake's margin were kissing,
Lapped in a slumber so tranquil and deep;
Boreas has blown-they are surging and hissing,
And high 'gainst the white cliffs in thunder they sweep.
Phrosýne, I'm sent to the land of the stranger,
Afar 'mid the fire of fierce battle's array;
Send from thy loved lips, 'mid strife and 'mid danger,
Sweet kisses a thousand to cheer on my way.
For then, if my hour come, while still I'm a rover,
On soil of the stranger, my heart and my life—
There, if, to drink my blood, vultures should hover,
To gorge in the desert with gluttonous strife,
1 Moukhtar, a son of Alí Pashá, had an intrigue with the beautiful
and accomplished young wife of a Greek of Ioannina. When
Moukhtar had been sent to a distant command by his father, she
and a number of other ladies, accused of infidelity to their hus-
bands, were drowned in the Lake by command of the tyrant, who
is said to have made advances to the beautiful Greek, which were
repulsed. Her tragic fate caused her sins to be forgotten, and
transformed the adulteress into a heroine and martyr.
234
Greek Folk-Songs.
Who knows, my belov'd, but those kisses might give me.
The life I had lost, and I'd rise at thy hest,
And come like a dream to the arms would receive me,
And lull me, unhappy, Phrosýne, to rest!
The winter clouds come, and the snowstorms will follow,
The flowers are all faded, their fragrance is flown;
Away, too, is flying, Phrosýne, the swallow-
Beware! for around us night's darkness is thrown!
Phrosýne, I go where the fierce battle rages,
To lands of the stranger I'm sent far away;
Who knows what is written on Fate's hidden pages?
Farewell, my Phrosýne-farewell I must say.
THE CAPTURE OF GARDIKI.
(1812.)
ΑΛΩΣΙΣ ΓΑΡΔΙΚΙΟΥ.
Κουκκοι, νὰ μὴ λαλήσετε, πουλιὰ νὰ βουβαθῆτε
Και σεῖς καϋμέν 'Αρβανιτιά οὗλοι νὰ πικραθῆτε.
(Passow, 219.)
x. T. λ.
7.
O CUCKOOS sing your song no more, and all ye birds be
silent!
And ye Albanians everyone, be ye o'ercome with
sorrow!
The citadel has given in, and fallen is Khoúmelitza;
Gardíki still is holding out, and she will not surrender;
But she to battle fain would go, she fain would go to
battle.
Alí Pashá has heard of it, and greatly hath it vexed
him.
And furious he with both hands writes, and sends abroad
his mandates:
The Capture of Gardiki.
235
(
'To thee, Lieutenant Yousoufí; to thee, Yousoúf the
Arab;
Now when thou shalt my letter see, and thou shalt see
my mandates,
Demítri shalt thou take alive, the same with all his
children.
I want, too, Moustaphá Pasha, with all his generation.'
'I, joyfully, Pashá, will go; I go to bring them to
thee!'
And up arose Yousoúfi then, and went forth to Gardíki.
And as he went to war against and fight with the
Gardíkiots,
Ismáil Delvíno called to him, and shouted from Gardíki :
'Where go'st, dear Yousoufí Agá, dear Yousoufí the
Arab?
This place it is not Yánnina, nor is it Tepeléni—
It is Gardíki's famous town in all the world renownéd,
Where little children even fight; and women too, give
battle;
Where fights the brave Demír Agá, a worthy pallikári ;
Three days, three long, hard days they fight, three days
and nights they struggle,
Ere they surrender to Yousoúf, and to his hands submit
them;
And only Ismáil still holds out, holds out within Gardiki.'
Come, 'Smáïl Bey, and thou shalt see the eyes of our
Viziéri !'
'I never will submit to thee, and ne'er will I surrender!
I have a deadly gun to wield, and I've with me picked
soldiers.'
But they are scattered, sword in hand, Yousoúf has made
them pris'ners.
Ismaïl Bey he's captive made, brave Ismaïl Delvíni,
And prisoner made Demír Agá, with him Demítri Dostè ;
236
Greek Folk-Songs.
And taken them before the gate of Yannina's Vizieri.
Low bend they there, his skirt they hold, and kiss his
hand so humbly.
'We are to blame, my Lord Vizier; we pray thee now
forgive us!'
'There's no forgiveness here for you, nor mercy will I
show you!
Here! take these men, and drag them out unto the
broad lake's margin;
Take you stout planks with you, I say; of stout nails
take you plenty.
Off with you! nail them to the planks, and in the
waters throw them;
There let them swim the livelong day, the long day let
them row there!'
THE KLEPHT VRYKOLAKAS.
(1815.)
ΒΡΥΚΟΛΑΚΑΣ.
Ενα πουλάκι ξέβγαινεν από την Αγια Μαῦρα,
Νύχτα σε νύχτα πέταγε, νύχτα σε νύχτα ψάχνει.
