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SERBIAN FOLK-LORE
SERBIAN FOLK-LORE
TRANSLATED FROM THE SERBIAN By MADAME ELODIE L. MIJATOVICH AUTHOR OF THE “HISTORY OF MODERN SERBIA,” “KOSSOVO BALLADS” ETC. ETC. ETC. WITH AN INTRODUCTION By the late Rev. W. DENTON, M.A. SECOND EDITION 1899 The Columbus Printing, Publishing and Advertising Company, Limited, Amberley House, Norfolk Street, W.C. Preparing for Publication , SERBIAN POPULAR CUSTOMS, A Further Contribution to Serbian Folk-Lore , BY MADAME ELODIE L. MIJATOVICH....
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
At the wish of the lady who has selected and translated these tales, I have undertaken to edit them. In doing so I have, however, preserved, as far as possible, the literality of her version, and have limited myself to the addition of a few notes to the text. The tales included in this volume have been selected from two collections of Serbian folk-lore; the greater part from the well-known ‘Srpske narodne pripovijetke,’ of Vuk Stefanovich Karadjich, published at Vienna, in 1853, and others from
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THE BEAR’S SON.
THE BEAR’S SON.
One day as the Bear’s son was journeying, he came to a field where he found hundreds of ploughmen working for their master. He asked them to give him something to eat, and they told him to wait a bit till their dinner was brought them, when he should have some—for, they said, ‘Where so many are dining one mouth more or less matters but little.’ Whilst they were speaking there came carts, horses, mules, and asses, all carrying the dinner. But when the meats were spread out the Bear’s son declared
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THE WONDERFUL KIOSK.
THE WONDERFUL KIOSK.
When she saw her brother she was very much frightened, and made signs for him to go away before the dragon woke up. But this her brother would not do, and instead of going away took his mace and struck with all his might on the head of the dragon. The dragon moved his paw a little towards the place where he had been struck, and said to the maiden, ‘I felt something bite me just here.’ As he spoke the king’s son gave him another blow, and the dragon said again, ‘I felt something bite me just here
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THE SNAKE’S GIFT. LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS.
THE SNAKE’S GIFT. LANGUAGE OF ANIMALS.
The shepherd returned across the forest, and, passing through it, he understood everything the birds and animals, and even the plants, were saying to each other. When he came to his sheep he found them all there, safe and sound, so he laid himself down to rest a little. Hardly had he done so before two or three ravens settled on a tree near him, and began to converse together, saying, ‘If that shepherd only knew that just on the spot where the black sheep is lying there is, deep in the earth, a
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THE GOLDEN APPLE-TREE, AND THE NINE PEAHENS.
THE GOLDEN APPLE-TREE, AND THE NINE PEAHENS.
Then the old woman slowly took hold of one of the girl’s curls, and cut it off, and the girl immediately rose up, changed again into a peahen and flew away, and the other peahens followed her, and so they all disappeared. Then the king’s son jumped up, and cried out, ‘What is that?’ and, looking under the bed, he saw the old woman, and drew her out. Next morning he ordered her to be tied to a horse’s tail, and so torn to pieces. But the peahens never came back, so the king’s son was very sad for
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PAPALLUGA;[30] OR, THE GOLDEN SLIPPER.
PAPALLUGA;[30] OR, THE GOLDEN SLIPPER.
When she went home in the evening she found her mother, changed into a cow, standing before the house; and from that time forth she had to drive this cow to the pasture with the other cattle. In a little time the father of the girl married a widow, who brought with her into the house her own daughter. The stepmother immediately began to hate the step-daughter, because the girl was incomparably more beautiful than her own daughter. She forbade her to wash herself, to comb her hair, or to change h
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THE GOLDEN-FLEECED RAM.
THE GOLDEN-FLEECED RAM.
Now the king’s first minister happened to be the uncle of the young man; instead, however, of being his friend, he was his greatest enemy. So the minister said to the king, ‘If he will not give you the fleece, set him something to do which will cost him his life. The best plan would be to order him to do something which it is impossible for him to do.’ Accordingly he advised the king to order the young man to plant a vineyard, and to bring him, within seven days, new wine from it. The young man
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WHO ASKS LITTLE, GETS MUCH.
WHO ASKS LITTLE, GETS MUCH.
The day after, the angel changed himself into a monk, and came very early, so that he found all three brothers at home, and said to them, ‘Come with me; I will give you better nourishment than you have at present.’ The three brothers followed him without saying a word. At last they came to a large torrent, where the water flowed in great streams, and made a loud noise. Then the angel asked the eldest brother, ‘What would you like?’ And the man answered, ‘I should like all this water to be change
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JUSTICE OR INJUSTICE? WHICH IS BEST.
