There is plenty of activity among the Greeks of Calabria Ultra. Many
of them contrive to get a livelihood out of the chase; game of
every sort abounds, and wolves are not extinct. In the mountaineers'
cottages, which shelter a remarkable range of animals, an infant wolf
sometimes lies down with a tame sheep; whilst on the table hops a
domesticated eagle, taken when young from its nest in defiance of
the stones dropped upon the robber by the outraged parent-birds. The
peasants till the soil, sow corn, plant vegetables, harvest the olives
and grapes, gather the prickly pears, make cheese, tend cattle, and
are wise in the care of hives. It is a kind of wisdom of which their
race has ever had the secret. The Greek Calabrians love bees as they
were loved by the idyllic poets. "Ehi tin cardia to melissa" ("he has
the heart of a bee"), is said of a kindly and helpful man. Sicilian
Hybla cannot have yielded more excellent honey than Bova and
Ammendolea. It is sad to think of, but it is stated on good authority
that the people of those lofty cities quarrel over their honey as much
as about Praxiteles. Somehow envy, hatred, and all uncharitableness
find a way into the best of real idylls. You may live at the top of
a mountain and cordially detest your neighbour. The folk of Condufuri
greet the folk of Bova as Vutani dogs, which is answered by the
epithet of Spesi-spasu, all the more disagreeable because nobody knows
what it means. In Terra d'Otranto the dwellers in the various Greek
hamlets call each other thieves, asses, simpletons, and necromancers.
The Italian peasants are inclined to class Greeks and Albanians alike
in the category of "Turchi," and though the word Turk, as used by
Italians, in some cases simply means foreign, it is a questionable
term to apply to individuals. The Greeks, with curious scorn, are
content to fling back the charge of Latin blood.
When the day's work is done, comes the frugal evening meal; a dish of
_ricotta_, a glass of wine and snow. Wine is cheap in Calabria, where
the finest variety is of a white sweet kind called _Greco_; and the
heights of Aspromonte provide a supply of frozen snow, which is a
necessary rather than a luxury in this climate. About the hour of
Avemmaria the bagpipers approach. In the mountains the flocks
follow the wild notes of the "Zampogna" or "Ceramedda," unerringly
distinguishing the music of their own shepherd. A visit from the
Zampognari to hill-town, or village sets all the world on the alert.
There is gossiping, and dancing, and the singing of songs, in which
expression takes the place of air. Two young men sing together,
without accompaniment, or one sings alone, accompanied by bagpipe,
violin, and guitar. So the evening passes by, till the moon rises and
turns the brief, early darkness into a more glorified day. The little
hum of human sound dies in the silence of the hills; only perhaps a
single clear, sweet voice prolongs the monotone of love.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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