What does appear?
High up in the forest of Cerna,
At the ford of Rushava,
Have gone forth, verily gone forth,
From some village nigh,
Very early in the morning,
Through dew and mist,
Three sisters,
Beautiful maidens.
The elder sister,
Dressed sweetly,
Fair like a pink flower,
Surpassing a fairy,
When you espy her breast,
White like a lily.
The younger sister,
Darling Maria,
Full of pride
In her eyebrows,
In her eyes and lashes,
And when you look into her eyes,
You are like one smitten by the evil eye.
The youngest sister,
Like unto a dove,
Ana Ghirosana,
Like the fairy Sanziana,
Surpassed them all.
She is like the evening star,
And the star of morn,
The flower of flowers.
They played and frolicked,
And gathered flowers.
They made wreaths,
And while they twisted them they sang.
Through the forest the singing was heard.
Thus they went on,
Until, overcome,
The youngest lay down,
And went to sleep.
The elder two,
The sisters twain,
When night arrived,
To their home they turned.
They left the youngest behind,
Who was fast asleep,
Until the dawn appeared,
When she called for them.
But none heard her,
Except the little cuckoo,
Beautiful and brave,
Who flitted among the trees,
And sang with a loud voice.
"Dear Cuckoo mine,
Listen to me, you brave one!
Lead me out into the open,
To the road of carriages,
That I find my sisters,
For I will be unto thee a cousin!"
"My sweet one!
I do not know
Whether I will lead thee into the open or not,
For I have many cousins,
As many as there are flowers on the mountain!"
"Cuckoo, cuckoo, listen, O brave one!
Lead me into the open,
To the road of cars.
I will be a sister unto thee."
The cuckoo replied:
"No, my child, no,
For I have sisters as many
As flowers that bloom in spring."
"Cuckoo, cuckoo, listen, O brave one!
Lead me into the open,
That I may find my sisters,
For I will be a wife unto thee
As long as I live."
"O no, for I am not a young man
Able to wed.
I am only a little bird,
And I know not of a beloved one."
Then suddenly appeared from a rock
The most horrible fright,
Gruesome and cruel--
Twisting and crawling across the path--
A terrible dragon.
Running after her,
He coiled himself round her,
Twisted his tail
Round her waist; he encircled her.
She was seized with terror,
And shrieked aloud.
The forest resounded.
High up the Cerna,
Very high up the river,
Many a brave has passed,
And all were laid low.
A valiant Ruman,
Ioan Iorgovan,
Whose arms were like clubs,
Was riding upon a horse,
Swift as the eagle,
Followed by two little dogs,
Keen and quick.
He was riding gaily,
Walking up the Cerna
Quite quickly,
His horse prancing,
Encouraging his dogs,
And waving his lance.
He suddenly heard a noise,
But he did not understand,
However much he strained,
Whether it was the voice of a man
Or that of a woman.
For the waves of the Cerna raged,
Sounding loud through the forest.
So he turned himself back,
And said to the Cerna:
"O my clean Cerna,
Stop, I pray thee, stop,
For I will throw
Into thy bed,
And I will give thee a silver lamprey,
And a golden distaff,
With dragon's eyes,
Which will spin and turn by itself."
The Cerna heard him,
And at once stood still.
Then Ioan Iorgovan,
With arms like clubs,
At once heard
And knew the voice,
That it was not that of a man,
But that of a woman.
Then he got angry,
Spurred on his horse,
And, striking it hard,
He roared like a lion,
Splitting the air.
The dragon got sight of him,
And, seized with fear, it ran away.
But he followed it,
And jumped across the Cerna,
And approached it.
The dragon waited for him,
And asked him:
"Ioan Iorgovan,
With arms like clubs.
With what kind of a good message
Dost thou come this day to me?
Or hast thou the thought
To destroy me?
I pray thee, grant me peace,
And turn back to thy home.
I swear on my head
That, dead, I shall be worse.
For, if thou killest me,
My head will rot.
Worms will breed;
Flies will swarm,
Who will bite thy horse.
It will burst of the poison,
The oxen will run mad,
The plough will come to a standstill!"
"Accursed snake!
Thou still bandiest words.
I will teach the country,
And the people will hearken to me.
They will raise the smoke,
And thy flies they will choke.
