Two English Ballads and Their Greek Counterparts
by Paul G. Brewster and Georgia Tarsouli
The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 69, No. 271 (Jan. - Mar., 1956), pp. 40-46
TWO ENGLISH BALLADS AND THEIR GREEK COUNTERPARTS
BY PAUL G. BREWSTER AND GEORGIA TARSOULI[1]
AS all students of the popular ballad are aware, many of the ballads in the Anglo- Scottish corpus have analogues in the Greek. In "The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter" (Child 110A), for example, the episode of the girl's going to the king's court to seek redress (stanzas 10-I6) bears a marked resemblance to a passage in "Handjeris and Lioyenneti" (o Xandjeris ke i Lioyeniti), one of the most characteristic of mediaeval ballads, very popular in Cyprus and Crete. "The Suffolk Miracle" (Child 272) has an analogue in "The Dead Brother," which Child praised highly.[2] With "Catharine Jaffray" (Child 22IC) and "Lord William or Lord Lundy" (Child 254A), particularly in stanzas 9-II of the former and generally in the latter, may be compared the famous Greek ballad "The Abduction of Akritas' Wife" (i arpayi tis yinek6s tu Akrita). "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (Child 73A and 73D) bears a strong resemblance to "The Bridesmaid Who Became Bride" (i Xumbara pu eyine nifi).[3] "The Lass of Roch Royal" (Child 76) finds a close parallel in the Greek "Lioyenneti."[4] In all of these there are strong similarities in motif, in the
development of the story, and even in the details of the descriptions.
Less close in resemblance but readily recognizable as analogues are "Sir Patrick Spens" (Child 58) and "Master Northwind" (o kir-voryds),[5] and "Barbara Allen" (Child 84) and "Triantaphyllenia" (triandafilenya). "Lord Randal" (Child 12) has much in common with "The Wicked Mother-in-Law" (ta kaka petherikd) and "Child Waters" (Child 63) with "Theonitsa." Some similarities are apparent also between "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (Child 8I) and "Maurianos and His Wife" (o Mavriano's y'i yine'a tu) and between "The Two Brothers" (Child 49) and "The Young Merchant" (o pramateftopulos).[6]
Although some similarity is noticeable also in the case of the following pairs, it is in general confined to the occasional resemblance between certain stanzas or phrases: "The Cruel Mother" (Child 20) and "The Partridge and the Young Girl" (pdrdhika ke korasion)", ClerkS aunders"(C hild 69) and "For a Pair of Roses"( ya ena zevghdrri odha)," Clerk Colvill" ( Child4 2) and "Yannoas ndt he Lamia" (o Ydno sky'i Lamya)", Babylon" (Child 14) and" The Short Man and His Wife" (o kondo's ky'iy inekat u).[7] Certain episodes of "Lord L ovel"( Child7 5A and 75D) are reminiscent o f the Greek" Eugenoula" (Evyenula).[8]
Perhaps the most striking of all similarities are those between "The Twa Knights" (Child 268), and to a somewhat lesser degree "Redesdale and Wise William" (Child 246), and versions of the Greek" Maurianos and His Sister," and it is with these that the present paper is to deal.
The story told in the three ballads under consideration belongs to Type 882- The Wager on the Wife's Chastity. The type is found in Estonian, Lappish, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish-Finnish, Russian, Livonian, and other tales and songs.[9]
KNOWN VARIANTS OF "MAURIANOS" (AS OF 1952)
[chart]
The motif classification is NI5-Chastity Wager. (A man makes a wager on his wife's chastity. In spite of attempts to seduce her and of false proofs presented, he wins the wager.) It is also related to KI5I2.I (cut-off finger proves wife's chastity; a chaste wife substitutes a maidservant for seducer; a finger and ring are cut off as proof of wife's unfaithfulness; refuted by husband, who knows that they are not his wife's) and to K2II2.I (false tokens of wife's unfaithfulness).
