# 13 Mantinades from Crete- request for the original Greek



## Theseus (Dec 3, 2017)

This is probably for our expert on Mantinades, Daeman.
Do you or anyone know the original for some of these 13 Mantinades. 'Man will know most of them but I will be content with the best of them!:blush:
Mantinades

FROM COUPLETS SENT BY SMS FROM YORGOS VITTOROS, MAYOR OF KYPARISSI 

Whose garden are you blossom to, to whom do you belong? 
Whose velvet down, whose feather are you, whose rejoicing song? 
* * *

BY MANOLIS PASPARAKIS (BLIND RHYMESTER) 

My heart, it doesn’t fool me, even with the games it plays: 
All my nights are dark, but that’s the same with all my days. 
* * * 

FROM YANNIS PAVLAKIS’S CRETAN FOLK POETRY COLLECTION 

Take a look around you when the trees are all in bloom, 
And wonder why you’ve chosen that old desiccated broom. 
* 
The everything of the world is zero, the life of the world is naught; 
It is from nothing to nothing that eternity is wrought. 
* 
When they open wide the church door to bear his body hither, 
I’ll drag forth such a savage cry the wild greens will wither. 
* 
I want my darling filthy—it’s the dirty girl I trust—
To keep her to myself and make the rest flee in disgust! 
* 
There is a sheer cliff at the end of the foot-path of our lives, 
But he whose soul possesses wings unfurls them and survives. 
* * *

FROM 6,000 COUPLETS OF ARISTIDES CHAIRETI

The world is something I can handle when she’s in my clasp—
But when she’s far away, it is too huge for me to grasp. 
* 
If I’d saved all the tears from when I first began to weep, 
I’d have a sea by now and I could float upon the deep. 
* * *

*FROM THE BARD OF SITIA, CRETE, YANNI DERMITZAKI* I know he is famous....

Lower your branches, little one. This favor’s all I seek, 
Because when lightning strikes, my dear, it always finds the peak. 
* * *

COUPLETS BY ANDREAS PAPYRAKIS, FROM THE VILLAGE OF KORFES, MELVIZIOU, CRETE, AS TOLD TO NICK PAPANDREOU ON NOVEMBER 13, 2008

Five thousand dreams I fashioned every hour of every day, 
But then along came wind and rain to sweep them all away. 
* 
Deep underground where no sun rises, no moon shines above, 
That is the place where he must dwell, the man who loses love. 
* 
Heart, break. Flesh, decompose. And Soul, desert the body’s frame. 
Since you denied me, go back to the dirt from which you came.

All of these are outstanding in there own way but if 'Man can pick his favourites, then I will be well satisfied. All the above were translated by Nick Papandreou.


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## Neikos (Dec 4, 2017)

Για ρίξε μια μάτια εδώ, Θησέα. Δες ποιες λείπουν και τις ψάχνουμε κι αυτές μετά.

https://www.avsite.gr/forum/threads/Κρητικές-μαντινάδες-στο-αμερικάνικο-“poetry”.66986/


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## Theseus (Dec 4, 2017)

Thanks, Neikos. I tried to access this site but when I did my iPad registered Error 404. I can get it now: I have my Mantinades!:):)


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## Theseus (Dec 4, 2017)

I've found 12/13 & gone through them. One of my favourites is this, which seems to be omitted. Sounds a bit like Shakespeare:-

Heart, break. Flesh, decompose. And Soul, desert the body’s frame. 
Since you denied me, go back to the dirt from which you came

Anyone know the original


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## Themis (Dec 4, 2017)

Σπάσε καρδιά, λιώσε κορμί, ψυχή βγες απ' το σώμα
Αφού με απαρνήθηκες, γύρνα ξανά στο χώμα

_[Το ποιος απαρνήθηκε ποιον και ποιος καλείται να γυρίσει στο χώμα επιδέχεται διάφορες ερμηνείες.]_

Εντάξει, μη με βασανίζετε άλλο, ομολογώ ότι ούτε την ξέρω τη μαντινάδα ούτε τη βρήκα :blush:


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## Theseus (Dec 5, 2017)

I am impressed by your ability at composing Mantinades. As if I would harass you again! Heaven forfend & thanks.....ο Θεός φυλάξοι!:scared::


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## nickel (Dec 5, 2017)

Παρεμφερής:

Σου χάρισα ψυχή καρδιά
και όλο μου το σώμα
μα συ με απαρνήθηκες
και μ’ έστειλες στο χώμα.

:)


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## Theseus (Dec 6, 2017)

Thanks for this similar mantinada couplet, Nickel. I have since realised that the original of this very powerful one had also been omitted in the Nick Papandreou website:

When they open wide the church door to bear his body hither, 
I’ll drag forth such a savage cry the wild greens will wither. 

What an expression of grief.....!


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## daeman (Dec 6, 2017)

Theseus said:


> ...
> When they open wide the church door to bear his body hither,
> I’ll drag forth such a savage cry the wild greens will wither.



«Όντας θα με πηγαίνουνε στης εκκλησιάς την πόρτα
να βγάλεις μια ψιλή φωνή να μαραθούν τα χόρτα»


«Όντας θα με σηκώσουνε τέσσερα παλληκάρια,
Να κρούεις το κεφάλι σου με πέτρες, με λιθάρια.
Όντας θα με περάσουνε από το μαχαλά σου,
Έβγα κρυφά απ’ τη μάνα σου και τράβα τα μαλλιά σου.
Όντας θα με πηγαίνουνε ’ς της εκκλησιάς την πόρτα,
Να βγάλεις μια ψιλή φωνή να μαραθούν τα χόρτα.
Όντας θα μ’ ακουμπήσουνε ’ς της εκκλησιάς τη μέση,
Να βγάλεις μια ψιλή φωνή ο κράββατος να πέσει.
Όντας θα με μοιράσουνε τα έρμα κόλλυβά μου
Φάγε και συ, αγάπη μου, για την παρηγοριά μου.
Όντας θα με μοιράσουνε παπάδες τα κεριά μου,
Τότες, τριανταφυλλένια μου, χωρίζεις ’π’ την καρδιά μου.»

https://elpmousiki.weebly.com/theta...otarhoomicronlambdaomicrongammaiotaalpha.html


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## Theseus (Dec 6, 2017)

Sorry I'm late in saying thank you,'Man. I always look forward to your replies and the link from the help you gave me is invaluable. I hadn't realised that the couplet was from from a woman's lament for her son, who speaks as it were, from the bier. I am in the process of trying to translate these couplets into comprehensible English!


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## Theseus (Dec 6, 2017)

Four queries: presumably περάσουνε (l.3) is here from παίρνω; what part of βγαίνω is έβγα; does με in Cretan dialect mean μου sometimes? And why are the kolyva έρμα. That's for a quick help to enable a translation,:)


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## Theseus (Dec 7, 2017)

I've also now realised that here the dead man speaks to his beloved, not to his mother as I first surmised.:)


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