Part 19

All / Raphel (Amraphel) \ these | Arioch | Kings of the Turks (Turcac). names | Thadal | are | Chodorlaomor / from < Sennaab \ the | Bara | Vulgate. | Bersa > Good Kings. | Semeber | \ Bala /

Pharaon, King of Egypt.

Corion and Gober, Pharaon's courtiers.

Astaroch \ Telemar | Good Soldiers, defenders of the Holy Religion. Cormaim | Zuzite /

Chavoq and Chorre, good giants, killed by the Turkish kings.

Cocor, Patar; Maneton, and Catilie, inhabitants of Sodom. The last two are ladies. Maneton is a diminutive from Marie--Manon, Manette, Maneton; like Jeannette, Jeanneton, from Jeanne.

"Satans"--Satan and Bulgifer--who swear most frightfully in French, on the principle, perhaps, of omne ignotum pro magnifico, and because swearing, while more terrible, is less mischievous when uttered in a tongue "not understanded of the people."

Abraham is the model of a Christian, and Abraham and Pharaon both address their followers as "barons." Satan flatteringly addresses the shepherds by the Spanish title "Caballeros" when he wants to lead them into mischief. The actors are by no means so numerous as the "rôles"; one takes several successive parts, often without change of dress, a custom which heightens not a little the difficulty of following an acted Pastorale.

There is more dramatic unity in "Abraham," and the main plot is more skilfully conducted than might be expected from its title. The key-note of the action is given at once when Satan and Bulgifer appear on horseback in the "Place" in front of the stage, and announce their project of "tormenting Abraham," and of "weakening the Christian Faith." The plot then follows pretty closely the Bible narrative. Only it is Satan and Bulgifer who are the authors of all Abraham's misfortunes and vexations; although the angels constantly appear to save him when matters are at their worst. It is the "Satans" who inflame Pharaon in Egypt with the report and sight of Sara's beauty; it is they who stir up strife between Abraham's and Lot's herdsmen; they are delighted with the wickedness of the inhabitants of Sodom, which they direct to suit their own purposes; they stir up war against Abraham and Lot in the persons of the Turkish kings with Biblical names. These at first conquer Lot, and one by one slay all his partisans, including the good giants Chavoq and Chorre, whose corpses are carried off by Satan to be feasted upon, with the licorish exclamation: "O what cutlets! what a fine leg!!" Then they tempt Agar, and make her quarrel with Sara. In the scene preceding the destruction of Sodom, although the angels are present, the inhabitants round Lot's door are blinded, not by them, but "by some magician." Lot's wife, Uxor, when to be changed into a pillar of salt, ingeniously falls under the stage, and there the transformation takes place unseen. When Isaac is born, he is forthwith baptised. Agar and Ismael are driven into the desert, and are saved by the angel Gabriel. The play then gradually works up to the climax, the sacrifice of Isaac--the last and terrible temptation--in which the "Satans" tempt the "two Christians," Abraham and Isaac, to unbelief and disobedience, and are foiled as ever. After this, the action languishes, Abraham dies, and the Pastorale comes to an end. All the actors appear on the stage and chant the De Profundis, then the angels sing, and all unite in a concluding chant. We give a few verses from the scene of the sacrifice as a specimen of the whole:--

SATAN AND BULGIFER; ABRAHAM AND ISAAC.

Satan.

Abraham, art thou ignorant? What art thou thinking of? Leave him in life; Thou hast some wise hairs.

I tell thee to return To the house with the child; And there you shall live With very great joy.

Abraham.

Ah! alas! wretched torment! Always thus on this earth Satan doth vex me In all my doings.

Nevertheless, I take courage; Yes, even now To slay Isaac I am ready on the instant.

He has given me the order, The good God Himself, That I sacrifice Isaac On this mountain myself.

Bulgifer.

He who gave you this order Was not God. No! Go off to your house, And take your young son.

Abraham.

My only son Isaac, If I sacrifice him, All of my race I quickly destroy.

The good God had told me That he would marry; But if he dies now, How can that be?

I trust, nevertheless, On our Lord God; I am willing to offer to Him, To Him alone, my son.

