Listen
Digenis is dying and the mountains are trembling,
and all the lords that heard it set out to visit him,
they set out, bringing apples, plums and sweet grapes.
And Digenis spoke and said to his beloved:
– Lay out the carpets, my dearest, for the lords to rest upon
and fetch sweet wine to offer our guests.
– We did not come to eat or drink,
we came for your beloved, for your betrothed.
– If you came for my beloved, for my betrothed,
then it’s time you left, so be gone!
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Ο Διγενής ψυχομαχάει
O Διγενής, ντιλμπέρι μ’ ιμάν,1 ο Διγενής ψυχομαχάει,
μαύρα μου μάτια, και τα βουνά τρομάζουν,
μαύρα είν’ τα μάτια, και τα βουνά τρομάζουν.
Όσοι άρχοντες, ντιλμπέρι μ’ ιμάν, όσοι άρχοντες κι αν τ’ άκουσαν,
μαύρα μου μάτια, παίρνουν δρόμο και πάνε,
μαύρα είν’ τα μάτια, παίρνουν δρόμο και πάνε
με μήλα, με δαμάσκηνα, με δροσερό σταφύλι.
Kι ο Διγενής ελάλησε και στην καλή του λέει.
– Στρώσε καλή μου τα χαλιά να κάτσουν οι αρχοντάδες
και βγάλε και γλυκό κρασί και κέρασε τους φίλους.
– Δεν ήρθαμε για φάει, για πιει, να φάμε και να πιούμε,
μόν’ ήρθαμε για την καλή σ’, για τ’ν αρραβωνιαστ’κιά σου.
– Aν ήρθατε για την καλή μ’, για τ’ν αρραβωνιαστ’κιά μου,
άιντε για να πααίνετε, να πάτε στο καλό σας.
1Στερεότυπο τσάκισμα άσχετο, όπως συμβαίνει συνήθως, με το περιεχόμενο του τραγουδιού, αλλά προφανώς συνδεόμενο με κάποιο γενικότερο πλαίσιο ακρόασης. Αντιστοιχεί στο «κούκλα μου, ομορφιά μου, λεβέντη μου....», από το τουρκ. dilber = όμορφος -η, γόης -ησσα.
Of all the songs in the Digenis cycle, the best and most widely known – including the very few that researchers now recognize as properly ‟Akritic” – are those that relate to the death of the never-defeated hero. In the popular imagination, it is unthinkable that such a hero should be subject to the common fate of common folk and be allowed to die. And, truth be told, there was little that was philosophical or meditative about the heroic mindset. A slave to his impulses and his strength, the hero will once again square up against an opponent and challenge him, even if he is Death himself. And the hero will throw himself into battle once again, the latest in an endless string of feats; this time, though, he will be defeated.
As a theme, Digenis’ death belongs to the older, rich oral narrative tradition which centred on the personality, life and achievements of the akritic heroes so beloved by the populace. However, the fact that the struggle with Charon is absent from all the variants of the written epic led a number of researchers to conclude that this theme is also absent from the popular imagination during the akritic era. It was also used to argue that the written epic pre-dated the songs.
The oldest and richest song-type, the one Nikolaos Politis considered a recap of Digenis the Akritis’ feats and the type closest to the written epic, is represented in this collection by a Cypriot variation (see Charon wore black).
Some of the other songs included here are loosely linked to the traditions relating to the death of Digenis or with the epic cycle more generally (see Constantis and Constantas). They include however names, verses and concepts linked to the Akritic cycle and besides the central theme of death, they also refer to other aspects of the hero’s everyday life, work, family and loves. Miranda Terzopoulou (2016)