(Aravandinos, 73.)
x. T. λ..
THERE flew, flew out a little bird, flew out from Santa
Maura;
Night after night he flew along, night after night was
searching,
The klepht Vrykólakas he sought, and Thémio Baláska.
At last he found them, and unearthed them down by
Skouliána.
'Your health, my boys, and luck to you! 'Thou'rt
welcome here, my birdie!
The Klepht Vrykolakas.
237
My little bird, tell us some news, tell us some joyful
tidings.'
'What shall I tell you then, my boys, what tale shall I
be telling?
'Fore yesterday, and yesterday, I passed by Tsioúnga's
palace,
Their conversation there I heard; oft, too, your name
they mentioned.
The 'guemenos the traitor was, as in his throat he took
you,
And to the kapitan you know he wrote and sent a letter:
Again comes forth Vrykolakas, and with him klephts a
dozen;
He's going to be crowned and wed, he's going to take
Yannoúla."
DESPO OF LIAKATA.
(1816.)
Μεσα 'ςτὸ κάστρο, 'ςτὰ ψηλὰ σεράγια τοῦ Βεζύρη,
όπου είχε χίλιας πέρδικες κλεισμέναις κ' ἐλαλοῦσαν,
(Aravandinos, 74.)
x. 5. λ.
入​。
WITHIN the Castle's¹ lofty walls, the great Vizier's
seráglio,
Where are a thousand partridges, in chains, yet sweetly
calling,
They yet another captive bring, a partridge all adornéd,
Among the folds of Liakatá they've hunted and en-
trapped her;
And every partridge sweetly calls, and she alone is
silent.
¹ Alí Pasha's Castle at Ioánnina. See Introd., p. 26.
238
Greek Folk-Songs.
<
Why, Despo, speak'st thou not to us, and why art thou
so sullen?
Go in, the chamber to prepare, and change the mats and
bedclothes,
And I will come and gaże on thee, and we'll converse
together.'
'I am not sullen, my Pashá, but I, Pashá, have never
Been taught to spread the mattresses, and lay the sheets
in order;
I'm from the folds, a shepherdess, and this is all I ken,
sir-
The flocks and herds to feed and tend, and morn and
eve to milk them ;
The shepherd's gaiters coarse to knit, and curdle the
yiaoúrti"
THE EXILE OF THE PARGHIOTS.
(1819.)
Η ΜΕΤΑΝΑΣΤΑΣΙΣ ΠΑΡΓΙΩΝ:
Μαῦρο πουλάκι πὤρχεσαι ἀπὸ τ' ἀντίκρυ μέρη,
Πες μου τι κλάψαις θλιβεραῖς, τί μαῦρα μυρολόγια,
(Passow, 222.)
%. T. X.
'BLACK little bird that comest out, from other regions
comest,
O say what weeping sore it is, what doleful lamentation
They send from Parga's city out? it rends the very
mountains!
Say, do the Turks attack her now, or does the battle burn
her ?'
'The Turks have not attacked her now, nor does the
battle burn her;
A kind of curd, usually eaten uncooked and with sugar, and
thought particularly wholesome in spring and early summer.
But
the Armenians cook it with an herb called roka, and serve it with
toast and butter. This roka, a plant with small green leaves, is
also used as a salad.
The Exile of the Parghiots.
239
But all the Parghiots are sold, are sold as goats and cattle.¹
Ill-fated folk! now they must go, in exile must they
sojourn !
They leave their homes, they leave the tombs, the graves
of their forefathers;
They leave their holy place of prayer, by Turks it will
be trodden;
And women tear their long black hair, and beat their
fair white bosoms;
And all the aged loud lament with bitter lamentation;
The priests with weeping eyes take down the Icons from
their Churches.
Seest thou those lurid fires that burn, what black smoke
from them rises?
There are they burning dead men's bones, the bones of
those brave warriors
Who put the Turks in mortal fear, the Vizier in a fever;
They are the bones of ancestors their children now are
burning,
That the Liápës find them not, nor Turks upon them
trample.
Hear'st thou the wailing of the town which echoes
through the forests?
And hearest thou the sounds of woe, the bitter lamenta-
tion?
It is because they're driv'n away from their ill-fated
country:
They kiss her stones, they kiss the earth,2 and to her soil
Farewell say '3
1 The conduct of the British High Commissioner of the Ionian
Islands, Sir Thomas Maitland, in reference to Parga, was certainly,
to say the least, open to very severe criticism.
2 Compare Il. iv. 522: And as he (Agamemnon) touched his
own land, he kissed it.'
3 They have now, however, returned; and I had the pleasure of
making the acquaintance of prosperous merchants belonging to
old Parghiot families.
240
Greek Folk-Songs.
SECTION III.-HELLENIC.
ZITO HELLAS!
ΖΗΤΩ ΕΛΛΑΣ.
Ω λιγυρό και κυφτερό σπαθί μου,
Και συ, τουφέκι μ', φλογερό πουλί μου !