At last Satan and Bulgifer go off, exclaiming:--

O, you accursed one! You always overcome us; To confusion always You do put us.

But, if we no more tempt you, We will tempt some one else; And we will even take down To hell some soul.

In despair we depart For ever from thee; And we leave you now In a very sad case.

After a few words between father and son, Isaac then offers himself, and prays as follows:--

People, I pray you, look On this poor innocent child; I am about to leave the world, And have done harm to none. (Music.)

O Lord! our Saviour! Unjustly crucified! Lord, I must also Soon leave this world. (Music.)

O King of Heaven! Who art powerful Above all other, Wise and triumphant. (Music.)

I ask pardon of Thee For all my sins, Wherewith I oft have offended Thee from my birth.

He binds himself, and goes on:--

All those, O Lord! Blot from remembrance; To Thy glory, I pray, Receive me immediately.

King of the Angels, Prince of the Heaven, May'st Thou grant me, I pray Thee, Thy rest.

I ask Thee pardon From my whole heart; Succour me, O Lord! With Thy holy hand.

I have not enough wit To thank Thee therewith; But if to Heaven I should go, There will I praise Thee.

O Lord! I pray Thee, have pity! Thou shouldest grant it me; For to leave this world I am determined.

Angel of the Lord, Grant me strength, Since Thou art My Guide!

Lord, I commend To Thee my spirit; It is Thou Who first Hast created me.

And O! great God! I pray, If it be Thy will, In the repose of the blessed Place my soul.

Father,--whenever You will,-- Sacrifice me now;-- To find my God I would depart.

Abraham is in the act of sacrificing when the Angel Gabriel seizes him from behind, and bids him not do it, &c., &c. Any foreigner who, unless he has a most charming interpreter or interpretress, can sit out a whole Pastorale would surely deserve the first prize in the school of patience.

The other kind of dramatic performance is much more irregular, and may assume various forms according to the circumstances which give occasion to it. It may be only a wild kind of carnival procession, the Mascarade, where each gesticulates as the character he represents; or a charivari in honour (?) of a dotard's marriage, wherein the advantages of celibacy over married life are sarcastically set forth; or it may take the form of a really witty impromptu comedy played on a tiny stage in honour of the marriage or the good fortune of the most popular persons of the village. One of the first kind is excellently described in Chaho's "Biarritz, entre les Pyréneés et l'Océan," vol. ii. pp. 84-121, to which we refer the reader. One of the last kind was acted at Louhossoa about 1866, on the double occasion of some marriages, and of the return of some young men from South America. There were three actors; the piece was witty and well played, and seemed to give the greatest satisfaction to the audience.

II.

If we except the Pastorales, the whole of Basque poetry may be described as lyrical; either secular, as songs, or religious, as hymns and noëls. There is no epic in Basque, [190] and scarcely any narrative ballads; even those chiefly are of uncertain date. A few sonnets exist, but they are almost exclusively translations or imitations of French, Spanish, or classical poems, and cannot be considered as genuine productions of the Basque muse. Some of the religious poetry may be described as didactic, but this again is mostly paraphrase or translation. All that is really native is lyrical. But even in song the Basques show no remarkable poetical merit. The extreme facility with which the language lends itself to rhyming desinence has a most injurious effect upon versification. There are not verses only, but whole poems, in which each line terminates with the same desinence. Instead of striving after that perfection of form which the change of a single word or even letter would affect injuriously, the Basques are too often satisfied with this mere rhyme. Their compositions, too, if published at all, are usually printed only on single sheets of paper, easily dispersed and soon lost. Hence the preservation of Basque poetry is entrusted mainly to the memory, and thus it happens that one scarcely meets with two copies of the same song exactly alike. If the memory fails, the missing words and rhymes are so easily supplied by others that it is not worth the effort to recall the precise expression used. And so it comes to pass that, while versification is very common among the Basques, high-class poetry is extremely rare. They have no song writers to compare with Burns or with Béranger. And if it be alleged that poets like these are rare, even among people far more numerous and more cultivated, the Basques still fall short, when measured by a much lower standard. They have no poets to rival the Gascon, Jasmin, or to compare with the Provençal or the Catalan singers at the other end of the Pyrenean chain. There is no modern Basque song which can be placed by the side of "Le Demiselle" and others of the Biarritz poet, Justin Larrebat; and among the older poets neither Dechepare nor Oyhenart is equal to the Béarnais, Despourrins. While the Jacobite songs of Scotland are among the finest productions of her lyric muse, the Carlist songs, on the contrary, though telling of an equally brave and romantic struggle, are one and all below mediocrity. But, while fully admitting this, there is yet much that is pleasing in Basque poetry. If it has no great merits, it is still free from any very gross defects. It is always true and manly, and completely free from affectation. It is seldom forced, and the singer sings just because it pleases him to do so, not to satisfy a craving vanity or to strain after the name and fame of a poet. The moral tone is almost always good. If at times, as in the drinking songs, and in some few of the amatory, the expression is free and outspoken, vice is never glossed over or covered with a false sentimentality. The Basque is never mawkish or equivocal--with him right is right, and wrong is wrong, and Basque poetry leaves no unpleasant after-taste behind. [191]

