On the outskirts of Paradise,
Close to the throne of God--
The throne of Judgment--
Where the whole world gathers,
Tables are decked,
And the saints sit round the table.
John St. John,
Ilie St. Ilie,
Peter St. Peter,
With all the other saints,
Are feasting joyously.
The Lord came then to the table,
Sat down at the table,
Blessed the bread,
And began
To eat.
They were eating,
Or not eating,
For on a sudden
They lifted their eyes,
And whom should they see from afar?
The archangel Gabriel
And the angel Michael,
Who were coming, always coming,
Drawing nearer and nearer, and then they reached the table.
They bent their knees before the Lord,
Bent their knees and prayed.
And said the following:
"Dost thou know, O Lord, or dost thou not know,
What has happened in Paradise?
What we have seen and what has been done?
No sooner had St. Peter gone,
And Ilie followed suit,
And St. John had left us,
When the heathen gods, realising it,
Stormed Paradise,
Entered inside,
Robbed it and
Have taken away the crown of Paradise.
They have taken the moon,
With its light.
They have taken the twilight,
With its glimmer.
They have taken the stars,
With their flowers.
They have taken the sun,
With its treasures.
The heathen gods have further taken away
The throne of judgment,
Before which the whole world must appear.
They have carried it all away into hell.
Paradise is darkened,
Whilst hell is lit up.
We have fought as much as we could fight,
But they overpowered us.
They refuse to give up the spoil.
We have now come to tell you,
To bring our prayer as a sacrifice,
That you may render us help,
And come back with us to Paradise."
When the Lord heard it,
He made a sign to the saints,
And turned his eyes upon the angels,
And went with them
To bear them company.
First St. Ilie,
Who is the most powerful saint;
And second to him St. Peter,
To smite the heathen gods with drought.
They followed him.
They started,
John baptising,
St. Ilie striking with his lightning flashes,
St. Peter drenching with rains and downpours.
When they arrived at hell
St. Ilie struck with his lightning;
St. Peter cursed them;
St. John baptised them.
The idols were seized with trembling.
They fell on their knees,
And submitted to St. John.
The archangel Gabriel,
Together with the angel Michael,
Entered hell,
Took everything
In their arms,
And brought them back to Paradise.
Holy moon with its light,
The twilight
With its rays,
The stars
With their flowers,
The sun
With its treasures,
The throne of judgment,
Before which all men must appear,
They brought them back to Paradise,
And Paradise again shone brightly.
Hell was darkened.
They turned to the Lord,
And prayed:
"May, O Lord, thy will
And thy kingdom last forever.
To your health for many years to come."
This carol is full of apocryphal reminiscences and mythical
elements. The contest between Satan and God, and between the evil and
good powers is here described under the form of Satan, stealing the
sun from heaven and plunging the world into darkness, but the angels,
with the prophet Ilie (Elijah) at their head, are able to defeat the
machinations of Satan, and to restore the sun to Paradise. Cf. among
others the English poem, "The Harrowing of Hell," and the literature
connected with the Gospel of Nicodemus. Wesselofsky has studied the
transformation of the prophet Elijah into the Ilie of the popular
faith, who rides the heavens with a thunderbolt in his hands, and
smites the devil wherever he finds him. It is a combination of the
prophet Elijah with a modified form of the Greek Helias. The archangels
Gabriel and Michael are here in their proper place, whilst in the
story of the dragon-fly they have been supplanted by St. George. We
shall find the same saint disguised as a knight and almost forgotten
as a saint in the legend of the Fly of Kolumbatsh, No. 21.
XVI.
WHY IS IT CALLED THE BULL-FLY?
The Story of God, the Sun and the Bulls.
In those days when God used to walk through fields and lanes carrying
his knapsack on his back and feeding his herds and flocks, his oxen
and cows, his sheep and goats, it is told that, once upon a time,
feeling very tired, he went to sleep with his head upon a hillock
of earth. He slept for a long while, and woke up very late. Before
lying down, he told the older and stronger oxen to take care to
behave themselves well, and also to look after the younger ones,
so that there should not be any fight or trouble among them. But no
sooner had he closed his eyes, when such a shouting and bellowing
was started that one might think that the hills were falling and the
earth was breaking up. The Lord sprang upon his feet as if he had
been touched by fire, for the holy sun had come to him, and waking
him up had said:--"O Lord, these creatures of yours have bellowed all
night long so loud and so vigorously that you might have thought that
they intended driving me away from the face of the earth. Look and
see what they have done to me. They have fought against me so long
that they have well-nigh torn my clothes into shreds and tatters,
and with great difficulty I saved myself behind that flower-bed."
