Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Original scientific paper UDK 82.091-1:398 Received: 28.1.1997
Ballad
TIDINGS OF DEATH IN THE FOLK BALLAD
S I M O N A DELIC
Institute of Ethnology a n d Folklore Research, Z a g r e b
One of the characteristic thematic elements of the traditional poem
of the ballad type is analysed in the article: the situation which
arises when the relatives of the hero/heroine receive news of his/her
death. The phenomenon of that situation is considered in a series of
ballad types, while the criterion of differentiation of its individual
realizations appears as the decipherability of the information, the
ability of the recipient to comprehend it. T h e situation of receipt of
the tragic tidings is joined by certain other similar modes of
bearing witness to the hero's death (the premonition of death based
on signs and prior convictions). T h e compositional treatment of
such modes is analysed (as incremental repetition) along with its
contents (metaphorically formed don't tell " m o t i f s " , s o - c a l l e d
"false news", impossibility motifs), which are contrasted with the
same subject in the epic poem. T h e similarity of the structural
formation of the reception of the "tidings about death" and content
are considered.
D e a t h in t h e traditional p o e m - in this article w e a r e i n t e r e s t e d in t h e d e a t h
of family m e m b e r s - c a n be m e r e l y a link in t h e c h a i n of e v e n t s in a p o e m ,
or its s o l e c o n t e n t . In b o t h c a s e s , i n d e p e n d e n t l y of t h e n a r r a t i v e r i c h n e s s of
t h e s o n g , d e a t h is a n e v e n t w h i c h m u s t be c o m m u n i c a t e d to others
(either
o t h e r c h a r a c t e r s , o r t h e a u d i e n c e of t h e oral p e r f o r m a n c e ) so t h a t t h e life
225
Nar. umjet. 3411, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
1
itself of t h e h e r o or h e r o i n e be i m p a r t e d w i t h s o m e s e n s e . T h e h e r o e s d i e
far from t h e safe h a v e n of t h e i r f a m i l i e s - in p l a c e s in w h i c h w a r s r a g e ,
d i s e a s e t h r e a t e n s and o t h e r h a z a r d s lie in wait. T h e c a u s e of their d e a t h c a n
a l s o be a d r a m a t i c
conflict
within the family
itself, b u t t h e n e e d
to
c o m m u n i c a t e t h e n e w s of t h e d e a t h is e q u a l l y p r e s e n t in b o t h t h e b a l l a d
and
in
the
epic
poem.
Consequently,
it
is
understandable
that
the
t r a n s m i s s i o n of t h e n e w s a b o u t t h e d e a t h h a s a p a r t i c u l a r p l a c e in b o t h of
t h e t r a d i t i o n a l g e n r e s . In t h e c o n c e i v e d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s e t h e r , t h e t i d i n g s
a r e s e n t by t h e d y i n g h e r o e s or h e r o i n e s t h e m s e l v e s or by a w i t n e s s t o t h e i r
d e a t h s ; t h e n e w s is t a k e n by a fairy, s e r v a n t , b i r d , letter or t h e l i k e ; t h e
r e c i p i e n t s a r e a l w a y s f e m a l e m e m b e r s of t h e f a m i l y a l t h o u g h it is n o t
i r r e l e v a n t w h e t h e r t h e n e w s is r e c e i v e d by a m o t h e r , sister o r w i f e . T h e
h y p o t h e t i c a l l i n e a r flow of t r a n s m i s s i o n a n d r e c e i p t of n e w s of this t y p e is
interrupted or distorted, c o n d e n s e d
or prolonged, while
- just as
f o r m a t i o n itself of t h e c o n t e n t of t h e t i d i n g s of d e a t h - this v a r i e s
the
from
g e n r e t o g e n r e in k e e p i n g w i t h their i m m a n e n t p o e t i c d e m a n d s .
T h e d e a t h s of f a m i l y m e m b e r s in b a l l a d s is often n a r r a t e d o n l y a t
t h e m o m e n t at w h i c h t h e n e w s r e a c h e s t h e family. T h i s is t h e v e r y situation
w h i c h f a v o u r s t h e d r a m a t i c p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e story c h a r a c t e r i s t i c t o t h e
b a l l a d , w h i c h a v o i d s c o n t i n u i t y of n a r r a t i o n ( G e r o u l d 1 9 3 2 : 9 6 — 9 7 ) . T h e
In the Matrix Croatica
edition of the anthology of ballads and romances (1909) - hereinafter referred as HNP5 - the most highly represented in quality (typologically)
and number is the sub-group denoted "death of family members" (according to the
Freiburg proposal for classification of narrative songs; for more on this, see
Arbeitstagung
über Fragen des Typenindex der europäischen
Volksballade 1966). T h e
group includes ballads about the death of a maiden who has married far away from
home, or those about a widow who has remarried and dies of grief for the son she left
behind, whose "eyes have been drained by mountain fairies". Songs about the
"birthmark of death" also tell of death as well as those in which the husband is the
victim of his wife's beauty, or because of her selfishness when she refuses to give up the
necklace which is the only thing which will placate the "mountain fairy". T h e death
motif is widespread also in other ballad groups: in love songs the maiden forced into
marriage dies when her beloved returns; a maiden dies because of the death of her
prospective groom; the sweethearts fall victim to plague, or because the maiden's
mother has put a curse upon them, or they are forced into a marriage with someone else.
One death is a magnet which attracts other misfortunes: a wife commits suicide because
her brothers murder her husband; a kidnapped sister drowns herself when her captor
kills her brother; a mother dies when she does not succeed in redeeming her son from a
maiden's curses, and her death is accompanied by the withering of her garden. There are
real "will-and-testament songs" in which the dying hero entrusts his wife and children
to his brother, or leaves all his goods to his mother, and leaves nothing to his beloved
who has always been potentially untrue to him. Or again, the mother on her deathbed
advises her daughter how to accept the step-mother and her daughter she foresees will
take her place. Sometimes death is not an obstacle to "family communication": a dead
brother comes to take away his sister who has married far from home, or a dead mother
appears in a dream to the evil step-mother warning her not "to pick roses in a garden
which she did not herself tend".
