‘Good evening to you, Fire Dragon!’
From Ukrainian Books of Spells
Selection and English translation
by Nazarii Nazarov
Nazarii A. Nazarov holds a Ph.D. in linguistics, he lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. His poems have appeared in national anthologies in Ukraine (both in Ukrainian and in French translation). Previously published collections include Escape from Babylon (2006), Torch Bearer (2009), and translation collections Gardens of Adonis: Minor Anthology of World Poetry (2015, translations from Modern and Ancient Greek, Persian, etc.), and Cavafy: Poems (2016, from Modern Greek). His poems in English can be seen on the Internet (Eunoia, Alluvium, Eratio).
Introduction
There has been a hollow man
who had hollow oxen,
а hollow plough,
and hollow ploughboys.
They ploughed а hollow field,
he sowed hollow grain.
It is not a fragment of XX c. avant-garde poetry. It is an original folk incantation recited by old people in Ukrainian villages for ages. It is real poetry with bright imagery that can please even the most demanding reader.
Charms, incantations, invocations, hymns, prayers – they have different names within different folklore traditions. In Ukraine, they call them ‘zamovlyannya’, ‘zaklynannya’, ‘shepty’ (i.e. incantations or ‘whispers’).
Since XVIII c. there have been recorded several hundreds of Ukrainian folk incantations. They were recited or chanted in semi-whisper, accompanying some ritual manipulations. Their content has astonishing parallels with other Indo-European invocational traditions, e.g. Atharva Veda and Northern Germanic traditions.
Ukrainian and other Slavic peoples (especially Belorussian, Russian, and Balkan Slavic nations) have preserved heathen attitudes to nature. It was only a little marred by Christian ideology because traditional lore was an indispensable part of everyday life. People would more often say charms than Pater Noster! Virtually in any Ukrainian village up to nowadays, one can find an old lady or even ladies who still practice traditional magical lore – she “whispers” incantation, uses eggs to cure those affected by ‘bad eye’, and uses herbs to cure the sick. Sometimes men also practice the same.
But it is only an outer description of these wild-born, authentic, and powerful texts. The innermost sense of them is to respect nature, to be a part of it, to mingle with natural forces, and to sing praise to them. Thus, these charms are authentic semipagan hymns to winds, waters, stars, and the Moon.
*
– Good evening to you, Fire Dragon!
– Hello, girl, begotten one, baptized one, prayed for!
– Where are you flying?
– I am flying to burn the woods,
to dry the soil,
to make grass wither.
– Do not fly, oh Fire Dragon,
to burn the woods,
to dry the soil,
to make grass wither!
But fly to the cossack’s courtyard,
and wherever you catch him –
amidst the meadows,
on his way,
at his meal,
in his bed –
grip his heart,
make him languish,
make him burn!
Make him quiver and tremble
after me, begotten one,
baptized, and prayed for!
Let him not eat me out,
let him not drink me out,
let him not forget me
while playing with others,
let me always be in his mind.
Drag him – cossack Ivan,
the begotten one,
baptized, and prayed for –
to me,
whose name is Maria-maiden,
the begotten one, baptized, and prayed for! M141-142
*
<…> There is a black mountain,
on that mountain,
there is a black stone,
on that stone,
there sits a stone lady,
and she holds a stone child. <…> M124
*
There has been a hollow man,
who had hollow oxen,
а hollow plough,
and hollow ploughboys.
They ploughed а hollow field,
he sowed hollow grain.
Hollow grain has sprouted,
has ripened,
hollow reapers harvested it
with а hollow sickle, <…>
put it in hollow sacks,
brought it to а hollow city,
milled it on а hollow stone,
scattered erysipelas
among huts, among marshes,
among hollow reeds <…>. Ch116-117
*
If you are a depressing <fever>,
if you are a shaking <fever>,
if you are from waters,
if you are from winds,
if you are from a whirlwind,
if you are from thoughts,
if you are sent forth,
if you are from sleep,
if you are from food,
if you are from a drink,
if you are from the land,
if you are from chanting,
if you are from conjuring,
if you are sent forth,
if you are of an hour,
if you are of half an hour,
if you are of a day or midday,
if you are of a night or midnight,
you were steady, you were thriving,
till I didn’t know you.
Now when I know you,
I am sending you forth from the bones,
I will pour water on your face,
I will burn your eyes,
I will conjure you with prayers,
I will send away from Christian faith:
Go away, where dogs are not barking,
where rooster doesn’t sing,
where Christian voice doesn’t go <…>
Ch119
*
Oh, Moon-Prince! There are three of you:
the first in the sky,
the second on the earth,
the third in the sea – a white stone.
As they cannot come together,
let my toothache cease! E4
*
There is the Moon in the sky,
there is a corpse in the grave,
there is a stone in the sea:
when these three brothers
come together
to hold a feast,
let my teeth hurt. E5
*
O Moon, oh young Prince!
Have you visited the old Moon?
Have you asked him if he had a
toothache?
Let my teeth never hurt, in ages and
judgements.
There is a hare in the fields,
there is a fish in the sea,
there is the Moon in the sky:
when these three brothers feast together,
let my teeth ache. E5
*
From wherever you came,
From wherever you crept,
I chase you out,
I conjure you out,
I curse you,
Go away,
Go to the woods,
Go to the reeds,
Go to the meadows,
Go to the passages,
Creep inside an asp,
Creep inside a toad!
Away, away! E8
*
In the morning of St George’s day let you gather sky’s dew into a napkin till it is wet, and take it to your home, and press this dew into a glass. If any cattle happens to have a wall-eye, utter the following, standing in front of it:
St George rode a white horse
with white lips,
with white teeth,
he was white himself,
he was clad in white,
his belt was white,
he leads three hounds:
the first one is white,
the second one is grey,
the third one is red.
The white one will lick a wall-eye away,
the grey one – a tear,
the red one – blood. E10
*
There on the mountain,
oxen ploughed the soil
and sowed red mallow;
the red mallow didn’t sprout.
There stood a girl.
On the shore of the blue sea,
there stood a ribless sheep.
On the shore of the red sea,
there lies a red stone.
Where the Sun walks,
there blood stops.
Where the Sun sets,
there blood dries. E13
*
A red man walked,
he was carrying a bucket of water,
the man stumbled,
the bucket broke,
water spilled,
the grey horse stopped bleeding. E15
*
Three rivers flew
under the viburnum leaf:
the first one of water,
the second one of milk,
the third one of blood.
A watery one I will drink,
a milky one I will eat,
a bloody one I will quench,
I will stop bleeding
of the grey horse. E15
*
A black raven flew
from the steep rock,
perched on the grey horse’s rump,
from its rump to its back,
from its back to its mane,
from its mane to the ground. E15
*
Three brothers walked,
they talked, they asked a rabid dog:
“Go the right way
across the Jordan river,
ascend the high mountain,
there is a ram rambling
with huge horns,
shave his wool
between the horns,
and come back:
scoop up water from Jordan,
slash a white stone from the rock.
Let all saint Guardians help me
to conjure, to incantate
the rabid dog! E16
*
In the field-field,
In the steppe-steppe,
there is a pear tree,
under the tree, there is a golden bed,
on this bed, there is a snake.
“I came to you, oh snake,
to ask you and god to have mercy on me:
harm happened to my bay horse
(or a mare, or an ox, or a cow)
of yellow bones, of black blood,
of red meat, of raven wool.
Summon your kings, your generals,
your princes, hetmans,
colonels, centurions,
thanes, chiefs, bannermen,
soldiers-cossacks,
all officers from homes,
from earth,
from dung,
from grass,
from stone,
from water,
from cellars,
from under the heaps,
and make them beat
the guilty with an oak club,
make him sink in humid soil,
in yellow sand
for thirty sajen deep! E17
(1 sajen equals about 2 meters)
*
An old lady walked the black road.
Black herself,
she wore a black skirt and a black apron.
She doesn’t cut an oak, sycamore,
or birch,
but she cuts rash. M119
*
In the sea, in the ocean,
on Buyan island,
there stood a hollow oak,
under that oak,
there sat a turtle,
the chief of all the vipers.
Snake, snake, teach well your nephews,
else I’ll find such a man that devours
Wednesdays and Fridays
and he will devour you! M158
*
Under the sun, under the hot one,
under the wood, under the dark one,
there stands a willow.
Under this willow,
there are seven hundred roots,
on this willow,
there are seven hundred cords.
On these cords, there sits Khan King
and Khan Queen. Ch121
*
On the Ossiyan mountain,
there stood a stone well.
A stone girl went there,
stone buckets and stone yoke,
stone braid,
and she was of stone.
If she fetches water from there,
let the begotten, baptized God’s servant Ivan bleed again. M69
*
Oak, oak!
You are black,
you have a white birch,
you have small oaks – your sons,
you have small birches – your daughters.
Let you, oak and birch,
whisper and hum,
let God’s servant Ivan,
the begotten one,
baptized, sleep and grow! M10
*
In the Diyan sea,
on Kiyan island,
there stood an oak,
in the oak, there was a hole,
in the hole, there was a nest,
in the nest, there were three Queens:
the first was Kiliyana,
the second Iliyana,
the third Spindle-Queen.
You, Spindle-Queen,
come forth, whistle to your army –
army from the fields,
from the woods, from the waters,
from dung, from home!
Prohibit it, oh Spindle-Queen,
to bite where it shouldn’t,
to use their teeth –
because their teeth will be no more,
they will fall down on the ground
from a begotten one,
baptized one
God’s servant Ivan. M150
*
There is the Moon in the sky,
an oak in the wood,
a pike in the sea,
a bear in the forest,
a beast in the field.
When they come together
to have a feast,
let N’s teeth ache. VV
*
An eagle flew across the sea,
lowered its wing,
quenched the spring.
A rooster perched on a stone
and waves with its wings.
The stone doesn’t move,
the Christian blood
of the begotten one, baptized,
prayed for
Ivan
doesn’t flow. T29
*
A girl walked an evil route,
she went to an evil orchard
to pluck evil herbs,
to cut it with an evil knife,
to brew an evil stew,
the stew starts to boil,
blood ceases to flow. T29
*
Immaculate Virgin
walked along the blue sea,
she leaned on the golden stick.
She encountered St Peter.
“Where are you going, Immaculate one?”
“Towards the place,
where three brothers fought,
to enchant their blood”.
The wound closed,
the blood stopped,
the Immaculate one came back.
Amen! T29
*
A mountain is with a mountain,
a stone is with grass,
a fish is with water!
When they come together,
when the stone flows,
when water stands still,
let then the teeth
of the begotten one, pried for,
baptized N ache. T30
*
Before whispering, let you splash some water on the child, and then you shall say:
Oh stars, stars!
You are three sisters in the sky:
the first one at sunset,
the second at midnight,
the third at the dawn.
Be helpful for me in some sickness.
Pervade meadows and banks,
roots and stones,
pervade also this begotten one,
baptized N! T31
*
At the seaside, there is a green withe.
Wind withers the green withe,
wind withers it, blows away its leaves.
One leaf fell into the sea,
another fell into the heart,
the third one will heal the wound,
will cure the wound! E19
List of Sources
In this collection, a number after each abbreviation indicates the page of the original source
Ch – П. Чубинський. Труды этнографическо-статистической экспедиции в Западно-Русский край. Материалы и исследования. – Т. 1. – Вып. 1. Санкт-Петербург, 1872.
E – П. Ефименко. Сборник малороссийских заклинаний. Москва, 1876.
M – М. Москаленко. Українські замовляння. Київ, 1993.
T – Олена Таланчук. Духовний світ українського народу. Київ, 1992.
VV – Все для вчителя. Інформаційно-практичний бюлетень.