My horse will not die,
But thou shalt perish,
For I have heard
That thou hast killed
A beautiful maid
With thy robber's jaw."
"Ioan Iorgovan,
When I heard thy approach,
Thy horse's trot,
Roaring like a dragon,
I at once left the maid
Safe and unhurt.
I pray thee,
Leave me alone,
And turn back to thy home.
I swear on my head,
Worse shall I be dead."
Ioan Iorgovan,
With arms like clubs,
Brandished his sword,
Hit the snake,
And cut it up in pieces.
The maid looked on
Until he had finished it,
Then she showed herself,
And thus she spake:
"Ioan Iorgovan,
With arms like clubs,
Lead me out in the open,
To the carriage road,
That I may meet my sisters,
For I shall be unto thee a wife
As long as I be alive."
When he beheld her,
Wonder seized him
Of her beauty and of her youth.
"Ho, my beautiful flower,
Who art like a young fairy,
Be then to me a wife
As long as you be alive."
He then embraced her
And kissed her.
He then looked on--
May it burst--
There was the dragon's head
Running away,
Painting the Cerna red with his blood.
And it ran across the Danube,
Until it hid itself in the dark cave.
There it rotted.
The worms bred
And flies swarmed.
And so it is to this very day;
When the fly comes out
It bites the horses,
It poisons the oxen,
And stops the plough.
Thus far this, the most complete version.
There are a number of other variants, but the central idea is the
same, that the poison-fly (Musca Columbaca) comes from the head of
the dragon, slain by the knight Ioan Iorgovan.
The people show the imprint of the hoofs and the traces of Iorgovan's
dogs on the high cliff overhanging the banks of the Danube.
This legend, localised in Rumania on the borders of Servia, is of
special interest for hagiography. It is nothing else but a variant of
the legend of St. George and the Dragon. It has assumed a peculiar
form, differing greatly from the other versions of that fight,
which is known all over the East and West, and lives in many forms
and versions. In the Rumanian hagiography there are at least two or
three versions of the legend as found in the Vitae Sanctorum and the
Synaxarium of the Greek and Slavonic Church. Thus it is found in one
of the oldest Rumanian prints, the Homiliary of 1646, the very first
book printed at Jasi, in Moldavia, in the Rumanian language. It occurs
also in part in the Lives of the Saints by the Archbishop Dositheus,
who used MS. collections for his book, printed also in Jasi, in
1682. An elaborate version is to be found in the great collection
of the Lives of the Saints in twelve volumes, by Bishop Benjamin
of Moldavia, and then reprinted in Bucharest in 1836. All these
collections are full of apocryphal matter, and the Life of St. George
makes no exception. There is one point more to which attention must
be drawn in this connection, viz. the influence of the Genoese and
Venetian traders who had established emporia along the Danube and
the Black Sea, among them one which to this very day has retained
the name of St. George. Along the Danube, on the left bank, on what
is now Rumania, stands that place, called Giurgiu in honour of the
patron saint of the Genoese who found it. Thus, from many quarters,
one or the other version became known to the folk, and was localised
at that point where the Carpathian mountains seem to dip into the
Danube, to emerge again on the other side and continue rising and
forming the chain of the Balkans. From a philological point of view
the name Iorgu Iorgovan denotes Servian influences.
XXII.
WHY IS THERE A WORM IN THE APPLE?
The Story of God and the False Teachers.
Before God came upon the earth there were a number of men who were
very clever, and who followed the rule of the devil. They claimed
that they could change themselves into dogs and cats, for the devil,
who took much pleasure in his clever people, helped them. Those who
saw them, believed them to be gods, and worshipped them and brought
them gifts. The devil almost jumped out of his skin with delight, for
he hoped that all the nations would do likewise, and soon God would be
forgotten. But God was watching the doings of the devil quietly from
above, until at last, seeing to what lengths he was going, he said:
"By God! it is no good sitting here with my hands in my lap. I must
go down and put matters straight."
So God took on the form of man, and went down among the people, going
from country to country and from village to village. At last, one day,
he made it known through all the land that all the clever men should
come together at a certain place to perform their arts, and whoever
would win in that competition, he would give him a sackful of gold.
