insight

There are two main features in mythological personages: of chthonic and matriarchal character. The second layer is the lore on the valiant Albanian knights, otherwise known as “thirty Yutbina’s gallant knight”. Emanating from the human world, the knights are, however empowered by myths and they lead a very heroic life until the time comes for them to depart from the world and lock themselves under the deep earth, for there is no more room for them in the coming time and space. This could be characterized as an intermediate layer between the myths and the mortals of this world. The third character layer typifies the man with a mythological visage. In the Albanian this is not featured as “fiction” or as the “other reality”, but as tangible lifelike reality, namely, as “faction”. The last layer characterizes the forerunners of the legendary song, having specific relationship with the rhapsody, and with the audience that is going to listen to it and further transmit it. The epic’s four character groupings coincide with big historical events, beginning with the inveterate stage of mythological diminution to the lifelike image (chthonic) until the present day bard, which admires the epic lore, but who would not dare to draw near to look at it from within and concludes, keshtu m’kane thane, atje s’jame kane=this I have been told, there I have never been.

The layer under the oriental influence assumes a significant importance in the study of Albanian epic. As a matter of fact, there are two sub-layers under the great oriental effect in the epic: the pre-historic influence, which goes back to the Indo-European origin of the Albanian people, to the common source of the ancient epics (The Gilgamesh of Sumarians, the Qadesch of ancient Egyptians, the Mahaqbharta and Vedas of Sanskrit etc.), and the influence of the historic period embracing the rapid development of Persian humanism during the first centuries of the second millennium and later perpetuating the formation of the Ottoman Empire and intensifying the Turkish Arabic contact and relationships. It is much more difficult to identify this prehistoric lower layer, notwithstanding its indispensible importance in designating the age og the Albanian epic and its open susceptibility to change.

The second lower layer (of the historic period) can be easily identified, however once it is characterized as a borrowed oriental layer, one has to tackle the problem of its unidentified sources of borrowings from Turkish-Arabic, Persian-Iranian, Indian and others. Impacts from various cultures of Indo-cultures converge. Certainly the influence of the historical period is connected with the migration concomitant with their religious beliefs. In this layer, for the Albanians and their epos, the basic conflict is between the indigenous wanting to preserve their lands and the newly arrived, expansionist Slavs.

This layer is tied to its ethnographic décor. The epos has taken in multitude of oriental manners of greeting, desideratums, imprecations, a series of rites and habits of everyday life, especially as related to faith…considering the faith as an oprion to differentiate from non-Muslim Slavs.

Probably the main oriental effect has come through the instrument “lahuta” (from al-laud), for which there is no convincing explanation for borrowing that went beyond the adaptation of the name “lahuta”. But it is fairly certain that one of the main metrics of the epos, the “imperial ten-syllable” was imposed by by “lahuta”… and continued in use until it was replaced by the classic Albanian literary eight-syllable metric by the use of instruments “cifteli” and “sharki”.

Balkans Balkan epic songs attracted some interest and researchers have compared the Albanian epos with that of Slavic (Boshnjak), both exhibiting the latter cultural layer, and naturally, they raised the question of which epos came first. And on this, I. Kadare concluded that the Albanian songs, different from the southern Slavic songs, are not sang in a spirit of vasality towards Instanbul., while the Slav heroes are Sultan’s devoted servants. As we indicated, the Albanian song’s main motive is protection of their land.

(Taken from Sinani, Sh., Mitologji, ne eposin e kreshnikve,Tirane, 2011)

Two important features of the mythological northern cycle figures testify the remote ancientness of Albanian epos: their matriarchal character, on the one hand, and chthonic character, on the other hand. This is another aspect of the question of autochthony – or allochthony – of the population that has created them. In the Hellenic epos deities are matriarchal and patriarchal. They coexist and conflict, win and suffer defeat, fight for power and protect it. The cycle of Artrides ends up in the tragic dilemma of Orestes, who has to break through a tradition and establish a new one: protect the right of fatherhood against that of motherhood.

The heroes of Albanian epos are the sons of Ajkuna. Quite unlike the cycle of ballads, where “a wise old man”, advising a sacrifice of the bride over the bridge, reminds one of the patriarch, in Albanian epos there is no patriarch. For the first time, the father in the epos appears in the figure of Muj, as contrasted to Omer (or “seven Omers”). In one of the songs, Omer has to release “father and uncle” from the king’s prison. The rhapsodist entitled the song "Omer from Muj" and this is the only case where a shade of a patriarch appears. Ajkuna plays the central figure and authoritative role. Muj and Halil do not have a father in formal terms; they are sons of the same mother running the house and they take their power from the deities. After Omer, there are no more heroes. Their power and glory is not inherited.

The matriarchal feature of mythological characters of legendary epic is made more emphatic by the general feeling of the well-known rhapsody of Gjergj Elez Alia. It is commonly stated that, in this song, the earth powers are matched against the powers of the sea (“a black giant has emerged out of the sea”). Traces of Byzantine culture have been tracked and found, such as is the exacting of tribute by the giant, as the laws of the empire government demanded. In fact, the main source of Gjergj Elez Alia rhapsody is the end of the era of human (woman) sacrifice for an act, campaign or tribute. Gjergj Elez Alia rises from his deathbed to rescue an era from the morality inherited from the distant past when people could be sacrificed alive – as in the case of the walled bride in the Balkan ballads. He beats the giant, who demands “a roast ram” and “a young maiden” every night. The defeat of the giant marks the end of that convention which legitimised woman sacrifice. Gjergj Elez Alia ensures a permanent deliverance of women from sacrifice.

The chthonic (earthy) character of the deities of Albanian epos defines the autochthonous character of the people. Unlike homeric poems, where the deities have a multilevel hierarchy (underground, semi-earthy -- Persephone spends half of the year underground and the second half on heavenly – chthonic and uranic – earth), in Albanian epos this hierarchy does not exist. The mythological figures of Albanian world are earthy ones. In narrative folklore, including the epic and tales, "the seraph of heaven" does not exist. Along with the "earth nymph" (of this earth), in the ethno-folkloric tradition of the country, fairy characters emerge and merge.