JUSTICE OR INJUSTICE? WHICH IS BEST.
Thus the younger brother lost all his money, and his horse into the bargain. Then he said, ‘Thank God! I have no more money, but I have eyes, and I wager my eyes that justice is better than injustice.’ Thereupon the unjust brother, without waiting for any one’s decision, drew his knife and cut both his brother’s eyes out, saying, ‘Now you have no eyes, let justice help you.’ But the younger brother in his trouble only thanked God and said, ‘I have lost my eyes for the sake of God’s justice, but
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SATAN’S JUGGLINGS AND GOD’S MIGHT.
SATAN’S JUGGLINGS AND GOD’S MIGHT.
He wondered at these presents, and asked her to tell him why the first old woman had given him a piece of bread, the second a nut, and she herself now a walnut. The old woman answered, ‘The bread is to throw to the beasts before the house, that they may not eat you; and, when you find yourself in the greatest danger, ask counsel, first from the nut, and then from the walnut.’ Then the king’s son continued his wandering, till he came at last to a thick forest, in the midst of which he saw the hou
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THE WISE GIRL.
THE WISE GIRL.
Next morning she told her father to take a plough and oxen, and go to plough in a wood near to which the king would pass. ‘When you see the king coming,’ said she, ‘take a handful of beans, and begin to sow, shouting, “Go on, my oxen, and God grant that the boiled beans may bear fruit!” When the king asks you, “How can you expect boiled beans to grow?” answer him, “Just as much as from boiled eggs to hatch chickens!”’ The poor man listened to his daughter, and went to plough. When the king came
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GOOD DEEDS ARE NEVER LOST.
GOOD DEEDS ARE NEVER LOST.
When he arrived his father asked him about his ship and merchandise, and he told him what had happened, how he had given his vessel with its cargo, and had bought the slaves and set them free. ‘This girl,’ continued he, ‘is a king’s daughter, and the old woman her nurse; as they could not get back to their country, they prayed to remain with me, so I married the girl.’ Thereupon the father was very angry, and said, ‘My foolish son! what have you done? Why have you made away with my property with
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LYING FOR A WAGER.
LYING FOR A WAGER.
‘God bless you too, my son,’ replied the man. ‘Can I grind my corn here?’ asked the boy. ‘Why not?’ responded Beardless; ‘my corn will be soon ready, and you can grind yours as long as you like.’ But the boy recollected his father’s advice, and left the mill and went to another. But Beardless took some corn, and hurried by a shorter way, to the mill towards which the boy had gone, and reached there before him, and put some of his corn into the mill to be ground. When the boy arrived, he was grea
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THE WICKED STEPMOTHER.
THE WICKED STEPMOTHER.
She then took the cake from her bag, said grace, and began to eat. Just as she had begun to eat a cock came into the room, and sprung upon the table to reach the cake, so the girl crumbled some of it for him. Then a little dog came in and jumped quite friendly upon her, so she broke a piece from her cake for the little dog, and took him on her knee, and petted and fed him. After that came in a cat also, and the girl fed her too. At length the girl heard a loud noise as if some great beast was co
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BIRD GIRL.
BIRD GIRL.
When the king’s son heard this, he thought, ‘It is all one to me whether I die here or there. If I succeed, so much the better for me; if I fail, I can but die as I had resolved.’ So he went up the hill. When he arrived near the old woman, he walked very cautiously towards her, hoping to reach her unseen; for, luckily, the old woman was lying with her back towards him, sunning herself, and playing with the bird. When near enough, he sprang suddenly and caught her by the hair. Then the old woman
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SIR PEPPERCORN.
SIR PEPPERCORN.
When it grew dark the giant came home, and was at once aware that a stranger was in his place. In reply to his angry questions, his wife told him it was ‘only her brother, who had come to visit them.’ When the giant heard this he went to the mouth of the cave, and calling a shepherd, ordered him to kill the largest sheep in his flock and roast it. When the meat was ready the giant called his brother-in-law, and said, as he cut the sheep in two equal parts, ‘My dear brother-in-law, listen well to
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BASH-CHALEK; OR, TRUE STEEL.
BASH-CHALEK; OR, TRUE STEEL.
The eldest brother said, ‘I will not give her. How can I give her when I cannot see you, and do not know who you are, nor whence you come? You come to-night for the first time, and wish to take her away instantly! Should I not know where I can visit my sister sometimes?’ The second said, ‘I will not give my sister to-night to be taken away!’ But the youngest said, ‘I will give her if you will not. Have you forgotten what our father commanded us?’ and, with these words, taking his sister by the h
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THE SHEPHERD AND THE KING’S DAUGHTER.
THE SHEPHERD AND THE KING’S DAUGHTER.