(Kind, Τραγώδια, 12.)
x. 7. λ.
O THOU, my sword belov'd, so keen, I gird!
And shoulder thee, my gun, my flaming bird!
O slay ye, slay the Turks again,
The tyrants scatter o'er the plain !
Live thou, O sword I gird!
Long life to thee, my bird!
And when, O my good sword, I hear thy clash,
And when, O my black gun, I see thy flash,
That strew the ground with Turkish slain,
And Allah!' cry those dogs amain,
No sweeter music's heard ;
Long life to thee, my bird!
Now skies are dark, and thunder-clouded o'er,
And tempest, rain, and flood, with Boreas roar ;
I climb the hills, and leave the plain,
The mountain-passes wild I gain;
My country rises free—
Long life, my sword, to thee!
Zito Hellas!
241
For the most holy faith of Christ; for thee,
Hellas, my fatherland, and liberty—
It is for these that I would die;
Only while these live, live would I.
If not for them to strive,
Why longer should I live?
The hour has come, and loud the trumpets sound
Now boiling is my blood, with joy I bound;
The bam, the boom, the glin, glin, gloun
Begin, and loud will thunder soon;
While Turks around me die,
Hellas, Hurrah! I cry.
KOSTAS BOUKOVÁLAS.
Χρυσὸς ἀϊτὸς ἐκάθουνταν στὸν ἥλιο κ' ἐμαδιόνταν,
Κι ἄλλος ἀϊτὸς τόνε ἑωτάει καὶ τὸν βαρυοξετάζει
(Passow, 8.)
དེ་ས
2. T. λ.
1;
A GOLDEN eagle in the sun sat sad, and plucked his
feathers.
Another eagle questioned him, and earnestly he asked
him :1
Hullo, what is't has crossed thee now, thou sittest all
so faded ?'
'Last night I saw, saw in my sleep, while tranquilly I
slumbered,
That I to the Pashá flew off, to Berat, into Koúrtè ;
And, while his guest, I heard him say the Albanians all
were coming,
Were coming down to Agrapha, to crush the klephtës
coming.'
1 Compare Od., xix. 545: 'But he (the eagle) came back, and
sat him down on a jutting point, and with the voice of a man he
spake.' . . .
242
Greek Folk-Songs.
The eagle Boukoválas heard, and to the fields de-
scended,
His followers he gathered round, his retinue assembled.
To them he told the evil dream, and by an oath he
bound them,
No more to trust to word of Turk so long as life was in
them.
He further charged and said to them, and called them
round in council,
And to the stronghold cried, and said to them within
the loopholes :
'Boys, take your weapons in your hands, and all comb
out your tresses;¹
The Turks are going to fall on us-an army of twelve
thousand.'
And Metromáras then arose, and to his men he shouted :
'Take heart, my warriors! and show that ye are men and
Christians!2
We'll clear the Turks from out the land; here on this
spot we'll slay them !'
As lions roar they loud and long, as lions they make
their sortie ;3
¹ This recalls the story told by HERODOTUS (vii. 208—9) of the
Persian spy who, on the eve of the battle of Thermopylæ, reported
that he had found the Spartans combing out their tresses; and
the reply made to Xerxes by Demaratus, that this meant that they
would fight to the death. Compare PLUTARCH, Lycurg. c. 22, and
XENOPHON, Rep. Lac. xii. § 8.
2 Compare Il. v. 529: 'My friends, quit you like men, and take
heart of Courage.' The term Christian is, among the Greeks, popu-
larly applied only to members of the Orthodox, or Greek, Church,
and other Europeans are called, not Christians, but Franks. An
old hermit of Mount Athos, whom I visited in his cave, was unable
to believe that, as an Anglos, I could be a Christian; and, to please
the poor old maniac, I performed the Orthodox rite of kissing an Icon
of the Panaghía. The true equivalent of the Xpioriavoì of the text
would, therefore, be 'Greeks' rather than 'Christians.'
Compare II. v. 782: 'In the semblance of ravening lions.'
Kostas Boukoválas.
243
They rush upon the Turkish ranks, like goats abroad
they're scattered;
They slaughter and make prisoners as many as two
thousand.
But Kostas in the fight has fall'n, fall'n are his two com-
panions,
Who'd been in Goúra Armatoles, and Klephts had been
in Zygos.
The fields lament them, and the hills, and all the vales
are weeping;
The maidens of Phourná lament, for arts and wiles so
famous;
And mourn the young Klephts for their Chiefs within
the lone leméria.¹
THE KLEPHT'S FAREWELL TO HIS MOTHER.
Ο ΑΠΟΧΑΙΡΕΤΙΣΜΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΛΕΦΤΟΥ.
Μάνα σου λέω δὲν ἠμπορῶ τους Τούρκους νὰ δουλεύω,
Δὲν ἠμπορω, δὲν δύναμαι, ἐμάλλιας ἡ καρδιά μου
(Passow, 153.)
