Painting by Marie-Noëlle Gagnan
"Ceyx and Alcyone"
И. А. БУНИН
(1870-1953)
ГАЛЬЦИОНА
Когда
в волне мелькнул он мертвым ликом,
К нему на сердце кинулась она —
И высоко, с двойным звенящим криком,
Двух белых чаек вынесла волна.
Когда
зимой, на этом взморье диком,
Крутая зыбь мутна и солона,
Они скользят в ее пучину с криком —
И высоко выносит их волна.
Но
есть семь дней: смолкает Гальциона,
И для нее щадит пловцов Эол.
Как серебро, светло морское лоно,
Чернеет
степь, на солнце дремлет вол...
Семь мирных дней проводит Гальциона
В камнях, в гнезде. И внуков ждет Эол.
28.VII.08
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Literal Translation
Halcyone
When his [Ceyx’s] dead face flashed in a wave
She threw herself upon his breast—
And high, with a ringing cry redoubled,
The wave bore away two white gulls.
When in the winter, by this wild seashore,
The steep swell of water is murky and salty,
With a cry they slip into the depths
And the billow bears them high away.
But there are seven days when Halcyone falls silent,
And for her sake Aeolus has mercy on the mariners.
The bosom of the sea shines like silver,
The steppe grows dark, an ox dozes in the sun…
Halcyone spends seven tranquil days
Amidst the rocks, in her nest. And Aeolus awaits grandchildren.
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Literary Translation/Adaptation by
U.R. Bowie
Halcyone
When his dead face flashed white upon a billow,
She threw herself into the surf, embraced him;
And then, amidst birdsong dulcet and mellow,
The wave bore off two gulls toward heaven’s rim.
When winter comes to this seascape phantasm,
When salty swells are steep and swathed in gloom,
The gulls voice cries and dive into the chasm,
From whence the wave uplifts them into spume.
Then Halcyone for seven days rests silent,
Aeolus for her sake seafarers spares.
The bosom of the sea is bright, compliant,
In drowsy steppe the oxen graze, no cares . . .
Our heroine, for seven days quiescent,
Sits brood on nest; Aeolus dreams of heirs.
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Translator’s Notes
From the Internet:
Alcyone and Ceyx
The lovely Alcyone (Halcyone) was the daughter of
Aeolus, the Greek god of the wind. She was the devoted wife of Ceyx, King of
Trachis, in central Greece. Ceyx ruled his kingdom with justice and in peace.
Alcyone and Ceyx were admired by gods and mortals alike for their great
physical beauty, as well as the profound love they had for each other.
They were so happy in their marriage that they used
to often playfully call one another Zeus and Hera. This infuriated the chief of
the gods who regarded it an audacity. Zeus waited for the proper time to punish
the arrogant couple who dared to make themselves comparable to gods.
Ceyx was still in mourning over his brother's death
and deeply troubled over some ominous signs that had observed. So, he decided
to consult the oracle of Apollo at Carlos in Ionia (Western Anatolia). Alcyone,
however, tried to dissuade her husband from his decision to travel through the
dangerous seas to consult the oracle.
She reminded him of the danger from the fury of the
winds which even her father, the god of the winds, often found difficult to
control: she put pressure on her husband to take her along with him. But Ceyx
wouldn't put his beloved wife through unnecessary danger. Alcyone watched with foreboding
as the ship carrying her husband was leaving the harbor.
The
Punishment
Zeus, the chief god, decided this was an opportune
time to punish the couple for their sacrilege. He launched a thunderbolt that
raised a furious hurricane engulfing the ship, which began to sink.
Ceyx realized that the end had come for him and,
before he was drowned, he prayed to the gods to allow his body be washed ashore
so as to enable his beloved Alcyone to perform the funeral rites. As Ceyx
gasped his last breath, his father Esophorous, the morning star, watched
helplessly, shrouding his face with clouds, unable to leave the heavens and
rescue his son.
The
Atonement
The lovely Alcyone waited for her husband for a long
time, praying continually to the gods, especially Hera, queen of the gods, for
the safe return of Ceyx. Hera felt profound sorrow for the tragic fate of Ceyx.
She sent her messenger Iris, goddess of the rainbow, to look for Hypnos, the
god of Sleep and comforter of the afflicted, to whom was assigned the mission
of gently informing Alcyone about the death of her husband. Hypnos, in his
turn, entrusted the mission to his son Morpheus, an expert in forming
apparitions.
Morpheus created a life-like specter of Ceyx, which
revealed to Alcyone the tragic circumstances concerning the shipwreck and death
of her husband. In profound grief, Alcyone ran to the seashore beating her
breasts and tearing her garments. She suddenly beheld the body of a man that
had been washed ashore. Coming closer, she realized it was the body of her
beloved Ceyx. After performing the last rites and unable to continue living
without her husband, Alcyone threw herself into the sea and was drowned,
determined to join her husband in the land of the dead.
The gods on Olympus were touched by the tragic fate
of Alcyone and Ceyx, as well as their wonderful love for one other, which not
even the frosty hands of death could extinguish. In order to atone for his rash
action that was responsible for this tragedy, Zeus transformed the couple into
the Halcyon birds (kingfisher).
The
Myth Lives On Today Through a Phrase
The phrase halcyon days owes its origin to this beautiful
myth of Alcyone and Ceyx. According to the legend, for two weeks every January
[December], Aeolus, father of Alcyone, calms down the winds and the waves so
that Alcyone, in the form of a kingfisher bird, can safely make her nest and
lay her eggs. Hence, the term "halcyon days" comes to signify a
period of great peace and calm.
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Amplification
Halcyon means “kingfisher’ in Greek, and the
expression “halcyon days” has come to refer to any period of happiness and
tranquil contentment. Originally this expression made reference to the days
around the winter solstice, when the halcyon, or kingfisher, built its floating
nest. During this time the gods were said to calm the seas to allow for the eggs
to successfully nest and hatch.
In the original myth Alcyone and Ceyx were allowed
to live on as kingfishers, who still mated and produced progeny. In some
variants the Greek myth ends with the rather odd image of the god of winds,
Aeolus, happily awaiting the birth of his grandchildren, unperturbed by the
fact that they will be birds hatching out. Bunin takes this ending for his poem
as well.
Bunin’s source is possibly Ovid’s Metamorphoses,
in which the tale (“The Quest of Ceyx”) concludes as follows:
“And through the pity of
the gods, the husband
Became a bird, and
joined his wife. Together
They suffered, and
together loved; no parting
Followed them in their
new-found form as birds,
They mate, have young,
and in the winter season,
For seven days of calm,
Alcyone
Broods over her nest on
the surface of the waters
While the sea-waves are
quiet. Through this time
Aeolus keeps his winds
at home, and ocean
Is smooth for his
descendants’ sake.”
[Rolfe Humphries
translation]
David Mark photo on Pixabay: Kingfisher
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