DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9841#0217
198
A CRETAN VAMl'IKE-STOKY.
[CHA1\
was tending his sheep and goats near the church, and,
on being caught by a shower, he went to the sepulchre,
that he might be shaded from the rain. Afterwards he
determined to sleep, and to pass the night there, and,
after taking off' his arms3, he placed them by the stone
which served him as his pillow, crosswise. And people
might say, that it is on this account1 that the Katakhanas
was not permitted to leave his tomb. During the night,
then, as he wished to go out again, that he might destroy
men, he said to the shepherd: " Gossip, get up hence,
for I have some business that requires me to come out.11
The shepherd answered him not, either the first time, or
the second, or the third; for thus5 he knew that the man
had become a Katakhanas, and that it was he who had
done all those evil deeds. On this account he said to
him, on the fourth time of his speaking, " I shall not
get up hence, gossip, for I fear that you are no better
than you should be, and may do me some mischief: but,
if I must get up, swear to me by your winding-sheet,
that you will not hurt me, and on this I will get up.11
And he did not pronounce the proposed words6, but
said other things : nevertheless, when the shepherd did
not suffer him to get up, he swore to him as he wished.
On this he got up, and, taking his arms, removed them
away from the monument, and the Katakhanas came
father. Hartley, Researches in Greece, p. 7U- " A young man of Ithaca
informed me, that it was difficult to obtain a wife in his native island; for the
principal families had become connected with each other, to such an extent,
by marriages and baptisms, that it was almost necessary to resort to Cepha-
lonia or elsewhere, in order to effect a marriage."
3 Arms were part of every Sfakian's dress, and were never laid aside by
him except for the hours during which he slept.
4 The readers must not suppose that the Vampire feared the mortal
weapons: no, they were placed crosswise, and, therefore, the form of the
cross, and not the cold steel, repelled him. Some people say that the cross
made by the handle of the sword produced this effect: others believe it was
owing to one of the pistols having been laid across the other.
5 That is, by the Vampire's words, which betrayed his inability to come
forth so long as his pious friend and his crossed arms were lying upon him.
6 That is, he did not pronounce the words of the only oath which binds
a Katakhanas: /id to drafifh /iov. "By my winding-sheet."
A CRETAN VAMl'IKE-STOKY.
[CHA1\
was tending his sheep and goats near the church, and,
on being caught by a shower, he went to the sepulchre,
that he might be shaded from the rain. Afterwards he
determined to sleep, and to pass the night there, and,
after taking off' his arms3, he placed them by the stone
which served him as his pillow, crosswise. And people
might say, that it is on this account1 that the Katakhanas
was not permitted to leave his tomb. During the night,
then, as he wished to go out again, that he might destroy
men, he said to the shepherd: " Gossip, get up hence,
for I have some business that requires me to come out.11
The shepherd answered him not, either the first time, or
the second, or the third; for thus5 he knew that the man
had become a Katakhanas, and that it was he who had
done all those evil deeds. On this account he said to
him, on the fourth time of his speaking, " I shall not
get up hence, gossip, for I fear that you are no better
than you should be, and may do me some mischief: but,
if I must get up, swear to me by your winding-sheet,
that you will not hurt me, and on this I will get up.11
And he did not pronounce the proposed words6, but
said other things : nevertheless, when the shepherd did
not suffer him to get up, he swore to him as he wished.
On this he got up, and, taking his arms, removed them
away from the monument, and the Katakhanas came
father. Hartley, Researches in Greece, p. 7U- " A young man of Ithaca
informed me, that it was difficult to obtain a wife in his native island; for the
principal families had become connected with each other, to such an extent,
by marriages and baptisms, that it was almost necessary to resort to Cepha-
lonia or elsewhere, in order to effect a marriage."
3 Arms were part of every Sfakian's dress, and were never laid aside by
him except for the hours during which he slept.
4 The readers must not suppose that the Vampire feared the mortal
weapons: no, they were placed crosswise, and, therefore, the form of the
cross, and not the cold steel, repelled him. Some people say that the cross
made by the handle of the sword produced this effect: others believe it was
owing to one of the pistols having been laid across the other.
5 That is, by the Vampire's words, which betrayed his inability to come
forth so long as his pious friend and his crossed arms were lying upon him.
6 That is, he did not pronounce the words of the only oath which binds
a Katakhanas: /id to drafifh /iov. "By my winding-sheet."