The only peculiarity, in a poetical sense, is the extreme fondness for, and frequent employment of, allegory. In the love songs the fair one is constantly addressed under some allegorical disguise. It is a star the lover admires, or it is the nightingale who bewails his sad lot. The loved one is a flower, or a heifer, a dove or a quail, a pomegranate or an apple, figures common to the poets of other countries; but the Basques, even the rudest of them, never confuse these metaphors, as more famous poets sometimes do--the allegory is ever consistently maintained throughout. Even in prose they are accustomed to this use of allegory, and catch up the slightest allusion to it; but to others it often renders their poetry obscure, and very difficult of successful translation. The stranger is in doubt whether a given poem is really meant only for a description of the habits of the nightingale, or whether the bird is a pseudonym for the poet or the poet's mistress. Curiously enough, sometimes educated Basques seem to have almost as much difficulty in seizing this allegory as have foreigners. Thus, in a work now in course of publication, [192] one of the most famous of these allegorical complaints is actually taken for a poetical description of the nightingale itself.

The historical songs, like all other historical remains among the Basques, are few and doubtful. There are two songs, however, for which are claimed a greater historical importance and a higher antiquity than any others can pretend to. These are the so-called "Leloaren Cantua" and the "Altabiskarco Cantua." Both these are reputed by some writers to be almost contemporaneous with the events which they relate. The first is said to be founded on the wars of the Roman Emperor Augustus with the Cantabri; the second is an account of the defeat of Charlemagne's rearguard at Roncesvalles, A.D. 778. The former may be some three hundred years old, but the latter is certainly a production of the nineteenth century, though none the less it is the most spirited offspring of the Basque muse. We will give the text and translation of each, and then justify our conclusions.

LELOAREN CANTUA. SONG OF LELO.

1. 1.

lelo. yl lelo; Lelo, dead (is) Lelo; lelo. yl lelo; Lelo, dead (is) Lelo; leloa çarat [193] Lelo, Zara (?) [193] il leloa. Killed Lelo.

2. 2.

Romaco armac The arms of Rome aleguin eta do all they can, and Vizcayac daroa Biscay raises Zanzoa. The song of war.

3. 3.

Octabiano Octavianus, munduco jauna Of the world lord, le coby di [193] Lecobidi (?) [193] Vizcayocoa. of Biscay.

4. 4.

Ichasotati By sea eta leorres and by land y mini deusco he has placed us molsoa. the siege.

5. 5.

leor celayac The dry plains bereac dira are theirs; menditan tayac the high mountains, leusoac. the caverns (are ours).

6. 6.

lecu yronyan In favourable ground gagozanyan when we are, nocbera sendo each one firm daugogoa. has heart (?)

7. 7.

bildurric guichi Little fear armabardinas (with) equal arms, oramayasu (but) our kneading-trough guexoa. (goes) ill.

8. 8.

Soyacgogorrac Hard corselets badyri tuys wear they; narrubiloxa Bare body; surboa. (more) agility (?)