226
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S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
story of the d e a t h of a h e r o in battle leaves a m o r e powerful i m p r e s s i o n
a c c o m p a n i e d by the o m i n o u s s q u a w k i n g of a r a v e n w h i c h "with its beak
b l o o d y to the e y e s a n d its legs bloody to the k n e e s (...) with its a p p e a r a n c e
e x u d e s the o d o u r of hot blood a n d h e r o i c d e m i s e " ( S c h m a u s 1 9 7 1 : 3 3 4 ) ,
a n d , in a n s w e r to the m o t h e r ' s or wife's e n q u i r y , narrates t h e story of the
death of their s o n or h u s b a n d . E v e n t s structured in this w a y t h r o u g h t h e
compositional s c h e m e of the raven's report interrupted by the l a m e n t a t i o n s
of the w o m a n , link the d e a t h of the h e r o a n d the r e c e p t i o n of the tidings
of his d e a t h , m e r g i n g t h e m i n t o o n e . T h e hero's d e a t h is p e r c e i v e d as
t h o u g h it is h a p p e n i n g at that very m o m e n t , s i m u l t a n e o u s l y with the d e a t h
of the m o t h e r or w i f e , w h o is often killed by the "terrible w o r d s " of the
b i r d . T h e g e n e s i s of this c o m p o s i t i o n a l ballad s c h e m e w a s p r e c e d e d in
a r t i s t i c , a l t h o u g h n o t n e c e s s a r y in g e n e t i c , d e v e l o p m e n t by t h e "motif
p h a s e " of t h e e p i c p o e m in w h i c h the r a v e n "similarly t o o t h e r b i r d s ,
a p p e a r s a s a m e s s e n g e r , as o n e w h o r e c e i v e s a n d d e l i v e r s a p a r t i c u l a r
m e s s a g e " ( I b i d . : 3 3 6 ) . H o w e v e r , here the family m e m b e r s are not the first
recipients of the tidings of death: e v e n before the arrival of the r a v e n to
the m o t h e r or w i f e , the d e p a r t u r e into battle a n d d e a t h has a l r e a d y b e e n
narrated in detail. In o t h e r w o r d s : w h i l e the h e r o in the e p i c p o e m dies
before his family hears of it, in the ballad he dies a g a i n or dies at the same
time as the m o t h e r or w i f e .
2
3
S u c h c o n d e n s a t i o n of the d e a t h of the c h a r a c t e r a n d the family's
reception of the n e w s of his d e a t h is also found in a narrative situation in
the f a m o u s bugarstica
- the t e r m for the earliest e x t a n t S o u t h e r n S l a v i c
narrative s o n g s in long v e r s e k n o w n also as the "old Croatian ballads" (see
M a r k o v i c 1 8 9 9 : 1 2 7 ) - a b o u t P r i n c e M a r k o a n d his b r o t h e r A n d r i j a s
( M i l e t i c h 1 9 9 0 , 4 ) . H e r e t h e b a l l a d c o n d e n s a t i o n is not a c h i e v e d by
narrating a b o u t the past as if it is the present,
but by n a r r a t i n g a b o u t t h e
future as if it is the present, in a hypothetical c o n v e r s a t i o n w h i c h the d y i n g
A n d r i j a s f o r e s e e s will b e c o n d u c t e d by M a r k o t h e fratricide a n d t h e i r
m o t h e r . T h i s shift in t h e c o n c e i v e d c h a i n of c o m m u n i c a t i o n d o e s n o t
result in a cruel report w h i c h fails t o spare the feelings of the recipient of
the n e w s , but in metaphorical p a c k a g i n g of the n e w s w h i c h , in the logic of
"I offer y o u lies instead of the t r u t h " , should at least m i t i g a t e the ballad's
fratricidal motif for A n d r i j a s ' s m o t h e r . C o n s e q u e n t l y , A n d r i j a s a d v i s e s
M a r k o t h a t w h e n his m o t h e r a s k s w h y his s w o r d is b l o o d y , h e s h o u l d
2
The "unbearable lightness of dying" is emphasised as a special characteristic of the
ballad in comparison with certain other folk genres e.g. the saga or the fairy tale. The
frequency of the suicide motif is also an identifiable characteristic for the genre because
suicide, as a "drama in internal space" corresponds to the family staging of the ballad in
which the conflicts are solved in a restricted location of events (Liithi 1970:88).
For more on the phases of epic stylisation in building up the compositional scheme of
the raven's report, see Schmaus (1971:334—354). See examples in HNP5, 64; 65; 67.
227
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
a n s w e r that it is t h e b l o o d of a "gentle stag" w h o did not w a n t t o m o v e o u t
of his p a t h . W h e n s h e a s k s a b o u t A n d r i j a s , he s h o u l d tell her that her s o n
stayed in a foreign c o u n t r y w h e r e he fell in love w i t h a girl w h o put a spell
on him
w i t h h e r b p o t i o n s a n d t h e w i n e of o b l i v i o n . O n e f i n d s
other
i n c i d e n c e s of " e x c u s e s " of this t y p e in ballad poetry: the first a r e c o n t a i n e d
in t h e m e t a p h o r s r e s o r t e d t o w h e n
"irrefutable
e v i d e n c e " of t h e
crime
exists - in t h e b l o o d y s w o r d w h i c h c a n n o t be c o n c e a l e d - a n d t h e y a r e a l s o
s e e n in t h e i n t e r n a t i o n a l
r e p e r t o i r e of b a l l a d
"insincere a n s w e r s " ;
s e c o n d a r e of l o c a l d i s t r i b u t i o n a n d a r e c l a s s i f i e d in bugarstica
formulae,
as
pointed
out
by
Maja
Boskovic-Stulli
4
the
poetic
(Boskovic-Stulli
1 9 7 5 : 1 3 ) . H o w e v e r , b o t h " e x c u s e s " i n t e n d e d for t h e m o t h e r in this p o e m ,
b e l o n g t o t h e o r d e r of s o - c a l l e d don't
tell motifs s u c h a s a r e found b o t h in
t h e ballad a n d in t h e e p i c n a r r a t i v e , w h i l e t h e i r s o u r c e is a specific
e t h i c s by w h i c h t h e m e m b e r s of t h e f a m i l y s h o u l d b e s p a r e d bad
w h i c h "can n e v e r c o m e t o o l a t e " .
family
news
5
W e d o n o t k n o w w h e t h e r t h e m o t h e r in H e k t o r o v i c ' s
bugarstica
believed the story a b o u t the stag and the c h a r m i n g maiden. T h e
ballad
The evasive answers which respond to ominous questions are sometimes real riddles:
the husband who has murdered his wife, falsely accused of adultery, has a bloody saddle
because he has slain a kosmatica
[hirsute female creature] who blocked his path. [The
Croatian Academy's Dictionary gives the only example of this word as a riddle, see A R
1893/1903:364]. He answers his wife's brothers with the information that his wife has
remained in the mountains "to pick chive flowers and myrtle" (HNP5, 99). Instead of the
bloody sword or knife (Child, 49D, G; 51B), the trace of blood in the Scottish ballad can
be left on the brow (Child, 4 9 E ) , in the Finnish on the shirt etc. (compare Child
1965:168). (In Croatian tradition, such evasive answers are found particularly in incest
ballads; see, e.g. H N P 5 , 139). Authors have tried to interpret the lexical motifs
themselves which are part of the ballad evasions. Maja Boskovic-Stulli has pointed out
that the killing of the stag is a metaphor for the committed crime (Boskovic-Stulli
1975:12). T h e evasions can also be indicators of the social background from which the
ballad came: in the Scottish ballad Edward (Child, 13), the evasions are multiplied into
a series: the falcon-horse-brother series can be replaced by horse-cow-dog-brother or
even nag-dog-pig-brother in the village environment (Schmidt 1933:305; quoted from
Liithi 1970:85). Max Ltithi noticed that it was unusual that in one version of the incest
ballad, Lizie Wan (Child, 51), the grandfather in the horse-grandfather(sic!)-sister series
appears in the position usually occupied by the dog or the horse. This position shows
that the murder of the grandfather is a "lesser evil" than the murder of the sister. This,
however, does not correspond to the social and historical reality of the late mediaeval
and the early modern period, in which the European ballads flourished. At that time, the
elders of the family held a significant and respected place in the life of the community.