"What beetles are you speaking of?" asked the Lord.
"I mean your oxen which have behaved so badly. They are not worthy
to be anything else but horned beetles."
"Let it be so! But I must first look into the matter, and if I find
them guilty, I will punish them just as you wish."
And as the Lord had said, so he did. For, finding them guilty, he drove
them away into the forest. There they climbed up the oak-trees, and
suddenly they all became horned beetles, bull-flies, with larger and
smaller horns, viz. the cows became cow-flies with smaller horns and
the oxen bull-flies with larger horns, through God's punishment. That
is why they are called the Lord's bulls and cows (Lucanus cervus).
According to another legend, the bull-flies were originally the angels
who refused to help St. Elias in fastening the felloes to his fiery
chariot. Therefore their mouths have been closed as with a vice,
for ever, so that they be no longer able to speak, and that is why
they are also called wheelwrights.
The horns of these bull-flies are used by women, who tie them into
their hair against the evil eye. The sharp points of these horns
have the same magical properties as the sharp points of the coral,
or of the horns, fingers, etc., which figure so largely in the magical
charms and amulets against the workings of the evil eye.
XVII.
WHY IS THE SAW-FLY RED?
The Story of Ileana, Voinic and the Archangel Gabriel.
The following legend is told of this little beetle.
I do not know how long ago it was that Ileana Cosinziana (Ileana the
fay) walked about with her young, beautiful, and brave hero (Voinic
inflorit), and, singing with a loud voice, they filled mountain and
valleys with their music. It must have been long ago, for at that time
the archangel Gabriel also walked the earth in the form of a very
old man, leaning on iron crutches. He went about warning the people
that God would send upon them a new flood of foreign tongues and
wild nations, if they would not stop their quarrels and put an end
to their curses. After having travelled through many countries and
empires, St. Gabriel found himself one day at the top of a cliff,
so high that it made your head turn when you looked down. There
he met Ileana Cosinziana, who was weeping and singing a doleful
tune. With her was Voinic inflorit, whom she had met in the land of
the fairies, just as God makes men meet in their journeys. "How far
art thou going?" asked Voinic, seeing the old man. "Much farther than
thou wilt go," replied the archangel Gabriel. The young man looked up,
feeling wroth with the answer. And quite naturally so, when he heard a
very old man boasting that he was going much farther than he. Was he
not a young sturdy man, and more likely to walk ever so much further
than a bent-down old fellow grey of hair? "O old man, you must take
me for a weakling, when you say that I cannot walk as far as you do."
"Young man, your sweet, strong voice will not be heard any more a
year hence."
"And why?"
"Because such is the will of God."
"Yes, that might be so if you were the brother of Christ," replied
the young man, sneering.
"I may not be the brother of Christ, but that of St. Peter I may well
be. If you do not believe me, let us enter a wager that a year hence
we will meet here again. But you will be weak and broken, much more
so than you think me to be now."
"Well, be it so, but woe betide thee if I win the wager."
"So it shall be."
And wishing one another good-bye, each went his own way, bent on
winning the wager.
"Who was that daring old man?" asked the Ileana; "it seems to me that
he is not so old as his grey hair betokens. He is a valiant man. God
knows who he may be, but one thing is certain, he is not an old man."
"How did you know it?"
"Well, when he put out his hand, he gripped mine with so much strength
that he very nigh burnt my soul out of me with the fire of his hand."
When the young Voinic heard it, he got so angry that he was more like
a wild beast than a human being, and being overpowered by his fury,
got hold of her by the hair of her head and hurled her down the cliff
so that she broke into a thousand pieces. He then began to run away
so fast that the earth seemed to fly away under his feet. And thus
he continued running through many lands and many countries, until
the year had come round when he was to meet the old man again. On
the last day of the year, Voinic remembered the wager, and looking
into the water at the bottom of a well, he saw himself much weaker
and older than the old man had looked a year ago. In his anger he
threw himself into the well. But, in accordance with the will of God,
the water would not keep him, and cast him out. He had got very old
indeed, for the thoughts and worries had cut deep furrows into his
face; his hair from black, turned white as the snow. This was because
in his fury and in an unlucky hour he had killed his beloved Ileana
by throwing her down the cliff.