The chthonic feature of Albanian mythological actors of Albanian epos corresponds to that level of thought when, in Hellenic literature of antiquity "Gods descended from the Olympus", and yet they remained important figures of the conscience of belief. This goes back to a later date than the Uranic (heavenly) layer of mythological figures, but, however, earlier than the time when Greek Gods made a laughing stock of themselves in Aristophane's comedies. The two calendars of time in the epos and history of human life are connected with the distinctions between the mythological perception of time in the ancient and modern mentalities. One of the interesting folkloric facts in this regard is the use of time for space and vice-versa, which is viewed as a universal feature of the epos. In Albanian epos, distance is usually shown by expressions such as “nine houses away” or "nine years' travel".

This resembles the literary idiom of Sumerians, where distance is not measured by units of space, but units of time: "The eagle clutched me with iron claws, / And hovered me into space for four hours”. Or, "We went whither, twice twenty hours, / Until we discerned from afar a corner of the earth”. The use of time for space and vice-versa is linked with that level of mental development of human world, where the process of movement from the past to the present was perceived as unidimensional. Time and space were unified almost indistinctively into this dimension. These mentalities of an ancient and antique stage constitute the primary artistic arguments for the debate on the origin in point of time of Albanian epos. The cycle of Albanian heroes contains an intertwining of features of antique and Medieval European eposes. But we know of a greater number of antique eposes than European Medieval European ones. There are a number of arguments in favour of a relative chronological determination of the source of epos in the period of transition from Illyrians to Albanians, from Illyrian to Albanian language, from the end of Romanticism to the confrontation with Slav invasions.

In Slav science, the northern cycle is considered as a recreation of the motifs of Serbo-Bosnian epos following a massive Islamisation of Albanians, sometime in the 18th century and on. Some of the local scholars share the opinion that Albanian epos is "of the Byzantine period" and its origin should be connected with the time of creation of "Digenis Akritas" among the Greeks. By tying its origin with the birth of the Slav or Byzantine eposes, these views, at times openly and at times implicitly, at times for certain purposes and at times owing to a lack of trust in facts, put the formation of Albanian epos at a chronologically much later date. The data concerning the overall cultural development of Albanians indicate that the northern epos was created in a period of divergent development. This is the period of the largest territorial division of Albanian ethnos (into Gheg and Tosk) – in fact there can be found no traces of the epos south of Shkumbin River. This is the period of the separation of South polyphony from the North homophony. This is the period of rhotacism in the South and nasality in the North. This is the period of the preservation of “a” in Gheg and its transformation into “ë” in Tosk. From the cultural viewpoint, epos was born when the most important two-branched changes in Albanian culture – Gheg and Tosk – occurred. This does not mean that epos is a folk tradition isolated in the North. There are abundant data proving that the northern cycle is not that northern as to be called self-segregated. Its fundamental motifs are found to have developed in the folklore of southern territories in the form of narratives, tales or legends.

From the historical perspective, epos may not arise at any time and following any event. Albanian epos itself is totally prevailed by the conflict between its carriers and the population, which had moved to the Balkans; it bears the stamp of Slav invasions. Albanian epos rules out the idea of its creation from the first contacts with the newly-settling population, drawing the attention of the audience to the fact that other things had occurred before the time "when there was an allegiance to the king”. A more tendentious research could also explore data which bear witness of a danger from the sea and which could be connected in the underground with an echo from the time of Roman conquest. Both these facts and reasoning enable one to develop the view that in epos, irrespective of its multilayered character, there exists, however, a “first time”. It coincides with the 7th and 8th centuries AD, when the most important divergent internal changes occurred in the ethnic culture, when qualitative cultural transformations occurred, such as the transition from Illyrian to Albanian, the consolidation of Gheg and Tosk koines (instead of the narrow speech of tribes). This process of divergence was progressive because, by separating the northern cultural koine from the southern one, it developed convergence within them, in the same way as the four dialects of Greek language had developed in antiquity. It was just in this period that the local population was faced with Slav invasions in the Balkans and recognised step by step their expansive character.

In addition, the data concerning the notion of a mythological space in the epos favour a connection of its origin with the period of these great transformations. If a researcher were to explore a prehistoric “habitat” of the world of epos characters and events, of a "spiritual fatherland", of a "patria poesis", this would be found in the cult of the land of forefathers, myth of native land, sanctification of highlands, deification of land, in the sense the Germans use this word when they say “land”. Though limited, certain data on the ethnically separatory character of the people have been inherited in the Albanian spiritual world. These start with the distinction “we-others”, which is one of the earliest signs of community conscience. Most likely, the “champion-enemy” position is the same as the “Hellenes-barbarians” position among old Greeks. Although one might speak of the notion of land, the native land, Albanian Ithaca, as the notion of Moré is among the Arbëresh (in their historical songs), rather than of a well-defined space, yet the conscience of a fatherland which makes carriers of the epos feel “at home” among them, is at times evident. It is worth recalling that in ancient Hellenic epos, fatherland was used in two senses: Odysseus was son of Hellas, but he finds no peace unless he reaches “the fatherland”, Ithaca.

Evidence of the presence of ancient cultures in the Albanian subject, especially of Greek-Roman culture, constitutes a testimony of its ancientness and its neighbourhood with these ancient civilisations. Lambertz argues that the northern epos comprises “over 40 topics similar” to Akritas' songs. Selection of Muj (“having both strength and power”) is like the selection of Heraclitus. In a well-known Albanian song, little Omer must release “father and uncle” from prison, in the same way as Armouropulos (little Armour) in Akritas' songs. These traces drive one to come to the conclusion that Albanian epos, called “northern cycle”, in view of its artistic connection with the entire local folklore, is not that northern and limited as denoted by the term. Even historical geography does not matter much here.

