Fire Rite touched by Perkunas

Fire Rite touched by Perkunas

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Lithuanian folk tale: A musician at the Velnias' party- recorded in 1906 From Lithuanian mythological tales, compiled by Norbertas Veliius

 NB:Velnias= a devil and not as depicted as the embodiment of evil as portrayed in Christian mythology.

In olden times, when Velniases were still seen roaming the world, a musician was walking home at dusk. Night fell darkly. As he walked, he got lost and had no idea which way to go. He did not walk very far before he met a landlord in a carriage. The landlord said, "not far from here stands my manor. Tonight I am giving a feast, but I have no musician. Could you play for us?" The musician said, "why not, that's how I make my living." The landlord said, "then climb into my carriage. After he climbed in, he thought he hadn't gone very far when they drove up to a manor. When they arrived, no guests had come yet, but soon plenty of carriages with all sorts of nobles, ladies and maidens appeared. Presently the dancing began. After each dance they would pay him silver rubles. He noticed, however, that those dancing would take something from a little bowl and rub their eyes from time to time. He thought to himself, "what is that they keep rubbing their eyes with? And what for?" He took a chance to rub one eye. At once he saw with that eye that it was not at all a manor where he was playing, but a swamp. He was at a Velnias party and not sitting on a chair, but on a mound. He was seized with such fear, that he couldn't bear to look through that eye! They danced until the roosters crowed. Then they all disappeared and he remained sitting in that swamp until dawn. When day broke, he looked into his pockets to find white Birch bark there. He was sitting in a swamp. He could barely drag himself out that day. The Velnias had taken him so far away that he had to walk three days until he finally reached his home. In those days, musicians used to be great drunkards. So was this one- no sooner was he at home than he went straight to the tavern to pour his heart out about his adventures. As he approached the tavern, he heard a loud cry. Walking in, he found several men fighting. Among them he saw a Velnias whispering something into one man's ear and stepping on another's foot. As a result, the men were fighting furiously, their wounds bled and the roof tiles shook. Seeing the Velnias' dirty tricks, the musician took a stick and struck him on the head so hard that he rolled out of the tavern. As soon as the Velnias was gone, the men made up with each other. Some time later that Velnias cane to see the musician, and asked,. "which eye did you see me with?" He answered, " the right one." As soon as he spoke this, the Velnias put that eye out and disappeared. . From that time on, the musician never saw the Velnias again

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