The archangel Gabriel, who knew all that had happened, changed into
a young man beautiful as the sun, valiant as a king and brave as a
lion. He was mounted on a charger black as the night and swift as the
wind. Thus arrayed, he came to the cliff where they had arranged to
meet. Voinic noticed that against his will he had also come to that
spot. How great then was his fright when, instead of a decrepit old
man, he found there so valiant a knight.
"Good morning, Voinic."
"All hail! I am no longer a hero full of sap; I am now an old weak
man."
"He, he, seest thou now that what I had told thee has come to pass? I
have grown young and thou hast grown old. So it is, for who can
alter the will of God? He can do what he likes, and man must submit
to his decrees. So it is, indeed, but how now about our wager? Where
is that beautiful maiden of thine, in whom thou didst believe more
than in God?"
"She died soon after we met."
"True, she is dead, for thou, O wretch, hast killed her."
"I assuredly did not; she died by the will of God."
"Oh no, thou hast thrown her down the cliff. I know it well, for I
have seen the rut on the cliff she fell down."
"That is not true, for I have buried her with the assistance of the
priest of the next village. If thou dost not believe, come with me,
and I will show thee the grave."
"This is an infamous lie. Thou hast murdered her. Thou come and I
will show thee her real grave and her blood."
And, getting hold of him, he took him down and showed him a place
which seemed covered with red blood. But it was no blood. It was
a vast number of small red beetles. "Out of the blood of Ileana,
seest thou, have come these little flies."
When Voinic heard this, he was seized with such a great fright that
he became changed from the old bent man that he was into a small
black insect, which unto this very day cries for his lost beloved
Ileana. The people call it the little cricket, or rather the bull
or cow of the Lord (Lygaeus equestris). The little red beetles which
come out of the blood of Ileana they also call Easter beetle, for it
was on Easter Day that she was thrown down the cliff.
XVIII.
WHY DOES THE SAW-FLY LIVE IN STABLES?
The Story of St. Mary and the Miserly Farmer.
Another legend of a totally different character is also told of this
little beetle.
When the Holy Mother gave birth to Jesus, she had not enough milk
in her breasts to suckle the child. Next to her on the right lived a
very rich farmer who had a large number of cows. So the mother Mary
sent to him, and asked him to give her a little milk, as much as was
necessary to feed her little baby. But rich farmers are, as a rule,
very stingy. So he replied, "I am not going to give my good milk to
a witch to bewitch my cows and take away their gift."
The Holy Mother, on hearing his words, got very angry, especially when
she heard that he had called her a witch. But she kept her counsel,
and went to the neighbour on the left, who had only one cow. He was
a kind-hearted man, and gave her at once a bowl full of milk. When
she left, she blessed him and said: "On the morrow thou shalt not
know what to do with the milk," i.e. he would have so much milk that
he would not know how to handle it. And so it happened. When, on the
next morning, he entered the stables he found them full of beautiful
fat kine, from which the milk was running, so rich were they.
But the stingy neighbour the Holy Mother cursed, and said: "On the
morrow thy stable shall be empty, and in lieu of cows, beetles shall
be there." And so also it happened. When he entered the stables the
next morning, he found them empty, and instead of the cows, which
were no longer there, the stables were full of little red flies with
black spots on their backs, crawling up the walls and filling the
manger. And that is why they are called the cows and oxen of the Lord.
To obtain abundance of milk peasant women in the Bukovina go on
a Tuesday evening to a place where there are a number of these
insects. The next morning, before sunrise, they go there again and,
taking a number of them, bring them home, chop them up with their
choppers and, mixing them with the food, give them to the cows to
eat. The cows will then yield much milk.
XIX.
WHY IS THE LADY-BIRD DAINTY?
The Story of the Wicked Maiden and the Archangel Michael.
