Bulgarian elements for the common story

The FIRST group of three elements:
1. The snake
2. The white swallow
3. The pain/the suffering

The summary of the original story “Along the Telegraph Wire” by Iordan Iovkov.
Guncho, a poor villager from Deliorman (an area in Bulgaria, inhabited mostly by Turks), was on his way to another village, when he met Peter Mokanina. From their conversation it became clear that Guncho was looking for the white swallow, which could cure his daughter Nonka. He told Peter his sad story.
One day, while Nonka was resting in the fields, a snake lay on her chest. From that moment Nonka’s body began to become weak. None of doctors, who visited her, could help the sick girl. Sorrow and despair filled her father’s heart. He believed that the only thing that could save his daughter’s life was the white swallow and he was looking for it.

Three basic symbolic meanings are in the short story “Along the Telegraph Wire” by Iordan Iovkov.
The first symbolic meaning is hidden in the image of the snake, which caused Nonka’s unknown illness. The snake is a polysemantic symbol. It represents good and evil - the basic principles in the nature. However, the snake represents some positive ideas as well: it is a symbol of fertility, wisdom, life and health. It symbolizes the defender of home and the family protector.
The second symbolic meaning is hidden in Guncho’s suffering, caused by Nonka’s mysterious illness. It is his pain that urges him into seeking the pure, humanistic harmony hidden in the image of the white swallow.
The third symbolic meaning is hidden in the image of the white swallow. It is obvious antipode of the snake. The white swallow embodies freedom and spring, the quest and the following discovery. Why white? Because this colour contains all colours of the rainbow. It is a symbol of the complete purified harmony.

THE SECOND group of three elements:
4. The Hero
5. The Wood-nymph
6. The Eagle

The author of the poem: Hristo Botev
Hristo Botev is a Bulgarian national poet, publicist and revolutionary. He was born on 25th December 1845 in the town of Kaloffer, Bulgaria. He is an important figure in our history, because he volunteered in rebellions and movements for the liberation of Bulgaria. He is the greatest poet of the Bulgarian Renaissance.
In 1873, in the newspaper ‘Independence’, he published his famous poem “Hadgy Dimitter” dedicated to a brave Bulgarian revolutionary, who found his death in a battle. Many people used to believe he was still alive – hiding and preparing an rebellion against our enslavers. That’s why Botev wrote his poem to show that the spirit of the Bulgarian fighter never dies.

ELEMENTS OF THE STORY
The Hero–a character who symbolizes the universal model of civil behavior. He is incredibly brave and is always ready to help the others.
The wood-nymph – The wood-nymph is a magical character having positive as well as negative qualities. It is a personification of the creative and fostering activities of the nature, most often identified with the life-giving outflow of springs. In the Bulgarian folklore that creature is described as a very beautiful, always young girl with long blond hair and bewitching look. The wood-nymphs wear long white dresses and green belts. The nymphs like dancing and singing around springs, and it is said if you see one, you shouldn’t look at her eyes.
The Eagle – it symbolizes power, strong spirit, bravery and sacrifice for the others. It is the most powerful bird that can fly highest and is connected with the high heroic space.

The poem: Hadji Dimitar

He lives yet! he lives yet! there on the Balkan –
The blood has run dark from his bosom to die.
Behold the young hero whose bosom was throbbing,
Whose blood ever shouted as dawn in the sky.
There on the ground has he thrown the long rifle,
too and broken his sabre is hurled,
Over his eyes now the darkness is spreading,
On his lip trembles a curse for the world.
Silent he lies there and in the heavens
Has the sun halted and angrily glows,
Far down in the meadow some worker is singing
And faster and faster the hero’s blood flows.
It is the harvest. Sing, you slave-worker,
Sing the sad songs! You are shining, Oh, sun,
Over a slave-land; it will die with our hero –
But stop whispering, oh, brave hearth.
He, that has fallen fighting for freedom
Chooses not death – to that hero belong
The tears of the sky and of earth and her children
and the grieving voice from the beautiful song
An eagle is spreading its wing for a shadow,
A black wolf is licking the wound and above,
Above them the falcon, that bird of the heroes,
Floats over his brother, for sorrow and love.
Now falls the twilight and the moon clambers
The stars start dancing in the cope of heaven,
the wood starts rustling, the wind’s blowing,
The Balkan is saying a haidouk poem.
And all the white arrayed nymphs of the forest
Trumpet their wondering, silvery strain,
Softly they float over the land above him,
Till they alight as the summer-sweet rain.
One of them brings the keen herbs of the woodland,
Another brings water to quicken his brow,
Another one calls him to life with her kisses,
So that he turns like a wind-embraced bough.
„Tell, me, where is my comrade Karadja?
Where are the faithful who followed my sword?
Tell me and I shall sleep sweetly, my sisters,
Where the sweet blood from my body has poured.”
They clap with their hands, they embrace one another
And singing they fly on the back of the wind,
Fly to the dim land where spirits have assembled
But never the ghost of Karadja they found.
Now dawn has leaped to the mountains; the hero
on the Balkan. Ah! see, the blod flows,
The black wolf is licking his wound and the poison,
Scarlet the sun is and angrily glows.

*haidouk – a fighter against the slavery