In France the story is known as "Marianson" ("Marianson's Rings") or "Innocence Proved"; in Italy, as "The Rings"; in Rumania, as "Iancea Sabienca." The Serbian parallel is "Marko Kraljevic and the Royal Delibasha." Similar in theme are the Russian "Stavr Godinovic" and "Aljosa i sestra Petrovicei." [10] The same wager appears also in an episode of the tale "Danilo the Luckless." At a feast in the palace of Prince Vladimir, Aljosa Popovich boasts of his intimacy with Danilo's wife. Danilo, who is drunk, resents it and cries: "If you know my wife, let my head be cut off; if you do not, yours shall be cut off!"[11] There are numerous other analogues: Romania, XXXII, 481 ff.; von der Hagen, III, Ixxxiii; Decameron, II, No. 9; Child, 500 (s.v.
"wager"); MacCulloch, p. IIo; bin Gorion, I, 276 ff.; III, 109, 304; Wesselski, p. 213, No. I9; Shakespeare's Cymbeline; etc. The story as told in "The Twa Knights" runs as follows:
Two knights, one rich and the other comparatively poor (and younger), are sworn brothers. As they are discussing women one day, the latter says that there are only nine good ones in the town, to which the former replies that his own wife is one of these. The younger knight says that if the other will go to sea for six months he will win her favor. The husband accepts the challenge. He then goes home and bids his wife farewell without telling her of the wager but bidding her be constant in her love. She weeps at what she thinks is his suspicion. Soon after, the younger knight tries, but unsuccessfully, to seduce her. He then obtains the aid of his foster mother by offering her fifty-three guineas.[12] The foster mother's persuasion is of no avail. She then comments on the lady's haggard appearance and promises to make her sleep soundly b y means of "fine e nchanting m elodie." Locking the sleeping lady in the castle, she takes the keys to the young knight, who then enters the lady's chamber. However, she escapes his advances by promising to come to his bed that night.
Instead she sends her niece Maisry, to whom she promises a dowry of 500 pounds. The knight lies with her and then cuts off her ring finger to keep as proof. Upon the return of the older knight, the "brother"s hows him the ring and the ring finger. The former is deceived and asks permission, which is granted, to dine for the last time in his castle. When he asks his father-in-law what punishment should be meted out to an unfaithful wife, the latter replies that she should be burned or hanged. The husband then informs him that the guilty lady is his own daughter, and invites him to dine.
At the dinner the lady shows her ring finger uncut, and reveals the trick she has played. They call in the young knight and also Maisry, to whom they pay the 500 pounds. Following this, they place before the latter a sword and a ring, leaving it to her to kill him with the one or wed him with the other. Three times she moves to pick up the sword, but finally chooses the ring, a decision which is approved by all the ladies present.
In "Redesdale and Wise William" the story runs thus:
The two men are one day drinking wine together (with others also present). All fall to boasting of their hawks, their hounds, and their ladies. Redesdale boasts that he can gain the favor of any lady with one glance of his eye. Wise William retorts that he cannot win the favor of his sister with three glances.[13] Redesdale wagers land; Wise William stakes his life. Redesdale has Wise William put into prison so that he cannot communicate with his sister, but the latter has already informed her by letter of the wager. Redesdale attempts to seduce the sister, offering her money, jewelry, lands, etc. To all offers she replies that
she already has these things. Finally Redesdale threatens to burn the house and eventually does so. However, the lady and her maids cover themselves with wet mantles and escape. She then sends William a message informing him that he has won the wager. Redesdale pays it willingly, vowing that if there is a good woman in the world it is Wise William's sister.
The text given in Politis, which is the most complete Greek version,[14] also begins with a drinking (and eating) scene, in which Maurianos the King and Constantine the Little are participants; and, as in the English ballads, the talk turns to the subject of women's virtue. It is the boasting of Maurianos that precipitates the wager: " 'As fair as a rose and as white as the narcissus / Is this sister of mine, but no one can seduce her!' "
The King immediately challenges Maurianos to a test of the sister's chastity, staking his kingdom and his crown against the other's life. Maurianos confidently accepts the wager. The King sends a messenger to Areti with nine mule-loads of gold and silver. She bids the messenger thank the King for his gift, and says that Maurianos
will repay it. When the messenger informs her that the King is in love with her and
that he expects no repayment, Areti, who understands the King's intention, replies
that he may come whenever he wishes. "She crossed her hands[15] and went to her
attendant: / 'Thou, my attendant, art my mother and my sister; / Thou art my
cousin, and thou wilt keep my honor safe. / Go thou to my room and I to thy kitchen.
