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Love Myths from Cultures Around the World Part 2 |
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African: Kintu and Nambi (Baganda Myth, Uganda) Kintu, the first man,
lived alone on earth except for one cow which supplied his
nourishment. One day, Nambi, daughter of Gulu, ruler of the sky,
came to earth and fell in love with Kintu. The couple wanted to
marry, but Nambi's family considered Kintu too poor and
ignorant. Gulu then arranged several tests in which Kintu could
prove his worth. Gulu stole his cow, so Kintu feasted on leaves.
Nambi reported that the cow was in heaven, so Kintu had to
traverse heaven to retrieve it. There Gulu imprisoned Kintu in a
hut with food enough for one hundred people and forced him to eat
it. Kintu ate much, then hid the rest in a hole in the floor. He
summoned the servants to remove the empty baskets. For another
impossible task, Gulu gave Kintu a copper axe, and ordered him to
split rocks for firewood. Kintu realized one rock was cracked,
and he broke off splinters from it. A fourth test required Kintu
to fill a water-pot with dew. While despairing over how to fill
it, Kinto lifted the pot and found it already full. As a final
test Gulu instructed that Kintu should find his cow grazing among
Gulu's similar herd. When he had retrieved his cow, then he
could marry Nambi. A bumble bee befriended Kintu and identified
the cow among Gulu's third herd. The bee also identified
three calves which Kintu decided were his cow's heavenly
offspring. Gulu was finally won over by Kintu's cleverness,
and blessed his marriage to Nambi. When the couple returned to
earth they took their cows, sheep, goat, hen, a yam, and a
banana.
Teutonic:
Nibelungenlied
(English Summary by Regine Curd)
The "Song of the
Nibelungs" developed from ballads of the 5th/6th century and
was written down in the late 12th century. It blends mythic
traditions with the tales of historical origin. Central themes
are honor, loyalty and revenge. Central characters are Siegfried,
Kriemhild, Brunhild, Gunther, Hagen and the Hun Attila.
In his adolescent years,
the northern Germanic prince Siegfried, a very strong and
handsome man, becomes a famous hero when he leaves home to lead
an adventurous life and gather some experiences.
He fights sea monsters and
snakes in a swamp and finds out that the liquid of the burning
swamp forms a coat of mail on his body, thus making him
invulnerable. Taking a bath there, only his shoulder remains
vulnerable due to a leaf that falls from a tree at that very
moment.
Siegrried also defeats an
evil dragon who lives in the kingdom of the Nibelungs, a tribe of
dwarves that lives in a cave in the woods. The dwarves are so
grateful that they crown Siegfried their emperor, thus making him
a very rich man. The Nibelungs own the greatest treasure of gold,
jewely and weapons in the whole world. Siegfried is also given
the best sword on earth and a magic hood which makes him
invisible. The young prince picks a ring out of the treasure and
even though the dwarves warn him that this ring is doomed and
brings bad luck, Siegfried decides to wear it.
Fate takes its course when
Siegfried gets married to Kriemhild, a beautiful and proud
princess from the Rhine city of Worms. Kriemhild comes into
conflict after he defeated her in a contest. Kriemhild brags
about Siegfried as much as Brunhild brags about Gunther.
Kriemhild makes the mistake of letting Brunhild know that it was
not Gunther who defeated her earlier, but Siegfried with the help
of his magic hood.
Betrayed, Brunhild works
out a plan to have Siegfried killed. With the help of Gunther and
Hagen, a knight who does not like Siegfried, she sets a trap.
Siegfried is invited to participate in a hunt in the course of
which Hagen maliciously kills Siegfried by throwing a spear
through Siegfried's shoulder.
After Siegfried's
death, Hagen manages to have the treasure of the Nibelungs
brought to Worms, where he steals it later on and throws it in
the Rhine where it is supposed to be to this day.
Kriemhild is devastated by
Siegfried's death and her only thought is to revenge her
husband's death and punish everybody involved. Many, many
years pass by. Then, the Hun Attila woos Kriemhild. She marries
him and leaves Worms in order to live in her new husband's
kingdom in the east of Europe.