On the appointed day, all the clever men came together in a big hall
which God had prepared. It was surrounded by numerous apple-trees on
all sides. The clever men did what they could, each one more clever
than the other. They changed themselves into cats and dogs. At last
God said to them:
"You have all done very well, but I would ask you to make me an apple
like those on the trees here around."
In vain did they try to make an apple, but they could not succeed. So
God sent lightning among them, which so terrified them that they
crawled into the apples to hide themselves there. And God turned them
into caterpillars that can only live in apples. This is the origin of
the worm (Carpocapsa pomonella) which infests the orchards of apples
and pears. In order to protect them from this pest the Rumanians of
Bukovina keep a special Day of the worms, on the Tuesday in the first
week of the month of May. On it, it is strictly forbidden to work,
and it is good to give away a cake and other good things in alms for
the benefit (of the souls) of these men turned into flies. It is also
good to bring into the orchard a red Easter egg, which has been taken
to Church.
Whoever catches an orchard worm and spits on its head, he spits on
the devil between the horns.
Whoever throws any of these worms into the fire throws into it the
devil's servant.
If we should call the "clever" men by the name of "Perfecti," of
which the former is an excellent translation, we might find in this
legend a slightly changed report of an act of accusation raised by
the Inquisition against the Albigenses and Cathars whose teachers
went by the name of "Perfecti." These men were accused of being
the servants and tools of the devil, and of possessing the power of
changing themselves into animals, the cat being the special animal
of the devil. It was said, moreover, that they enticed the world
to the worship of the devil, and that they had almost succeeded in
turning whole nations away from the true worship of God, so that it
required his own interposition in order to save the world from the
machinations of these men. He turned them into worms, which at any
rate continued to exist in apples and pears--the Inquisition has
turned them into dust and ashes. And yet their memory is preserved,
in spite of persecution and lives on in the memory of the people.
XXIII.
WHY ARE THE LOCUSTS VORACIOUS?
The Story of the Arrogant King and the Monks.
It is related that when the Emperor Por married his daughter he made
a great banquet, as big as had never been done before, for he called
all the kings and governors, and so many guests came together that
one might have thought that they would eat up even Por's ears.
But Por the emperor knew what he had to do, and he prepared food for
all. He opened casks of wine, which had been kept closed for a thousand
years, and he spread tables in a field as large as a country, and he
brought musicians who were so skilled that one would have liked to
listen to them for ever.
Everything had he prepared, only one thing had he forgotten. He
did not call the priests and the nuns. The priests he left out just
because he wanted to insult them, and he did not think of having the
marriage service performed in a Church.
"What do I want them for?" he said, "all this can be done without their
blessing, and to have popas (priests) always about you in your house,
by God, is not quite a lucky thing, for it is well known if you meet
a popa in your way you are sure to have no luck, for you have met
the devil."
The priests, seeing that Por had mocked at them, and the mothers of
the Church (the nuns) got very angry. They began ringing the bells
and praying, and they fasted three days on end, hoping that God
would hearken to their prayer and would punish the Emperor Por in
such signal manner as God alone in his wisdom could do.
And God, as it seems, hearkened to their prayer, for while the tables
were laden with meat and drink, and all the guests had sat themselves
down to eat and drink, suddenly the heavens grew dark, a mighty wind
arose, and out of the sky came down a thick black cloud of winged
things with large mouths, voracious and hungry.
They settled on the tables and devoured every bit of food that could
be found, and drank every drop of wine. The guests turned sick at this
horrible sight, and, falling ill, they all died there and then. From
a wedding feast it became a huge burial, the fame of which spread
throughout the lands. No one knew why this misfortune had befallen
them, only Por understood what had happened, and before his death
he said:
"Nothing can be done without the mercy and grace of God. And this
has been my punishment."
These were the locusts (Pachytylus migratorius) which God sends upon
men when they forget the true God.
The rôle assigned here to the official priests, the "popa" of the
orthodox religion, is in perfect harmony with that sectarian teaching
which could not find words strong and opprobrious enough against the
"official" Church and its ministers. The belief is still alive in
Rumania that to meet a "popa," as he is called, is an evil omen,
and the people will often desist from some enterprise if a popa has
met them. There are practices by which the evil consequences of such
a meeting could be averted; but they belong to those of primitive
society. This story seems also to have been originally a satire against
these popas. They were the original locusts who descended upon the
tables of the rich and mighty, but now the point has been blunted and
the lesson deliberately turned round, making the locusts the means of
punishment for ignoring the priests. The man who told this tale must
have had a mischievous twinkle in his eye, not lost on his hearers,
but evidently lost upon him who wrote it down afterwards.