/ I'll give thee my bridal garments; / I'll make for thee my bridal bed, / And what
the King shall do to thee thou shalt endure it, / And all the King's presents shall be
for thee.'"
However, the attendant refuses, and Areti then goes to her maid with the same
proposal. The latter consents. "Her mistress takes her garments and gives her her
own; / She adorns her tresses with pearls; / She puts a lovely ring on her finger; /
She dresses her bed with golden sheets; / 'My maid, if thou art my maid and if I
am thine, / Whatever the King commands thee thou shalt endure it; / And if he
speaks, don't speak to him; and if he asks, don't answer."'
The King then goes to bed with the supposed Areti, and near dawn takes the ring from her finger,[16] cuts off her tresses with the rope of pearls binding them, and departs. Next morning he exhibits these in the market-place, where all the nobles have assembled, and Maurianos is brought forth to be hanged. He asks that his sister be brought to witness his death. "She dresses and adorns herself and comes to the market. / A thousand-fold her gown, a thousand her brocade, / Three hundred her veil, that the sun may not burn her. / 'Good morning, you nobles and all the nobility; / This one with the purple I have never seen before."'
The King, enraged at what he regards as her effrontery, formally charges her with having been his bed-fellow the previous night and again shows the ring, the tresses, and the rope of pearls as proofs. "Fair Areti swings her head, and the earth is covered with flowers; / 'Who is lacking tresses with a rope of pearls?' / She swings again and the earth is covered with sapphires: / 'Who is lacking a ring from the finger? / Look, you nobles and all the nobility, / Is my ring missing or my curly tresses, / Or is vanished the rosy color from my cheeks? / If so, then go and hang Maurianos from the gallows / And put a triple chain upon my neck. / But thou art no more worthy to keep thy kingdom; / You slept with my servant and art considered as my
servant; / Bring our mule and go and fetch wood!' "[17]
Iatrides has a somewhat shorter version, in which the King and Yannakos (Yannos) make a wager on the chastity of the latter's wife, Maroudia, the King staking his florins and Yannakos his life.[18] With the cooperation of her maid,[19] Maroudia
tricks the King as in the Politis text, and in the morning he cuts off the maid's ring finger with the rings upon it and goes to hang Yannos. When all the people are assembled and the hour for the hanging has come, Maroudia speaks to the King
from her balcony, bidding him wait until she dresses. "She sat and dressed herself for two full hours; / She put the sun on her face and the moon on her breast / And around her neck a rope of pearls. / She went to the place where the King was, / And
as soon as the King saw her he fell down dead, / And the people were all afflicted (?) and cursed him."[20]
The text from the Southern Peloponnesus given by Passayannis contains an incident
very rare in Greek versions of the ballad, the writing of a warning letter to the
sister. "Constantis writes a message and send it to his sister: / 'This is what I write
thee, Maroudi, and so as I advise you. / If the King seduces thee, thy brother's head
will be cut off; / If he does not, I shall get his kingdom. / Dress thy maid and give
her to him... ' "21 The rest of the text, containing forty-four stanzas, closely parallels
the Politis version.
The following table shows the correspondences between the English and the Greek ballads:
[table]
It will be noted that the topic of conversation which opens the story, the boast of
one of the disputants, and the resultant wager are present in all five texts. Attempts
at seduction are, of course, likewise present. Motif T484 (maidservant substitute as
bed-partner) is found in all but RWW, in which the lady escapes unaided.[22] The
next three traits of the ballad story occur in all versions except RWW, and the last,
the winning of the wager by the husband (brother), is present here as in the rest.
An instance of direct borrowing is not suggested. However, the following comment
by the late W. J. Entwistle is highly thought-provoking:
I do not wish to show how much European balladry was indebted to Greece, but merely
to pick out a few points that now need reconsiderationI. f the Akritic ballads are older
than the Akritic epos they are two centuries older than the earliest ballads in other lands.
The roads for expansion were numerous and well trod. Their dramatic merits are high.
Much remainst o be done if the field is to be clearedf rom conjectures;b ut the hypothesis
of Greek origin may simplify the account we give of ballad themes that now range from
the Chilean Valley to the Russian Tundras.[23]
NOTES
1 The translations fr om the Greek a re Tarsouli's a s are also several o f the notes, p articularly those r eferring t o Greeks ources. It has seemed to us not worthwhile t o give the authorship o f each note.
