Karel Jaromír Erben

“ Although his fame as a scientist and an historian is firmly engraved in the Czech historical literature side by side with his two great contemporaries, Palacký and Tomek, and although he has never been outdone as an untiring and most successful folklorist: it is his single volume of poetry “Kytice z pověstí narodních” (A Bouquet of National Legends) that made his name truly immortal and most beloved to the heart of every Czech. ”

“ Said to his mother, “When she gives me bread,
She always says she wishes I were dead.
You also gave me bread, oh, mother mine,
And buttered it, for surely I was thine.
When she combs my hair, see my tears full fast,
For she pulls it till the blood comes at last;
When you combed my curls, oft you kissed my hair,
And you loved to hear me called good and fair ”

“ Unflinching laws embrace all men and worlds,
And all must pay their debts upon this earth.
A river seeks its end in the distant rolling sea,
The flames leap high, the heavens to embrace,
Whatever the earth creates by earth destroyed shall be,
But nought shall go to waste or lose its finite place. ”

“ And see—just at that moment dread,
The cock crows, and the dead falls dead.
And all around the cocks crow clear,
The night is past, the dawn is near.
The dead one lies upon the floor,
Just as he went to open the door. ”

“ A corpse is laid with no one near.
Ah, what is this—this nameless fear—
The ghouls are stirring—they are here!
One hears them—they are gliding on—
And strange and weird their ghostly song.
“The body to the earth is told,
Alas! for him who lost his soul.” ”

“ They are alike one like the other;
Like two eyes, from the selfsame mother,
And see her thread is silken.”
“Granny, your words I do not like—
Do as I order, that is right.
To-morrow when the dawn is nearing,
Bring your stepdaughter, her heart cheering,
Unto my kingly castle.”
PART THIRD.
“Arise, my daughter, it is time—
The king waits—’tis a merry rhyme—
The banquet’s ready; sure, I never
Spake better for you—though I never
Dared hope for such an honor.” ”

“ Marking a trail toward the lake ’neath the hill.
One girl is kneeling where the ice shows a break,
Impatient, the other stands by.
“Hannah dear, Hannah, for our friendship’s sake
Tell me what meets your eye.”
“I see a cottage, as yet hazy and far,
It looks like my Václav’s home . . .
The vision grows brighter . . . ”

“ Her lover outside pounds with slap.
“Arise, you dead one, from your stretch
And open on the door that latch!”
The dead one opens his dim eyes,
He rubs them once, he rubs them twice,
He raises his head from the ground
And stares in semi-circle ’round. ”

“ In tree I’ll drive a nail with will,
And so end all my sinning.”
“What last word will you leave the youth,
Daughter mine?
What last word will you leave the youth
Who used to come to us, forsooth,
And loved thee for a season?” ”

“ Senseless from his clasp she swooneth,
In the bridegroom’s arms falls slow.
Cries and amazement—music stops—
They all rush to help the bride.
Where is the man? The unknown guest!
Away! Dark is the night to hide! ”

“ No other pay will answer.”
The lad jumped on his fiery steed,
The precious whirl he held with heed.
The queen looked out of the window high,
“If I had that whirl—and she did sigh,
“To match my golden distaff.
“Get up, my mother, from your seat,
And ask the price of that whirl so neat!”
“For eyes, my lady! The whirl to-day,
’Tis my father’s will, I must obey,
For two eyes you can have it.”
“For two eyes! Are you crazy, lad?
Who is your father, speak out, lad?” ”

“ Had like the shirts to shreds been torn!
↑ In that period of the Czech literature which followed after the general awakening of the Czech nation in the nineteenth century and the poetry of which is customarily called “classical”, the name of Karel Jaromir Erben (1811—1870) shines as a star of the first magnitude. ”

“ Spin around, whirl around, spinning wheel mine,
Man’s life is a dream, and a trying time,
And life is a puzzle hard to divine.
Oh, better to live hoping,
And our future not to see,
Than to know what will befall,
When we cannot, cannot flee.
↑ Veník (Václav) Wenzel. ↑ In Bohemia when a young girl or lad dies, they are followed to their grave by bridesmaids or grooms; the richer the dead the larger the number; the girls wear wreaths of myrtle and are dressed in white. ”

“ Poor maiden, why your feet are sore,
And blood runs where your feet you tore.
The weeds are covered with your blood,
But on he strides with heavy thud.
“The night is fine such nights the dead
Seek out the living, I’ve heard said. ”

“ For that beautiful spinner.”
“Oh, master king, ’tis strange, most strange—
Who would have thought of such a change!
We are not worthy, oh, master king,
To dare to think of such a thing;
We are poor, humble people. ”

“ And on the door one heard them rap,
And awful was their tap, tap, tap.
“Arise, oh dead one, from thy bier,
Pull back the latch, we all are here.”
The dead one opens wide his eyes,
He makes as though he would arise. ”

“ THE ORPHAN.
“Whose child is this that in the wintry storm,
The cutting north-wind, with its snow and ice,
At midnight in the graveyard walks forlorn,
And seeks a grave amidst the snow and ice?”
“Mother, oh my loving mother, hear me,
Your little daughter calls, oh hear me now;
I am forsaken of all men, I see ”

“ The spinning-wheel is strong and nice.”
“Buy it, my lady! It is not dear—
My father is cheap—you need not fear,
For two feet he will give it.”
“For two feet! ’Tis a strange, odd price—
Still I will buy—the wheel is nice. ”

“ Will go, till one of us has died.”
She nears the table where they stand,
She creeps along as shadows creep.
The wretched mother hardly breathes—
She clasps her child, that does not weep.
Alas! alas! that fatal call ”