WITH A FEW
MISCELLANEOUS PIECES AND FOLK-SONGS.
TRANSLATED FROM THE MAGYAR BY
E. D. BUTLER, F.R.G.S.,
ASSISTANT IN THE DEPARTMENT OF PRINTED BOOKS, BRITISH MUSEUM, AND
FOREIGN MEMBER OF THE KISFALUDY SOCIETY.
LONDON:
TRÜBNER AND CO.
57 AND 59, LUDGATE HILL.
1881.
"THE Legend of the Wondrous Hunt" (Rege a csoda-szarvasról), which forms the sixth canto of Arany's epic poem, "The Death of Buda" (Buda halála), is one of the most popular of the many Magyar ballads written by this poet. The argument is as follows: - Hunor and Magyar, the sons of Ménrót (Nimrod) by Enéh, start with their followers upon a hunting expedition from Havilah, the land of their parents. Led on by the chase, the huntsmen, after coursing along the south-western borders of the Caspian Sea, arrive at the banks of the Kur. Feeling mysteriously impelled to follow the deer, they swim across the river, and continue from day to day to pursue the chase, until, having overrun the intervening country, they at length come to the shores of the Sea of Azov. The deer now vanishing from view, the huntsmen settle upon an island near the coast. In the course of a predatory expedition on the neighbouring mainland, they are attracted by the sounds of distant music. Upon arriving at the spot whence the sounds proceeded, they find a group of maidens, whom they at once carry off, and make their wives. The two noblest of these fall to the choice of Hunor and Magyar, who become respectively the founders of the Hun and Magyar races; the followers of the former removing to Scythia, and those of the latter settling along the Don.
The translator has ventured to add, and generally in the original metre, a few Folk-Songs and other pieces, reprinted from the Klausenburg "Journal of Comparative Literature." Owing to the exertions of the editor, Dr. Hugo Meltzl, the short lyrical piece by Petőfi, "The Quivering Bush," has been rendered into numerous languages and dialects, amongst which may be mentioned - Armenian, Chinese, French, Gaelic, German and German dialects, Greek, Icelandic, Italian, Old Norse, Romany or Gipsy dialect, Roumanian, Lowland Scotch, Swedish, and English. Mr. King, the Australian writer of a second English version, has not inaptly styled it "A Polyglot Love Song."
London, February, 1881.
Reszket a bokor ................................ Petőfi Sándor Az árva leány .................................... Petőfi Sándor Mikor a nap ........................................ Vajda János A szerelem méhe .......................... Czuczor Gergely Emberi pálya ......................... Szentmiklóssy Alajos A halászlegény ................................ Bernát Gáspár
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The Quivering Bush. .................... Alexander Petőfi The Orphan Maiden. ................... Alexander Petőfi Carpe Diem. ........................................ John Vajda The Honey-Bee. ......................... Gregory Czuczor Human Life. ............................ Alois Szentmiklóssy The fisher-lad. ................................ Caspar Bernát
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FOR ENGLISH READERS.
Selected and Translated by E. D. BUTLER, F.R.G.S., Assistant in the British Museum, and Foreign Member of the Kisfaludy Society.
"The translations are marked by conscientious and faithful rendering of both the spirit and form of the original." - Athenœum.
"Mr. E. D. Butler has already attained a considerable reputation as a scholar of Hungarian, that most difficult language, and the present little volume, very conscientiously prepared, will certainly enhance his fame." - Examiner.
"We compliment both author and illustrator on their work." - Poets' Magazine.
"Enough in it to amuse anyone who is at all interested in the land of Kossuth." - Pictorial World.
"The printing of the book is excellent." - Academy.
"In the fables and allegories... the native raciness and simplicity have been preserved." - Scotsman.
"His translations have all the simplicity and directness of the originals - two qualities for which Hungarian poetry is especially conspicuous... The fables at the end of the volume are exceedingly good." - Morning Advertiser.
"Well printed." - Holloway Press.
"As regards care and fidelity in translating, these attempts are sufficient to gain for Mr. Butler a place in the first rank amongst those who have translated Hungarian poems into foreign languages. His conception is for the most part faultless. He renders back the sense faithfully, and moreover often line for line... We consider Mr. Butler far more competent to make known Hungarian poetry, than were his predecessors in English verse translation from the Magyar." - Buda-Pesti Szemle, Nov.-Dec., 1877. (Translation.)
"We hope that he will perform many such services as successfully as this in the interest of the national reputation of our literature." - Kelet, Kolozsvar. (Translation.)