DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0159
The Kyklops in Folk-Tales 997
Gibraltar into the ocean beyond, they were caught by a terrible storm and driven
for months before it. Their provisions were spent and they were starving. When
one of their company died, the rest cut up, cooked, and ate his body. Then day
by day they drew lots to determine who should be killed and eaten. Some ten
days had elapsed when the lot fell on George, who had just had a happy dream
of reaching shore. He persuaded his shipmates to spare him till the evening,
and at midday land was sighted on the horizon. The crew, overjoyed, thanked
God and St Nikolaos, and hastily rowed ashore. Here the three brothers got
separated from the others, lost their way, and had to spend the night up a tree.
The same thing happened on the morrow, and it was not till the morning of the
third day that they got out of the wood.
On the plain beyond they saw a magnificent castle. A narrow door led into
a wide courtyard, in which they found a great flock of sheep, but no trace of
human beings. The castle too seemed quite unoccupied. They passed from
room to room till they entered a banqueting-hall, where a feast was set out.
Unable to make anybody hear, they at last sat down to eat, when suddenly
through the door came a monstrous, misshapen, blind Drakos. In a voice which
froze the blood in their veins he cried : ' I smell the flesh of men, I smell the
flesh of men !' Pale with terror, they sprang from their seats. But the Drakos,
guided by the sound, stretched out his hideous long claws and seized by the
neck first Dimitri and then Michael. He dashed them to pieces on the floor.
George alone escaped, being nimble, and slipped out into the courtyard. He
found the little door fast-closed and the walls too high to climb. What was he
to do ? Terror suggested a plan. WThether it was that he had heard of the
famous hero Odysseus1, or thought of it now for himself, he drew his sharp
seaman's knife, killed the biggest ram in the flock, stripped off its skin, threw
the carcase into a well, wrapped himself in the skin, and attempted to creep out
on all fours, as if he were a ram. Meantime the Drakos had finished his horrible
meal, and came waddling down the marble steps, shouting : ' You shall not
escape me, you shall make me a tasty supper !' He crossed the court to the
little door, threw it open, and blocked the way with his ungainly body, leaving
just room enough for one sheep to pass. Then he called his ewes one by one,
milked them, and let them go through. Last came the rams, with George in
their midst. He approached with fear and trembling. But the Drakos only
stroked his back, praised his size and strength, and set him too at liberty.
Once safely outside, George fled to the nearest wood, wandered about in it,
and on the third day reached a wide plain, where there was a large town built
round a king's castle. But again all seemed empty and deserted. This time he
did not venture into the castle, but lodged in an ordinary house. He had
stayed there for rather more than five months, when one day he caught sight of
a great army crossing the plain. He fled in alarm to a bakery and hid in the
kneading-trough. Here he was discovered on the third day by the baker and
taken before the king, by whom he was kindly treated. For six months he lived
with the baker and helped in his work. Then one morning the inhabitants all
collected on the plain, and the king despatched his people in troops to England,
France, Italy, Smyrna, and the Dardanelles. Before George could ask the
reason, they all went off towards a broad river at some distance from the town,
1 It may be thought that this allusion proves the influence of the Homeric narrative.
But observe that Odysseus' expedient was not that adopted by George. The former clung
on beneath a living ram (ii (a)), the latter donned the fleece of a dead ram (ii (/3)),
Gibraltar into the ocean beyond, they were caught by a terrible storm and driven
for months before it. Their provisions were spent and they were starving. When
one of their company died, the rest cut up, cooked, and ate his body. Then day
by day they drew lots to determine who should be killed and eaten. Some ten
days had elapsed when the lot fell on George, who had just had a happy dream
of reaching shore. He persuaded his shipmates to spare him till the evening,
and at midday land was sighted on the horizon. The crew, overjoyed, thanked
God and St Nikolaos, and hastily rowed ashore. Here the three brothers got
separated from the others, lost their way, and had to spend the night up a tree.
The same thing happened on the morrow, and it was not till the morning of the
third day that they got out of the wood.
On the plain beyond they saw a magnificent castle. A narrow door led into
a wide courtyard, in which they found a great flock of sheep, but no trace of
human beings. The castle too seemed quite unoccupied. They passed from
room to room till they entered a banqueting-hall, where a feast was set out.
Unable to make anybody hear, they at last sat down to eat, when suddenly
through the door came a monstrous, misshapen, blind Drakos. In a voice which
froze the blood in their veins he cried : ' I smell the flesh of men, I smell the
flesh of men !' Pale with terror, they sprang from their seats. But the Drakos,
guided by the sound, stretched out his hideous long claws and seized by the
neck first Dimitri and then Michael. He dashed them to pieces on the floor.
George alone escaped, being nimble, and slipped out into the courtyard. He
found the little door fast-closed and the walls too high to climb. What was he
to do ? Terror suggested a plan. WThether it was that he had heard of the
famous hero Odysseus1, or thought of it now for himself, he drew his sharp
seaman's knife, killed the biggest ram in the flock, stripped off its skin, threw
the carcase into a well, wrapped himself in the skin, and attempted to creep out
on all fours, as if he were a ram. Meantime the Drakos had finished his horrible
meal, and came waddling down the marble steps, shouting : ' You shall not
escape me, you shall make me a tasty supper !' He crossed the court to the
little door, threw it open, and blocked the way with his ungainly body, leaving
just room enough for one sheep to pass. Then he called his ewes one by one,
milked them, and let them go through. Last came the rams, with George in
their midst. He approached with fear and trembling. But the Drakos only
stroked his back, praised his size and strength, and set him too at liberty.
Once safely outside, George fled to the nearest wood, wandered about in it,
and on the third day reached a wide plain, where there was a large town built
round a king's castle. But again all seemed empty and deserted. This time he
did not venture into the castle, but lodged in an ordinary house. He had
stayed there for rather more than five months, when one day he caught sight of
a great army crossing the plain. He fled in alarm to a bakery and hid in the
kneading-trough. Here he was discovered on the third day by the baker and
taken before the king, by whom he was kindly treated. For six months he lived
with the baker and helped in his work. Then one morning the inhabitants all
collected on the plain, and the king despatched his people in troops to England,
France, Italy, Smyrna, and the Dardanelles. Before George could ask the
reason, they all went off towards a broad river at some distance from the town,
1 It may be thought that this allusion proves the influence of the Homeric narrative.
But observe that Odysseus' expedient was not that adopted by George. The former clung
on beneath a living ram (ii (a)), the latter donned the fleece of a dead ram (ii (/3)),