It would seem that the world of the ballad is the place of the narrow family circle
(Kleinfamilie),
the dominating relationships being those between mother and father,
son and daughter, and sister and brother (Ibid.).
In connection with the don't tell mother motif, Samuel Armistead stressed that this is a
classical topoi of the folk ballad: "In Greek and Hispanic ballads, the dying hero send a
final message to his mother, sometimes asking that she not be told the truth, but be
given some innocuous
excuse as to why he has not returned" (1990:328) (Author's
italics).
228
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S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
about the p o i s o n e d bride also e n d s "too soon" for us to learn if the m o t h e r
" f a t h o m e d t h e m e a n i n g " w h e n she r e c e i v e d her d a u g h t e r ' s m e s s a g e t o
c o m e to visit her, but to bring a "thin shirt" w o v e n in m i s e r y , b l e a c h e d in
bitter t e a r s , a n d dried a w a y w i t h o u t the sun's r a y s , rather than to bring her
gifts ( H N P 5 , 1 8 8 ) .
6
T h e ballad's c o n d e n s a t i o n a n d c o n c e n t r a t i o n either o n the r e c e p t i o n
of the n e w s itself or o n its e m i s s i o n usually leaves u n a n s w e r e d the question
of the decipherability of t h e m e s s a g e . O n e can but a s s u m e that the m o t h e r ,
M a r g a r i t a ( D e l o r k o 1 9 5 1 , 7 ) , n o n e t h e l e s s u n d e r s t o o d t h e fairy's m e s s a g e
that her brother "was s e d u c e d by a G r e e k lass" w h o q u e n c h e d his thirst
w i t h "the c o l d w a t e r of o b l i v i o n " , w h i l e her s o n h a d b e e n e n t i c e d by
"beautiful C v i t a of t h e P r i m o r j e " c r o w n i n g him w i t h a w r e a t h "of m a g i c
a c a n t h u s " . In a n y c a s e , the fairy herself offers the m o t h e r the k e y t o the
bugarstica
m e t a p h o r s : at t h e b e g i n n i n g of t h e c o n v e r s a t i o n , u n d e r t h e
guise of c h a r i t y , the fairy a s k s h o w the m o t h e r w o u l d r e d e e m her brother
and son if they w e r e to land in "Turkish d u n g e o n s " .
7
H o w e v e r , there are ballads which do not exclude the family
reception of t h e don't tell motif, a n d then the m e t a p h o r i c a l n e w s a b o u t t h e
death d o e s not r e m a i n a n " i n n o c u o u s e x c u s e " , as it is called b y S a m u e l
Armistead (1990:328). So the mother immediately understands the
m e s s a g e that her son has r e m a i n e d in an u n k n o w n city a n d that he will be
bringing h o m e a foreign wife t o g e t h e r with a silken shirt a n d "branches of
m i s f o r t u n e " ( H N P 5 , 1 6 8 ) . It is as t h o u g h t h e c h a r a c t e r s h a v e b e e n
8
6
7
8
The same in HNP5, 25. When the message about the shirt is not a component of the don't
tell motif, its meaning is more directly clear: "Woe is me, my dear mother,/ sew me two
thin shirts,/ in one, mother, I shall ail,/ in the other, mother, I shall be buried!" (IEF, ms.
343, No. 42).
The fairy's comfort is in fact the rhetorical figure of charientism or "biting irony in the
guise of benevolence" (Zima 1988:58). Otherwise, the recipient of the don't tell motif is
always the mother. The content of the don't tell message to the sister is the news of her
brother being wounded (HNP5, 25), and, in any case, it is usually the sister whom the
brother calls to for help, just as the sister confronted with the choice between her
brother and loved one always chooses the brother, which demonstrates the "Southern
Slav cult of sisterly love" (Horalek 1964:23). And again, the news intended for the
sweetheart in the ballads about the hero who is bidding farewell to his company, which
are similar to the love lyric ballads of the "three sadnesses", are often on the border-line
of "weepy sentimentalism" which can be recognised in the "evocation of the sweetheart
who will not mourn for him, in the wedding metaphors with black soil and green grass,
with worms as the wedding guests and birds as the wedding musicians" (Boskovic-Stulli 1975:59).
"Walking through the mountains the company goes singing,/ Walking through the
castle the mother goes a'wailing" (HNP5, 168). In the Bosnian variants of that ballad in
which the son sends a message to his mother that he will be bringing the Nenatka-maiden (who is not to be expected) (Zovko, I., No. 12; Supplement HNP5) or the
Nehotka-maiden (who does not wish to come) (Pajic, No. 8; Supplement HNP5), the
229
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S. Delie, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
"inoculated" w i t h u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the poetic l a n g u a g e of the ballad, w h i l e
the m e t a p h o r i c a l situation requires no gainsay in favour of the factual state
(see J a k o b s o n 1 9 6 6 : 3 1 2 ) .
In the e p i c p o e m ( G l a v i c 1889,7), on the other h a n d , the m e s s a g e
from the d y i n g son that h e has received an imperial edict with a call to j o i n
the a r m y , a s k i n g his m o t h e r t o c o m e to bless h i m , r e m a i n s c l o u d e d . N o r
d o e s she u n d e r s t a n d t h e s i g n s a l o n g t h e w a y , but is satisfied w i t h t h e
interpretations of the s e r v a n t - m e s s e n g e r : the horses are u n s a d d l e d b e c a u s e
they are setting o u t o n a long j o u r n e y , the b a n n e r s have b e e n b l o w n a w a y
by the w i n d from the m o u n t a i n s , the d r u m s a n d pipes h a v e c e a s e d t h e i r
" b a n g i n g " , the s e r v a n t s are b a r e - h e a d e d because they have been p r a y i n g to
G o d . In a n y c a s e , w h e n s h e is finally s t a n d i n g at her son's b e d s i d e a n d
c o n v i n c e s herself that he is d y i n g , the p o e m is far from over. It is followed
by the d y i n g m a n ' s last will a n d t e s t a m e n t , a n d e v e r y t h i n g e n d s w i t h his
f u n e r a l . W h i l e t h e don't tell motif in t h e ballad s e r v e d as a k i n d of
metaphorical "information s y s t e m " , the "false n e w s " in this epic song is not
u n d e r s t o o d b y the m o t h e r . T h i s s e r v e s to a l l o w an e x t e n s i v e t h r e e f o l d
retardation, i n c r e a s e d a l s o by the n u m b e r of family m e m b e r s to w h o m the
n e w s has to b e c o m m u n i c a t e d (the s e r v a n t first visiting the brother). It is
not sufficient in t h e e p i c narrative t o e m p h a s i s e the relationship b e t w e e n
the m o t h e r a n d s o n , as in the ballad. It is also n e c e s s a r y to stress the love
triangle b e t w e e n the t w o brothers and the wife, even as a possible c a u s e of
the d e a t h of t h e h e r o . T h e "false n e w s " to the a l w a y s c o n s t a n t m o t h e r
c o n t r a s t s w i t h t h e "truth" for t h e b r o t h e r , j u s t as t h e d y i n g m a n h a d
a s s i g n e d d i v e r s e b e q u e s t s to t h e m ( e v e r y t h i n g to the m o t h e r , but n o t h i n g
to the b r o t h e r a n d w i f e ) . T h e d r a w n - o u t linear n a r r a t i v e in w h i c h t h e
stricken hero s e n d s out a m e s s e n g e r - the m e s s e n g e r transmits the m e s s a g e
- the m o t h e r sets o u t t o see her son w i t h the m e s s e n g e r , the r e t a r d a t i o n
served by the don't tell motif, together with the increased n u m b e r of a c t o r s ,
has nothing in c o m m o n with the d r a m a t i c nature of the tidings of d e a t h in
the b a l l a d in w h i c h t h e decipherability
of the don't
tell m o t i f a l s o
c o n d e n s e s the c h a n g e itself in the narrative situation.