The Emperor Por is none else than the Indian King Porus who plays so
important a part in the legendary history of Alexander the Great. This
is one of the most popular Rumanian chap-books--probably the oldest
in Rumanian folk-lore. There are a number of traces of this legendary
history in the Rumanian popular literature. We shall meet another
reference to it in the history of the cricket, No. 65, and of the
cuckoo, No. 91.
This story evidently belongs to the cycle of legends in which an
emperor tries to invite God and his host to dine with him, boasting
that he would be able to feed them. He decks tables along the sea
shore and waits for God to come to the banquet. But a wind rises and
blows everything into the sea. A sage explains to the emperor that
thus far only one of the servants of God--the wind--has partaken of
his banquet. (v. Gaster, Exempla of the Rabbis, No. 12.)
XXIV.
WHY DOES THE GRASSHOPPER RUN TO AND FRO?
The Story of Jesus and the Unkind Reaper.
Another large kind of locust or grasshopper is also known by the name
of "little horse" or "mower." For the explanation of the last name
the following legend is told:
Once upon a time when Jesus and St. Joseph hid themselves for fear
of the heathen in some very high grass which reached to their waist,
it is told that a giant came there to cut the grass, and he carried a
huge scythe, and with each stroke he cut down a large swath. Christ and
St. Joseph, seeing the work of that man and fearing lest they should
be discovered by the heathen if all the grass were cut down, asked him
not to cut any more. But when he heard that Christ begged him to stop,
he just went on with his work more furiously, full of spite, for was
not he also a heathen who wanted to catch him? When Christ saw this he
prayed to God to put as many obstacles in the giant's way as possible,
for it was still some time before the sun would set, and he would
otherwise quickly finish the cutting of the whole field. God heard
him, and he sent a heat so fierce that it dried up even the tongue
in the man's mouth. The mower, however, did not care. He only cast
off all his clothes and went on with his work in his shirt. When God
saw that the giant would not stop he changed the weather and made it
so bad that you would not have allowed a dog to leave the house. But
the mower went on with his work undisturbed. The only thing which he
did was to pick up the clothes which he had cast off and to put them
on again, and he made swaths as wide as the high road.
When Christ saw the progress which he made he trembled like a reed. He
feared lest the heathen would catch him. Angrily, he knelt down, and
cursing the giant, he said: "Cursed shalt thou be, thou disobedient
and callous mower, all thy life henceforth thou shalt be always
only mowing and never gain any benefit from it. As long as the world
stands thou shalt always be running to and fro among the reapers, who
will cut thy legs as a punishment for not having listened to me." No
sooner was this curse uttered, when the giant was turned into a small
green insect with long legs, which to this very day is seen hopping
between the blades of grass on meadows and fields, running in front
of the scythes of cutters of grass. This insect is called the mower
(Locusta viridissima).
XXV.
ANOTHER STORY OF THE GRASSHOPPER.
St. Mary and the Wicked Innkeeper.
There is another legend of the origin of the grasshopper.
When Christ was born in the stable, the animals which were there were
starved to death by the owner. There was no one who would as much as
put a handful of hay into the manger. The Holy Mother, full of pity
for the poor animals, asked the master of the house to give them at
least a forkful of hay. The master, however, shrugging his shoulders
said that all that he had, was gone and he could not give her even
as little as a handful. "If that be so, why did not you provide more
hay last summer?" asked the Holy Mother.
"Why? just because I was too lazy to cut more."
"If that be so," replied the Holy Mother, angrily, "then thou shalt
become a mower, and all thy life thou shalt not do anything else,
but from early morning to late at night thou shalt cut grass and yet
have no benefit therefrom."
No sooner had she uttered these words than the master was turned into
the grasshopper called the "mower," and such has he remained to this
very day.
XXVI.
WHY DOES THE NUN BEETLE COVER ITS FACE?
The Story of St. Peter and the Girl Messenger.
