Pavelsko 4

Pavelsko4.final_.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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Pavelsko 4

1 (b) [0:01] For lentils it’s the same. I’ll tell you how I went

2 (b) [0:04] to plow lentils. So now. We got the donkey moving and –

3 (b) [0:07] and – the cow, and I get the kids to lead [the donkey] for me

4 (b) [0:11] I tell them lead [the animal] by the bridle. And then I plow after that,

5 (b) [0:14] up in the mountains. When my son-in-law Nacho – let me tell you, when Nacho and I

6 (b) [0:18] pull up the reins – [there’s] this boy – we pull tight as the donkey’s crossing the bridge

7 (b) [0:23] and the boy fell off the bridge. Oh Lord, what [a thing to] happen!

8 (b) [0:28] [Just as] we’re going off to plow.

9 (VZh) [So what happened?]

10 (b) [0:29] The boy fell and – the bridle broke, and he fell down [off the bridge].

11 (b) [0:33] So there it was. They set off again and we continue to plow.

12 (b) [0:36] We go off to plow. The cow is pregnant, it starts to precipitate (“vali”),

13 (b) [0:40] [all this when] we are plowing the lentils.

14 (a) [0:41] to precipitate (“leti”)

15 (b) [0:42] – to precipitate (“vali”), yes.

16 (b) [0:43] Don’t say “vali” [for [precipitation]!

17 (b) [0:43] and it began [laughter] – it began to precipitate (“leti”), and I –

18 (a) [0:47] Rain, rain [was falling]

19 (b) [0:48] Rain and snow [together] – sleet [unintelligible]

20 (a) [0:49] We call that sleet.

21 (VZh) Uh huh.

22 (b) [0:50] And so we – we – I said “Well now,” I said “Nashko, what,”

23 (b) [0:52] I said, “are we going to do now?” I said. [There was] this rain, and my daughter [there] too.

24 (b) [0:55] I throw a bag onto my back, tie up the cow and lead it along.

25 (b) [0:58] Ah, the narrow paths! I led it [back] and we stayed here, the plow sat [unused]

26 (b) [1:03] nearly twenty days. Only half of what we’d needed to plow was done,

27 (b) [1:06] the other half was unplowed. When we managed to get back there,

28 (b) [1:10] my cow had calved, so we went off to plow with two donkeys

29 (b) [1:13] We had – I had – my brother’s wife had [one], so I took them out

30 (b) [1:17] again, their donkey and mine, to go out to plow.

31 (VZh) [How do you make yogurt?]

32 (b) [1:21] For yogurt you – we had cows, we milked them. [First] we milked the cows

33 (b) [1:25] [Then] we boil [the milk] and leave it to cool a bit.

34 (b) [1:28] We’ll touch a finger to it to see if it’s [sufficiently] cooled or not.

35 (b) [1:32] If you put [the starter] in when it’s [too] hot, it won’t be good, it won’t –

36 (b) [1:34] It curdles.

37 (b) [1:34] It curdles. You put the starter in. [Then] you take it and pour it into the churn

38 (b) [1:38] to mix it up, and get some butter [out of it].

39 (VZh) [What kind of animals do you have?]

40 (b) [1:41] Well, we have cattle.

41 (a) [1:43] Cattle

42 (VZh) What?

43 (b) [1:45] We have cattle. Oxen, we call them. Yes.

44 (VZh) Oxen.

45 (b) [1:47] Not only oxen–

46 (b) [1:48] Both cows and oxen!

47 (b) [1:48] We had both cows and oxen.

48 (VZh) And how did you call them [all]?

49 (a) [1:51] We call them “cattle”.

50 (b) [1:51] We call them “cattle”.

51 (VZh) [1:54] [Are they difficult to look after?]

52 (b) [1:52] Oh! Clearing up the garbage – you have to carry out the shit, to clean the stable,

53 (b) [1:57] to take it off with – I loaded up boxes on the donkey to take

54 (b) [2:00] manure out to the fields. That’s how it was. [And] children – when I go [with others] to reap

55 (b) [2:05] I take them along. We had an old lame man – I take them

56 (b) [2:09] to the fields and spread out a rug for them and wrap them up,

57 (b) [2:11] and he’ll watch my back ( = the kids) [while] I reap in the moonlight.

58 (b) [2:14] That was my lot. And you’ll go [out] in the morning to thresh

59 (b) [2:17] after it’s piled. You reap [the grain], you pile it up, and go again to thresh it.

60 (b) [2:21] You water down the threshing floor: we carry water on our shoulders to pour out.

61 (b) [2:25] And then we sit down [to tie sheaves]. We make our own cords, you know.

62 (b) [2:29] We pull out the longer ones of this, of what’s here

63 (b) [2:32] Of the rye

64 (b) [2:33] and you twist it into a cord. You put it (the stalks) [together]

65 (b) [2:35] and when [the pile] fills up you tie it off.

66 (VZh) [2:37] With how many cords?

67 (b) [2:37] With a single one. A single cord.

68 (VZh) [Is the straw you make from rye bigger than that from wheat?]

69 (b) [2:39] [Straw] from rye is bigger. That from rye is bigger.

70 (a) [2:41] [It’s] for the livestock.

71 (b) [2:42] For the livestock. We grind it. It gets fine when we thresh it.

72 (b) [2:46] Right. We take it and load it into what we call a net bag