It c o u l d be said that the don't tell motif in the e p i c p o e m is a l s o
present so that t h e m o t h e r c a n learn with as m u c h delay as possible a b o u t
the d e a t h ; in the ballad it is not i n t e n d e d to conceal the t r u t h , but o n l y to
tell it "more gently". T h e content of the don't tell motif in the epic p o e m is
i n d e e d a n " i n n o c u o u s e x c u s e " w h i c h b e c o m e s a m e a n s of r e t a r d a t i o n in
order to establish the tactile epic world. In this w o r l d , not even the c a u s e of
the h e r o ' s d e a t h c a n r e m a i n c o n c e a l e d . In the b a l l a d , the c a u s e of t h e
mother immediately understands the metaphorical meaning of the message, and even
dies in one variant (Pajic, No. 8; Ibid.).
230
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
hero's
death
is n o t
mentioned,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
while
the
"false
news",
Ballad
intended
to
e m p h a s i s e t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n m o t h e r a n d s o n , t o u c h e d u p o n at t h e
moment
when
the
mother
receives
the
news
of the
death,
is
not
a
r e t a r d a t i o n but a t r a n s p a r e n t e u p h e m i s m . In a d d i t i o n , t h e r e s p e c t i v e s p e e d s
of d e c i p h e r i n g t h e e u p h e m i s m in the ballad a n d t h e " i n n o c u o u s e x c u s e " in
t h e e p i c p o e m a r e in i n v e r s e p r o p o r t i o n t o their palliative c o n s e q u e n c e s . In
t h e l a t t e r , l e a r n i n g at a later t i m e of t h e t i d i n g s a l s o m e a n s t o " s u r v i v e "
t h e m ; t h e d e c i p h e r i n g of t h e e u p h e m i s m
blow.
in t h e b a l l a d d e a l s a
mortal
9
T h e "false n e w s " in t h e b a l l a d s is not a l w a y s e a s y t o s e e t h r o u g h . In
t h e b a l l a d s a b o u t t h e b a n d i t ' s w i f e , t h e i n v i t a t i o n t o t h e wife t o a t t e n d t h e
" w e d d i n g " of h e r b r o t h e r a n d her sister r e v e a l s itself, o n l y by d e g r e e s , t o
be n e w s of t h e i r d e a t h . T h e i n t e n t i o n a l p o s t p o n e m e n t of
communication
of t h e t r u t h is h e r e u s e d t o d r a m a t i s e t h e b a l l a d ' s p l o t , w h i l e t h e t r i p l e
v a r i a t i o n of t h e s a m e m o t i f - t h e t i d i n g s of d e a t h - s t r u c t u r e s t h e e n t i r e
9
Here we are primarily interested in the shaping of the don't tell motif which makes
possible its comparison in various poems which are not variants of one specific type.
The mentioned ballad of the wounded hero is a contamination of the ballad about the
wounded hero from the so-called bandit and/or military songs group, with which it is
connected by the hero's instructions to his company on where and how to bury him (see
Boskovic-Stulli 1975:54— 58), and the mother's reception of the don't tell motif. T h e
mother's comprehension of the don't tell message can also be explained by the fact that
in the military ballads, which are particularly susceptible to such contamination, the
arrival of the company which the mothers are expecting asking about the arrival of their
sons, does not require additional motivation such as that, for e x a m p l e , in the
unexpected arrival of the servant. In addition, the message is formed as a euphemism.
However, one encounters the same level of decipherability of the metaphorical language
in other ballads in which the transposed meaning of the message transmitted to the
character does not necessarily have to be so "transparent": the half-sister understands
the mother's message to go with the step-daughter to the hills and "pick a lovely bunch
of flowers" as instructions for murder (HNP5, 75). In the incest ballad, the mother
announces the sister's death as the information that "your sister is plucking red roses"
(Zovko I, 238; Supplement HNP5, 139). Sometimes the decipherability of the message
cannot be justified by the context of the ballad itself: the woman immediately
understand that her husband's invitation to come up into the mountains "to pick chive
flowers and myrtle" foretells her death (HNP5, 99). These "floral formulae" which are
often encountered in the ballads, have become a characteristic paraphrase of death. Both
their decipherability and the mother's understanding of the don't tell motifs in Croatian
ballads (HNP5, 168) leads to the conclusion that their emergence is the consequence of
the same process: the paraphrase of death formulae are "liberated" in the ballad
condensation (the ballads in which the characters really do "pick flowers", which causes
the fatigue and sleep of the victim, making them easy prey for revenge; see, for example,
IEF, Ms. 8 8 3 , No. 16). The mother's reception, too, of the don't tell motif (HNP5, 168)
can be explained by the fact that the informer who created the ballad could use his
knowledge of the existence of epic poems in which the mother departs with the
messenger to go to her son, and there finds him dying. He could simply stylise it by
omission of the mother's arrival motif. In this latter case, we could conclude that the
don't tell message did not merely stay at the motif level, but was a component of a
particular ballad compositional scheme.
