Petŭrnica

Petyrnica.new_.mp3

Commentary on the text:

When the investigator’s words are transcribed in brackets, it means they do not appear on the audio but are rather reconstructed to recreate the sense of the original conversation. These words appear in English translation only in Glossed View, in both English and Bulgarian in Line View, and in Bulgarian only in Cyrillic Line View

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VZh

a

Petŭrnica

1 (a) [0:00] How did we live? There was poverty, there was hunger. It was wartime.

2 (a) [0:06] My father was an old man; my mother was younger. She –

3 (a) [0:11] came young to him [as a bride]. They bore six children. Two brothers.

4 (a) [0:22] We lived well. Poor and ill-clothed [though we were], we were fine.

5 (a) [0:28] My mother was a seer. People came from [other] villages for her to heal them.

6 (a) [0:36] Evening came – one evening we got back from the fields and sat down [to eat]

7 (a) [0:42] and there came an old man, leading two children, two boys –

8 (a) [0:47] one older and one younger. And they sat down.

9 (a) [0:51] My mother had just come from the field, and dusk was falling,

10 (a) [0:54] and she said to the old man, “Grandpa, what did you bring these kids for?”

11 (a) [0:59] And he said, “Well, I brought them. Have a look.” And she looked at the mark.

12 (a) [1:05] She snipped off a thread from [the child’s] clothing [at a point] where he slept [on it]

13 (a) [1:09] and dropped it into a glass of water and looked at it in the “old manner”.

14 (a) [1:13] “Well, Grandpa, give over,” she said, “so I can look at you [too]. And he gave –

15 (a) [1:18] he gave over a thread from his [clothing] and she dunked it twice,

16 (a) [1:21] three times in the glass, and said, “In your early years you were a herdsman,

17 (a) [1:28] a shepherd. You pastured sheep along with two others.” He said,

18 (a) [1:32] “That’s right, I was a shepherd. I pastured [them].” “Well, when you pastured these sheep

19 (a) [1:39] with these guys, these two, what did you scheme to do when you stole

20 (a) [1:44] two rams and took them off on your own and shut them up

21 (a) [1:48] way down in the cellar, and they were bleating. And what did you say?

22 (a) [1:53] ‘Let’s cut their tongues out’ [you said] ‘so they won’t bleat, because [otherwise]

23 (a) [1:56] the neighbors will hear us’ “ “That’s right,” [he said]. “That’s right, we did that.”

24 (a) [2:04] And then these kids jumped up and started to punch him

25 (a) [2:08] and she said, “Grandpa, nature will punish you!

26 (a) [2:14] It won’t punish you [yourself] but another. Either your grandchildren or great-grandchildren

27 (a) [2:17] will stare at a live – a live frog.” And when they jumped up –

28 (a) [2:21] when they jumped up to punch him on the head and arms –

29 (a) [2:23] both of them mute, they couldn’t talk – he grabbed his head

30 (a) [2:28] and said, “That’s right.” “Grandpa, I can’t help you. I can’t give you anything from God.”

31 (a) [2:35] They looked and looked [at him], and neither could the one speak

32 (a) [2:38] nor the other. So he took them away, and that was the end.

33 (VZh) [How did you work did in the old days?]

34 (a) [2:43] How did we work? We grew up ill-clothed. We went off to work in the fields

35 (a) [2:50] But we had two oxen, and – and two cows, and four water buffalo.

36 (a) [2:56] And three or four horses. One of the horses we had [was] a big [cough] stallion

37 (a) [3:04] and I had a lot to do with him. I spent time with the horses,

38 (a) [3:08] I pastured them. We looked after them [cough]. [It was] to our meadow, where

39 (a) [3:16] they danced the round-dance, [that] I took him to water him. I took him

40 (a) [3:21] to water him [cough], but he jumped straight up in the air – he was frightened by the music.

41 (a) [3:26] I had tied my hand to the chain I was leading him by

42 (a) [3:30] so the horse wouldn’t get loose. And these folk called out to me from the side

43 (a) [3:34] “Hey Maria, let go of that horse! Hey! Let go of the horse!”

44 (a) [3:38] I said, “How can I let him go? He’s fastened tight to my hand!”

45 (a) [3:41] A man came up and carefully caught him, and undid my hand

46 (a) [3:44] and let the horse go. It ran off, it got away. My father came out, [cough]

47 (a) [3:51] and he (this man) told him what I had done. He said, “Well damn it all!

48 (a) [3:55] Let the horse go if it jumps! Let it go! It’ll batter you –

49 (a) [3:58] it’ll drag you along and batter you up.” “Ah, let it batter me, what of it!”

50 (a) [4:02] So we went off to the fields to work [cough], we come home in the evening,

51 (a) [4:08] mother had made me something to eat. Well, we were kids! Free and light.

52 (a) [4:13] We wanted to play. “We’re going out to play!”

53 (a) [4:16] She said to us, “Come in and rest, tomorrow you’ll go out again [to work].”

54 (a) [4:21] We did reaping, we hoed the corn, we picked beans. Everything there was,

55 (a) [4:29] we brought it home.

1 (a) [0:00] kɤ̀ sme živɛ̀le siromašìjka beše golotìa beše pris marabètu

How did we live? There was poverty, there was hunger. It was wartime.

2 (a) [0:06] baštà mi beše vɤ̀zrasen màjka mi be pò mlàda t’à

My father was an old man; my mother was younger. She –

3 (a) [0:11] došlà pò mlàda za nègo naràždaa dačurlìga šès dvuìca bràk’e

came young to him [as a bride]. They bore six children. Two brothers.

4 (a) [0:22] živɛ̀eme si dubrɛ̀ sirumašìa ama golotìa ama beme dobrɛ̀

We lived well. Poor and ill-clothed [though we were], we were fine.

5 (a) [0:28] màjka mi beše vràčkə̥ ut selàta dovàždaa òra tə gi cɛ̀ree

My mother was a seer. People came from [other] villages for her to heal them.

6 (a) [0:36] dòeše vèčer ednà vèčer si dodòjme ot kɤ̀rɤ̥ sednàjme

Evening came – one evening we got back from the fields and sat down [to eat]

7 (a) [0:42] i tìa do dodè edìn stàrec i dovèdi dvɛ̀ decà dvɛ̀ momčènca

and there came an old man, leading two children, two boys –

8 (a) [0:47] ednò pò golɛ̀mo i ednò pò màlko̥ i sednàa

one older and one younger. And they sat down.

9 (a) [0:51] i màjka mi be si došlà ot kɤ̀rɤ i tò sa mrɤk’ìn’a

My mother had just come from the field, and dusk was falling,