In the time of the Holy Apostles, there was great trouble among the
heathen giants, as they did not know whom to elect as ruler. The
heathen then came in large numbers to the Christians, asking for
their vote, and came even to St. Peter, who was then the headman of
the Apostles. St. Peter, realising the importance of this election,
took counsel with his brothers the Apostles. They decided to call
together all the Christians in an Assembly to decide which part they
were to take. A good number came together. But as at that time the
Christians were scattered far and wide, and lived a good way distant
one from another, and also were afraid of the heathen, the greater
number stayed at home.
For in such troublous times who would have liked to leave his wife
and children alone at home? Moreover, at that time Christians were
not permitted to meet, for when the heathen caught them speaking
to one another, they poured oil upon them and burned them like
torches. Still, when St. Peter had got a few counsellors together,
they discussed what was best to be done. The one said one thing,
the other another, as people do even to-day when talking in council,
but if you think you are getting on any further, you are waiting in
vain, for nothing comes out of it.
St. Peter, who was more learned than the rest, saw that no good
was coming out of their deliberations, and as he was the headman,
he got up from his seat and said, "If we are to give our people good
and sound advice, we all know that as for battle, good and strong men
are wanted, so we must also have clever men. Unfortunately, however,
there are no such men in our midst. We also know that if the heathen
see us going from house to house, and find out our intentions, it
might go very ill with us. We must therefore find out other means,
so that our enemies should not even suspect our action. I, as the
oldest among you, have come to the conclusion that we must get some
very clever women. We might then possibly win our case. Let us make a
list of all such women and instruct them carefully. We can then send
them to the houses of the Christians to advise them what to do."
"Excellent," replied the other learned men, and they called out all
the clever women from the list which they had made, and by teaching
them day and night, they fitted them for their work and sent them to
the houses of the Christians. Before they left, however, they were
told that they were neither to turn back and look at anything, nor
were they to look straight into the eyes of strangers, for their eyes
were bewitched by the devil, nor should they speak to strangers, who
would pour poison into their souls. After receiving these instructions,
they all covered their faces and left only holes for their eyes. Then
they took food for the journey, taking care to fast regularly for
two days and eating only on the third. One of them, called "Nun,"
going into a town where the people were dressed up more richly than
in any other town, met a young man, tall as a reed, white as foam,
with a crisp upturned moustache, a small well-proportioned mouth,
and eyes glittering like those of a snake. He stood quite alone! The
young man, cunning as the young men of our days are, no sooner set
eyes on the young woman, when he began to tell her of all that is
in the heavens and upon earth, and made her forget her errand and
the instructions which she had received. So she unveiled her face,
and began to talk in such a manner that no man would have stopped her
from going on. In the end she told him even of the intentions of the
Christians and of the teaching of St. Peter. As soon as he had heard
all she had to tell him, the young man disappeared, for he was none
else than the son of Satan. St. Peter, who knew all that had happened,
for the angel of God had told him, started after the young woman in
order that he might stop her from revealing to others the intentions
of the Christians. He found her in a meadow playing with some children.
"Thy name is nun, thy name shall remain nun (Mantissa religiosa),
but thou shalt not have any longer a human shape, as thou hast thrown
away the veil, and has denied thy beautiful face."
When the nun beheld St. Peter she got frightened, and tried to pull
the veil over her face, which was uncovered, but she could not do it,
for God had changed her into a little green beetle which to this very
day joins its front legs, and it looks as if it intended to cover
its face with them.
This legend has been turned into a charm against a bad wife. Put the
nun under her head at night, and say three nights consecutively the
following charm:
"Faithless Nun, St. Peter had taught thee;
St. Peter has sent thee to do good to the Christians, to give
them good teaching; to the ignorant thou hast given instruction.
But thy conduct was bad,
For thou hast spoken to the enemies,
And hast shown thy uncovered face;
And God has punished thee.
I now have also a wife, like unto a spark, with bad tongue and
evil speech--
Evil in every way--
Bad, envious, cheating,
Restless,
Always in motion, with a heart full of sin.
Thou, O faithless Nun, smitten by God,
Condemned by men,
Make my wife to become good.
From bad and faithless, make her good and faithful.
From cheating and envious, make her good and loving.
Otherwise, woe unto her.
Woe unto thy kind,
For I will set upon it and utterly destroy it.
I will fall upon it and annihilate it.
She will then repent of her evil ways. This charm is only to be used
in the case when the wife is younger than the husband.