231
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
p o e m , p r o v i d i n g it w i t h g e o m e t r i c a l c o m p o s i t i o n . T h e t r a g i c e n d i n g is
a u g u r e d b y t h e b l o o d y shirt of t h e h u s b a n d - b a n d i t , t h e f e m a l e s l a v e
dressed in b l a c k , her a d m o n i t i o n s to the bandit's wife not t o w a s t e t i m e o n
p r e s e n t s ( H N P 5 , 151). In a v a r i a n t of the s a m e ballad ( H N P 5 , 152), t h e
w e d d i n g is the lexical e l e m e n t w h i c h stands in opposition to its m e t a p h o r i c
m e a n i n g - the t i d i n g s of d e a t h - but the p o s t p o n e m e n t of c o m m u n i c a t i o n
of t h e n e w s is a c o n s i s t e n t c a r r y i n g o u t of t h e figure of a m p h i b o l e ,
because the servant's w o r d s "apart from w h a t it m a y s e e m at first, h a v e a
c o m p l e t e l y different m e a n i n g as w e l l " ( Z i m a 1 9 8 8 : 7 0 ) , w h i l e the w o m a n
d o e s not c o m p r e h e n d t h e a m b i g u i t y of t h o s e " e x c u s e s " . I n s t e a d of gifts,
she is s u p p o s e d to t a k e linen a n d w a x candles for the w e d d i n g table; w h e n
t h e y a r e a l m o s t at t h e h o u s e a n d she h e a r s " s a w s a n d a x e s " i n s t e a d of
" d r u m s a n d p i p e s " , the m e s s e n g e r ' s interpretation of the noise is that it is
c a u s e d by the t r i m m i n g of the b e n c h e s for the w e d d i n g guests w h o h a v e
g r o w n tired from the festivities. S u c h e x c u s e s - the linen for the w e d d i n g
t a b l e , a n d the n o i s e from the t r i m m i n g of the w e d d i n g guests' b e n c h e s - d i r e c t a t t e n t i o n at t h e m e t a p h o r i c a l m e a n i n g of t h e n e w s a b o u t t h e
w e d d i n g , b e c a u s e t h e s y n e c d o c h e into w h i c h the w e d d i n g is " b r o k e n u p "
also gives a m b i g u o u s m e a n i n g to the messenger's invitation to the
" w e d d i n g " . R e p e t i t i o n of t h e s y n e c d o c h e is still not r e d u n d a n t . T h e
gradual a p p r o a c h n e a r e r to the r e v e l a t i o n of t h e truth t h r o u g h v a r i o u s
" e x c u s e s " c o r r e s p o n d s w i t h d r a w i n g n e a r e r to the parental h o m e by o n e
"who has m a r r i e d far from h o m e " . First she listens to the servant, then she
hears t h e n o i s e , a n d , finally, she sees the funeral. C o n s t a n t p o s t p o n e m e n t
of the tidings of d e a t h is d r a m a t i s e d in this w a y .
In s o m e b a l l a d s the don't tell motif has n o i n t e n t i o n of c o n c e a l i n g
the truth, d r a m a t i c a l l y c o n d e n s i n g the narration a n d i m p a r t i n g m o m e n t a r y
u n d e r s t a n d i n g of t h e "false n e w s " a n d t h e c o n s e q u e n c e s it has for t h e
r e c i p i e n t - d e a t h of t h e m o t h e r . T h e u l t i m a t e r e s u l t of g r a d u a l
p o s t p o n e m e n t of the t r u t h w h i c h from the b e g i n n i n g is o p a q u e - a n d
r e m a i n s so - at least for its protagonist, is s e e n in the ballad of the bandit's
wife. It does not lead to peaceful a c c e p t a n c e of the n e w s as in Glavić's epic
p o e m , b u t t o e v e n g r e a t e r s h o c k , p r e p a r e d for by d r a m a t i c r e p e t i t i o n
( v a r i o u s l y c a l l e d incremental
repetition
and G e r . variierend
steigernder
Wiederholung).
W h e n t h e s e m a n t i c a m b i g u i t y of t h e "false n e w s " is
revealed with h e r arrival at the funeral of her brother a n d sister, the s o n g
ends with the w o m a n ' s d e a t h .
10
For various evasions in that type of ballad in the Southern Slav oral tradition, see
Kumer 1968:56 and further. Prolonging the communication of the tidings of death was
one of the mediaeval court customs (Deutsche
Volkslieder
1939:230; quoted
according to Kumer 1968:57). The fact that one finds a fashioning of the tidings of
death in the Southern Slavic ballad about the bandit's wife confirms the age of that
232
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
F i n a l l y , if t h e lexical motifs in don't
Ballad
tell tidings in t h e ballads - w h i c h
d o not c o n c e a l t h e m e s s a g e a b o u t d e a t h - a r e c o m p a r e d w i t h t h o s e in t h e
e p i c p o e m s , t h e c o n c l u s i o n c a n be d r a w n that the " e x c u s e s " in t h e b a l l a d s
w h i c h m e n t i o n t h e w e d d i n g , or t h e b e a u t i f u l
maiden who enchants
h e r o w i t h her p o t i o n s , e n t e r i n t o t h e d o m a i n of a s e m a n t i c
the
relationship
w i t h t h e w o r l d of f a m i l y t i e s . T h i s is not t h e c a s e in t h e e p i c p o e m s in
w h i c h it is n o t u n u s u a l for t h e h e r o t o be r e a c h e d by a n i m p e r i a l e d i c t o r
to
"remain
in
the
mountains
Ottoman highwayman],
the
ballads,
the
literal
1 1
waiting
for
Mijat
the
hajduk
[anti-
a n d t h u s pertain to t h e h e r o i c w o r l d of battle. In
meaning
of
the
"excuses"
-
which
twinkle
u n c e a s i n g l y in b o t h t h e b a l l a d s a n d t h e e p i c p o e m s - is u n d e r s c o r e d . T h e
don't
tell m o t i f c e a s e s t o be t h e functional e x c u s e it r e m a i n s in t h e e p i c
n a r r a t i v e , n o r is it t h e s i m p l e "family p a t t e r n " ( G e r . Familienformet).
This
o n l y testifies t o t h e i m p o r t a n c e p l a c e d o n family r e l a t i o n s h i p in t h e b a l l a d s
(Liithi
1970:81),
1 2
enriching the songs with new
meanings which
are
d r a w n from t h e family r e p e r t o i r e of d r a m a t i c ballad c o n f l i c t s . T i d i n g s of
d e a t h as of a w e d d i n g d o not h a v e t o b e in o p p o s i t i o n : by falling in l o v e
a n d b r i n g i n g h o m e a b r i d e t h e s o n is in s o m e w a y a l r e a d y " d e a d " for his
mother.
1 3
ballad (Ibid). Similar gradual dramatisation of ambiguous answers is seen in the ballad
type with the sudden death of the hero, usually as the result of the activity of
supernatural forces. For example, the fiancee of the hero in the Danish ballad Elveskud
(Greverus 1963:39 — 4 0 ) , whose loved one had been seduced by dance and then
murdered by fairies, announces that he has stayed behind the hunt to test his horse and
his dog. T h e Italian and Catalonian versions are particularly dramatic, attention being
concentrated on the reception of the tidings of death, while there is a reduction of the
encounter with the supernatural. See F. J. Child's The English and Scottish
Popular
Ballads 1965:371—389 for the modalities of shaping the evasions, and their dramatic
nature in ballads of this type in diverse European ballad traditions; in Vile
ustrijelili
mladozenju
[The Fairies Have Shot the Bridegroom] (Boskovic-Stulli 1964, 15), a
Croatian epic ballad of that ballad type, the wedding guests who come for the groom
are not given false answers.
This last excuse appears in an epic poem which Maja Boskovic-Stulli cites as one of the
variants of the bugarstica ballad about fratricide (Boskovic-Stulli 1975:29).
The author calls the family pattern "seeking opinions" of the members of the family
who stay on in the ballad even when the family has ceased to be an active factor in the
plot: for example, the son can seek advice from the father, mother, sister, brother, but he
does not necessarily have to take it. The frequency of such "non-functional" patterns,
which became part of ballad structure as a means of intensification of the drama, also
depend on the social and historical reality within the individual oral tradition ( I b i d ) .