Years later, Kriemhild
sends an invitation to the court at Worms. Though suspicious
about her motives, Brunhild, Hagen, her brothers, and all the
others accept the invitation hesitantly. Kriemhild is pleased,
for she knows the time of revenge has finally come. She plots to
set the Huns against the Nibelungs, her own blood relatives. As a
result, a planned dinner escalates into a murderous battle.
Kriemhild, all the Nibelungs, and many Huns die in this battle.
This is the end of the "Song of the Nibelungs."
Celtic:
Diarmuid and Grainne
Grainne, the daughter of
Cormac, king of Ireland, loved Diarmuid, the nephew of Finn Mac
Coul who was the son of a Scotch and Irish hero. Unfortunately,
Finn Mac Coul wanted Grainne for himself in his old age . Grainne
and Diarmuid often escaped from Finn with the help of a mantle of
invisibility given by the god Angus. Once they barely escaped
when, hiding in a tree, they watched Finn and his companion play
a game of chess in the shade. Diarmuid became entranced by the
game and began dropping berries on chess pieces to coach
Finn's companion on good moves. Finn discovered Diarmuid and
he barely escaped. Eventually Angus was able to persuade Finn to
recognize Diarmuid and Grainne's marriage, but Finn
continued to hold a grudge. Finn knew that Diarmuid's only
vulnerable spot was his heel, and one day he brought about the
young lover's death by having him step on a poisoned boar
thistle. As a result, the Fenians lost respect for Finn and his
rule declined. A later rebellion by the Fenians led to his death.
For other popular
Celtic love stories, see also the tales of Tristram and Iseult,
Geraint and Enid, and Deirdre and Naoise.
Spanish
Tales: El Cid and Ximena
El Cid, the national hero
of Spain, performed many heroic deeds in defeating five Moorish
kings and bringing an end to the three hundred year rule of Spain
by the Arabs. These legends were commemorated in the Spanish
epic, Poema del Cid, as well as ballads, novels, dramas,
and an opera.
In one legend El Cid
killed Don Gomez because he had insulted El Cid's father.
Gomez's daughter Ximena denounced El Cid to King Ferdinand
of Castile, and demanded that El Cid also kill her. During
several trips to Ferdinand's court with the same demand,
Ximena learned of El Cid's gallant exploits and fell in
love. El Cid and Ximena then married, but El Cid vowed that he
would not be worthy of Ximena until he had won five battles.
In the first battle he
fought in personal combat on behalf of Ferdinand against Martin
Gonzalez, knight of Oregon, over a frontier town called
Calahorra. In the second battle he defeated the Moors at
Estramadura, then went on to succeed in three other victories. At
last, worthy and true to his vow he returned to his beloved
Ximena.
"El
Tragicomedia de Callisto y Melibea"
, a drama which later formed the
basis of the novel La Celestina; author -
Fernando de Rojas.
Callisto (Greek for
"most handsome") fell in love with Melibea (Greek for
"voice of honey"), a girl with silky blond hair and a
beautiful oval face. Melibea scorned Callisto, however, so he
sought the help of a witch. The witch cast a spell that made
Melibea fall in love with Callisto the next time she saw him. The
relationship came to a tragic end when because of a misconception
about Melibea's sash, Callisto attempted to climb a
treacherous wall and fell to his death. When Melibea discovered
his body she in turn killed herself.
French
Tale: Abélard and Héloïse
Pierre Abélard (1079 -
1142), was a philosopher and theologian. He became known as a
dinstinctive thinker, and gained notoriety when he refuted the
views of Realism held by his teacher Guillame de Champeaux at the
Cathedral School of Paris. A passionate love affair with his
pupil Héloïse, however, brought the demise of his teaching
career. Héloïse was the highly regarded and well-educated niece
of Fulbert, a canon of Notre-Dame. Abélard was living in
Fulbert's house at the time. After Héloïse gave birth to a
child, the couple secretly married. Fulbert was furious and in
revenge had Abélard castrated. While Abélard lived many years
in monasteries, St. Bernard denounced some of his teachings as
heretical. Abélard continued to write Héloïse who had become
the abbess of the convent of the Paraclete, which Abélard
himself had founded. His letters later became some of his best
known writings. In them he comforted Héloïse with encouraging
words, and advised her on the workings of a nunnery. Eventually
Abélard was pardoned of his wrongdoings by the Church and spent
the rest of his life at Cluny.
Sources:
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