In olden times, when the men were not yet so wicked and bad, there
was no hell, for the good God saw that it would remain empty, as there
would be no one to go there. The people were happy and grateful, and
satisfied with whatever God gave them. It did not enter their minds to
complain of God's wisdom and love. After a time the people multiplied
so much that they could no longer have enough of anything. So they
began to quarrel with one another. Those who had nothing, without
knowing that they were doing anything wrong, began to demand whatever
they wanted from the wealthy ones. They did not know that it was
forbidden to take another man's property. For up till then no one knew
what sin was. The Allmerciful God, who sees and knows everything,
noting that strife and quarrels increased more and more among men,
sent his trusty servant, the archangel Michael, to awaken mankind
to the sense of sin, and to train them to good deeds. The archangel
went among the people, enlightened their minds, and told them all
about sin and wrong-doing, and what they had to do in order to avoid
sin. That was just the knowledge that the people were lacking; but
no sooner did they know what evil was, than, curiously enough, they
took to wrong-doing. Jealousy, greed, strife, and murder were born
among them. When God saw the obstinacy and perverseness of mankind,
he let them go their own way to do whatever they liked, even if they
acted against his wishes. In order to punish them, however, he decided
not to allow them to get into Paradise. At the edge of the garden he
made a deep well; so deep that it was very dark, almost black. He then
took a fiery morning star, and cast him into the depth of the well,
thus filling it with burning coals. And then he turned every wicked
man into that fire so that he might repent. He called that place
Hell: and so it has remained to this day. In order that men should
know that God knows how to reward them, he at times left the gate of
Paradise open, so that everyone, if he liked, could enter into it
and see how beautiful it was. He also opened the gates of Hell, so
that they might also see the tortures and hear the cries of the wicked.
Many people went and looked, and when they looked into Paradise, their
hearts swelled with joy; but when they went and looked into Hell,
their hearts got as small as a flea on account of the great fright
they got, when they saw how severely God punished the sinner. They
all repented of their evil ways, all of them, great and small, except
one single person, who on no account would repent. This one was a
girl as beautiful as an angel, and clever beyond comparison. She was
strong, with a fine body, round and sleek as no other, and she had a
head so beautiful that you might believe it was a picture. Her long
black hair, soft like silk, shone like the feathers of a raven. Her
eyes were black and sparkling--she could almost burn you up with her
look--her mouth had lips as red as the berries of the field--her cheeks
were white and smooth as snow lit up with two blood-red roses. I do
not know--by God I do not--where there is anyone who would not have
fallen in love with her. God sent the archangel Michael to take her
out of this world and put her in Hell, there to repent of her sins
of obstinacy and perversity. He went, but when he looked at her,
he could not utter a single word. He felt as though he had a knot
in his throat when he was to tell her that she must prepare for the
journey. For he knew how terrible it is in Hell. So he returned to
Heaven without taking the girl with him to throw her into the abysmal
depths. When God saw him so sad, he asked him what was the cause of it.
"O Lord," said the archangel, "I have fulfilled all thy commands
except one, which I could not fulfil; I had pity on the beauty of
that girl. She is so beautiful that you cannot help feeling full
of pity, and to feel a sweet shiver passing through you when you
behold her. If it be possible, O Lord, let her live on for a while,
perchance she will repent."
"O my son Michael, thou dost not know that thy pity will cause me much
trouble and worry. Just look down and see. Since thou hast left her,
she has increased the number of the wicked and sinful. For whoever
looks at her is seized with lust. Everyone thinks only of her eyes and
her face. When I sent thee, she was the only one left who was wicked,
for she alone was possessed of pride, obstinacy and perverseness. Now
the number has grown."
"O, Lord, if it be only possible, do not uproot that example of
womankind, for she is beautiful, and it is not likely that another
like her will ever be born."
"Very well, then, I will let her live on, perchance she will repent and
get better; but if she does not grow better at the end of one year,
I will send thee again, and then thou wilt throw her down into the
depths of Hell."
"Well, let thy will be done."
And with these words they separated, God going to mend the hinges of
the world, and the archangel to teach and to enlighten the mortals. So,
going through many countries, walking on foot or riding in a car,
when a year had past he came at last again to the house of the
beautiful maiden. There was a vast multitude assembled before her
house. He pushed his way among the people to see at what they were
looking. The beautiful maiden was enticing the people to follow only
pleasure and pride.
"It is not good," so she spoke, "to believe only in what God and his
counsellors tell us. We must do what we think best, for no evil will
happen to us."
When the archangel Michael heard these words, he grew very furious,
and, with a mighty effort, he got near her, so as to seize her and
hurl her into the fire of Hell.
"Do not carry her to Hell," said the voice of God; "for she might
start fresh mischief and wickedness there also, and engender strife:
she had better be changed into some insignificant insect."
When the archangel heard the command, he got hold of her by the hair
of her head, and he whirled her round so many times that she became
as small as a speck; and then, throwing her away, she turned into
a small red insect with black points on her wings, which was called
Bubureaza (Coccinella septempundata). To this very day, when you put
her on your finger, she will show you the way you are to go, but it
is better for men to do the reverse and go in the opposite direction;
for she leads one only to evil.
XX.
WHY DOES THE GAD-FLY STING THE CATTLE?