The Death-Wedding metaphor, structured on the contrast between the most tragic and
the most joyful event, which is frequently the content of ballad don't tell motifs, is
widely diffused in the Slavic ballad group, whether the wedding is linked to death by
drowning, death in battle, or death on the gallows (Bogatyrev 1963:84). A dying hero
in one of the Slovakian military ballads begs his company to give his mother the news
that he is going to be married in the land of the French: French canon will be his
wedding guests, French shields his bridesmen; another message to the mother has to be
news of a wedding in a "the King's grove" in which a sad new gallows stands; in a
233
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
T h e r e are i n d i c a t i o n s that don't tell m e s s a g e s in the ballads c a n b e
e n t r u s t e d w i t h a m o r e c o m p l e x function in a d d i t i o n to the e u p h e m i s t i c
" c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s y s t e m " . In o n e b a l l a d a b o u t a y o u n g g r o o m w h o is
m o r t a l l y w o u n d e d w h i l e o n t h e j o u r n e y to b r i n g b a c k his b r i d e , t h e
m e s s a g e the d y i n g son s e n d s to his m o t h e r s a y i n g that he had t o return to
the bride's h o m e to t a k e the k e y s to the treasury s e e m to i n c l u d e a m a g i c
and d e m o n o l o g i c a l m o t i v a t i o n for the s e e m i n g l y s e n s e l e s s d e a t h of t h e
son ( H N P 5 , 2 0 3 ) .
1 4
Polish ballad, the young man asks his horse to tell the mother that he has married, and
his bride is the waters of the Danube (Ibid.). [I am grateful to Maja Boskovic-Stulli,
PhD for translating Bogatyrév from the Russian to me, thus acquainting me with his
analysis of the Death/Wedding metaphor] Samuel Armistead pointed out that it is the
metaphor of death as a wedding with the earth which is widespread in the Slavic
ballads, but this concept is also not unknown in Greek ballads (1990:329). He allows a
possible link between that metaphor and the Slavic customs where if the groom dies
before the wedding, a wedding celebration is nonetheless held at his grave, with his
love dressed in her bridal finery (Schräder 1904:13 — 1 5 ; cited from Armistead
1990:336). In her analysis of the figurative language in the lament and its performance
context (the funeral), Tanja Peric-Polonijo stresses the discrepancy between funeral
song text and context, and explains it through the magical function of the text (Peric-Polonijo 1996:393).
The son inexplicably dies because of a headache on the journey. There could be some
connection between the "keys" from the don't tell motif which he forgot at his wife's
mother's house. In the ballad the mother-in-law is a healer while keys are often a
subject of magical spells. However, in this ballad which ends with the death of the
bridegroom and his mother, and with the marriage of the father and daughter-in-law, the
real cause of the young man's death remains a mystery, precluding any definite long-reaching conclusions about the don't tell motif as the sole "clue" to the dramatic
conflict of the ballad.
This ballad was narrated by Kata Murât, née Palunko, an informer who is graced by an
individual spirit and a free style in interpretation, and this can perhaps provide the
reason for our not finding a similar use of the don't tell motif anywhere else. In
addition, the don't tell motif in that ballad does not experience a ballad-style
reception: the mother does not draw a conclusion about her son's death on the basis of
the don't tell motif, but only deduces it from the fact that her son has failed to return.
We find similar "overcoming" of the reception of the motif in the ballad of a narrator
from Sipan: the brother's message to his sister that he has "remained to hunt in the
mountains" is not at all important because the sister realises what has happened as
soon as she sees his "horse without the hero" (HNP5, 196). Kata Murat's variant of that
ballad (Murat, 1) also omits the brother's don't tell motif, while the sister's realisation
that her brother has been wounded is not given a particular motivation (Grga has been
struck down by wounds,/ Grga's sister has learned of it). It seems that the Sipan
informers experienced the don't tell motifs in these latter examples as a retardation,
which is how it figures in the epic poem. In any case, this is not a song about the
wounding of a brother who sends the news to his sister; rather it is a song about a sister
who saves her brother by bringing him water, while the song continues to develop in
narrative about the brother being wounded; and again, the don't tell motif is often used
in ballads at the end of the song.
In Croatian ballad (HNP5 , 203) the don't tell motif is definitely used in a distinctive
and individual way, but for that very reason it has remained opaque, along with the
motifs of the dramatic conflict.
234
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
In addition to the don't tell motif in the b a l l a d s , o n e a l s o finds other
metaphorical " c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s y s t e m s " . T h e loved o n e d e p a r t s to j o i n the
a r m y , l e a v i n g a m e s s a g e to his s w e e t h e a r t that she will k n o w h o w t h i n g s
stand with him w h e n she looks into the e y e s of his falcon. W h e n he s e n d s
her a m e s s a g e t o visit his mother and falcon, the girl "recognises" his death
in the eyes of the falcon ( H N P 5 , 126).
In s o m e of the p o e m s , the d e a t h of the m e m b e r s of t h e family is
a n t i c i p a t e d . In a d d i t i o n to the " p r o p h e t i c d r e a m " , a f a v o u r e d m e a n s of
anticipation in epic p o e m s a n d the so-called epic b a l l a d s , often o c c u r r i n g
at the b e g i n n i n g of the s o n g , the motif of impossibility (Lat.
impossibile,
Gr. adynatori)
foresees the death of the family m e m b e r s . H o w e v e r , unlike
the "prophetic d r e a m " , this motif has its place at the c u l m i n a t i n g point of
t h e p l o t , in t h e m i d s t of t h e c o n f l i c t i n g s i t u a t i o n , a n d u n d e r l i n e s its
d r a m a t i c c h a r g e . T h e narrative is often "interrupted" after that point, a n d
the motif p r e c e d e s its a b r u p t c o n c l u s i o n (the s o - c a l l e d S p a n i s h
final
truncado).
T h e h e r o e s in the ballads formulate their "return" by "a series
of i m p o s s i b l e e v e n t s " ( C u r t i u s 1 9 7 1 : 1 0 2 ) . T h e y will r e t u r n w h e n a
p a r t i c u l a r tree b e a r s an i m p o s s i b l e fruit or w h e n a black bird b e c o m e s
white. T h e recipient of this m e s s a g e m a k e s e v e r y effort for the i m p o s s i b l e
to b e c o m e reality - w a s h i n g a black bird in milk; nurturing the tree - but
the impossible usually r e m a i n s i m p o s s i b l e . T h e m o t h e r w a t c h e s t h e w i l l o w
to see if it has b o r n e g r a p e s a n d her son r e t u r n e d from battle, but it is all
futile ( D e l o r k o , 1 0 ) .
15
It would seem that here the metaphor of the impossible is joined by the metaphor of
futility (rearing a tree and bearing a son, only for him to be "food for the ravens").
