The Bard. Genesis.
M. A. Berlioz.
Posting #13.
“…Having ridden his
horse all around the head,
He starts tickling its
nostrils with the tip of his spear.
Wrinkling its face, the head
yawned,
Opened its eyes, and sneezed…”
A. S. Pushkin. Ruslan and
Lyudmila.
…Having
approached the mound, Ruslan discovers that this is not a mound at all, but an
enormous head without a body. –
“...Ruslan
sees it as a threatening enormity.
Baffled, he wants to dispel
the mysterious dream.
Having ridden his horse all
around the head,
He starts tickling its
nostrils with the tip of his spear.
Wrinkling its face, the head
yawned,
Opened its eyes, and sneezed…
A windstorm started… from the
eyelashes and moustache,
And from the eyebrows flew
off a flock of owls…”
A
feisty exchange ensues between the Head and Ruslan. The Head is doing whatever
it can to thwart the hero’s advance.
“…With
all its strength, the head
Started to blow its breath at
the prince [Ruslan]…”
Nevertheless,
Ruslan manages to stick his spear into the “audacious tongue” of the head who
is mocking the hero:
“…Ai,
warrior! Ai, hero!
Where are you going?
Slow down, slow down, stop!
Hey, warrior, you’ll break
your neck for nothing!..”
Ruslan
uses an opportune moment and approaches the Head again. The Head is utterly
confused and embarrassed. Badly wounded by Ruslan’s spear, with blood pouring
out profusely, it can no longer withstand the hero’s assault, as he hits the
Head’s cheek with his heavy glove, causing the Head to turn over, its iron
helmet falling off with clattering noise.
And
here yet another miracle occurs. –
“…Then
on the emptied spot
A hero’s sword sparkled.
Ruslan clutches it and rushes
Over the bloodstained grass
Toward the Head with the
cruel intent
Of cutting off its nose and
ears…”
But
the Head acknowledges its defeat and tells Ruslan the story of the sword. This
Head used to be part of a glorious knight, but its younger brother became its
deadliest rival. The knight was a giant, whereas his brother was a dwarf. “Clever like a devil…
and awfully evil.”
The
dwarf had a magic beard which contained fateful power. –
“As
long as the beard remains intact,
No harm can come to the
traitor…”
This
dwarf, practitioner of black magic, learned that “on a quiet seashore, in a deep cellar under
locks a sword was hidden, which was destined to be the end of both brothers:
cutting off the beard of the dwarf and cutting off the head of the giant…”
And
so it came to pass. First the dwarf persuaded his giant brother to set off on a
long trip. “Beyond
distant mountains we found the fateful cellar; I demolished it with my bare
hands and pulled out the hidden sword…”
Having
quarreled as to who would keep the magic sword, the sly dwarf made a
suggestion:
“Both
of them will lie down with the ear to the ground,
And whoever is the first to
hear the first ringing
Will own the sword until the
grave…
He said this and lay down
first…
I was the fool to do the
same.
The villain approached me
from the back.
The sharp sword whistled
[sic!] like a whirlwind…
And before I could look back,
My head fell off my
shoulders…”
The
giant’s body was left to rot where it fell down, but the dwarf took the giant’s
head to a deserted and desolate place, where he made the Head guard forever the
sword that was now in Ruslan’s possession.
Before
they parted, the Head asked Ruslan to avenge the betrayal on the magician
dwarf.
“Bravely,
Ruslan continues on his journey…
Each day brings him new
obstacles:
Now he is fighting a mighty
warrior,
Now a witch, now a giant…”
And
at last:
“He
sees, flying right over his head
With a raised frightful mace,
The evil dwarf Chernomor…”
The
dwarf attacks Ruslan from the air, but the hero’s agility makes Chernomor miss
and fall down, but he quickly sits up. Not quick enough, though, as Ruslan
promptly dismounts, runs to the dwarf, and clutches his magic beard. Chernomor
whirls up into the air, but Ruslan firmly holds his beard and does not fall for
any of the magician’s ruses. –
“You
can fly even until the star of the night,
But you will surely be left
without your beard!
Resign, submit to the Russian
might,
Take me to my Lyudmila!..”
Comparing
the two fairytales, the reader can see that Pushkin’s is optimistic: the
Russian might representing goodness triumphs over evil. Wagner’s German tale is
pessimistic: both the fearless Siegfried and his ex-Valkyrie Brunhilde perish.
“The
subdued Chernomor listens humbly…
He flies, and in a moment
arrives
In the midst of his terrible
mountains…
[Then] Ruslan, having
clutched the sword with one hand
And grasping the [dwarf’s]
beard with the other,
Cut it off like a handful of
grass.
Here’s one for you, he said
cruelly,
How about that, predator?
Where’s your splendor?
Now, where’s your might? And
he ties
The white hair to his tall
helmet…”
To
be continued…
***
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