Page:Poetry of the Magyars.djvu/108

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2
DEMETRIUS CSATI.

CONQUEST OF THE MAGYAR LAND.

Emlekezzünk régiekről,
A' Szitlyiábó1 kijöttekről
Magyaroknak eleikről,
'Es azoknak vitézségekről.[1]


REMEMBER we our sires of old,
Their flight from the Scythian land;
The patriarchs of the Magyars,
And the valor of their band!

Forth from the Scythian land they came,
This better land to see;
By Isten[2] led, they onwards sped

Adown to Erdely.[3]

  1. Respecting the date of this poem there are many different opinions. Révai quotes it as one of the national ballads sung at the public festivals of the Magyars, attributing it to the twelfth century as its earliest date; but it is generally supposed to be a composition of the fourteenth century. The three last stanzas were first published by Schedel in his collection. The rhymes are very irregular, and some of the verses not very intelligible; but there is much historical interest in the production, which Gruber has translated into German.
  2. Isten, God.
  3. Transylvauia.