The First Link between English and Serbo-Croat Literature

Author(s): H. G. Fiedler
Source: The Slavonic Review, Vol. 6, No. 17 (Dec., 1927), pp. 390-393
Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School of
Slavonic and East European Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202177 .
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 THE FIRST LINK BETWEEN
ENGLISH AND SERBO-CROAT
LITERATURE.
IN an articlewhichI contributed
to theModernLanqguage Review
for January,I923, I drewattentionto an anonymousEnglish
translationof Goethe'sversionof the " Hasanaginica,"printed
about i8oo in a smallvolumeentitledSelim& Zaida, an Orientcl
Poem: withotherPieces. I have in mypossessiona copyofthe
second edition,dated I802 and printedin Edinburghby D.
WillisonforA. Constable,Edinburgh. Accordingto The English
Catalogue of Books i80 I-I836 (London, I914) the firstedition
was publishedin January,i8oi.
On readingthisversionmyfirstimpression was thatherewe
had the translationwhich,as statedby Lockhartin his Memoirs
oftheLife ofSir WalterScott,Vol. I., p. 247, was made by Scott
between I795 and I797. Soon, however,I satisfiedmyself
that this was mostimprobable,as the firstline whichLockhart
quotes fromScott's versiondiffersentirelyfromthat printed
in Selim & Zaida. All doubtsas to this are now set at restby
the discoveryof Scott'smanuscript, preservedin the University
Libraryat Edinburgh,and the reprintgivenby Mr. D. H. Low
in the SlavonicReviewforDecember,I924. As copiesof Selim
& Zaida are rare (theBritishMuseumhas none)and the version
of the " Hasanaginica" it containsseems to be unknown,I
printit here in toto.

A MORLACHIAN FUNERAL SONG ON THE DEATH OF

THE ILLUSTRIOUS WIFE OF ASAN AGA.
(From the Germanof GOETHE.)
What shinesso whitein yonderverdantforest?
Snow, is it ? or the Swan's unspottedplumage?
If Snow, the sun of Summerhad dissolv'dit;
If Swans, theirflight,ere now, had surelytold us.
It is not Snow, or Swans: it is the brightness
That marks the Tents of warlike ASAN AGA.
There rests,complainingof his wounds,the Warrior.
390

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ENGLISH AND SERBO-CROAT LITERATURE. 39I

His Motherand his Sistersoughthis dwelling;

But Modestydelay'd his Consort'sfootsteps.
When, now, the anguishof his woundsabated,
He, to his faithfulWife,dispatch'dthis message:
" In my 'WhiteMansiondo not thou await me;
Nor in my Court,nor 'midstmy Kindred,tarry."
When reach'd the Lady this relentlessmandate,
She, faithful,stood aghast,and fullof sorrow.-
Beforethe gate, she heard the tread of horses;
And, thinkingAsan came, she fled,despairing,
And soughtthe tower,to throwherselfdown headlong.
Her two lov'd Daughtersfollowher, sore anguish'd,
And call aloud, theirbittertears fast flowing-
"'Tis not the horsesof our fatherAsan;
Ah, Mother! 'tis thy brotherPINTOROWICH!
Then at theirwordsreturn'dthe Spouse of Asan,
And, weeping,cast her arms aroundher Brother:
!-
" Oh, Brother! see the wrongthy sistersuffers
To pierce my heart! Me,-of these fivethe Mother!"
Silent,her brotherdrewforth,and presented,
Folded in bright-red
silk, a Writ,permitting
Her to regainthe dwellingof her fathers,
And wear the crownof wedlockforanother.
When she beheld this dire writof divorcemernt,
She kiss'd the foreheadsof her Boys so lovely;
She kiss'd the rosy cheeksof her two Daughters:
But, ah, fromthe sweet Infantin the cradle,
Sinkingin grief,she cannot,cannottear her
Tore her away her fierceimpetuousBrother,
And on a vigoroussteed he plac'd her, trembling.
Then hasten'd he, with the afflicted
Lady,
Directlyto his Father's loftydwelling.
Shorttime elaps'd;-scarce seven days were over,
Shorttime indeed,-ere many lordlySuitors
Our Lady, beauteousin her widow'ssorrows,
Our noble Lady soughtto win in wedlock.
And one, the greatest,was IMOSKI'S CADI;
And the fair Lady, weeping,pray'd her Brother,
" Ah, by the joys that to your soul are dearest,

