Preface
This pair of
folk songs is, without
question, a priceless addition to the study of the Ancient Greeks. Previously,
only fragments of Ancient Greek music were thought to have survived, all from
the Classical Period onwards, none as old as the present text. None of them
record secular songs, as opposed to
hymns. In fact, no other collection of
‘folk music’ can be said to be extant until a thousand years later.
The following verses were not composed by
professional poets as
Homer or
Hesiod were, but ordinary men. Due to their providence
and their form they are markedly different from the
Iliad or the
Odyssey. The
reader may find himself struck by their difference in tone and ‘commonplace’
nature, however it must be stressed that such works may still possess their own
charm.
The present volume is in translation, for
the benefit of the layman, and because of its recent discovery, few liberties
have been taken in regards to interpretation. It is hoped that, when the verses
are more well known, there will emerge more literary translations that will do
justice to these poetic forms.
The musical notation accompanying the
songs, as well as a transcription, can be found in the
appendices.
R.
G.
1.
A
song from the perspective of a maid of Odysseus, twelve of whom play a minor
part in the epic. Here the story seems to have been bastardised to include the
more common concern of estranged lovers, rather than the more refined themes of
the epic.
Though
it’s all in vain I wish
I
wish my love was home again
Ten
years at war and three at sea
Seven
in the arms of Amphitrite
My
soldier love has left me
Left
me to seek his fortune
Joined
his king’s army
To
lay siege on Ilios
Oh,
my love’s hair is yellow like gold
His
eyes are blue like the sea
Strong
is he in arm and leg
He
is the fairest of all the king’s men
As
soon as his ship had sailed
Then
my troubles began
Though
leagues away from sea
Still
I drowned by the air I breathed
For,
I went to court to serve my king
At
the house of cruel Odysseus
In
his absence I served him well
Though
he did not know me
We
were twelve, we maids
Beloved
and despised
We
were beautiful, we were clever
We
fooled everyone, too well
Our
lady, she modelled virtue
Honest,
patient, pliable like clay
So
too were we
Even
to the beds of strange men.
Oh,
my love, how I have betrayed you!
Even
though it was not my will.
I
am no longer yours alone
I
was never mine.
___
Here
two fragments of the manuscript are damaged by water and have been rendered
unreadable. The next stanza takes up the exploits of Odysseus at his return to
Ithaca.
___
When
great Ulixes home he came
Libations
in his honour were poured
Wine
was poured for every guest
But
so was blood, before.
He
slew every suitor that dwelt in his house;
For
they had done great wrong
Though
often I despised them
That
day I saw them rent apart
Though
some wept for them
None
wept for us
Odysseus’
son kept our bodies whole
No
reason for tears
High
up in the air we hung
Like beautiful god’s birds we flew
They
heeded not our omens
They
saw only the rope around our necks
Oh,
though it’s all in vain I wish
I
wish my love were back to me
To
save me from my fate
I
wish I was a maiden again.
2.
Quite
possibly a drinking song, another instance of the epic hero brought down to
suit the uneducated man.
Know,
friends, that from great Odysseus to his lowliest slave
All
men desire two things, in one place are both plentiful
For
this reason, the tavern is most profitable of trades.
To
one tavern did Odysseus’ men arrive
One
summer’s day, desiring company, end to thirst
Wine
poured freely, women were plentiful
But,
as night drew on, songs died in throats
Odysseus’
men seemed vanished in air
In
their stead pigs drank mead, such was the sailors’ gluttony
Men
grew still, women screamed, only one moved.
Circe,
fairest of working women
Approached
the pigs with a courteous bow
‘Noble
sirs, your troubles are great indeed.
Unhappy
beasts you shall remain forever
Unless
you hearken unto me.’
Eagerly
Odysseus and his men listened
For
wise seemed her words, comic their plight,
And
her beauty inflamed their desire
‘Go
you to the graveyard outside city gates
Find
a funeral vase of stone bearing Perse’s name
Give
sacrifice, pour libations, as if for your own mother
Then
will your pigs’ noses return to men’s snouts
Your
pig’s teeth return to men’s fangs
And
your pink skin shall bristle with hair
Then,
return with all speed, for I will await you
For
you, Odysseus, I will warm my bed
For
I have heard sung your skill.
At
once, the wine-drunk pigs stumbled into the dark
Heeded
not potholes and brambles
Unto
which many a man succumbed.
But,
nearing the grave great Odysseus’ heart grew faint
He
heard ghosts’ cries echo, lifeless feet patter
They
emptied their flagons as sacrifice, fled quickly away.
Alas!
The night was ink black, no stars shone
Seafaring
Odysseus could not find the way
Resigned,
the pigs dropped where they stood, fitfully slept
When
Dawn’s rosy fingers shone again
The
men rose, ten yards away heard and saw
A
cat’s mews echoing, a tree’s leaves pattering
High
noon it was when the pigs returned
Though
to men they returned through want of feasting
Shamefaced
they came to the tavern
But
Odysseus strode through the door, though he was as wide
And
loudly proclaimed the victory
But
all the wine was drunk, and pretty Circe had gone away
Companions,
now I’ve concluded this my tale
How
kittens frighted pig Odysseus
No
man must speak this tale again.
This was written as a school assignment to adapt ('textually intervene') the Odyssey. This was the reflection:
In my textual
intervention I used elements of the original text, and the conceit of found
poetry to question the reliability of and discrimination inherent in critical interpretation.
Specifically, I expanded on the one-dimensional stories of the maids and
Odysseus to suggest other perspectives which may have been present but hadn’t
survived.
By using the conceit
that the verses were collected from Homeric Greeks, the verses suggest how
people other than Homer would have told similar stories. There would have been
borrowing between contemporaries; therefore, set phrases like ‘rosy fingered
dawn’, ‘libations’, and epithets like ‘cunning Odysseus’ are included. I made
efforts to show that the verses are in translation by using nonstandard word
order. In English the word order is ‘subject-verb-object’ (SVO), so a sentence
like ‘To one tavern did Odysseus’ men arrive’ (OSV) suggests foreign or at
least archaic language. Translation is further indicated by unrhymed and uneven
lines.
The songs diverge from
the Odyssey and use other influences to create a sense of the folk song nature
of the verses. I used motifs from other traditions, such as the theme of lovers
parted by the sea. A common motif of listing numbers of years is used in the
line ‘Ten years at war, and three at sea’.
Both features are used in, for example, broken token songs of the
British Isles.
The language of the
editor mimics the language of a real editor. As such, the comments deride the
‘bastardisation’ of the ‘epic hero’ and provide no commentary on the actual contents
of the songs. The editor is suggested to have, through their biased view, interpreted
the missing verses in the first song wrong. They assume that the maid tells the
story of Odysseus, rather than her own. They also use non-inclusive language,
describing the singers as ‘ordinary men’,
even though the first is definitely not a man.
Through creation of a
sense of the verses being genuine poetry in translation, the nature of the song
‘collection’ allows juxtaposition. The first song is a tragic story about
women, while the second is a frivolous story about men. This challenges
dominant interpretations of the Odyssey, where Odysseus’ tale is accepted
without question and women’s narratives closely scrutinised. Ultimately, this
bias lead to the maids’ execution, and the interpretation of the Odyssey we
have today.
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