Folk-lore of modern Greece : the tales of the people

Edmund Martin Geldart

Sujets

• Folklore
• Greece

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• Publié par: les_archives_du_savoir
• Nombre de lectures: 8
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

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1F c. 1398.2.G28BOOK
MODERNOF# FOLK LOREGELDART
GREECE
bDD12ME1.13 ^153:
^^"^FOLK-LOKE
OF
MODERN GREECE:
THE TALES OF THE PEOPLE.
EDITED BY THE
I^Ev. E. M. GELDAET, M.A.,
AUTiioi: or "THE mode-ix greek language in its kelation to ancient
;GREEK "A guide TO MODERN GREEK," &e., &C.
LONDON
W. SWAX SO^WEXSCHEIX & CO.,
PATEHNOSTER SQUARE.
1S84.1'KINTED BY
KELLY AND to.. GATE STKEET. LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS;
KIN(JSTON-()N-THAMES.ANDPREFACE
The following Fairy Tales are translated, with the exception of
the first the originals of whichthree, are contained in the
Farnassos, published the Philologicala journal by Society of that
name in the text,Athens, from Greek edited by Pio atJ.
Copenhagen, title : Contes Populaii-esunder the Grecs piiblih
(Tap de Ha/ui, Von Hahnres les Manuscrits dii Dr. G. 1879.J.
himself, the Albanesischeauthor of Sfndie7i, Jena, 1854, and
MdrcJieu, Leipzig, having livedGriecJiische und albanesische 1864,
from his youth in various parts of Cireece, had employed native
amanuenses to write down, by word of mouth, the several stories
which formed the basis of his Cxerman version, as they fell from
the lips of their narrators. Some of these were subseciuently
revised by Professor INIavrophrydes, of Athens, the rest after his
death by M. Pio, the editor of the Greek text already mentioned.
Of many of the tales the latter found duplicate versions among
f', the posthumous MSS. of Von Hahn, and, by the collation of
^^hese, he succeeded in producing a text which, while it leaves
>^much to be desired from a purely philological point of view, is
sufficientlyevidently, as the mere style of the recital attests, a
tradition than is mostlyfar closer approximation to genuine oral
popTilar*legends. With regard to mythe case with collections of
selection and translation of the tales con-own work, namely, the
tained in the present volume, I wish to say first that I have
confined myself entirely to those of which I had the Greek text
before me; secondly, that I have translated them directly from,
where I could, thethe original, and subsequently compared,
f\y^erman version of Von Hahn : besides consulting native GreekIV PREFACE.
friends on doubtful points. I cannot, however, ask to be
judged by Von Hahn's translation. Great as his merit is in
having first drawn the attention of his countrymen to the rich
(in prose form) found in (rreecc,treasure of fairy legends a to be
rather mythologist than a linguist, and his (lermanhe was a
version is not only free, but in some instances either demonstrably
or on a different reading to that followed byinaccurate founded
Pio. In regard to the choice I have made within the limits
assigned, and resisting the temptation to enlarge the present
volume either from those portions of Von Hahn's Mcirchen of
which the Greek text is not published, or from the charming
PopidaircsFrench collection of Emile Legrand : Recueil de Contes
not yet accessible,Grecs^ Paris, 1881, of which also the original is
I have that was still further restricted in the matter ofto say I
.selection, by the character of the legends themselves, many of
ofwhich exhibit all that naive unconsciousness of the proprieties
andcivilized life, which belongs to popular thought and speech,
which, while wholly innocent in itself, renders the narratives un-
presentable in mutilationpolite society, except at the cost of such
as would deprive For this scientificthem of scientific value.
value consists essentially, it seems in the faithful andas to me.
rigorous preservation both of the matter and the form of the
original, with translation.so far as this is possible and compatible
I have remove the uncoutlitherefore not sought nor desired to
abruptness of the narrative, or to make it in any sense conform
1 have rather endeavouredto the demands of literary elegance ;
to retain, so far as the English idiom at all admits, even the rapid
and vice versa,transition from the })ast tense to the historic present,
characteristic of popular oral narration, andwhich is so sj^ecially
the somewhat confusing inter-have left intact, as far as I cjuld,
far-fetc-hed proverbial allusioncalation of comment, and often
theseand ilhistration, which is another strongly marked trait of
vernacular recitals. 'I'he main interest for the student attaching
ofto t!iese tales centres around the ])roblen7 ct the nTigration"
PREFACE.
an old nursery favourite will be recognised throughmyths. Many
disguise by English children when they read, as I hopeit!rTrreek
will read, this book. ATIftle girl of eleven interrupted methey
Brothers and the Forty-Nine Dragonsin the story of the Two by
"'
1
tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thievesthe cry, "Why that's the
How far such tales are indoger-And so it is, with a difference.
Ge>/iei?igitt, how far they have crept into Greece throughmanishes
Arabic and perhaps, ultimately, Persian sources whatTurkish, ;
• what they have lost and gainedway they have travelled; and
journey, is one ot the~"most interesting, and at the sameupon the
time compllcated~questions , which can engage the investigator
Cireekof ethnological relations. That Little Saddleslut is the
the first theCinderella is obvious at blush. But why one sat
and the other on saddle, not withoutupon the hearth a a
reminiscence the hearth in respect of the place of burial ofof
her much injured mother why in Greece the corpse of the
;
mother replaces the Godmother of the I'eutonic legend, whether
or not in the spinning wheel and the cannibal feast which usher
the Greek story, we have elements purely Hellenic, in a word,in
at once for difference and likeness in the two talesto account
when placed side by side : these are among the most knotty points
which savants can undertake to determine. The reader who is
curious about parallels will find abundant comparative illustration
But thein the notes to Von Hahn's collection. inexhaustible
up deters me under presentnature of the inquiry here opened
of my own ignorance, from doingconditions, especially that
more perhaps superfluousthan offering one or two solitary and
hints. With compare "Derthe story of "The (lolden Steed"
" Kinder- iind Hausniarchen. "Withgute Johannes in Grimm's
" "•Grimm's Briiderchen und Schwe.s-Starbright and Birdie,"
With "Sir Lazarus and the Dragons," Grimm'sterchenl"'
"Das Schneiderlefn.'' Again, as essentially the sametapfere
tale in another form, compare "The Man without a pjeard
" venture here toand Der Riese und der Schneider." Ivl PliKFACK.
hazard the suggestion thnt the greater i)rominence of solar
and stellar elements to be found in the (ireek, compared with
the German versions, of cognate stories, points to highera
antiquity for the former, as regards the shape in which they have
refercome down. I would especially to the almost total disappear-
"" "ance of the astronomical strain in Briiderchen and Schwes-
terchen," conscious, presence in the storyand its, even of
'• distinctlyStarbright and Birdie." For a more solar signification I
"would draw special attention to the adventures of the Scab-
pate," his56-65, and 152-181. His tumbling in the mire,pp.
horses of various hue, his javelin wherewith he slays his rival in
the first story, and all the varied vicissitudes of his chequered
fortune, are so many ways the struggle of the sunof representing
with clouds and darkness, and depicting its final victory over
storm and gloom. In the "Tale of the Dragon," thepp. 141-143,
j)art i)layed by the pea reminds us curiously of Hans Andersen's
story cf "The Real Princess."