Jeannot devait revenir à la ville, et il fallait passer, la nuit, par un cimetière. Or, c’était un poltron plus lâche qu’une femme ; il tremblait comme s’il avait eu la fièvre. Quand il fut dans le cimetière, il regardait à droite et à gauche, et il entendit comme quelqu’un qui rongeait, et il pensa que c’était un brucolaque qui mangeait dans son tombeau. « Hélas, hélas ! dit-il, je suis perdu. S’il me regarde, il voudra me manger, car je suis si gras : il faut que je mange de la terre de son tombeau ; autrement c’est fait de moi. » Alors il s’est baissé pour prendre de la terre ; mais un chien qui rongeait un os de mouton a cru que Jeannot voulait le lui prendre. Il lui a sauté à la jambe et l’a mordu jusqu’au sang.
Confirmed with Prosper Mérimée, La Guzla, ou Choix Poésies Illyriques, recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, la Croatie, et l'Herzegowine, Paris, Levrault, 1827, pages 169-170. Note: this is a prose text. The line-breaks have been added arbitrarily.
Text Authorship:
- by Prosper Mérimée (1803 - 1870), "Jeannot", appears in La Guzla [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:
- Also set in Russian (Русский), a translation by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837) , "Вурдалак", appears in Песни западных славян (Pesni zapadnykh slavjan), no. 13 ; composed by César Antonovich Cui, Nina Vladimirovna Makarova, Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov.
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2021-08-06
Line count: 18
Word count: 137
Trusovat byl Vanja bednyj: Raz on pozdneju poroj Ves' v potu ot strakha blednyj, Chrez kladbishche shjol domoj. Bednyj Vanja jele dyshit, Spotykajas' chut' bredet Po mogilam: vdrug on slyshit, -- Kto-to kost', vorcha, gryzet. Vanja stal; -- shagnut' ne mozhet. Bozhe! dumajet bednjak, `Eto verno kosti glozhet Krasnogubyj vurdalak. Gore! malyj ja ne sil'nyj; S"est [upyr' menja]1 sovsem, Jesli sam zemli mogil'noj Ja s molitvoju ne s"em. Chto-zhe? vmesto vurdalaka -- (Vy predstav'te Vani zlost'!) V temnote pred nim sobaka Na mogile glozhet kost'.
1 Cui: "меня унырь"
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Text Authorship:
- by Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799 - 1837), "Вурдалак", appears in Песни западных славян (Pesni zapadnykh slavjan), no. 13 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Prosper Mérimée (1803 - 1870), "Jeannot", appears in La Guzla
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by César Antonovich Cui (1835 - 1918), "Вурдалак", op. 99 no. 5 (1915), published 1916 [ voice and piano ], from Шесть песен западных славян = Six poésies illyriques tirées de la "Guzla" de Prosper Mérimée traduites par A. Pouchkine et mises en musique, no. 5, Petrograd: M.P. Belaieff [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Nina Vladimirovna Makarova (1908 - 1976), "Вурдалак" [sung text checked 1 time]
- by Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov (1872 - 1964), "Вурдалак", op. 26 no. 8 [ men's chorus ], Leipzig, Jurgenson [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 20
Word count: 82