DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14697#0168
ioo6
Appendix F
his children. His wife was fetched from the hen-house, clad in queenly garments,
and brought to her children Sun, Moon, and Morning-star. The midwife had
her head cut off; and the king's mother was banished from the palace.
(7) Morning-Star and Evening-Star in a Folk-tale from Epeiros.
(3) A tale from the village of Cagori in Epeiros has some variations of interest1.
Three sisters once sat on a balcony near the king's castle. The eldest said: ' I
wish I sat at the king's table ; how I should relish it !' The second said : ' I wish
I were in the king's treasury ; how I should help myself to money !' The youngest
said : ' I wish I were married to the prince; I would bear him a boy and a girl
as beautiful as the morning-star and the evening-star2.' The prince overheard
them wishing and granted all their wishes. But, when his young wife was about
to be delivered of the children, he had to go off to a war. He entrusted her, there-
•fore, to his mother. She, however, as soon as the little ones were born, put them
in a basket and bade the midwife fling it into the river. She also slipped a dog
and a cat into the cradle. When the poor wife wanted to see her offspring, she
was dismayed indeed at their appearance. The prince now returned victorious
from the war, but was so shocked at the news with which he was greeted that
for three days he was speechless. Then he gave orders that his wife, who could
deny nothing, should be walled up at the entrance of his castle so that only her
head showed, and that every one who passed by should spit at her and strike
her in the face. Meantime the basket in which the children lay floated to the
house of certain dragons, who pulled it out of the water. They kept the children
till the age of ten, then put them on a lame horse, and left them in the streets
of the town to their fate. People wanted to know where they came from ; and
the children replied that they themselves did not know. At last the lame nag
brought them to the house of a poor old woman, who out of pity took them in.
Next morning she was astonished to find a handful of gold coins on the spot
where the children had slept. The same thing occurred every morning, and she
and they lived happily on the money. One day the king came by and noticed
the morning-star on the face of the boy and the evening-star on that of the girl.
He sighed and thought of the children that his wife had promised him. Indeed,
he became so fond of these two that he brought them into his palace, hunted
with them, and would never be without them. But his mother at once perceived
who they were, and consulted with the midwife how best to get rid of them. The
midwife came to the girl and said : ' You are a beautiful maiden, but you would
be more beautiful still, if your brother had the winged horse of the plain.' The
brother readily promised to go in quest of it. He rode forth and met an old
woman, who told him of a plain near by so large that it took a man six days to
cross it, though the winged horse was across it in one. The said horse ate men
and beasts. If he would capture it, he must hide behind the thicket by the spring
from which it drank, and at the moment when it stooped its head in drinking
must leap on to its back and never dismount till it swore by its brother to serve
him. The lad carried out her advice to the letter. The horse swore to serve him
by its head—by its tail—by its saddle—by its foot—and lastly by its brother.
The boy then dismounted, put a bridle on it, and brought it back to his
1 Text unpublished, German translation by J. G. von Halm Griechische und albane-
sische Marchen Leipzig 1864 ii. 287 ff. As before, I have condensed from von Hahn.
2 7roC\ta [sic) is the original word, according to von Hahn. But N. Contopoulos
Greek-English Lexicon5 Athens 1903 makes irotiXia, -as, mean 'the pleiades, the seven
stars in the constellation Taurus.'
Appendix F
his children. His wife was fetched from the hen-house, clad in queenly garments,
and brought to her children Sun, Moon, and Morning-star. The midwife had
her head cut off; and the king's mother was banished from the palace.
(7) Morning-Star and Evening-Star in a Folk-tale from Epeiros.
(3) A tale from the village of Cagori in Epeiros has some variations of interest1.
Three sisters once sat on a balcony near the king's castle. The eldest said: ' I
wish I sat at the king's table ; how I should relish it !' The second said : ' I wish
I were in the king's treasury ; how I should help myself to money !' The youngest
said : ' I wish I were married to the prince; I would bear him a boy and a girl
as beautiful as the morning-star and the evening-star2.' The prince overheard
them wishing and granted all their wishes. But, when his young wife was about
to be delivered of the children, he had to go off to a war. He entrusted her, there-
•fore, to his mother. She, however, as soon as the little ones were born, put them
in a basket and bade the midwife fling it into the river. She also slipped a dog
and a cat into the cradle. When the poor wife wanted to see her offspring, she
was dismayed indeed at their appearance. The prince now returned victorious
from the war, but was so shocked at the news with which he was greeted that
for three days he was speechless. Then he gave orders that his wife, who could
deny nothing, should be walled up at the entrance of his castle so that only her
head showed, and that every one who passed by should spit at her and strike
her in the face. Meantime the basket in which the children lay floated to the
house of certain dragons, who pulled it out of the water. They kept the children
till the age of ten, then put them on a lame horse, and left them in the streets
of the town to their fate. People wanted to know where they came from ; and
the children replied that they themselves did not know. At last the lame nag
brought them to the house of a poor old woman, who out of pity took them in.
Next morning she was astonished to find a handful of gold coins on the spot
where the children had slept. The same thing occurred every morning, and she
and they lived happily on the money. One day the king came by and noticed
the morning-star on the face of the boy and the evening-star on that of the girl.
He sighed and thought of the children that his wife had promised him. Indeed,
he became so fond of these two that he brought them into his palace, hunted
with them, and would never be without them. But his mother at once perceived
who they were, and consulted with the midwife how best to get rid of them. The
midwife came to the girl and said : ' You are a beautiful maiden, but you would
be more beautiful still, if your brother had the winged horse of the plain.' The
brother readily promised to go in quest of it. He rode forth and met an old
woman, who told him of a plain near by so large that it took a man six days to
cross it, though the winged horse was across it in one. The said horse ate men
and beasts. If he would capture it, he must hide behind the thicket by the spring
from which it drank, and at the moment when it stooped its head in drinking
must leap on to its back and never dismount till it swore by its brother to serve
him. The lad carried out her advice to the letter. The horse swore to serve him
by its head—by its tail—by its saddle—by its foot—and lastly by its brother.
The boy then dismounted, put a bridle on it, and brought it back to his
1 Text unpublished, German translation by J. G. von Halm Griechische und albane-
sische Marchen Leipzig 1864 ii. 287 ff. As before, I have condensed from von Hahn.
2 7roC\ta [sic) is the original word, according to von Hahn. But N. Contopoulos
Greek-English Lexicon5 Athens 1903 makes irotiXia, -as, mean 'the pleiades, the seven
stars in the constellation Taurus.'