2 "A marked and pleasing contrast with most of the versions of this tale is a dignified and tender ballad in which the lovers are replaced by brother and sister. This ballad is found amongst the Servians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, and Roumanians. Shishmanov (Indogermanische Forschungen, IV, 412-48, 1894) makes out a very strong probability of the derivation of all the
ballads of the 'Dead Brother' from the Greek." This is No. 92 in N. G. Politis, Ekloye apo ta traghudhya tu ilinikt lau, 3rd ed., (Athens, 1932). Another title by which it is sometimes known is 'The Owl."
3 Politis, No. 83.
4. Politis, No. 74. This ballad is not to be confused with "Handjeris and Lioyenneti," which does not appear in the Politis collection.
5 Politis, No. 88.
6 Politis, No. 82.
7 Politis, No. 86.
8 Politis, No. 217.
9 Reinhold K6hler, Kleinere Schriften, ed. Johannes Bolte, 3 vols. (Weimar, I898-1900), I, 211-12; A. N. Afanasiev, Narodny Russkiia Skazki (Moscow, I86o-0863), VII, No. ig; VIII, No. 14; Antti Aarne, Estnische Mdrchen- und Sagenvarianten (FFC 25), a, b. See also J. Qvigstad, Lappische Mdrchen- und Sagenvarianten (FFC 60); R. Th. Christiansen, Norske Eventyr (Kristiania,
1921); O. Hackman, Katalog der Marchen der finnlandischen Schweden (FFC 6); OskarLoorits, Livische Marchen- und Sagenvarianten (FFC 66).
10 W. J. Entwistle, European Balladry (Oxford, I939), pp. 81-82.
11 Russian Fairy Tales, trans. Norbert Guterman (New York, I945), p. 259.
12 Here we learn for the first time that the wager is the younger knight's life against the elder's lands.
13 Cf. "The Two Knights," in which the husband boasts that the challenger could not succeed in nine months' time instead of the six he asks.
14 Politis, No. 81. It would hardly be correct to call this the best version, since no one ballad in the collection is genuine and original. However, although Politis added lines and even complete
stanzas where he thought they were lacking, his collection is still used as a basis for studies in
Greek balladry.
15 A sign of submission or supplication. See Brewster, "'Zarika in Soncica,' a Slovenian Ballad (with Croatian and Greek Analogues)," Laos, II (1952), 82.
16 To show to Maurianos as proof of her guilt. In most variants the King cuts of the finger.
It would appear that in the present instance there was a desire on the part of the editor to make
the episode less harrowing.
17 Politis, pp. III-14, No. 81.
18 Iatrides, Sylloyl dhimotikon asmdton paleon ke traghudhyon (Athens, I859), pp. 62-64. This
is the only Greek text in which the girl is not the sister but the wife of Maurianos.
19 There is no mention of any reward to be given the maid for her help.
20 The meaning here is obscure. The line may mean that the people, having been oppressed
by the King, are glad of his discomfiture and subsequent death.
21 Costa Passayannis, Maniatikd miroloya ke traghudhya (Athens, I928), p. 172, No. 228. For
other texts of "Maurianos and His Sister," see A. Passow, Carmina popularia graeciae recentioris
(Leipzig, I860), p. 474; E. Legrand, Recueil des chansons populaires grecques (Paris, 1874),
p. 302, No. I36 (a variant from Greek-speaking Corsicans). A variant from Epirus is mentioned
in J. B. Bartholdy, Bruckstiicke zum ndheren Kenntnis des heutigen Griechenlands (Berlin, i805),
I, 434, and Politis refers to an English parallel, which he does not identify, in Edward Jones,
Relics of the Welsh Bards, II, I9-20.
22 The fact that no reward is mentioned in MHS 2 is of no particular significance. Remuneration
of some kind would be taken for granted by hearers of the ballad, and hence a trait of this
sort would tend to drop out of the text.
23 W. J. Entwistle, "New Light on the Epic-Ballad Problem," Journal of American Folklore,
LXII (October-December, 1949), 381.
Tennessee Polytechnic Institute
Cookeville, Tennessee
Athens, Greece