Καλλιτεχνικός Σύλλογος Δημοτικής Μουσικής Δόμνα Σαμίου

In most variations, the verses that follow (missing from this recording) refer to the death of the youngest brother, the victim of a spirit, lurking at the bottom of the well. The hatred of the youngest brother (reminiscent of the biblical story of Joseph whose brothers also threw him into a well), the descent into a deep hole, a symbol with dark psycho-sexual overtones, the sacrifice of a young man to a chthonic demon etc. arc all stereotypical motifs and symbolisms encountered in songs, folktales and legends all over the world.

The song is a Ballad, a rare and precious narrative genre that could be described as a folk tale in verse, with elements from primeval myths through which the people married the real to the supernatural and told stories -generally tragic- which may have happened once or which could happen, however far-fetched they might sound. Ballads were often recited rather than sung and were a kind of story-telling.

The listeners identified with the tragic heroes and often wept as they listened. The ballads’ often extreme fiction helped the listeners to accept the supernatural - and, by extension, the irrational aspect of the unconscious - into their rational worldview. And yet, everyone gradually accepted that threatening spirits were part and parcel of life, accepted that life also has an unpleasant side, unacceptable, unheard-of emotions which lead to clashes even within the safety' of the family environment, conflicts the family has to be able to deal with.

Miranda Terzopoulou (2018)