%. T. X.
'I TELL thee, mother, never will I be to Turks enslavéd;
I cannot, it is not for me-my heart would die within me.
My gun I'll take, and I will go-I'll go and be a klephtë,
And on the mountains I will rove, and on the highest
ridges.
I'll for companions have the groves, with wild beasts I'll
hold converse;
The snows I'll for my covering take, for couch the
rocky ridges;
And with the young Klephts all day long, I'll hide in a
leméri.
I go, my mother; weep thou not, but give to me thy
blessing,
¹ See p. 210, n. I.
244
Greek Folk-Songs.
Yea, bless me, little mother dear, that many Turks I
slaughter.
And plant for thee a rose-bush fair, and plant a clove
carnation;
With sugar thou must water them, musk-water pour
upon them;
And when they blossom, mother mine, and when they
put forth flowers,
Know that thy son is living still, and 'gainst the Turk is
fighting.
But when that sad, sad day shall come, when comes
that bitter morning,
The morn when both those plants shall die, and faded
hang their blossoms,
Know that thy son all wounded lies-in weeds of black
array thee,'
Twelve years, twelve long, long years had passed, twelve
years and fifteen months gone,
And all that time the rose had bloomed and blossomed
the carnation,
Till dawned a morning bright of Spring, till dawned a
May-day morning;
Sweet sang the birds within the groves, and all the
heavens were laughing—
One lightning-flash, one thunder-clap, and all was
turned to darkness!
Then sadly the carnation sighed, the rose-tree tears
was weeping;
At once they faded both and died, and fading shed their
blossoms,
And with them faded, too, and died, the Klepht's unhappy
mother.
The Klepht's Wintering.
245
THE KLEPHT'S WINTERING.
Ο ΚΛΕΦΤΗΣ ΠΑΡΑΧΕΙΜΑΖΩΝ.
Εμαραθῆκαν τὰ δεντριά, τὰ κορφοβούνι ἀσπρίζουν,
Κι' οι Βλάχοι πᾶν ἐς τὰ χειμαδιά, πᾶνε να ξεχειμάσουν,
(Aravandinos, 128.)
%. T. λ
THE trees are faded, withered all, the hills with snow
are glistening.
The Vlachs into the lowlands go, they go for winter
pasture.
The Klepht, where shall he shelter find? He leaves the
mountain-ridges,
His garb he changes,' through the woods all silently he's
stealing.
No smile is there upon his lips, with head bent low he's
striding;
He counts the passing days and nights, and waits the
hour impatient,
When spring shall open, beeches bud, and he gird on his
weapons,
With gun on shoulder, run again along the rocky ridges,
And climb into the mountains high, and reach the
Klephts' leméri,²
To mingle with his company, and ply again his calling,
To slay the Turk wherever found, to strip bare every
trav❜ller,
And wealthy captives seize upon, to hold them fast to
ransom.
Exchanging the black kerchief and dirty-white kilt of the
Klepht for the white fez and baggy breeches of the Peasant.
2 See p. 210, n. I.
16
246
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE KLEPHTS AWAITING THE SPRING.
ΟΙ ΚΛΕΦΤΕΣ ΑΝΑΜΕΝΟΝΤΕΣ ΤΟ ΕΑΡ.
Ησυχα που εἶναι τὰ βουνά, ἥσυχοι που εἶν' οἱ κάμποι !
Δὲν καταροῦνε θάνατο, γεράματα δὲν ἔχουν,
(Aravandinos, 127.)
%. T. λ.
入​。
How peaceful all the mountains lie, how peaceful lie the
meadows!
It is not death that they await, old age does not afflict.
them;
The spring-time only they await, and May, and summer
sunshine,
To see the Vlachs upon the hills, to see the fair Vlach
maidens,
And listen to the music sweet that with their pipes
they'll waken.
While graze their sheep, around whose necks the heavy
bells are tinkling.
Again they'll set their sheepfolds up, and set up their
encampment.
Again the young Klepht boys will come for frolic and
for dancing.
The Klepht bands, too, will scour again the fields of fair
Pharsalia,
Their Turkish foes to catch alive, and when they're slain
to strip them,
And golden sequins carry off, and then divide and share
them;
And give, perhaps, some two or so to fair and kind
Vlach maidens,
When stealing from them kisses two, with sweetest fun.
and frolic.¹
1
1 Γλυκοπαιγνιδάκι,
Haidee.
247
HAIDEE.
XAIAN.
Ποιός εἶδε ψάρι σε βουνό και αλάρι σὲ λιμάνι ;
Ποιός εἶδε κόρ᾽ ἀνύπαντρη μέσα στὰ παλληκάρια;
(Passow, 305.)
2. T. λ.
WHO fishes on the hills has seen, or deer upon the waters?
Who an unwedded girl has seen among the pallikária?