9. 9.

bost urteco For five years, egun gabean by day, by night, gueldi bagaric without ceasing, pochoa. (lasts) the siege (?)

10. 10.

gurecobata One of ours ylbadaguyan when he is dead, bost amarren five tens galdoa. they lose (?)

11. 11.

aecanista They many and gue guichitaya we few (?) asqugudugu at last we have made lalboa. the peace.

12. 12.

gueurelurrean In our land ta aen errian and in his village biroch ainbaten are tied in the same way zamoa. the loads (of wood).

13. 13.

Ecin gueyago (It is) impossible more.

(The rest of this verse is lost through a rent in the paper.)

14. 14.

tiber lecua Tiber the place gueldico zabal remains broad (?) Uchin tamayo Uchin Tamayo (?) grandoya. very large.

15.

(Torn.)

16. 16.

andiaristac The great oaks gueisto syndoas yield beticonayas to the constant strokes narraca. (of) the woodpecker.

The history of the above song is as follows: At the close of the sixteenth century a notary of Zornoza, J. Iñiguez de Ibargüen, was commissioned by the Junta of Biscay to search the principal libraries of Spain for documents relating to the Basques. In the archives of Simancas he discovered an ancient MS. on parchment, containing verses in Basque, some almost, others wholly obliterated. Of these he copied what he could, and inserted them in p. 71 of his "Cronica general de España y sumaria de Vizcaya," a work which still exists in manuscript in the town of Marquina. From this history of Ibargüen the song was first reproduced by the celebrated Wilhelm von Humboldt, and published by him in 1817 in a supplement to Vater's "Mithridates." The text above given is taken from that of the "Cancionero Vasco," Series 2, iii., pp. 18, 20, and claims to be a new and literal copy from the MS. "Cronica" of Ibargüen. From the date of its publication by Humboldt, this piece has been the subject of much discussion. That it is one of the oldest fragments of Basque poetry hardly admits of doubt. But, when asked to believe that it is contemporary with Augustus, we must hesitate. The question arises: Did Ibargüen copy the almost defaced original exactly as it was, or did he suffer his declared predilections unconsciously to influence his reading of it? [194] Many of the words are still very obscure, and the translation of them is almost guess work. The first verse has little or no apparent connection with the rest of the poem, and has given rise to the most fanciful interpretations. Lelo has been imagined by some to be the name of a Basque hero; Zara, or Zarat, who kills him, the name of another; and the two reproduce the story of Agamemnon and Ægisthus. Others, with more probability, take Lelo, as is certainly the case in other poems, for a mere refrain (the everlasting Lelo, as a Basque proverb has it) used by the singer merely to give the key to the tune or rhythm to which he modulates the rest. Chaho, with his usual audacity, would translate it "glory," and render it thus:--

Finished is the glory! dead is the glory, Our glory! Old age has killed the glory, Our glory!

But it has been very plausibly suggested [195] that the verse bears a suspicious likeness to a vague reminiscence of the Moslem cry "Lâ Êlah Ulâ Allah!" &c.; and if so, this, in the north of Spain, would at one bound place the poem some eight centuries at least after the time of Augustus. The proper names have a too correct look. Octabiano, Roma, and Tiber are far too much like the Latin; for if Greeks and Romans complained, as do Strabo and Mela, of the difficulty of transcribing Basque or Iberian names into their own language, the Basques might possibly find a somewhat corresponding difficulty in transcribing Greek and Latin names into Basque. Moreover, in a later verse appears "Uchin," a sobriquet for "Augustino," as a baptismal name in use among the Spanish Basques to this day. What the poem really refers to we dare not assert. We present the "Leloaren Cantua" to our readers simply as one of the oldest curiosities of Basque verse, without pledging ourselves to any particular date or interpretation thereof.

Fortunately, we shall be able to speak with much more decision of the "Altabiskarco Cantua," of which the following is the latest text:--

ALTABISKARCO CANTUA.

1.

Oyhu bat aditua izan da Escualdunen mendien artetic, Eta etcheco jaunac, bere athearen aitcinean chutic Ideki tu beharriac, eta erran du: "Nor da hor? Cer nahi dautet?" Eta chacurra, bere nausiaren oinetan lo zagüena, Altchatu da, eta karrasiz Altabiscarren inguruac bethe ditu.

