Text 12

ПОСЕЩЕНИЕ РОБИН ГУДОМ

НОТТИНГАМА

Был мальчик Робин Гуд высок

Дерри, дерри даун.

Уже в пятнадцать лет

Из тех выслких молодцов,

Смелей которых нет.

Хей, дау, дери, дери даун.

Собрался раз он в Ноттингам,

Идет в лесу, и вот

Пред ним пятнадцать лесников

Пьют пиво, эль и мёд.

«Что нового?» – спросил их Гуд.

«Что знал ты до сих пор?

Король устроил спор стрелков».

«Пойду и я на спор».

«Смешно, – сказали лесники,

– Такой мальчишка вдруг

Пойдет стрелять пред королем,

Взять не умея лук!»

«На двадцать марок, – Робин Гуд

Ответил, – спорь со мной,

И на сто сажень попаду

В оленя я стрелой».

«Идет, – сказали лесники,

– И спорим мы с тобой,

Что на сто сажень не попасть

Тебе в него стрелой».

И поднял Робин честный лук

С широкою стрелой

И на сто сажень уложил

Оленя в тьме лесной…

РОБИН ГУД И ЛЕСНИКИ

Высок и строен Робин Гуд.

Ему пятнадцать лет,

И веселее смельчака

Во всей округе нет.

Пришел однажды в Нотингем

Отважный Робин Гуд.

Глядит – пятнадцать лесников

Вино и пиво пьют.

Пятнадцать дюжих лесников

Пьют пиво, эль и джин:

– Все бедняки у нас в руках.

Не пикнет ни один.

– А ну, скажите, лесники,

Что нового в стране?

– Король на спор зовет стрелков.

– Ну что ж, мой лук при мне.

– Твой лук? – смеются лесники. –

Кто звал тебя, юнца?

Да ты, мальчишка, тетиву

Натянешь до конца?

– Я ставлю двадцать золотых,

Кладу на край стола.

Оленя за пятьсот шагов

Убьет моя стрела.

– Идет, – сказали лесники, –

Любой заклад хорош.

Оленя за пятьсот шагов,

Хоть лопни, не убьешь. –

Но не успел никто из них

Ни охнуть, ни моргнуть,

Как Робин за пятьсот шагов

Попал оленю в грудь...

There is not much to say about the outlaw as a historical person. Using poetic licence, perhaps, Sir Walter Scott, in his Ivanhoe, casts Robin Hood (his Locksley) as the leader of Saxon guerillas still holding out against the Norman regime. Diligent searches in ancient manorial rolls and court records have unearthed a number of Robin Hoods, several of them plausible prospects for the outlaw. It is obvious that the real biography of such a man, if reconstructed, would be pale stuff beside the exploits of the legendary character.

It was hardly a coincidence that the Sherwood leader of merry men and the ballads’ first translator into Russian were soul mates! The translation was published in 1919, and the translator was a poet, traveler and soldier, decorated two times with St. George's Military Cross for his exploits at the fronts of World War I. His name was Nikolay Gumilev. As for the the comparison between Gumilev’s translation and the other one made later by Ignatyi Ivanovsky, it can help us understand that history might be interpreted in a number of ways.

2.3 The advent of literary balladry:
the English Romanticists

A tidal wave of interest in balladry came with the growth of the Romantic movement. On Scottish soil, the most devoted to minstrel songs was young Walter Scott. For many years he had zealousy collected old Scottish ballads. In 1802, the two volumes were published entitled The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. A year later Scott added a third volume of imitations of old ballads written by himself. Of this class, The Eve of St. John (1799) has been the most popular. Though an imitation, the ballad is, nevertheless, rooted in the history of Scotland. It alludes to the age-long feud between England and Scotland and cities the names of the Scottish nobles who distinguished themselves in this feud. On the Scottish side the poet mentions Douglas and an ancestor of his own, Buccleuch.

As a learned antiquarian, Scott was pedantic about detail. If he mentions the Baron’s outfit, every part of it is sure to be strictly historical. Though the subject is legendary, the background of the tragedy is historical. The psychology is also medieval. Not only is the love of a woman for anyone who does not happen to be her husband considered criminal and adulterous: it is to be castigated, in heaven even more severely than on earth. Accordingly, a man whose wife loves another man is dishonoured and can only restore that honour by killing his rival. After doing so, the only way is to withdraw into a monastery to the end of his days. This is exactly what the Baron of Smaylho’me does. Sadly the ballad ends:

There is a nun in Dryburg biwer,

Ne’er looks upon the sun;

There is a monk in Melrose tower,

He speaketh word to none.

That nun who ne’er beholds the day,

That monk who speaks to none-

That nun was Smaylho’me’s Lady gay,

That monk the bold Baron.

The ballad was translated as early as 1822 By Vasilyi Zhukovsky, a master translator. By the way, the famous Eildon-tree is mentioned in the ballad, on the top of Eildon Hill, where the legendary poet Thomas Lermont the Rhumer uttered his prophecy. Mind the name, Lermont. Mikhail Lermontov’s romantic vision might have sprung from the knowledge of the fact his ancestors were Scottish. No wonder it was Lermontov who made the first ever translation of Robert Burns’s poetry into Russian: " We loved each other kindly …"

Curiously enough, Lermontov didn’t escape making a mistake in his translation: he mistook kindly for a word of German origin, translating it into Russian as как дети. But that was the only mistake he made.

Coming back to Zhukovsky’s translation, one can’t but agree with Pushkin who said: «Жуковского перевели бы все языки, если бы он сам менее переводил».

The Romantic Movement in England inspired other poets to write in the same vein, but in a new language. The manifesto of that new school of poetry was the Wordsworth-Coleridge joint venture of Lyrical Ballads, published in 1798 when both poets were rather young. At that time they were enthusiastic abot revolutionary change. Yet both, afterwards, lived long enough to regard their early enthusiasm, especially for the French Revolution, as vaguely discreditable. Coleridge took to philosophy and criticism. He was, by the way, the first critic who started paying attention to the language of literary works on a regular basis.

Both poets tried to create a sort of canon, a philosophy of their own. Wordsworth, for example, contemplated poetic creation in such a way:

"I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is contemplated till by a species of reaction the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind. In this mood successful composition generally begins, and in a mood similar to this it is carried on; but the emotion, of whatever kind and in whatever degree, from various causes is qualified by various pleasures, so that in describing any passion whatsoever, which are voluntarily described, the mind will upon the whole be in a state of enjoyment".

Coleridge’s fame as a poet rests on far fewer poems than Wordsworth's but as a thinker and literary critic he was more ambitious. He saw poetic creation and the poet’s personality as organically related within a grand metaptysical system. Typically for Coleridge, though, he planned to write more than he actually wrote. Coleridge’s best-known poem is probably The Rime of the Ancient Mariner first published in Lyrical Ballads. It is written in traditional English ballad style.

The Ancient Mariner kills an albatross and is forthwith tormented with the most frightening visions and visitations. The poem is presented in the style and metre of the old ballads, but with far greater imagination and astonishing imagery. The menacing symbol, the albatross, was so powerfully conveyed that it became at once part of the English language phraseology. Small wonder the poem ignited interest of many Russian translators, beginning from the middle of the 19^th century. By far the best translation into Russian belongs to Wielhelm Levik. He is a great master of artistic translation. Born in 1907, he created a whole treasure house of translations from German, French, English and several other languages. His translation efforts are an elegant example of how one should polish the translation into perfection. An attentive reader might observe some subtle changes made by the translator… Can you? Read Text 13 (the unlucky number!)