For twelve long years had Haïdée lived an Armatole.
and Klephtë,
And no one had her secret learnt among her ten
companions,
Till Eastertide came round again, the feast of Easter
Sunday,
When all went forth with sword to play, to fence, and
throw the boulder.
Once Haïdée threw, and only once; ten times the
pallikária.
So tightly prisoned was her form, her shame and her
confusion
Did burst the fastenings of her vest, and showed her
lovely bosom.
One cries that it is gold he sees, another says 'tis silver;
One little Klepht has caught a glimpse, he knows what
'tis full rightly.
'That is no gold that ye have seen, nor is it even silver;
'Tis Haïdée's bosom, nothing else 'tis Haïdée's hidden
treasure!'
'O, hush thee, hush thee, little Klepht! and do not thou
betray me;
And I for thee my life will give, I'll give thee all my
weapons!'
16-2
248
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE LOVELORN KLEPHT!
Ο ΕΡΩΤΕΜΕΝΟΣ ΚΛΕΦΤΗΣ,
Απόψε δεν κοιμήθηκα, καὶ σήμερα νυστάζω,
λιὰ δυὸ ματάκια γαλανά, γιὰ δυὸ γλυκὰ ματαικα
(Aravandinos, 142.)
x. T. λ.
THE livelong night sleep fled from me; to-day I'm all
aweary
For two sweet eyes, for two sweet eyes, two eyes of
sweetest azure.
But I will steal them some dark night, some dark and
moonless midnight,
And to the hills I'll mount with them, high to the
mountain-ridges.
At midnight I will kiss them there; at morn again I'll
kiss them.
Oft have I heard the partridge call, the nightingale oft
warble
e;
Three times the cocks have crowed aloud, five times has
screamed the peacock.
Awaken, O my partridge-eyed! Awake, and with me
hasten!
And I will kiss the olive brown that on thy cheek's
imprinted!
THE DEATH OF THE KLEPHT.
Ο ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΚΛΕΦΤΟΥ
Σαράντα κλέφταις ἤμαστε σαράντα χαραμίδες.
Κ' εκάμαμ' ὅρκο στὸ σπαθί, τρεῖς ὅρκους στὸ τουφέκι,
(Passow, 146.)
%. T. λ.
ONCE we were forty gallant Klephts, we numbered forty
Robbers,
¹ Placing it here, instead of in the Erotic Section, may, perhaps,
be excused by the completion thus given to the Song-picture of
Klephtic life.
The Death of the Klepht.
249
Who'd made an oath upon the sword, three oaths on the
topháiki,
That when a comrade should fall sick, then would we
all stand by him;
Stand by him when the Fates should call, or Destiny¹
demand him.
The best of all the band fell ill, the richest and most
valiant.
One to another signs did make, and said to one another,
'What, comrades, shall we do with him-a stranger in a
strange land?'
And he replied and answered them, with lips all dry
and parched :
Boys, take me in your friendly arms, and bear me in
your bosoms,
And dig me with your hands a grave in th' Earth that
must devour me.
Throw earth by handfuls, kisses throw, throw tears, and
earth by handfuls;
But lay me on my face, your path I shall not then
discover.
And when you see my mother dear, my long-expecting
mother,
Who always looked for my return three times a year
impatient-
The first, Annunciation Day; the second, Passion Sunday;
The third, the saddest time of all, was at the Resurrec-
tion-
Say not to her that I am dead, say not that they have
killed me;
That I am married only say, and in a far, far country.'
1 See 'The Moirai or Fates,' above, p. 111.
250
Greek Folk-Songs.
SABBAS THE ARMATOLE.
(1821.)
ΣΑΒΒΑΣ.
Δὲν κλαῖτε, δέντρα και κλαριά, καὶ σεῖς, κοντοραχούλαις,
δὲν κλαῖτε τοὺς ἀρματωλοὺς καὶ τὸν καπετὰν Σαββα
(Aravandinos, 81.)
x. π. λ.
OH, weep ye not, ye trees and boughs? oh, weep ye
not, low ridges?
Weep ye not for the Armatoles, and their brave
Captain Sábbas?
Lord Jesus! what will happen here, the summer that is
coming?
In Goúra they're no longer seen, nor yet in Armyriótë.
They say, to Yannina he's gone to give in his submission.¹
'Effendi, many be your years!' 'Ah, Sábbas, thou art
welcome!
How didst thou come? how dost thou do? how fare
thy pallikaria ?'
Effendi, they submit themselves; they've to the fields
descended,
And I'm to thy protection come, to take hold of thy
garment!'
DIAKOS THE ARMATOLE.
(1821.)
ΔΙΑΚΟΣ.
Τρία πουλάκια κάθουνταν κάτω στὴν ᾿Αλαμάνα,
Τόνα τηράει τη Λειβαδιὰ καὶ τ' ἄλλο τὸ Ζητοῦνι.
(Passow, 235.)
x. T. X.
