Use the following persistent identifier: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_LordA.The_Singer_Resumes_the_Tale.1995.
9. Two Versions of the Theme of the Overnight Visit in The Wedding of Smailagić Meho
First Episode | Second Episode |
Đe li hi je akšam zateknuo, [3] U nekako selo Vukašiće, Pred dvorove kneza Vukašina, Najboljega njihnog domaćina. Vukašin se na dvor pridesijo, I gospoja Vukašinovica. |
Koliko su zemlje Bosne prešli, Do akšama došli đe su rekli, {204|205} Do dvorova kneza Vujadina. Knez se beše pridesijo tuna, I kod njega Vujadinovica, I dva sina kneza Vujadina. |
At nightfall they found themselves in the village of Vukašići before the dwelling of Vukašin, the village elder and their family’s best householder. Vukašin and his spouse were both at home. | They had covered as much of Bosnia as they said they would before nightfall, for they had come to the house of Vujadin. Vujadin happened to be at home, and with him his wife and their two sons. |
First Episode | Second Episode |
Mlađi momci konje provedoše, Dok him vodu konji pokupiše. Pa sa konja sedla oboriše, Svitu cjelu i njihno oružje; Pa na konje čule navališe, Da umorni konji ne ozebu. Pa him sitnu arpu natakoše. U podrum hi za jasli svežaše, Kod putalja kneza Vukašina Dok atovi zobcu izedoše, Na atove timar navališe, Te him kao i znoj otrljaše. Na čaršafe dlake namestiše, Pa him opet čule navališe. |
Dokle momci konje provedoše, S ćelehana umor povrnuše, Pa im zlatna sedla oboriše, Zlatna sedla i zlatne rahtove, I kalkane sa četiri strane. Na sunđer him vodu pokupiše, A na čaršaf dlaku namestiše. Na pleći him čule navališe, Arpu daše, pa hi pričekaše, Dok hajvani arpu pozobaše. U jaslima seno utakoše, Pa na podrum vrata zatvoriše. |
Then stewards walked their horses, and as they led them, the horses regained their spirits. [6] They stripped them of their saddles, their trappings, and armor. They flung blankets over the horses that the tired steeds should not become chilled, measured out barley for them, and tied them in their stalls beside Vukašin’s stallion. When the horses had eaten their barley, the youths groomed them and rubbed the mud and sweat from them, drying their manes with cloth. Finally they replaced the blankets on the horses. | In the meantime the young men were walking the heroes’ steeds, driving fatigue from them. They took off the golden saddles and trappings and all the girths. Then they sponged the horses and dried their manes with a towel. They covered them with blankets, gave them barley, and waited for the beasts to eat it. Then they put hay into the mangers [and] closed the door of the stable. |
These descriptions, if different to some extent, are close to descriptions elsewhere in this song and in others by Avdo. He was trying to vary the {206|207} scene, and his repertory of descriptive formulas was so great that he did not have to repeat himself, if he did not choose to do so. [7]
Oko konja njegova dorata Plaza mu se sablja okovata, Ka’ i guja oko suhog trna. |
His forged saber glided over his horse’s side like a serpent around a dry thistle. |
This theme, or “subtheme,” is found at least twice in Avdo’s other long song, Osmanbeg Delibegović i Ρaνi evi Luka, in lines 664-69 and 4897-99:
A alatu čatal podigao. Kolik alat beše u visinu, Mača kleta od tri rastegljaja, Kaako (sic) se plaza oko konja, Baš k’o ono guja oko trna, Sve alata po čavlama tuče. A zlatna se alamanka valja Oko tanke njihne bedevije, Bi rekao da je plaza guja. |
He had drawn the bay’s bridle up tight. The bay carried itself so tall that the damned sword, a full three ells long, which slithered about the horse like a viper ’round a thorn bush, kept knocking against the well-shod hooves. His gilded German sabre fell about his finely-featured bedouin mare, one might say, like a viper slithering. [8] |
Two of the key words are plaza ‘glide’ and guja ‘snake’.
Dorat dvije žvale razvalijo. Da mu bugar-kabanicu baci, Ne bi konju žvale zatisnula. |
The chestnut steed spread his two jaws. Were you to cast a Bulgarian cloak into them, it would not fill his gaping jaws. |
There are several related passages in Osmanbeg Delibegović i Pavičević Luka, but they do not express exactly the same idea. Here are two of them (lines 638-43 and 6781-83): {207|208}
Pa je dvije žvale ražvalijo, Pa iz žvala pene prebacuje Preko sebe i pr’o gazde svoga, Na olukli sapi dočekuje. Ko nije vešt pa nije vidijo, Bi rekao, rađaju se ovce. Alat skoči nekud na oblake, Pa razvali žvale obadvije. Iz noždre mu maven plamen linu. |
He was gaping and blowing out great gobs of foam onto himself and his master so plentifully that it was accumulating along his flanks. Someone unaccustomed to such a spectacle might have said that ewes were lambing there. His bay seemed to gambol somewhere aloft amidst the very clouds, and when it parted its jaws blue flame shot forth from its muzzle. |
Bi rekao i bi se zakleo, Da je mušir carev na dorata. Saltanet mu bolji no muširov. |
One would say and swear that it was an imperial field marshal upon the horse; his trappings were better than a field marshal’s. |
Compare the following clusters from Osmanbeg Delibegović i Pavičević Luka, lines 4683-85 and 4624-26:
E, kakav je Ljevak na alata! Bi rekao da je vezir čarski. Saltanet mu bolji od vezira. Taj je dečak baš k’o vezir carski, |
Oh, how splendid Ljevak was as he sat his bay! One might have said he was an Imperial Vizier. But he cut a more majestic figure than any vizier would. That young fellow was like some Imperial Vizier, |
First Episode (2666-74) | Second Episode (2893-95) |
Then [Meho] applied the spurs and slackened the reins. The chestnut understood, took to his hoofs, and tossed the bit. He would not go through the iron gateway, but cleared the wall and was off over the heath. He cantered playfully across the green plain, behind him Osman on his spotted gray. He flew over the verdant plain even as a star across the sky. | Then he rode his chestnut steed to the courtyard gate, Osman behind him on his gray stallion, like a star across a clear sky. |
Footnotes