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A little shorty, a short little man,
aides pouli mou aides, had a beautiful wife
and the whole neighbourhood, aman aman, was jealous,
the whole country was jealous of him
and none more than his own mother.

A pasha, too, was jealous of his beautiful wife
and taxed him, taxed him to the hilt,
full nine thousand silver pieces.
He sold vineyards harvested and unharvested.
He sold his pair of oxen with the yoke across their necks,
and sat down to his accounts: still a thousand short.
– Adorn yourself, fair maid, dress so I can sell you.
And she adorned herself for three days and three nights.
[She wore the sun for her face and the moon on her breast
with eyebrows proud as the crow’s coal-black wings.
On the way to market, they met a young janissary.
– My good, short man, where to with the beauty?
– To market, for I would sell her.
– Then tell me your price and I may buy her myself.
– Her lips are a thousand a piece, two for the pair, and
any man that would kiss her must pay more than can be counted.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out all he had.
When the young man set to pinching, God set to thundering.
When he set to kissing her, God sent down rain.
– Tell me, my beauty, whose blood flows in your veins?
– My mother’s from Morea, my father from Anapli,
we had a brother, too, who we called Yannaki.
The klephts took him when he was young,
and now he is their captain.
– Hey, shorty, take your beauty back for she’s my sister.
Let the gold I gave you be her dowry.]

Translated by Michael Eleftheriou

Ένας κοντός κοντούτσικος (Mελί Eρυθραίας)

Ένας κοντός, ένας κοντός κοντούτσικος,
άιντες πουλί μου άιντες, ν-έχ’ όμορφη γυναίκα,
ζηλεύει του, κι αμάν αμάν, ζηλεύει του η γειτονιά,
ζηλεύει του η γειτονιά, ζηλεύει του κι η χώρα,

σαν του ζηλεύει η μάνα του, κανείς δεν του ζηλεύει.
Του ζήλεψε κι ένας πασάς πο’ ’χει όμορφη γυναίκα,
και βαριχαρατσώνει τον εννιά χιλιάδες γρόσια.
Πουλά αμπέλι’ ατρύγητα κι αμπέλια τρυγημένα,
πουλά και το ζευγάρι του με το ζυγό δεμένο
κι ήκατσε στο λογαριασμό κι ακόμα χίλια λείπουν.
– Ντύσου, στολίσου λυγερή, να πα να σε πουλήσω.
Κι ήρχισε και στολίζουνταν τρεις μέρες και τρεις νύχτες.
[Βάζει τον ήλιο πρόσωπο και το φεγγάρι αστήθι,
και του κοράκου το φτερό βάζει καμαροφρύδι.
Κι εσείστη κι ελυγίστηκε, να πα να την πουλήσει.
Στο δρόμο οπού πήγαιναν, στο δρόμο που διαβαίναν,
γιανίτσαρος τους απαντά, μικρό γιανιτσαράκι.
– Πού πας κοντέ την όμορφη; – Πάω να την πουλήσω.
– Για πες μου πόσο την πουλάς, ίσως την αγοράσω.
– Το ’να της χείλι χίλια πα, τα δυο της δυο χιλιάδες,
που σκύψει και φιλήσει την αμέτρητα τα δίνει.
Κι εβούτηξεν στην τσέπη του κι όσα ’χε ήδωκέν τα.
Αρχίζει ο νιος να την τσιμπά, αρχίζει ο Θιος κι εβρόντα.
Αρχίζ’ ο νιος να την φιλά, αρχίζ’ ο Θιος να βρέχει.
– Για πες μου, πες μου λυγερή, πούθε βαστά η γενιά σου;
– Η μάνα μου ’ν’ απ’ το Μοργιά κι ο κύρης μ’ απ’ τ’ Ανάπλι,
είχαμε κι έναν αδερφό, τον λέγανε Γιαννάκη
κι από μικρό τον πήρανε οι κλέφτες καπετάνιο.
– Πάρε, κοντέ, την όμορφη κι εμέν’ είν’ αδερφή μου,
και τα χρουσά που σου ’δωκα ας είναι τα προικιά της.]

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Notes

A fine example of a song packed with information about the social conditions of its time which sheds light on relationships within the family, and especially on the place of the wife, the buying and selling of whom provides its plot. The song’s core theme is a motif much beloved in the folk literature of every nation: one member of a family recognizing another in extreme circumstances (see A trader made his way, A maid bidding farewell, Dawn glowed in the East, Three lords a-sitting, A little shorty (Skiathos)). In Greek fables, a Christian maid whom her husband either sells to settle a crippling debt or is captured by corsairs, is recognized at the eleventh hour – usually following divine intervention by her brother, who has been converted to Islam – before the two unknowingly commit the sin of incest. 

That the brother is referred to as a janissary has prompted S. Baud-Bovy to date its creation to the 15th century, the era when the Janissary Corps was instituted. S. Kyriakidis, however, argues that the motif of the siblings who recognize one another and are saved from an incestuous union as a result predates the period of Turkish rule, and even features in the Talmud (which had been translated into Greek for use in synagogues for the benefit of Greek-speaking Jews). Miranda Terzopoulou (2008)

Recording information

Studio recording, 2006.

Domna Samiou taped the song in Meli, near Megara, Attiki, sung by a group of women, in 1980.

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