2.

Ibañetaren lepoan harabotz bat aghertcen da, Urbiltcen da, arrokac ezker eta ezcuin jotcen dituelaric; Hori da urrundic heldu den armada baten burrumba. Mendien copetetaric guriec errespuesta eman diote; Beren tuten soinua adiaraci dute, Eta etcheco jaunac bere dardac zorrozten tu.

3.

Heldu dira! heldu dira! cer lantzazco sasia! Nola cer nahi colorezco banderac heien erdian aghertcen diren Cer simistac atheratcen diren heien armetaric! Cembat dira? Haurra condatzic onghi! Bat, biga, hirur, laur, bortz, sei, zazpi, zortzi, bederatzi, hamar, hameca, hamabi, Hamahirur, hamalaur, hamabortz, hamasei, hamazazpi, hemezortzi, hemeretzi, hogoi.

4.

Hogoi eta milaca oraino! Heien condatcea demboraren galtcea liteque. Urbilditzagun gure beso zailac, errotic athera ditzagun arroca horiec, Botha ditzagun mendiaren patarra behera Hein buruen gaineraino; Leher ditzagun, herioz jo ditzagun.

5.

Cer nahi zuten gure mendietaric Norteco guizon horiec? Certaco jin dira gure bakearen nahastera? Jaungoicoac mendiac eguin dituenean nahi izan du hec guizonec ez pasatcea. Bainan arrokac biribilcolica erortcen dira, tropac lehertcen dituzte. Odola churrutan badoa, haraghi puscac dardaran daude. Oh! cembat hezur carrascatuac! cer odolezco itsasoa!

6.

Escapa! escapa! indar eta zaldi dituzeneac! Escapa hadi, Carlomano erreghe, hire luma beltzekin eta hire capa gorriarekin; Hire iloba maitea, Errolan zangarra, hantchet hila dago; Bere zangartasuna beretaco ez tu izan. Eta orai, Escualdunac, utz ditzagun arroca horiec, Jauts ghiten fite, igor ditzagun gure dardac escapatcen direnen contra.

7.

Badoazi! badoazi! non da bada lantzazco sasi hura? Non dira heien erdian agheri ciren cer nahi colorezco bandera hec? Ez da gheiago simiztarik atheratcen heien arma odolez bethetaric. Cembat dira? Haurra, condatzac onghi. Hogoi, hemeretzi, hemezortzi, hamazazpi, hamasei, hamabortz, hamalaur, hamairur, Hamabi, hameca, hamar, bederatzi, zortzi, zazpi, sei, bortz, laur, hirur biga, bat.

8.

Bat! ez da bihiric aghertcen gheiago. Akhabo da! Etcheco jauna, joaiten ahal zira zure chacurrarekin, Zure emaztearen eta zure haurren besarcatcera, Zure darden garbitcera eta alchatcera zure tutekin, Eta ghero heien gainean etzatera eta lo gitera. Gabaz, arranoac joainen dira haraghi pusca lehertu horien jatera, Eta hezur horiec oro churituco dira eternitatean.

SONG OF ALTABISCAR.

1.

A cry is heard From the Basque mountain's midst. Etcheco Jauna, [196] at his door erect, Listens, and cries, "What want they? Who goes there?" At his lord's feet the dog that sleeping lay Starts up, his bark fills Altabiscar [197] round.

2.

Through Ibañeta's* pass the noise resounds, Striking the rocks on right and left it comes; 'Tis the dull murmur of a host from far, From off the mountain heights our men reply, Sounding aloud the signal of their horns; Etcheco Jauna whets his arrows then.

3.

They come! They come! See, what a wood of spears What flags of myriad tints float in the midst! What lightning-flashes glance from off their arms! How many be they? Count them well, my child. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

4.

Twenty, and thousands more! 'Twere but lost time to count. Our sinewy arms unite, tear up the rocks, Swift from the mountain tops we hurl them down Right on their heads, And crush, and slay them all.

5.