Ballads, Serbian; Folk songs, Serbian; Serbian poetry -- History and criticism; Serbian poetry -- Translations into English
And of thirteen syllables, namely, four trochaics, a dactyl, and a
closing trochaic:
Lōok ăroūnd, thŏu lōvěly Crētă, smīlĭngly lŏok rōund.
The translations which have appeared in Germany under the name of Talvj
are the work of an amiable woman (Theresa von Jacob), who having passed
the earlier part of her life in Russia, and possessing a mind cultivated
by literature, and captivated by the natural beauties of Servian poetry,
has most successfully devoted herself to their diffusion.
* * * * *
Professor Eugenius Wessely, of Vinkovcze in Slavonia, has also published
a small volume of Translations from the Nuptial Songs of the Servians;
{0m} the renderings have the merit of perfect fidelity, and his
introduction contains many interesting illustrations of Servian manners.
* * * * *
In the following translations I have, in all the narrative poetry,
preserved the original measure. _Rhyme_ is seldom used by the Servians.
It is found in some of the shorter lyrical pieces, in the rendering of
which I have allowed myself some latitude of expression. But the wish,
above all things, to preserve most faithfully the character of the
original, has prevented my introducing many very obvious decorations, and
my veiling many equally obvious defects. To fidelity, at least, this
volume may lay an honest claim. I have endeavoured to avail myself of
all the authors who have written on the subject, particularly of the
valuable criticisms of Dr. Kopitar in the Vienna _Iahrbuch der
Litteratur_, of the works of Göthe, Grimm, and Vater. The notes attached
to Talvj’s translation I have employed, without any special reference to
them.
HISTORICAL, TRADITIONAL, AND RELIGIOUS BALLADS.
ABDUCTION OF THE BEAUTIFUL ICONIA.
GOLDEN wine drinks Theodore of Stalach, {3}
In his Castle Stalach, on Morava;
Pours him out the wine his aged mother.
While the wine-fumes to his head were rising,
Thus his mother spoke unto the hero:
“Son of mine! thou Theodore of Stalach!
Tell me, wherefore hast thou not espoused thee?
Thou art in thy youthful days of beauty;
In thy dwelling now thine aged mother
Fain would see thy children play around her.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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