Listen
Aidés ki amán amán, have you heard the news?
Have you heard what happened down at the well of glass?
Aidés ki amán amán, a wild beast appeared,
a man-eater, set on devouring all that passed that way.
It was wearing women’s clothes
and women’s slippers, too.
A woman, she went and sat down on the well of glass
and sat there welling tears, untwining braided locks.
The king’s son passed her by and asked
– What ails you, maid, why do you weep and sigh?
– My ring has fallen in the well,
and the man who dives and fetches it
shall have me for his wife.
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Το γυάλινο πηγάδι
Άιντες κι αμάν αμάν, το μάθατε τι έγινε,
το μάθατε τι έγινε στο γυάλινο πηγάδι;
Θεριό εφανερώθηκε τον κόσμο για να φάει.
Γυναίκας ρούχα φόρεσε, γυναίκας πασουμάκι,
γυναίκα πάει και κάθεται στο γυάλινο πηγάδι.
Ξεπλέκει τα σγουρά μαλλιά και κάθεται και κλαίει
κι ο γιος του ρήγα πέρασε και τηνε χαιρετάει.
− Τι έχεις κόρη μου και κλαις και βαριαναστενάζεις;
− Η αρρεβώνα μου ’πεσε στο γυάλινο πηγάδι
κι όποιος θα πέσει να τη βρει γυναίκα θα με πάρει.
Chiot woman
Steelplate print on paper, 19th century, Benaki
Museum, inv. no. 40698.
© Benaki Museum
The king’s son descends into the well and the dark embrace of the black earth, where he finds snakes, adders and human corpses. He asks the Maiden (Kore/Persephone) to help him back up to the light, but the spirit refuses. She has tricked him as she tricked so many before him.
This most ancient of poetic narratives contains archetypal symbols: the demonically destructive she-demon/sorceress, the woman identified with the earth who devours and destroys men, and the young hero who has to win his spurs by performing perilous labours. Miranda Terzopoulou (2007)