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392 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.
Bestow me not in marriageon another
Lest I, beholdingmy forsakenChildren,
Poor little ones! should break my heart with anguish."
The Bey refus'dregardto her entreaties,
Fix'd to Imoski's Cadi to betrothher.
Then she besoughthim-" Send a leaf of paper,
Inscrib'dwith these words,to Imoski's Cadi:
' Thee the youngWidow greets,and thus she praysthee:
When thou, attendedby thy SUATI,comest,
Do thou a long veil bring,that I may hide me,
Passing by Asan's house, nor see my Orphans.'"
Scarcelythe Cadi had beheld this writing,
Ere he his Suati to him call'd, and hasten'd
To seek the Bride, the long veil with him bringing.
Prosperousthey reach'd the dwellingof the Lady;
Prosperous,with her,they back resum'dtheirjourney:
But when the Mansionthey approach'dof Asan,
From the balconyher two Daughterssaw her,
And her two Sons ran swiftto meet theirMother.
" Mother!" they cried," with us thy Hall revisit:
Eat the Repast of eveningwith thy Children."
In sadness heard the widow'dwifeof Asan;
And, turningto the Leader of the Suati,
" Ah, let thy Suati with theirhorsestarry
Beforethe gates of my dear Children'sdwelling,
That I may give my little ones some presents."
Beforethe gates of her dear Children'sdwelling
They halted,and she gave her Childrenpresents.
Buskinsshe gave her Sons, with gold embroider'd;
She gave her Daughtersrich and flowinggarments;
And, to the helplessInfantin the cradle,
She gave a robe that one day mightadorn her.
All this beheld theirFather,Asan Aga,
Aside; and, sorrowing, thus address'dhis children:
"Turn to me, little ones; turnto your Father.
Your Mother'sbosom is becomeof iron;
Close-lock'd,it knowsnot to admit compassion."-
When this was heard by the sad Spouse of Asan,
She sunk in palenessto the earth,and shivering.
Her soul in anguishstartedfromher bosom,
When she beheld her childrenfromher flying.

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ENGLISH AND SERBO-CROAT LITERATURE. 393

This translationgains a furtherinterestfromthe fact that

its author,thoughtranslatingfromthe Germanof Goethe,had
the Serbianoriginalbeforehimand also knewthe versionmade
by the Italian Abate,AlbertoFortis,whichhe followsin several
passages. His note on these pointsis of sufficient
interestto
deservereprinting.
" This translationwas made originallyfromthe German of Goethe
but I have since met with anothertranslationby the Abate Fortis,in his
Travels in Dalmatia. Goethe's performance,as we might expect, is in
generalsuperiorto the Abate's; but,in some instances,the latterseems to
me preferable; and I have thereforefollowedthose passages in which he
appears to have excelled his fellow-translator.
"In perusingthis poem, I was pleased with its affectingsimplicity,so
different fromthe infantinecompositionsof some modernwriters,I had
almost said, simpletons. Their simplestrainsas littleresemblethe artless
effusionsof nature,as the nauseous girlishnessof an old coquette of sixty
resembles the pleasing naivete of sixteen.
" It might,however,be presumptuousin me to trustto myown opinion
with regard to the poem fromwhich this translationis made. But when
two persons,of such distinguishedtalents as Goethe and Fortis, have
thoughtit worthyof translation,one may ventureto assert its meritwith
less hesitation.
" The measure I have chosen approaches as nearly to that of the
original,and Goethe's translation,as the nature of the language, and the
structureof our versification,seemed to permit. Perhaps some readers
may thinkthat I might have approached still nearer, with advantage:
nor shall I dispute with them on a matterso extremelyarbitrary. That
they may have a fairopportunityof judging, I shall subjoin a passage of
the original, with the correspondingpart of Goethe's translation."

Here follow twentylines of the " Morlachian" original,

beginning:
Kad to cula Asan-Aghiniza,
and ending:
Od xalosti gledajuchsirota.
The above translationmay also help to answerthe question
whyScottdid notprinthis versiontogetherwiththeotherpieces
he took to Ballantynein autumn I799, thoughthe latter,as
Lockhartsays, " was particularlycharmedby the Morlachian
fragment." Is it too muchto assumethat Scott saw a manu-
script-copy ofourunknownauthor'stranslation, and,recognising
its greaterfaithfulness and vigour,withdrewhis own?
In any case, as Scott'sversionwas not printeduntilrecently,
we may claimthat it was our anonymoustranslatorwho forged
the firstlink betweenEnglish and Serbo-Croatliterature.
Oxford. H. G. FIEDLER.

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