—'Op'n, prithee, open, mother mine, 'tis Constantine that calls thee;
I made the Saints my witnesses, I gave thee God for surety,
If there hap bitterness or joy, myself would go and bring her.'
Scarce had she passed to ope the door, and lo! her soul passed from her.
The versions of this ballad which have been collected are very numerous[1], and some of them differ so widely from others in language as not to have a single line in common. That which I have selected for translation is one of the most complete, presenting fairly all the essential points of the story, and free from the eccentricities which some versions have developed. At the same time it must be allowed that here the mother's curse is only implied by her action of tearing up the gravestones and adjuring Constantine to rise, whereas in one or two versions, otherwise inferior, it is clearly and forcibly expressed.
Thus in one[2] her words run:
[Greek: petra na ginê ho Kôstantês, lithari na mê le[i(]ôsê,
pôsteile tên Aretô mou, tên Aretô 'sta xena.]
'May Constantine become as rock, yea even as stone, and have no loosing (i.e. dissolution), for that he sent my Areto to a strange land.'
And in another[3]:
[Greek: Holoi mou hoi guioi na lyôsoune kê ho Kôstas na mê lyôsê,
Hop' edôke tên Aretê poly makrya 'sta xena.]
'May all my other sons have "loosing" and Constantine be not "loosed," for that he let my Areté be taken afar to a strange country.'
Again, another version[4] ends, not with the arrival of Areté in
time to close her dying mother's eyes, but with the revoking of
the curse upon Constantine in gratitude for the fulfilment of his
oath:
[Greek: 'na se lyôsê to chôma sou kai na se phag' hê plaka s'.'
hoso na sôs' to logo tês chouphta chôma genoton.]
'May the earth where thou liest loose thee and thy tomb consume thee.' Scarce had she finished her speech and he became but a handful of earth.
Clearly then the curse, which in this story is conceived as
binding Constantine's body and driving him forth from the grave
and which must be revoked before his body can be loosed by
natural decay, is one of that class which we have been considering;has collected seventeen in a monograph entitled [Greek: To dêmotikon
asma peri tou nekrou adelphou] (originally published in the [Greek: Deltion tês Histor. kai
Ethnol. Hetairias]).], op. cit. p. 43 (Version No. 4, ll. 18, 19).], 1862, vol. 13, p. 367 ([Greek: Politês], op. cit. p. 66, no. 17,
ll. 19, 20).], p. 164 (from Sinasos in Asia Minor).]