Slobodan Šnajder, the contemporary Croatian dramatist, reactualised and reinterpreted
the expectation of the impossible fruit from the tree as an "historical antithesis". In his
drama Zmijin svlak [The Snake's Slough], inspired by the famous fairy tale of the
"snake bridegroom", one of the characters says: "For how many more generations will
the Earth of the Mother be ruled by the Warrior? We do not know, we only hope. During
this time which will perhaps be very long, women will embrace trees, because the
warriors will kill each other off, and a number of times, at that." (Večernji list, Dec 17,
1996). [Author's italics].
In addition to the customary lexical components of the impossibility motif which
includes the black bird and the rearing of the impossible fruit, there are songs in which
the unattainable task also represents a metaphor of the dark deed, similarly to the
"excuses" in the don't tell motifs: in a short lyrical ballad in which the sister has sold
the brother for "silk and a mirror", the brother will return when a nightingale without a
heart shall sing. At that, the sister "Catches the nightin-bird so small,/ And pulls its
heart out from its breast" (HNP5, 127). The fact that Croatian ballads often resort to the
raven, which is supposed to turn white for something to be fulfilled, is connected with
the folk belief that the raven is an ominous bird, which foretells death with its
squawking (see Schmaus 1971:336). In Scottish ballads the impossible foretells "the
Sun and Moon dancing in the meadow" on the night when the son returns (see, e.g.,
Child 51A; 49A) or he will return when "the sun and the mune meet on yon hill"
(Child, 51B), although that tradition is also familiar with the folk belief in the raven as
a bird of bad omen (see, e.g. Child 26). There is a multitude of impossibility-motifs in
235
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S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
H o w e v e r , t h e i m p o s s i b i l i t y motif, w h i c h is a paradoxical p a r a p h r a s e
of t h e c o n c e p t of " n e v e r " t h r o u g h i n t r o d u c t i o n of t h e " n a t u r a l
impossibility" (Lausberg
1993:103), can also be an
effective
" c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s y s t e m " , a n d is thus c o m b i n e d with t h e don't tell motif.
T h e s o n w h o d i e d b e c a u s e of t h e " m a i d e n ' s c u r s e " , after h a v i n g forced
himself u p o n her, s e n d s a m e s s a g e t o his m o t h e r that he has r e m a i n e d in
the m o u n t a i n s b e c a u s e h e has b e e n e n c h a n t e d by t h e fairies' p o t i o n s , a n d
will return w h e n his m o t h e r rears a m a p l e tree w h i c h will b e a r a p p l e s
( H N P 5 , 4 7 ) . T h e m o t h e r tries to d o t h e " i m p o s s i b l e " , a n d w h e n s h e fails,
her sister confirms that her efforts w e r e futile b e c a u s e "He lived in an evil
w a y , I v o , your s o n , / H e lived in a n evil w a y , and perished up t h e r e " .
16
T h i s latter e x a m p l e a l s o has a didactic function. T h e moral m e s s a g e
is n o t in q u e s t i o n , e v e n if it is n o t e x p r e s s e d e x p l i c i t l y . In fact, t h e
i m p o s s i b i l i t y motif u s u a l l y r e m a i n s w i t h o u t a directly edifying m e s s a g e .
I n s t e a d , it is r e p l a c e d by i n t e n s i f i c a t i o n o n t h o s e o c c a s i o n s w h e n t h e
i m p o s s i b l e d o e s i n d e e d o c c u r , but w i t h o u t c o n s e q u e n c e s for the first part
of the antithetical p r e m i s e . T h e m o t h e r w h o s e m a l i c i o u s g o s s i p c a u s e s t h e
d e a t h of h e r d a u g h t e r - i n - l a w , m a n a g e s to c o a x l e a v e s from a d r i e d - o u t
poplar, a n d t o w h i t e n a j a c k d a w - but still her son d o e s n o t return h o m e
(HNP5, 115).
17
W h e n t h e i n f o r m a t i v e value of t h e i m p o s s i b i l i t y motif is c o m p a r e d
with the don't tell motif, it is seen that while the "false n e w s " in c o n d e n s e d
b a l l a d n a r r a t i v e fulfils t h e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s f u n c t i o n - b e c a u s e t h e
c h a r a c t e r s d o u n d e r s t a n d t h e m e t a p h o r i c a l m e s s a g e of the don't tell motif,
the i n f o r m a t i v e v a l u e of t h e adynaton
is e n r i c h e d by the " m o r a l " of t h e
ballad. T h u s , if t h e r e c e p t i o n of t h e don't tell motif in t h e ballad c a n b e
o m i t t e d o r if t h e c h a r a c t e r s i m m e d i a t e l y u n d e r s t a n d t h e m e s s a g e of t h e
don't tell motif, t h e "unattainable p r o m i s e " is not merely lost "in the wind":
it h a s t o b e s u b m i t t e d t o f u r t h e r v e r i f i c a t i o n . T h e s e
similar
" c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s y s t e m s " have diverse functions. T h e impossibility motif
d o e s not h a v e t o c o n d e n s e t h e plot as is t h e c a s e w i t h t h e d e c i p h e r a b l e
don't tell motif. T h r o u g h unsuccessful strivings to realise the i m p o s s i b l e or
Scandinavian ballads: the son-murderer will return when the crow turns white, the
swans turn b l a c k , stones fly, feathers sink ( c o m p a r e Child 1965:168). T h e
impossibility-motif would seem to be "one of the commonplaces of ballad poetry"
(Child), and it is strongly represented in Croatian folk poetry. (According to F. J.
Child, it appears in three types of Anglo-Scottish ballads. Ibid).
The mother herself comes to the same conclusion in a variant of that ballad: following
her son's instructions, she catches a raven and washes it so that it turn white, but when
the raven becomes even blacker, she releases it with the words: "Go with the Devil, both
Devil and Raven!/ While he, Bogdan, my darling child,/ Stood with the Devil, who then
led him away!" (Glavic, p. 4 1 2 1 ; Supplement HNP5).
In one Bosnian variant, the horse even return to the mother, but with the dead son's
head (Sestic, II, No. 2 1 ; HNP5, 115).
236
1
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
t h r o u g h futile a c h i e v e m e n t of the i m p o s s i b l e , it has to stress the m o r a l to
be d r a w n by the m e m b e r s of the family, w h i l e its usually implied d i d a c t i c
note h o n o u r s t h e poetic principle of the ballad as a genre "which d o e s not
moralise" (Smith 1964:3).
18
** *
If o n e c a n n o t e x p e c t the s t o r y 4 i n e tensions of the ballad t o be s o l v e d by
r e f i n e d n u a n c e s in t h e s h a p i n g of f e e l i n g s n o r in t h e d e l i c a c y of
o b s e r v a t i o n ( G e r o u l d 1 9 3 2 : 3 6 ) , b e c a u s e its d r a m a t i c c h a r g e is e s s e n t i a l l y
set with "intensity of passion" and "justice of feeling" (Ibid.), the s e d u c t i v e
dark c r i m s o n flower of D e a t h , w h i c h o b e y s t h e b a l l a d i m p e r a t i v e for a
" p o w e r f u l " d e n o u e m e n t , often p r o v i d e s the s o l u t i o n to t h e a u t i s t i c a l l y
h o p e l e s s conflict of the entire k a l e i d o s c o p e of h u m a n d r a m a . D e a t h has
a l m o s t b e c o m e t h e t r a d e m a r k of t r a g i c f a m i l y s u b j e c t s in t h e b a l l a d .
H o w e v e r , this d o e s not e x h a u s t the part of D e a t h in the s t r u c t u r e of the
ballad. In this a r t i c l e , o u r interest has b e e n c o n c e n t r a t e d on the w a y in
which the family is informed of the death of its m e m b e r s . W e noticed that
in s o m e ballads d e a t h a n d the reception of the tidings of death leads into a
n a r r a t i v e situation in k e e p i n g w i t h t h e p o e t i c d e m a n d of the ballad for
c o n d e n s e d p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e s t o r y , w h i l e t h e b a l l a d ' s d r a m a t i c a u r a
created in this w a y is e v e n m o r e intensified by the fact that the r e c e p t i o n
of the n e w s is u s u a l l y a c c o m p a n i e d by the d e a t h of family m e m b e r s . In
the epic p o e m , h o w e v e r , d e a t h and the r e c e p t i o n of the t i d i n g s of d e a t h
have their p l a c e in diverse narrative s e g m e n t s , and the n e w s itself is not so
" o m i n o u s " for its r e c i p i e n t s . W e a l s o s a w that the fact that the ballad - unlike any other traditional genre - placed so much importance on
family r e l a t i o n s h i p s (Liithi 1970:79), w a s a l s o reflected in the c r e a t i o n of
p a r t i c u l a r m o t i f s e.g. t h e don't tell motif, w h i c h k e e p s in m i n d t h e
particular family ethics - it is never too late for bad n e w s - in the formation
of the tidings of death. T h o s e motifs in the ballads w h i c h also p r e s e n t t h e
r e c e p t i o n of the t i d i n g s of d e a t h h a v e lost s o m e t h i n g of their p a l l i a t i v e
n a t u r e , but for that v e r y r e a s o n d r a m a t i s e in a p a r t i c u l a r w a y t h e
The fact that the attainment of the impossible depends on the "moral fortitude" of the
character is confirmed by additional examples: in a ballad in Erlangen's
Manuscript,
dry grass sprouts after Novak guides his Maiden Sister-by-Blood across the
mountains, but does not take advantage of her innocence (ER, 150). In the ballad about
the brother who sold his sister, and cursed her that she would only bear a child when
the dry maple tree sprouted leaves, the impossible is achieved: the sister has a child,
but the dry maple also "turns green" (HNP5, 183). The impossible in some popular
tales (e.g. in those about the "repentant sinner") is more than a motif; it structures the
entire story (compare e.g. Boskovic-Stulli, 1959; No. 29). See Curtius (1971:101 —
—105) for more about this motif as part of the mundus inversus topoi.
237
Nar. umjet. 34/1, 1997, pp. 225-240,
S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
Ballad
c o n d e n s e d narrative of the ballad plot. T h e c o n t e n t s of the don't tell motif
a r e d e c i p h e r a b l e t o t h e c h a r a c t e r s in the b a l l a d , s o t h e y b e c o m e a
p a r t i c u l a r b a l l a d " c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s y s t e m " . In epic p o e m s t h e s e motifs
have r e m a i n e d " o p a q u e " , but figure as the retardational i n s t r u m e n t s of the
s o n g . O n the other h a n d , the literal m e a n i n g of the m e t a p h o r i c a l l y f o r m e d
m e s s a g e in the ballads is m o r e directly related to the world of the family,
w h i l e the epic p o e m e s t a b l i s h e s s e m a n t i c links with the h e r o i c w o r l d of
battle. In t h o s e s o n g s in w h i c h t h e c o m m u n i c a t i o n of t i d i n g s of d e a t h
m a k e up their sole c o n t e n t - as in the ballad of the bandit's wife - the don't
tell motif is a m e a n s for intensification of the d r a m a of the plot, a l t h o u g h
its efficacy here is not based on the d e c i p h e r a b i l i t y of the c o n t e n t of the
m o t i f , b u t o n its t h r e e f o l d v a r i a t i o n . It w a s a l s o n o t i c e d t h a t t h e
impossibility motif (Lat. impossibile,
Gr. adynatori) in s o m e c a s e s b e c a m e
part of the ballad's " c o m m u n i c a t i o n s s y s t e m " , while its place at the end of
the ballad often m a d e it the bearer of the m o r a l . T h r o u g h a n a l y s i s of the
"tidings of d e a t h " in the folk b a l l a d , w e c o n f i r m e d the sensitivity of the
genre to i n t e r p e r s o n a l family r e l a t i o n s h i p s w h i c h - t h r o u g h the m e s s a g e
giving n e w s of the d e a t h of a family m e m b e r - b e c a m e part of the ballad's
structure in a very special w a y .
N O T E : T h e cited collection n u m b e r w h i c h a c c o m p a n i e s the a u t h o r ,
or the a b b r e v i a t i o n of t h e c o l l e c t i o n i n d i c a t e s the ordinal n u m b e r of t h e
s o n g , a n d not the p a g e n u m b e r .
(Translated by Nina H. Antoljak)
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S. Delic, Tidings of Death in the Folk
VIJEST O SMRTI U NARODNOJ
Ballad
BALADI
SAŽETAK
LI članku se analizira karakterističan tematski element narodne pjesme baladnoga tipa:
situacija kad rodbina glavnog junaka prima vijest o njegovoj smrti. Ta se situacija
razmatra u nizu pojedinačnih pjesama koje ne pripadaju nekom zajedničkom tipu, a kao
kriteriji razlikovanja individualnih uobličenja vijesti pojavljuju se odgonetljivost
vijesti te s p o s o b n o s t primatelja da vijest razumije. Dok j e za epsku pjesmu
karakteristična prikrivenost donesene vijesti za njezine primatelje, što j e u skladu s
imanentnim zahtjevom žanra za iscrpnim pripovijedanjem uz karakterističnu retardaciju
koja ide na uštrb dramatičnosti ispripovjedanog događaja, likovi u baladi metaforički
oblikovanu vijest odmah razumiju. Situaciji prijema tragične vijesti pridružuju se u
analizi i neki srodni modusi osvjedočenja likova o junakovoj smrti (naslućivanje smrti
na temelju predznaka i preduvjerenja). Analizira se kompozicijski tretman takvih modusa
u baladi te njihov sadržajni sastav (metaforički oblikovani don't t e l l - m o t i v i ,
impossibilitv-motivi, tzv. lažna vijest) koji se kontrastiraju s istim predmetom u epskoj
pjesmi. Zamjećuje se podudarnost strukturna oblikovanja recepcije 'vijesti o smrti'
odnosno zlokobnih nagovještaja smrti s njihovim sadržajnim ispunjenjima: tamo gdje j e
kompozicija strukturirana putem incremental
repetilion
i pripovjednog zgušnjavanja,
pjesma svoj izražajni repertoar crpe iz svijeta obiteljskih odnosa; u pjesmama u kojima se
u "izgovorima" poseže za junačkim svijetom megdana, primanje vijesti o smrti znatnije j e
elaborirano.
240