Layering epos on the basis of types of characters is especially important. Belonging to the infancy of mankind, mythological characters need more attention and depth. The main heroes of the epos (Muj) represent the cult of power, just like Achiles in Homeric poems; whereas transition to the stage of the cult of knowledge-craft (the cult of Odysseus) is not confirmed entirely. The focus of Albanian epos is the war hero, whereas the peace hero, "second hero" -- Halil -- is more inclined to the cult of beauty. In Hellenic epos, Odysseus had to subdue temptations of adventure and escape, far away from his country as he was; as such he had to resolve situations with wisdom; whereas in Albanian epos, Halil is living in his native country and has to win the hearts of "chicks" of human grace. Author Dr. Shaban Sinani Bibliography: 1. Albert Lord, "The Singer of Tales", 1962. 2. Maximillian Lambertz, "Die Volksepik der Albaner", Leipzig, East Germany, 1958. 3. "Epi i Gilgameshit", 1999. 4. "Shah Name", translation of Vexhi Buhara, hand-written manuscript. 5. Çështje të Folklorit, "Albanian", 1-6. 6. Fatos Arapi, "Këngë të moçme Albanian", 1986. 7. Berndardin Palaj - Donart Kurti, "Visaret e Kombit"-2, 1937. 8. Gjergj Zheji, "Vargu i këngëve të kreshnikëve”, 1987. 9. Eqrem Çabej, “Problemi i autoktonisë së shqiptarëve në dritën e emrave të vendeve”, 1958/2. 10. Faik Konica: "Shqipëria -kopsht shkëmbor në Evropën Juglindore", 1993. 11. Stavro Skëndi, “Albanian and South Slavic Oral Poetry”, Philadelphia 1954. 12. Vladimir Propp, "Morfologija skaskih",1958. 13. Shaban Sinani, "Mitologjia në eposin e kreshnikëve", 1998. 14. “Bernardin Palaj - opere”, Roma 1969. 15. Celentano. L. “Letteratura greca”, Napoli 1995. 16. Clarotti-Crussi, “Viaggio nell’epos”, Torino 1996. 17. Robert Elsie, “Albanian Folktales and Legends”, Tiranë 1994. 18. Vladimir Propp, “Ruskij geroiçeskij epos”, M. 1958. 19. Sigmund Freud, “Psicoanalisi dell’arte e della letteratura”, Roma 1993. ***

The whole world had heard of the heroic deeds of Gjeto Basho Mujo before he had even reached the prime of his life. He had stalked hordes of wild beasts in the mountains and slain many an enemy from the Kingdom of the Christians and from beyond the sea. Mujo defended the country and the poor people. His heroic deeds and his courage were famous throughout the Krahina and especially in Jutbina. No foreigners dared cross the border of the Krahina to plunder and maraud. Together with his band of thirty warriors, Mujo had conducted many raids in the Krahina and the Kingdom of the Christians, penetrating right to New Kotor and even farther, and every time he returned home victorious. Such a man was Gjeto Basho Mujo.

The days, months and years passed until, as is the custom, the time came for him to marry. One day, therefore, Mujo mounted his steed as the first rays of dawn struck the peaks, and crossed the mountain passes into the Kingdom of the Christians in order to find himself a bride. He chose a fair maiden from a good family whom his friends had recommended and who was fitting for Mujo’s lineage.

As soon as Mujo had arranged for his marriage, he returned to Jutbina and assembled three hundred attendants to collect the bride, all of whom were his friends. The three hundred shone in their robes of sparkling gold and bore golden swords, arrows and lances. All of them rode white steeds with saddles of gold. All were young with the exception of their leader, an old man with grey hair called Aga Dizdar Osman who was second in command only to Gjeto Basho Mujo. Before the attendants set off to claim the bride in the Kingdom of the Christians, Mujo spoke to them, saying, “Listen to my words, attendants! When you reach the mountain pastures, you will come across three shady resting spots. Take care not to revel and not to dismount for a rest. Be careful not to drink from the springs there for it is inhabited by three evil Zanas. They may be having their afternoon nap there or refreshing themselves at the water and you may disturb and upset them. They never let anyone escape unharmed.” Mujo warned the attendants strictly and they promised to follow his instructions. The next morning, the attendants saddled and mounted their horses and set off in what was a joyful spectacle for all of Jutbina. They departed for the Kingdom of the Christians to pick up Mujo’s bride, singing songs and playing music with their horns. When they reached the mountain pastures, they remembered Mujo’s warning, stopped chanting and making music, dismounted and led their horses by the reins in silence. Nowhere did they pause, nowhere did they drink from the springs, nowhere did they rest in the shade, nowhere did they stop to dance and make merry. They carried on over the mountains and arrived safe and sound on the other side at the bride’s home in the Kingdom of the Christians. Her father welcomed the attendants, giving them food and drink and entertaining them with games and amusements. The music and dancing echoed until midnight. When the stars faded and the next day dawned, the attendants rose, girded their weapons, collected the bride and set off for Jutbina. They continued singing and revelling on their way. The peaks and valleys echoed their mirth.

And so they arrived at one of the three resting spots. Here they remembered Mujo’s words, stopped singing and revelling and carried on in silence. But then Aga Dizdar Osman, the old man with grey hair, spoke, “Listen, attendants of the bride. I have accompanied many a bride. We have always stopped and revelled at this resting spot and quenched our thirst at this spring. We have always dismounted to dance. Nothing has ever happened to us here. So let us make merry!” When the other attendants heard this, they stopped at the resting spot right away, dismounted and began to sing and dance. They muddied the springs and streams, set up targets and shot at them with their bows and arrows. The mountain pastures echoed with their mirth once again.

Suddenly there was a terrifying clap of thunder. The din resounded through the mountains, a strong gale began to blow through the trees, the mountain pastures thundered and quaked. Hovering over the peaks in the midst of the storm were the three evil Zanas. They gnashed their teeth, spewed smoke and fire and descended upon the resting spot where the attendants of the bride had chosen to stop. In the blink of an eye, the three Zanas turned the attendants to stone and transformed their horses into tree trunks. Where but a moment ago song and merriment had resounded, no human voice or neighing of horses was to be heard. Silence and death reigned. The mountain peaks echoed no more, the wind ceased to blow, the resting spots, the meadows and springs were emptied. Left all alone in her horror and shock was Mujo’s bride. She alone had survived, but did not know what to do or where to go. The Zanas lunged forth to attack her, seized her by the arm and dragged her off into a cavern deep in the mountains where no human being had ever set foot. There they kept the maiden prisoner, forcing her to feed them and bring them water so that she never had a moment’s rest.

Gjeto Basho Mujo knew nothing of what had happened. He waited for the attendants to bring him his bride. He waited and waited but they did not come. The longer they were away, the more Mujo began to worry. He listened for singing or for the neighing of horses, but there was nothing to be heard. Finally he realized what had happened. The attendants of the bride had broken their word. He was in despair for he knew that the three Zanas were evil to the core and had unimaginable skills.

He waited no longer. Heaving a sack filled with bread and meat over his shoulder, he mounted his steed and set off for the mountain pastures. ‘What can all the warriors possibly be doing in their garments of gold and with their golden swords, arrows and lances?’ he wondered. ‘What has happened to the horses that speed like the wind?’ He looked everywhere but could see nothing but stones and tree trunks. Mujo approached the stones and recognized their form as that of his warriors. Yes, the white stone was their leader, Aga Dizdar Osman; the reddish one was like Ali Bajraktar and the next was like Butali Tali. One by one, he recognized them all: Basho Jona, Zukut Bajraktar, Shaban Evimadhi, Kazi Mehmet Aga and the rest. Once beings of flesh and blood, they were now turned to stone. But nowhere could Mujo find his bride. He was in such despair that he almost broke into tears!

But Mujo was a man of courage. He concentrated his thoughts on how to turn the stones and tree trunks into living beings again. He did not restrain his horse or dismount but rode back and forth over the desolate mountain pastures looking for the spring of the Zanas, for their resting spots, and for his bride. He entered a dark grove of beech trees, riding deeper and deeper to where the sun’s rays no longer penetrated. He continued on his way until he came to a spring with water as sparkling as tears. There he stopped and dismounted to rest for a while. He took a good look at the beech trees but could find no path through them, only bushes and scrub. Rising above the grove was a cliff covered in grass. At the foot of it he saw a number of boulders buried in scree. The branches of the ancient trees were so entwined with one another that no sunlight or wind could get through. Eternal twilight reigned here.

“This must be the home of the Zanas,” Mujo thought to himself. He put his horse to pasture among the beech trees and sat down beside the spring, waiting patiently for the Zanas to arrive. Three days passed and no one came. Mujo saw deer approach the watering hole but he did not string his bow. He saw fair feathered birds but he did not shoot at them. He had not come to hunt but for something more important. When three days had passed, he caught sight in the twilight of a young maiden in her bridal gown bearing a water jug in her hands. She was as fair as the moon in May, but so sorrowful. Mujo wondered what the young maiden was doing in such a dark and gloomy place. Perhaps she was a vision. But no, she came closer and closer. Suddenly Mujo recognized her and his heart began to beat rapidly. The maiden with the jug arrived at the spring, saw Mujo but did not recognize him. “Good day, young man!” she said. “Good day, young maid,” he replied. She put her jug down to fill it. “Whom are you fetching the water for, maid? Whom are you taking it to?” “Oh, do not ask me, young man. I am of a noble family and have just been married. My attendants were taking me to my husband when…” The maiden proceeded to tell him the whole story of how the Zanas had petrified the men and horses and of how she had been taken prisoner.

Mujo asked her, “Who were you marrying, maid? What was the man’s name?” “Oh, wretch that I am, I left my mother and father, I left my brothers and sisters to marry a famous warrior. His name is Gjeto Basho Mujo. Do you know him, young man? Have you ever heard of him, Gjeto Basho Mujo of Jutbina? Mujo neither laughed nor responded. He stared at the fair maiden and said, “Do you recognize me, fair maid?” “How could I possibly know you. I’ve never seen you before. But when I look at you, I am reminded of what I heard of Mujo. You could be Gjeto Basho Mujo.”

Mujo could wait no longer and laughed out loud, “I am Mujo, fair maid! You have recognized me indeed. But if you are the daughter of a noble family, will you now listen to me and to what I have to say?” “I give you my word,” she replied, “by the ruler over the sun and the moon, over heaven and earth, that I will listen to what you have to say, Mujo. I would have faith in you even if I knew you were going to behead me.” “No, I would never behead you, for I loved you and still do. I am going to try and save you and bring your attendants back to life. To do this, however, I must know the source of the Zanas’ power. Therefore, when you return to the cavern, say to them that you know they are very powerful and ask them where they get their power.” “Do you really think that the Zanas will tell me the source of their power, Mujo?” “Do not lose heart, maiden. Do as I tell you. The sun is now setting behind the mountains and the moon is rising over the beech trees. The Zanas will soon come to the spring to dine in the moonlight. When they sit down to dinner, stand at a distance and do not eat or drink anything. The Zanas will take pity on you and will not want to eat without you. Then, if you remember what to say, they will divulge their secret. Say to them, ‘Mountain Zanas, may you always have bread to eat, may you always have the high mountains to live in, may you always have resting spots for your afternoon naps and springs to refresh yourselves in. I have been living with you for some time now and will live with you forever as your prisoner. Why don’t you tell me where your power comes from?’ Ask them, for there is no reason why they should not believe you. And even if they should turn you to stone, I shall do everything in my power and save you. I will wait for you here tomorrow.” “All right, Mujo. I will do as you say.” The maiden picked up her water jug, said good bye to Mujo and disappeared into the darkness. Mujo watched her as long as he could and then returned to the Green Valleys.

The maiden went back to the cavern. The Zanas asked her, “Why are you so late, dear bride?” “The water was muddy, dear Zanas, and I had to wait for it to clear.” “You have done well, my dear.” The sun set and the moon rose, shining over the tips of the beech trees and spreading its rays into the valleys and gorges. There was a light breeze which caused the leaves to rustle. The birds twittered among the branches. The deer came out of the forest to graze and drink. The mountain Zanas waited no longer. They went off to the spring and set the table to have dinner. The young bride stood near by, broke the bread for them and brought them their water, but did not sit down with them to eat. She stood there, her eyes downcast. The youngest of the Zanas asked her, “What is wrong, dear bride? Why are you not eating or drinking? You are not ill, are you? Or are you homesick for your fellow human beings?” “No,” replied the maiden, “I am neither ill nor homesick. I am content to be here where I am. You love me. That is why you wanted to keep me with you. If you did not love me you would have turned me to stone as you did the others, but I simply cannot eat or drink anymore until you answer a question I have to ask you. Therefore I swear in your presence, dear mountain Zanas, may you always have bread to eat, may you always have the high mountains to live in, may you always have resting spots for your afternoon naps and springs to refresh yourselves in, may you always have the light of the moon to dance by… Why don’t you tell me where your power comes from? You have become my sisters. I will always be with you. I can find no better place to live than here with you because nowhere on earth could I find more kind and understanding sisters.”

The moment the two elder Zanas heard this they leapt to their feet to turn the poor maiden to stone, but in a flash the youngest Zana intervened, stretched out her hands and covered their mouths so that they could not pronounce the fatal words. She called out, “May God damn you, sisters. What could this young bride possibly do to us if we told her of our power? She is a human, we are Zanas. She is of the earth, we are of the heavens and earth. She is our prisoner, we are the rulers. She has given us her word of honour and we must not doubt it. She breaks our bread for us and brings us our water. We must tell her the truth.”

The elder Zanas stepped back. The youngest one turned to the bride and said, “Listen, daughter of man, we have three wild goats with golden horns grazing in the Green Valleys. No one on earth can capture these goats because they are so light footed and can jump from rock to rock and leap from cliff to cliff. Even the bears and wolves fear them because they attack with their golden horns. But if someone were to capture them I shudder at the thought we would have no more power. We would no longer be able to fly and turn humans to stone. We would be women like all the others.” When the bride heard this, she smiled, sat down and ate dinner with them as usual. When the three Zanas had finished their meal, they refreshed themselves in the spring, picked flowers and made wreathes of them which they placed on their heads. Then they sang and danced. The moon and the stars looked down upon them from above. Mujo’s bride watched them from below. The oaks and beeches made no sound. When the three Zanas had finished singing and dancing they joined hands and returned quickly to their cavern. Silence reigned.

When the new day dawned and the Zanas were still asleep, Mujo’s bride rose, took her water jug and went to the spring. There she found Mujo waiting for her. He was delighted to see her. “You have survived, I see.” “Yes, I was almost turned to stone. But ask no more questions. I know you are brave, but they are mountain Zanas and have tremendous power.” “And where do they get their power?” Mujo asked. The maiden then told him about the three wild goats with the golden horns. Mujo listened attentively and said, “I understand, maiden. Now it is my turn. Go back to the Zanas, wait there and do not be afraid. Simply pretend you know nothing. I will return to fetch you safe and sound. I will also bring your attendants back to life and then we will hold our wedding a second time with an even bigger celebration so that the very mountain pastures will resound with the merriment. The Zanas themselves will be your bridesmaids and accompany you in a golden carriage right to my fortress.” The maiden looked bewildered and, though she was not too sure, she believed him. She had to smile, however, at the thought of the Zanas with her in the bridal carriage.

Mujo waited no longer. He said farewell, mounted his steed and rode off to Jutbina. He stood in the middle of the square and shouted at the top of his voice so that all of the Krahina could hear him, “Listen to me, men! Gjeto Basho Mujo is speaking to you. Let all brave hunters come to my fortress tonight with their hounds. I will give you as much to eat and drink as your hearts desire, and tomorrow we will set off for the hunt. Do you hear me?” Then he returned home, slaughtered sheep and lambs, had bread baked and the ovens heated. As soon as they heard Mujo’s call, three hundred brave hunters gathered with over a thousand hounds and marched towards Mujo’s fortress. “You called, Mujo?” “Yes, my brothers, I called you. Come in!” Mujo received them cordially and invited them to dinner. He asked Halil to take out his lahuta and play for their entertainment. At the break of dawn, Mujo said to his friends, “Listen, hunters, to why I have called you. There are three wild goats with golden horns grazing in the Green Valleys. I want to take these three goats alive. We will therefore encircle the mountain pastures and hunt them until they tire and fall into our hands. But take care to use neither arrow nor lance, for if you wound or kill them, none of you will ever return to Jutbina alive.” “We shall do as you order, Mujo,” replied the hunters. Mujo then led them into the Green Valleys. There they encircled the mountain pastures and took up their positions. There was no room for even a bird to escape. Mujo entered the circle with a few light footed friends and some of the hounds. The others lay in wait. Then, sounding their horns unceasingly, the hunters pursued the goats from rock to rock and from cliff to cliff. The very mountain pastures trembled. When three days and three nights had passed, the goats grew tired, fell to the ground and lay their heads on the earth to rest. Mujo thus captured them alive, took them back to Jutbina and locked them up in a pen, bringing them fresh grass and water from the mountain pastures. He invited the hunters to dine with him once more, gave them presents and bid them farewell.

And what happened up on the mountain pastures? The mountain Zanas suddenly lost their power. They tried to fly but they could not. Their bodies had become stiff and heavy. They ordered the wind to blow through the beech trees, but it refused. They concentrated their thoughts on the wild goats, but the goats did not come. The Zanas then set off to look for the goats; they searched the valleys and the cliffs, but the goats were nowhere to be seen. The eldest Zana clapped her hands and said, “Zanas, my dear Zanas of the mountain cliffs, someone has captured our goats!” Mujo’s bride smiled. “Listen to me, Zanas, I have something to tell you. Gjeto Basho Mujo send his greetings and tells you that since you stole his bride and turned his attendants and their horses to stone, he has captured your goats and is holding them hostage.” When the Zanas heard this, they tried to turn the bride to stone, but they could not for their power had dissipated. They then set off for Jutbina, though not in flight, but on foot like human beings. Their feet were battered by the stones and roots of trees on the way. Thorns scratched their hands. And so they arrived at Mujo’s door. “Mujo, have you taken our goats prisoner?” “Yes, I have captured them and locked them up in my pen. They receive fresh grass and spring water.” With tears in her eyes, the eldest Zana then begged him, “We are in your hands, Gjeto Basho Mujo. Either kill us here at your house or give us back what is ours. Otherwise we must perish. We will throw ourselves from a mountain peak. But we are willing to give you back the attendants the way they were. We will return their horses and bring them to you. We will even bring your bride to your door in a golden carriage. You will have them all as they were before.”

Mujo answered calmly, “I do not want the attendants. I am not even interested in the bride. Leave them where they are, the attendants as stones and the bride in slavery. I can find a new wife in the Krahina or in the Kingdom of the Christians whenever I want. But I cannot let the three goats go for I have never caught anything like them before, although I have combed the mountain pastures many a time. When I remarry I will slaughter them and feed them to the guests. I will hang their golden horns on the wall to shine for me day and night.”

When the three Zanas heard this they broke into tears, moaning and groaning so that the very rocks and trees took pity on them as if they had been women, not Zanas. But Mujo was not to be moved. The youngest Zana advanced, wiped the tears from her eyes with her hair, clutched Mujo’s hand and swore, “Listen Gjeto Basho Mujo, whenever you arrange for a marriage and have a bride to accompany over the mountain pastures, whenever you have a Baloz to kill, whenever you go hunting, whenever you need a place to rest and refresh yourself, come to our meadows, take your rest, refresh yourself or do battle. We give you our word of honour that we will do no harm to anyone, that we will say nothing harmful to anyone.”

Mujo hesitated. He reflected a moment and then said, “You are Zanas and Zanas you must remain! A word of honour is a word of honour and a promise is a promise. I shall give you back your wild goats.” He then turned and called to Halil, “Halil, release the goats from the pen!” The moment the goats were out of the pen, the Zana’s faces changed and they regained their vigour. They transformed themselves into light and flew off to the mountain pastures, leaving the Green Valleys behind them. There they returned to the attendants of stone and their horses and brought them back to life as they had promised, saying, “Arise and depart! We wish you a safe journey. Return to Jutbina where Gjeto Basho Mujo awaits you!” The attendants rubbed their eyes and said, “Oh, look how long we have been sleeping!” They did not remember having been turned to stone. They went to the spring, washed, refreshed themselves and mounted their steeds. In the meantime, the Zanas had placed Mujo’s bride in a golden carriage and taken her back to Mujo in Jutbina. When the attendants descended into the valley on their way to Jutbina, they began to sing and dance. Mujo and Halil went out to welcome them. The mountain pastures echoed with the song of the Zanas: “Zanas we are and Zanas we remain,

A word of honour is a word of honour,

And a promise is a promise.”

The song of the good Zanas resounded from cliff to cliff in the mountains as a second and even bigger wedding was celebrated in Jutbina. (Posted bt Bilerberg: http://united-albania.blogspot.com)

The work of the Franciscans and Jesuits in Shkodra gave direction to the study of Albanian culture from the late nineteenth century up until the Second World War. It was their research that inspired Father Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940), another Franciscan scholar and poet, to write his masterful 15,613-line literary epic Lahuta e Malcis (The Highland Lute), which was published in a definitive edition in the same year as the aforementioned collection of Palaj and Kurti.

This golden age of Scutarine culture and scholarship was brought to an abrupt end by the communist takeover of Albania in 1944. All the cultural and educational institutions of the Catholic Church were shut down and most of Albania's best scholars and writers, among whom Bernardin Palaj, Ndoc Nikaj (1864-1951), Vinçenc Prennushi (1885-1949), Anton Harapi (1888-1946) and Gjon Shllaku (1907-1946), were physically liquidated or died in prison. The immediate post-war period had become an apocalypse for Albanian writers and intellectuals. The father of Albanian folklore, Shtjefën Gjeçovi, for his part, had been murdered by Serb extremists two decades earlier near Zym in Kosova.

Parallel to the interest shown by Albanian scholars in the epic of the northern highlands were the publications of Yugoslav writers on Bosnian and Serbo-Croatian epic and heroic verse. Significant in the appreciation of the Balkan epic was also the work of foreign writers in this period.

It was the Homeric scholar Milman Parry and his assistant Albert Lord from Harvard University who captured the imagination of a whole generation of scholars with their discovery of illiterate bards in Bosnia and the Sanjak who, in true Homeric fashion, were able to recite epic verse for hours on end. After an initial visit to Yugoslavia in 1933, Parry returned to the Balkans for a longer stay from June 1934 to September 1935, this time with his assistant Albert Lord. During their stay in Bosnia, Hercegovina, Montenegro and the Sanjak, they recorded 12,500 texts, many of which were preserved as sound recordings on aluminium disks. This material formed the basis for their two-volume seminal publication Serbocroatian heroic songs (Cambridge MA & Belgrade 1954, 1953).

Interestingly enough, four out of the five singers whose songs appear in this volume were Albanians: Salih Ugljanin, Djemal Zogic, Sulejman Makic and Alija Fjuljanin. These singers from Novi Pazar in the Sanjak were willing and able to reproduce the same epic songs in Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian) and Albanian. In 1937, after the untimely death of Parry, Albert Lord returned to the Balkans by himself, began learning Albanian and travelled through the Albanian highlands, where he collected a substantial corpus of Albanian heroic verse, now preserved in the Milman Parry Collection at Harvard University. Of this undertaking, he wrote:

"While in Novi Pazar, Parry had recorded several Albanian songs from one of the singers who sang in both languages. The musical instrument used to accompany these songs is the gusle (Albanian lahuta) but the line is shorter than the Serbian decasyllabic and a primitive type of rhyming is regular. It was apparent that a study of the exchange of formulas and traditional passages between these two poetries would be rewarding because it would show what happens when oral poetry passes from one language group to another which is adjacent to it. However, there was not sufficient time in 1935 to collect much material or to learn the Albanian language. While in Dubrovnik in the summer of 1937, I had an opportunity to study Albanian and in September and October of that year I travelled through the mountains of northern Albania from Shkodra to Kukësi by way of Boga, Thethi, Abat and Tropoja, returning by a more southerly route. I collected about one hundred narrative songs, many of them short, but a few between five hundred and a thousand lines in length. We found out that there are some songs common to both Serbo-Croatian and Albanian tradition and that a number of the Moslem heroes of the Yugoslav poetry, such as Mujo and Halil Hrnjica and Djerdjelez Alija, are found also in Albanian. Much work remains to be done in this field before we can tell exactly what the relationship is between the two traditions."

Research in the field of Albanian oral literature resumed in Albania in the 1950s with the founding of the Albanian Institute of Sciences in Tirana, forerunner of the Academy of Sciences. A new generation of experts was trained, expeditions to the north were carried out, and a series of monographs and anthologies was published, which documented the results of research activities. In 1961, a special Folklore Institute (Instituti i Kulturës Popullore) was set up in Tirana which, despite the continued political isolation of the country, managed to carry on research and publishing activities at a satisfactory scholarly level. Here, the Albanian epic has been the focus of research in particular by Zihni Sako (1912-1981), Qemal Haxhihasani (1916-1991), Alfred Uçi (b. 1930), Jorgo Panajoti, Gjergj Zheji (b. 1926) and Shaban Sinani (b. 1959).

Equally or perhaps more significant for Albanian oral literature was the foundation in 1967 of the Albanological Institute (Instituti Albanologjik) in Prishtina. The Folklore Section of this institute has published a good number of works on the Albanian epic. Despite the forceful eviction of the Institute from its premises, the savage beating of scholars and staff members by Serb paramilitaries on 8 March 1994, and the wilful destruction of much Albanian folklore material and recordings during the final grim months of the Serb occupation of Kosova, the Albanological Institute has survived and is continuing its work. Mention may be made in particular of the publications of Anton Çetta (1920-1995), Demush Shala (1929-1988), Rrustem Berisha (b. 1938), Anton Berisha (b. 1946), Zymer Neziri (b. 1946) and Enver Mehmeti (b. 1948). Despite the wealth of material which has now been published in Albanian in Prishtina, Tirana and elsewhere, the language barrier has prevented the Albanian epic from becoming known to the international public. A few good introductory monographs on the subject have, nonetheless, appeared in English, among them: Albanian and south Slavic oral epic poetry (Philadelphia 1954, New York 1969) by Stavro Skendi (1905-1989), Albanian folk verse, structure and genre (Munich 1978) by Arshi Pipa (1920-1997), and most recently The bilingual singer, a study of Albanian and Serbo-Croatian oral epic traditions (New York 1990) by John Kolsti of the University of Texas in Austin. Still of use is the German-language Die Volksepik der Albaner (Halle 1958) by Maximilian Lambertz (1882-1963).

The Serbo-Croatian epic, as a living tradition, seems to have died out since the days of Parry and Lord. There are no more illiterate singers to be found in the coffee houses of Novi Pazar or Bijelo Polje and there is no one able to carry on the tradition of southern Slavic oral epic verse. The Albanian epic, however, to many people's surprise, is still alive and kicking. Even as the twenty-first century dawns, one can still find a good number of lahutars in Kosova, in particular in the Rugova highlands west of Peja, and in northern Albania, as well as some rare souls in Montenegro, who are able to sing and recite the heroic deeds of Mujo and Halili and their thirty Agas. These are singers who have inherited their repertoires as part of an unbroken oral tradition passed down from generation to generation. One can safely assume that these elderly men constitute the very last traditional native singers of epic verse in Europe!

Unfortunately, the 1997-1999 war in Kosova left deep scars, in particular in the present homeland of epic verse, the Rugova highlands. Many Albanian villages there were destroyed by their Slav neighbours who had come over the mountains from nearby Montenegro to raid and plunder. Most other settlements were systematically razed to the ground by Serb troops and paramilitaries. The whole population was put to flight, with many villagers having to escape on foot in the deep snows of winter. Countless Albanians were robbed, raped and murdered as they fled their smouldering villages, and it is easy to imagine that the toll was heaviest among the elderly people. It is still too early to assess the impact of this wanton destruction upon the traditional tribal culture of the Rugova highlands. The Albanians of Kosova are, however, extremely attached to their country and their national traditions, much more so than are the people of the Republic of Albania. In Albania itself, the native culture of the northern mountains was given the last blow, so to speak, by the 1997 uprising which resulted in a final wave of mass emigration of the highland population to the shantytowns of Tirana, Durrës and other coastal towns.

In order to preserve the heritage of these last native singers of epic verse in Europe, the Albanological Institute of Prishtina embarked in 1979-1988 on an ambitious publishing project entitled Epika Legjendare e Rugovës (The legendary epic of Rugova), based on over 100,000 lines of material collected. Each volume in the series is devoted to one singer and his works, and is thus designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the state of Albanian epic and heroic verse before its inevitable extinction. Because of the deteriorating political situation in Kosova and Yugoslavia through the eighties and nineties, leading to the 1998-1999 war, only one volume has appeared as yet. This was devoted to the lahutar Haxhi Meta-Nilaj (1912-1994) of Shtupeq i Vogël. Among other leading lahutars of the region are Ramë Çaushi-Elesaliaj (1908-2000) of Shtupeq i Madh, Misin Nimani-Sejdaj (b. 1912) of Kuqishta, Rrustem Tahiri-Metujkaj (1919-2000) of Rieka e Allagës, Isuf Veseli-Dreshaj (1926-2000) of Bogët, Rrustem Bajrami-Imeraliaj (b. 1932) of Shtupeq i Madh, and Isë Elezi-Lekëgjekaj (b. 1947) of Koshutan. Mustafë Isufi-Broçaj (1939-1998) of Shtupeq i Vogël, student of the noted lahutar Shaban Groshi-Husaj (1923-1997) of Shkreli, was shot together with his sister by the Serbs. Although much of the recorded field material at the Albanological Institute was stolen by Serb forces who occupied the building in the spring of 1999, it is to be hoped that a substantial part of the project can still be completed.

The present edition of Albanian epic verse in English translation comprises twenty-three songs based on the above-mentioned Visaret e Kombit edition of 1937. They range in length from 80 to 674 lines. Whether the term 'epic' is appropriate to oral verse of this length is a question which has been dealt with by various authors. In his 1958 edition, Lambertz used the term Kurzepen 'short epics.' Albanian scholars have used a variety of terms to describe the genre: epic verse, heroic verse, heroic legendary verse, epic legendary verse, etc. Albert Lord expressed himself as follows:

"The word 'epic' itself, indeed, has come in time to have many meanings. Epic sometimes is taken to mean simply a long poem in 'high style.' Yet a very great number of the poems which interest us in this book are comparatively short; length, in fact, is not a criterion of epic poetry. Other definitions of epic equate it with heroic poetry. Indeed the term 'heroic poetry' is sometimes used to avoid the very ambiguity in the word epic which troubles us. Yet purists might very well point out that many of the songs which we include in oral narrative poetry are romantic or historical and not heroic, no matter what definition of the hero one may choose."

If length is not a criterion of epic poetry, as Lord suggests, there is no reason not to define the Songs of the Frontier Warriors as epic verse. It should be noted at any rate that songs much longer than the ones included in this volume do exist.

Much has been written about the antiquity and origins of Albanian epic verse and about its relationship to the Bosnian epic. From the narrative and for other reasons, there is general consensus nowadays that the Songs of the Frontier Warriors crystallized in the 17th and 18th centuries in a border region of the Balkans which separated Christendom from the Islamic world, though many much older strata are present in the songs. We are dealing, as such, primarily with a literary reflection of the Türkenkriege between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs. Our heroes are Muslim rebels living in the krahina who delight in crossing the mountains to go raiding in the krajli, the Kingdom of the Christians, and in outwitting the 'king' and his Slavic warriors. The place names referred to in the songs, Jutbina and New Kotor etc., have been identified as being in the region of the Lika and Krbava valleys to the east of Zadar in Croatia, not far from the present Bosnian border. Reference is also made to the River Danube and to Hungarian guards and clothing, all of which are remote from areas of traditional Albanian settlement. From this and from conspicuous Slavic terms in some of the songs, it would seem evident that we are dealing with a body of oral material which, probably after centuries of evolution, crystallized in a southern Slavic milieu and which was then transmitted by bilingual singers to (some would say back to) an Albanian milieu. It is understandable therefore that there are many parallels between Albanian and Bosnian epic verse. They have a common origin and, in essence, reflect a common culture. After transmission, however, the Albanian epic evolved in a solely Albanian milieu and took on many purely Albanian characteristics, values and extra-linguistic forms of expression, and it is this that makes it particularly fascinating. Though the toponyms remained, the background conflict in the narrative shifted from warfare between the Muslims and the Christians to warfare between the Albanians and the shkjas, i.e. the Slavs.

Albanian scholars, ever ready to assert the antecedence of their culture over that of the Slav, point to old elements of Albanian heroic culture which may have influenced the development of this verse long before the period of crystallization. They stress that epic verse of this type evolved only among the Slavic tribes that lived in close geographical proximity to the indigenous, pre-Slavic population of the Balkans, i.e. the ancestors of the Albanians, and some observers have supposed a pre-Slavic stratum. Unfortunately, however, discussion on the origins of Balkan epic verse has evolved in a typically Balkan way, along the lines of 'I got there first!' After centuries of parallel development and contacts, it is unlikely that we will ever obtain a clear and unequivocal picture of the stratification of the epics.

Despite transmission from a Bosnian Slav milieu, the Songs of the Frontier Warriors are by no means simply translations of Serbo-Croatian epic verse. They have undergone continuous and independent evolution since the period of crystallization and are thus neither Bosnian, Montenegrin, Hercegovine, Serb, nor southern Albanian for that matter, but a product of the creative genius of the northern Albanian highlands.

In closing, I would like to add a few personal remarks about the origins of this book. In May 1988, during the final years of the Stalinist dictatorship in Albania, I managed to get a rare personal visa to visit the country for several weeks for research purposes. The difficulties in acquiring the visa were more than compensated for by the hospitality of my Albanian hosts when I finally got into the country. The Academy of Sciences did its best to fulfil my every wish while I was in Albania, and even put a car and driver at my disposal every day to drive me the two hundred metres from my hotel to the national library. It was during this visit that I met Professor Qemal Haxhihasani (1916-1991), the leading Albanian expert on epic and heroic verse. Our meetings took place in the coffee shop of the venerable Hotel Dajti. In the climate of oppression and anti-Western hysteria which reigned in Albania at the time, it was more than courageous of Professor Haxhihasani to have agreed to see me in the first place. Any meeting with a foreigner could, as I later learned, result in days or nights of interrogation by the omnipotent and ubiquitous secret police force, the Sigurimi. Haxhihasani was delighted at my interest in the Albanian epic and spoke proudly, though in a hush, of his meeting with Albert Lord many years earlier. It was his unbound enthusiasm for the Songs of the Frontier Warriors which actually gave birth to this project, conceived if you will, under the watchful eye of the Sigurimi. At a second meeting, he made concrete proposals for a translation and provided me with the books and material necessary for the project. Haxhihasani died three years later, shortly after the fall of the dictatorship, and many years have since passed. Other projects of mine took priority and the early pages of the translation were left to gather dust on a shelf before I was finally able to finish it. This delay, I must admit, was due more than anything to my inability at the time to cope with the Gheg dialect and exalted style in which the Songs of the Frontier Warriors were composed. Finding an adequate form for a translation for heroic verse from such an exotic culture has not been an easy matter.

As opposed to most other Albanian verse, which is in an octosyllabic (eight-syllable) form, the Songs of the Frontier Warriors are composed for the most part in a loose decasyllabic (ten-syllable) form, Alb. dhjetërrokësh, often with a break after the fourth syllable. This corresponds to the decasyllabic form of the Bosnian verse, the so-called deseterac. A trochaic metre is standard and the verse occurs in both rhymed and unrhymed forms, depending, it would seem, on the whims and abilities of the singer involved. As decasyllabic verse is rather difficult to reproduce in English, I chose more standard verse patterns and more common metres for the translation, mainly trochaic and dactylic feet. While endeavouring to maintain a certain metre, and at least rhythm in the translation, I have tried at the same time to be as faithful as possible to the narrative contents of the original. As such, priority has been given to fidelity of translation over metric concerns, and no attempt has been made to rhyme where the original verse does so.

The Albanian texts are taken from the above-mentioned Visaret e Kombit edition by Bernardin Palaj and Donat Kurti, but in a modernized orthography, such as that found in the 1966 edition, Epika legjendare (Cikli i kreshnikëve) published by Qemal Haxhihasani.

Much remains to be done in the field of Albanian epic verse and the present volume can only be one small step forward. If it succeeds in arousing interest in this field before the heroic culture of the Albanian highlands has disappeared forever, its purpose will have been fulfilled.

Robert Elsie The Hague, Holland June 2002 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword by Berkley Peabody Introduction 1. Mujo's strength 2. The marriage of Gjeto Basho Mujo 3. Mujo's oras 4. Mujo visits the Sultan 5. The marriage of Halili 6. Gjergj Elez Alia 7. Mujo and Behuri 8. Mujo's courser 9. Young Omeri 10. Zuku Bajraktar 11. Arnaut Osmani and Hyso Radoica 12. Ali Bajraktari or the word of honour 13. Arnaut Osmani 14. Zuku captures Rusha 15. Mujo's wife is kidnapped 16. Mujo and Jevrenija 17. Halili avenges Mujo 18. Omer, son of Mujo 19. The death of Omer 20. Ajkuna mourns Omer 21. The death of Halili 22. Mujo wounded 23. After Mujo's death Glossary of terms, personal names and place names Sources Bibliography