The Story of God, St. Peter and the Lazy Shepherd.
In olden times God and St. Peter used to walk about in the world, to
see what was happening, and how the world was going on. And after they
had seen what happened in one province, they used to go to another.
Once upon a time, after leaving a certain village, they got into
a deep and dark forest. Walking along for a while, they lost their
way, and did not know how to get out of it. Tired and hungry, they
walked on, lost in that thick and gloomy wood, when suddenly before
them they saw a field, in which grass and flowers were growing and
herds of cattle were feeding. The cowherd lay fast asleep under the
shadow of a tree. He could take it easily, for the cattle were not
suffering from flies, and were wandering quietly about the field. God
and St. Peter rejoiced greatly when they saw a man lying there. They
went up to him and woke him, and asked him to tell them the way which
would take them out of the forest. The cowherd, being asked by God
which was the quickest road, did not even lift up his head to give a
polite answer. But lying outstretched on the grass, he merely moved
his right leg and, half asleep and lazy as he was, and pointing in
one direction, said, "If you wish to get out to the world of men,
just go that way and you will get there." Then, turning over on the
other side, he again fell asleep.
God and St. Peter, resenting the rudeness of the cowherd, said, "Are
these, then, thy manners? Very well, thou wilt no longer be lazy from
this day onwards. Thy cattle will no longer feed quietly; the gad-fly,
which I am sending, will sting them, and they will run like mad whither
their feet and their eyes will carry them." And so it happened. The
gad-fly came and the cows and oxen suddenly started running like mad
in all directions, and so it has remained to this very day.
The cowherd, when he saw the cattle running like mad things with their
tails in the air, jumped up like one stung to madness, and started
running after them to bring them back. But in vain, for the cattle,
which had run away as quickly as you strike a spark from the flint,
entered into a swamp.
After they had thus punished the cowherd, God and St. Peter went on
walking without knowing whither they were going. So again, after a
long walk in that same forest, they came to another meadow, where a
shepherd tended his flock of sheep. But the sheep were running all
the time so fast that you could not see their legs. Hither and thither
they went, and the shepherd after them, out of breath, and the sweat
running down his face, hoping that he might get them together. But the
sheep were as if they had been bewitched, so fast did they run. And
whilst the shepherd could scarcely keep on his legs, and the sweat was
standing on his forehead like beads, God and St. Peter approached him
and asked him which was the way they were to go to come back to this
world. Although he was dead tired and hot, the shepherd none the less
stopped still and, wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt, said:
"Please, take that way, for if you follow that road, you will soon
get to the end of the forest."
They took the way he showed them, and soon they found themselves in
this world. And God said to his companion:
"From this day onward, the flock of this shepherd, who has given us
good advice, so courteously, shall no longer suffer from the gad-fly
(and the running madness), and they shall only run at times of rain and
wind. They will henceforth feed quietly, and the shepherd also will be
able to sit down and play his pipe." And from that day on the sheep
feed quietly, and the shepherd can tend them in peace and comfort,
for the sheep do not suffer from the gad-fly (Hypoderma bovis),
whilst the cowherds must weary their legs, as otherwise their cattle
would disappear.
There is a Macedonian variation:
Once upon a time God changed into a very old man. Walking one day in
a terrific heat, he met a cowherd and asked him for a drop of water,
for he said he would die of thirst. "Die," replied the cowboy, and
would neither give him a drop of water nor tell him where to find it.
God found afterwards a shepherd hotly pursuing his sheep, and the
perspiration running down him. "Give me a drop of water, for I die,"
said God.
"I give you willingly, but my sheep have run away and I do not know
how to gather them"; and going to a fountain at the foot of a hill
he took some in his fur cap and gave him to drink. God gathered the
sheep, and blessed them to be God's flock, who should never henceforth
separate on the road or be scattered. Remembering the cowherd, he
cursed him and said: "The gad-fly is always to scatter his herd just
when the heat is greatest, so that he may run like mad."
Therefore the sheep always walk together in flocks, and gather together
in hot summer weather in the shade. And for that reason the oxen are
driven mad by the fly in the hot season, and they run like mad as
if they were ridden by devils. The cowherd has to run after them,
and there are but few fountains in Thessaly from which to slacken
his thirst.
XXI.
WHY DOES THE FLY OF KOLUMBATSH POISON THE CATTLE?
The Ballad of the Knight and the Dragon.
Numerous ballads recount the same story of the origin of the Poison-fly
of Kolumbatsh, with slight variations, of which the most complete is
the following: