imagination is hardly the St George of the Church. Tradition has invested his character with attributes and embellished his career with achievements which would have surprised the old gentleman considerably. Readers of Percy's Reliques will remember the romantic ballad1 in which St George is described as the son of an English lord, borne away in infancy by “the weird Lady of the woods," and all the other incidents woven round his attractive personality. The Macedonian peasant also has many a quaint story to tell of his favourite saint.

The song given below was dictated to the writer by a peasant girl of Sochos. From this composition it appears that St George is regarded as a kind of mediaeval knight on horseback, armed in the orthodox fashion, and as the bearer of gifts to those who are fortunate enough to win his favour.

I. Ballad of St George.

"St George, knight of the sword and spear,

Give me thy little key that I may open thy little eye, [?]

And see what thou carriest within."

"Wheat and barley, and grains of pearl."

"Give to the bride chestnuts and to the groom walnuts,

To our dear mother-in-law kerchiefs of pure gold,

And to the children pencils."

1 The Birth of St George.

In another ballad sung, like the above, on the saint's feast, St George plays rather an unchivalrous rôle. I will give here only the translation, as the text, which I took down at Nigrita, is merely a variant of a song already published in Passow's collection (No. 587).1

II. Ballad of St George.

“A young Turk, the king's own grandson, falls in love with a Christian maid and wishes to make her his. He desires her; but she desires him not. She runs away, placing hills and mountains between her pursuer and herself. In the way which she goes, she finds St George sitting at a deserted little chapel.

'My lord St George, great be thy name! I beseech thee hide me this instant. Oh save me from the hands of the Turk!' The marble walls were rent asunder, and the maid entered. At that very moment, lo! the Turk arrived before St George. 'My lord St George, great be thy name! The maid whom thou keepest here, I beseech thee give her to me. I will bring thee cartloads of candles, cartloads of frankincense,

1 On comparing my version with Passow's again I find that the former, though by no means perfect, is not only fuller than Passow's but presents so many points of difference that it may be worth while to insert it:

Ενα μικρὸ Τουρκόπουλο, τοῦ βασιλεᾶ ἀγγόνι,

Μιὰ ̔Ρωμῃοποῦλ ̓ ἀγάπησε καὶ θέλει νά τη πάρῃ.

Τὴ θέλει, δέ τον θέλει.

Παίρνει τὰ ὄρη ὀμπροστὰ καὶ τὰ βουνὰ ἐπὸ πίσω.

Στὸ δρόμο ὁποῦ πάαινε, 'ς τὸ δρόμο ποῦ πααίνει,

Βρίσκ ̓ τὸν "Αϊ Γεώργη κάθουνταν σὲ μιὰ ̓ρημοκκλησοῦδα·

66"

“Αϊ Γεώργ ̓ ἀφέντη μ', μεγάλο τὤνομά σου,

Αὐτὴ τὴν ὥρα κρύψε με 'π ̓ τὰ Τούρκικα τὰ χέρια.”

Τὰ μάρμαρα ραΐστηκαν κ ̓ ἡ κόρη μπαίνει μέσα.

Νὰ κὴ ὁ Τοῦρκος πρόφτασε μπροστὰ 'ς τὸν "Αϊ Γεώργη·

66

“Αϊ Γεώργ ̓ ἀφέντη μ', μεγάλο τὠνομά σου,

Αὐτὴ τὴ κόρη πὤχεις δῶ, θέλω νά μέ τη δώσης.

Θὰ φέρ ̓ ἁμάξι τὸ κερί, ἁμάξι τὸ θυμιάμα

Καὶ ἐς τὰ βουβαλοτόμαρα θὰ κουβαλῶ τὸ λάδι,

Σ τὴ πίστι σου θὰ βαφτιστῶ καὶ Γεώργη τὤνομά μου.”
Τὰ μάρμαρα ραΐστηκαν κ ̓ ἡ κόρη βγῆκε ἔξω.

Τὴ 'πῆρ ̓ ὁ Τοῦρκος κ ̓ ἔφυγε.

and oil will I bring thee in big buffalo-skins. I will also be christened into thy faith, and my name shall be George.'

The marble walls were rent asunder, and the maid came forth. The Turk seized her and sped away."

The poet does not say whether the young Turk fulfilled his vow; but one would not be sorry to hear that he did not.

May.

Sicker this morrow, no longer ago,

I saw a shoal of shepheards outgo

With singing, and shouting, and jolly cheer.

Shepheard's Calender.

The First of May (IIpwroμaïà) is spent "in dance and song and game and jest." Parties are formed "to fetchen home May” (νὰ πιάσουν τὸν Μάη) and go to picnic in the plains and meadows. The youths weave wreaths of wild flowers and of sprays of the fragrant tree called after the day Protomaïa, and hang them outside the doors of their sweethearts, according to the common European custom which is explained by folklorists as due to the belief in the fertilising power of the tree-spirit. Similar garlands adorn the lintels, beams, and windows of each cottage and are allowed to remain there until they are quite dry, when they are burnt.2

One of the flowers gathered on this day is picked out by the girls for purposes of divination on the subject which is uppermost in maids' minds the world over. This privileged blossom is the humble daisy, in Macedonia called pappas. They pluck its white petals one by one, repeating the familiar “He loves me; he loves me not” (Μ ̓ ἀγαπᾷ, δέ μ' ἀγαπᾷ). Some of these blossoms are dried, to be used in winter as medicine against coughs.

1 J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, vol. 1. p. 195.

2 Cp. G. Georgeakis et Léon Pineau, Le Folk-Lore de Lesbos, p. 301.

* Α. Δ. Γουσίου, “Η κατὰ τὸ Πάγγαιον Χώρα, p. 46. Cp. Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, vol. iv. pp. 44, 45.

Among the many songs sung on this occasion the following

is a great favourite:

Τώρα 'ν ὁ Μάης κ ̓ ἡ ̓́Ανοιξι,

Τώρα τὸ καλοκαίρι,

Τώρα κῇ ὁ ξένος βούλεται

Σ τὸν τόπο του νὰ πάῃ.

“Now is May and Spring,

Now is the fine weather,

Now the stranger bethinks himself

To return to his native land."

To these simple verses the country girls will dance for hours, repeating them again and again.

Another song, which I heard at Melenik, impressed me with its simple sentimentality. An enthusiast might even venture to claim for it a place beside Anacreon's sweet ode, beginning with the words Σὺ μὲν φίλη χελιδών.

'Where wert thou, my own bird, this long while,
And I waiting for thee like one demented?'
'I dwelt in the mountains and in the hills,
Amidst the crystal springs.

I dwelt amidst the cooling dews,

In May's green plantations.””

A third ballad, dealing with the balmy beauties of May, was dictated to me by a native of the isle of Thasos:

Ένα πουλί θαλασσινό κ ̓ ἕνα πουλί βουνήσιο

Φωνάζει τὸ θαλασσινὸ καὶ λέει τὸ βουνήσιο

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“Τί με φωνάζεις, βρ' ἀδερφέ, καὶ τί με παραγγέλνεις;” Σύρε, πουλί μ', 'ς τὸν τόπο μου, σύρε 'ς τὴ γυναῖκά μου.” “Γὼ καρτερῶ τὴν ̓́Ανοιξι, τὸν Μάη, τὸ καλοκαίρι,

Νὰ μπουμπουκιάσουν τὰ βουνά, νὰ σκιώσουν τὰ λαγκάδια, Νὰ βγοῦν οἱ Βλάχοι 'ς τὰ βουνά, κ ̓ ἡ Βλάχῃς ἐς τὰ λαγκάδια, Νὰ πάρω τὸ τουφέκι μου νὰ βγῶ νὰ κυνηγήσω,

Καὶ ναῦρω τὴν ἀγάπη μου νά τη γλυκοφιλήσω.”

"There was a bird of the sea and a bird of the hills.

The bird of the sea calls, and the bird of the hills replies:
'Wherefore dost thou call me, O brother, what is thy command ?'
'Go, my dear bird, to my native land, go to my wife.'

'I am waiting for Spring, for May, for the fine weather,

For the mountains to burst into bud, for the forests to grow shady,

For the shepherds to come forth on the hills, and the shepherdesses into the woods,

That I may take my musket and go forth a-hunting,

That I may find my beloved and give her a sweet kiss.""

It will be noticed that the conventional metaphor of the birds is dropped towards the end of the song, and the speaker resumes his human character and tastes.2

As an instance of the perfect abandon, which characterizes the May Day festivities of the modern Greeks, may be mentioned a custom which until quite recently prevailed in the island of

1 Βλάχοι and Βλάχῃς, ' shepherds' and 'shepherdesses. The name Wallach is commonly applied to all people leading a pastoral life, whether of Wallachian nationality or not, and points to the nomadic character of this mysterious tribe.

2 For English May-Songs ancient and modern, see The Book of Days, vol. 1. p. 546.