THREE little birds had perched themselves, and sat in
Alamána ;
To Ismail Pasha, who was then victoriously besieging Alí
Pasha, whose hour was now come.
Diakos the Armatole.
251
One looked down to Livadia, another to Zetoúni,
The third-the best of all the three-a lamentation
warbled:
'Arise and flee, Diákos mine, and let us to Livádia.
Omér Pasha's attacking us-Omér the Bey Vriónë.'
'Why, let the cuckold come along, and show himself, the
apostate!
We'll let him see the battle of the Armatole's to-
pháiki ;
We'll let him see Diákos' sword, how in red blood it
revels!'
When furiously the fight had waged from morning until
evening,
Their guns they threw aside, and drew their swords from
out the scabbards,
And like wild lions on the Turks they made a desperate
onset.¹
Three times the Othmans count their dead, three
thousand find they missing.
When call their roll the Armatoles, they miss but three
Leventës;
No one has gone to keep a feast, or gone to keep a
wedding.
Then cried Diákos unto them, with all his might he
shouted:
'My brother, Basil, where art thou? thou, Ghiorghi, my
beloved?
Their blood ye shall require from him, from that Omér
Vriónë;
Meantime go! hither bring the Cross, and we'll all kiss't
together!'
1 Compare p. 242, and note 3.
252
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE SIEGE OF MISSOLONGHI.
(1826.)
Η ΠΟΛΙΟΡΚΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΜΕΣΟΛΟΓΓΙΟΥ.
Σαββάτο ημέρα πέρασαν ἀπὸ τὸ Μεσολόγγι,
Τὴν Κυριακ᾽ ἦταν τῶν Βαγιῶν, Σαββάτο τοῦ Λαζάρου.
(Aravandinos, 15.)
x. 5. λ.
ONE Saturday, as journeying, I passed by Missolonghi-
It was Palm Sunday's eve, it was the Saturday of
Laz'rus-
I heard within a sound of woe, of tears and lamentation.
Not for the slaughter did they mourn, nor for the dead
were weeping;
'Twas only for the bread they wept, for which the flour
was lacking.
Then from the Church a priest proclaimed, and called to
all the people:
My children, young and old, approach; come here to
St. Nikóla ;
Come for the last time and partake of the Communion.
holy !'
But from the rampart Bótsaris was calling to them loudly:
'Whoe'er is brave, and swift of foot, a worthy pallikári,
Let him to th' Isles a letter take, to Hydra and to
Spezzia,
That they provision bring of corn, and we drive out our
hunger;
And drive away the Arabs, too; that dog Ibráhim with
them.
Where goest, I say, 'Brahím Pashá, with thy worn-out
old Arabs?
This place they call it Kárleli, they call it Missolonghi,
Where fight the valiant Héllenes still, like worthy palli-
kária "
Nasos Mantalos.
253
NASOS MANTALOS.
(1828.)
ΝΑΣΟΣ ΜΑΝΤΑΛΟΣ,
Τὸ λἐν οἱ κοῦκκοι 'ς τὰ βουνὰ κ' ἡ πέρδικες 'ς τὰ πλάγια,
Τὸ λέει κι' ὁ πετροκότσιφος 'ς ένα ξερό δεντράκι.
(Aravandinos, 98.)
%. T. λ.
THE Cuckoo sings it on the hills, and on the shore the
partridge,
And on a withered little tree our Peter-blackbird¹ sings it;
And as a funeral dirge they chant and sing the mournful
ditty:
The noise of many guns I hear, and dismal is their
knelling,
Perhaps 'tis for a wedding, or perhaps 'tis for a feast-day?'
They neither for a wedding fire, nor do they fire for
feast-day,
But Náso's battling, fighting hard against Hassáni Ghíka.
Three days the fighting's lasted now, three days and
nights the battle;
No water have they, bread they've none, no friend has
come to aid them;
And now at break of day, at dawn, with sword in hand
arising,
A red-wet road2 he opens wide, 'Farewell,' they say to
Khásia.
1 This name given to the blackbird recalls the lines read long ago
somewhere or other:
'Art thou the Peter of Norway boors?
Their Thomas in Finland,
And Russia far inland?
The darling of children and men,
The bird who, by some name or other,
All men who know thee call their own brother?
Our dear little English Robin !'
2 Kókкivov dpóμov, literally a 'red road.' But Burns has 'red-wat-
shod.'
254
Greek Folk-Songs.
THE BATTLE OF KALABAKA.¹
(1854.).
Η ΚΑΛΑΜΠΑΚΑ ΚΑΙ Ο ΧΑΤΖΗ ΠΕΤΡΟΣ
Τ' ἔχεις, καϋμένε κόρακα, καὶ σκούζεις καὶ φωνάζεις,
Μήνα διψάς γιὰ αἵματα, μήνα διψᾶς γιὰ λέσια ;
(Oikonomides, A. 32.)