At dawn the next day the boy took the three lambs to graze in the same field, and sat down to consider how he could get back the lamb he had lost. At noon, when no one was about, the king’s daughter came out of the palace and said to him, ‘Young shepherd, give me another lamb, and ask what you please in return.’ But the boy answered, ‘No! I dare not give you another; I have suffered enough for the one I gave you yesterday! So please go and bring me my lamb back.’ This the princess refused to do,
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ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER.
ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER.
However, some of his old counsellors, seeing how greatly the king was perplexed and troubled, came and assured his Majesty that the proclamation would in reality be carried out if the prince, instead of being put to death, was simply banished from the kingdom for ever. The king was very glad to find this way of getting out of the dilemma, and so ordered his son to leave the country, and never come back to it, at the same time he gave him many letters of recommendation to the king of a very dista
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THE BITER BIT.
THE BITER BIT.
The old man was not a little troubled at these requests; he said, however, to his sons, ‘Very well, my sons, I have nothing to say against your marrying; there is, however, I foresee, one great difficulty in the way. There are one hundred of you asking for wives, and I hardly think we can find one hundred marriageable girls in all the fifteen villages which are in our neighbourhood.’ To this the sons, however, answered, ‘Don’t be anxious about that, but mount your horse and take in your sack suf
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THE TRADE THAT NO ONE KNOWS.
THE TRADE THAT NO ONE KNOWS.
The poor old woman stood in the hall, confused and ashamed at her worn-out, shabby clothes, and looking as if she were made of stone, until the king said to her kindly, ‘What do you want from me, old mother?’ She dared not, however, tell his Majesty why she had come, so she stammered out in her confusion, ‘Nothing, your Majesty.’ Then the king smiled a little and said, ‘Perhaps you come to ask alms?’ Then the old woman, much abashed, replied, ‘Yes, your Majesty, if you please!’ Thereupon the kin
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THE THREE SUITORS.
THE THREE SUITORS.
Now the three noble travellers were far distant from each other when they found these wonderful things. But when the young man who had found the telescope looked through it he saw one of his former friends and present rivals walking with a carpet on his shoulder, and so he set out to join him. As he could always see, by means of his marvellous telescope, where the other nobleman was, he had no great difficulty in finding him, and when the two had met, they sat side by side on the wonderful carpe
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THE GOLDEN-HAIRED TWINS.
THE GOLDEN-HAIRED TWINS.
And the third girl declared that were the king to marry her she would give him a daughter so beautiful that there should not be her equal in the whole wide world! The young king listened to all this, and for some time thought over their words, and tried to make up his mind which of the three girls he should choose for his wife. At last he decided that he would marry the one who had said she would bring him twins with golden hair. Having once settled this in his own mind, he ordered that all prep
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THE DREAM OF THE KING’S SON.
THE DREAM OF THE KING’S SON.
The king, hearing this last dream, became very angry, and exclaimed, ‘What! I—the king—pour water over the hands of my own son! Go away this instant out of my palace, and out of my kingdom! You are no longer my son.’ The poor young prince tried hard to make his peace with his father, saying that he was really not to be blamed for what he had only dreamed; but the king grew more and more furious, and at last actually thrust the prince out of the palace. So the young prince was obliged to wander u
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THE THREE BROTHERS.
THE THREE BROTHERS.
When they had reached the forest the husband began to cut wood, and his wife gathered the branches together in a heap. Meanwhile it had got very late, and they were anxious as to how they should pass the night, seeing their own house was so far off that they would be unable to reach it before morning, and there were no houses in the neighbourhood where they could sleep. At last they observed a very tall and widely spreading pine-tree, and they resolved to climb up and pass the night on one of it
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ANIMALS AS FRIENDS AND AS ENEMIES.
ANIMALS AS FRIENDS AND AS ENEMIES.
The fox spoke so pitifully that the nobleman was sorry for her, and agreed to her proposal. Thereupon he mounted his horse, placed the stag he had shot before him, and rode back to his old castle, followed closely by his hound and his new servant, the fox. When the young nobleman prepared his supper, he did not forget to give the fox a due share, and she congratulated herself that she was never likely to be hungry again, at least so long as she served so skilful a hunter. The next morning the no
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THE LEGEND OF ST. GEORGE.
THE LEGEND OF ST. GEORGE.
[35] In some versions of this poem this ‘Troyan’ is changed into ‘India.’ Probably there is here a reference to the theory that the Turks and Troyans were the same people. Knolles, in the opening chapter of his ‘General Historie of the Turkes,’ says, ‘Some, after the manner of most nations, derive them from the Troians, led thereunto by the affinity of the words Turci and Teucri; supposing—but with what probability I know not—the word Turci or Turks to have been made of the corruption of the wor
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