•
κ. τ. λ.
WHAT aileth thee, O wretched crow, that thou art cry-
ing and screaming?
It
may
be thou dost thirst for blood, or thirstest thou for
carrion?
Come out high over Kósiako, high over Kalabáka,
And down towards the river look, and down to Krea-
Vrissi;
There Turkish bodies thou shalt see, thou shalt see
headless bodies,2
Where they have shut up Aliá Bey, and with him troops
four thousand,
The bullets fall as thick as rain, and cannon-balls as
hailstones,
And see, those muskets pour their shot like to the small
rain falling.
Hold out, O Hadji Petros mine, against the Liáp³
topháikia!
1 This was the last battle of the futile Greek Insurrection during
the Crimean War. See Introd., p. 30, n. 27.
2 They were really Arab mercenaries over whom the Greeks
gained the victory in the Upper Glen of the Peneiós which preceded
their defeat at Kalabáka, where the forces of Abdi Pasha and
Fuad Effendi formed a junction, as, of old, those of Cæsar and
Domitius.
3 It was the Albanians of this tribe who turned the fortune of the
day against the Greeks.
Kapitan Basdekis.
255
KAPITAN BASDEKIS.1
(1878.)
ΤΟΥ ΜΠΑΣΔΕΚΗ.
Τα παλληκάρια τὰ καλὰ, αδίκως τὰ σκοτώνουν,
Μὲ μπέσα καὶ μὲ πλάνημα καὶ μὲ βαρὺ σικλέτι.
(Oikonomides, A. 85.)
%. T. X.
THE pallikars, so gallant all, unjustly have been
slaughtered,
With lying words and treachery, with great and grievous
suff'ring.
Upon the cross-roads there they lie, so many headless.
bodies;
Each traveller that passes by, stands still and thus he
asks them:
'O bodies, say, where are your heads? O say, where
are your weapons ?'
'O may that leader be accursed, that Kapitan Basdékis,
Who did not shame to sell himself at Volo, in the
fortress!'
.
!”
'May you live long, Hobárt Pashá !" Thou'rt welcome,
my Basdéki,
Ho, there! make ready coffee, quick, and fill a long
chiboúki ;
And send two ladies here to us, to talk to and amuse him,
And he'll relate his grievances, and tell us all his troubles.
1 One of the leaders of the Pelion Insurrection in which Mr.
Ogle perished-killed or murdered. See Introd., p. 30, n. 29.
2 I wonder whether our Turcophile Admiral is aware that his
interview with the Insurgent has been thus graphically described
in Greek Folk-song?
256
Greek Folk-Songs.
How many rebels were with you, how many Boulouk-
djides ?'1
'Insurgents forty once were we, and had ten Bou-
loukdjides,
And ne'er a one of all our band who was not strong and
healthy,
Until the time when sickness seized our first, our eldest
brother.
For forty days we carried him, and bore him on our
shoulders,
Till worn out had our shoulders grown, and ragged was
our clothing;
And one unto the others said, and to his fellows
murmured :
"Boys, shall we go and leave him here, here in this ditch
bestow him ?"
And the poor wretch heard what he said, and then he
fell a-weeping.
"My boys, my boys, don't leave me here, within this
ditch don't leave me;
But take me hence, and carry me up to the ridge that's
yonder,
That nightingales may be my mates, and I with birds
may gossip,
Until the spring shall come again, and come once more
May's summer,
When mountains dress them in the green, and gay are
the leméria,
When come th' Insurgents on the hills, and Vlachs their
black sheep leading."'
1
Commanders.
Themistocles Doumouzos.
257
THEMISTOCLES DOUMOUZOS.¹
(1880.)
ΘΕΜΙΣΤΟΚΛΗΣ ΔΟΥΜΟΥΖΟΣ.
Πουλάκι 'πηγε κάθησε στὸν ᾿Αϊλιᾶ στὴ Ράψαν,
Ολημερὴς ἀπ' τὸ πρωΐ πικρὰ λαλεῖ καὶ λέγει.
(Oikonomides, A. 89.)
x. T. X.
A LITTLE bird had perched itself on Aïlià in Rápsan,²
And all the day, from early dawn, a bitter song was
wailing:
'Olympus have I wandered o'er, the country round
Kissávos,
And now from Hellas am I come, nor there could I
discover
That Kapetan Themistocles, the gallant pallikári ;
But bitter tidings gathered I, as on the road I travelled:
By faithless Rapsaniots he's slain, for they have given
him poison.
Accursed be thou, O Rápsanè, thou who hast done this
evil!
With treachery thou hast destroyed the Chief of all the
Captains.
Hoar are the ridges for his sake, for him the towns are
weeping.
The Koniárs he made to quake, for fear of him they
trembled,
And ne'er a one was there who dared to meddle with a
Christian.
1 Domouz is the Turkish for a 'pig.'
2 A famous village on the Lower Olympus. I spent several days,
before Christmas, 1880, boar-hunting in its neighbourhood. But I
am unable to say whether the accusation here brought against its
inhabitants is well founded or not.
258
Greek Folk-Songs.
Katarrachiás, Kalóyeros, the Chief of the Klepht Captains,¹
These too bear witness to his worth, and talk of all
his bravery;
They vaunt his swiftness in the chase, and greatly praise
his freedom.
Upon Olympus he was famed, a stag in all his glory;
With silver ornaments he shone, like snow upon the
mountain.
Said I not, my Themistocles, to Rápsanè, O go not;
For very faithless are its folk, and evil will befall thee?'
'I went to see my native town, I went to see my
kinsfolk;
The thought had never come to me, nor could I ever
fancy,
That they who were my dearest friends would seek to
give me poison.'
1 To capture these gentlemen, and their bands, a corps d'armée
was organized in the autumn of 1881; and by the favour of Salyh
Pasha, the Commander-in-Chief, I was permitted to accompany it
for six weeks-this being the only way in which it was then possible
to ascend Olympus, or explore its environs.
APPENDIX.
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF GREEK FOLK-LORE.
ARAVANDINOS.—Συλλογὴ δημωδῶν Ηπειρωτικῶν ασμάτων. 1880.
BLACKIE.-Hora Hellenica.
1874.
BLANCHARD. — Poèmes patriotiques de Valaorites. 1883.
CHASSIOTIS. Συλλογὴ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Ἠπείρον δεμοτικῶν ἀσμάτον. 1866.
CONZE.-Reise auf den Inseln des Thrakischen Meeres.
Χρονογραφία τῆς Ἠπείρου.
1856.
DROSINUS.—Ländliche Briefe-Land und Leute in Nord-Euböa. 1884.
-'0
EVLAMPIOS. - Ο 'Αμάραντος.
1843.
FAURIEL.-Chants populaires de la Grèce moderne. 1824.
FIRMENICH.-Τραγούδια Ρωμαϊκα. 1867.
GELDART.-Folk-Lore of Modern Greece. 1884.
GLENNIE.-Samothrace and its Gods, Contemporary Review. May, 1882.
HAHN.-Griechische und Albanische Märchen.
IATRIDOS.-Σύλλογὴ δημοτικῶν ασμάτων. 1859.
1864.
HEUZEY.-Le Mont Olympe. 1860.
IKEN EVNOMIA.-Vols. I. and II.
KIND.-Τραγούδια τῆς νέας Ελλάδος.
1833.-Μνημόσυνον. 1849.
Anthologie. 1844.
LEGRAND.-Chansons populaires grecques. 1876.-Recueil de Poemes
historiques. 1877.
LELEKOS.-Δεμοτικὴ ᾿Ανθολογία.
1868.
MACPHERSON.-Poetry of Modern Greece.
1884.
MANASSEIDOS.-Διάλεκτος Αἴνου, Ἴμβρου, καὶ Τενέδου. Ποικίλη όλη εξ
Αἴνου καὶ Ιμέρα.
MANOUSOS.-Τραγούδια ἐθνικὰ, κ. τ. λ. 1850.
MARCELLUS.-Chants du Peuple en Grece.
1851.
OIKONOMIDES.-Τραγούδια του Ολύμπου. 1881.
OPPENHEIM. —Volks und Freiheitslieder.
PAGOUNOS.—Ηπειρωτικὴ διάλεκτος.
1842.
260
Bibliography of Greek Folk-Lore.
Pandora, Εφεμερίς τῆς Ελλάδος.
Panhellenic Annual.
PASHELY.-Travels in Crete. 1837.
PASSOW. Popularia Carmina Græcia Recentioris. 1860.
Parnassos, Νεοελληνικὰ ἀνάλεκτα.
Φιλολογικός συνέκδημος. 1849.
1870-ης.
POLITOS.-Γλοσσολογική συμβόλη.
Ross.-Reisen auf den Griech. Inseln des Aegaeischen Meeres. 1840.
Sanders.—Das Volksleben der Neugriechen.
SCHAUB.-Poèmes grecs modernes. 1844.
1844.
SCHMIDT.—Das Volksleben der Neugriechen. 1871.
SHERIDAN.—The Songs of Greece. 1826.
STAMATELLOS.-Συλλογὴ τῶν ζώντων μνημείων ἐν τῆ γλώσσα τοῦ Λευκαδίου
λαοῦ.
TEPHARIKI.-Λιανοτράγουδα.
1868.
TOMMASEO.-Canti popolari. 1841.
TOZER.-The Highlands of Turkey.
VALAORITES.-Μνημόσυνα ᾄσματα.
ZANNETOS.—Ἡ Ὁμερικὴ φράσις.
1861.—Η κυρὰ Φροσύνη. 1859.
1852.
ZAMBELIOS.—Ασματα δημοτικὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος.
1883.
THE END.
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