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Αν θέλεις για να παντρευτείς
If you want to marry, to take a wife,
come ask me do, I’ll tell you who’s good for you.
Don’t take a white woman, no sack of flower;
for a sack of flower will always be dour.
Don’t take a black woman, no fried cuttlefish;
for a cuttlefish fried won’t do for a bride.
Don’t take a short woman, no tavern cask;
for a tavern cask won’t let you drink whenever you ask.
Don’t take a tall woman, no uprooted tree;
for an uprooted tree always seems withered to me.
She should be lovely and dark with eyes black as night;
for if she loses her looks, those eyes will still shine bright.
Translated by Michael Eleftheriou
Αν θέλεις για να παντρευτείς,
γυναίκα για να πάρεις,
έλα ρώτησε και μένα
να σε πω ποια είναι για σένα.
Άσπρη γυναίκα μην πάρεις —
σακί αλευρωμένο·
το σακί τ’ αλευρωμένο,
πάντα θα ’ναι σκονισμένο.
Μαύρη γυναίκα μην πάρεις —
σουπιά τηγανισμένη·
η σουπιά τηγανισμένη,
πάντα θα ’ναι μαυρισμένη.
Κοντή γυναίκα μην πάρεις —
βουτσί του ταβερνιάρη·
το βουτσί του ταβερνιάρη,
τους μπεκρήδες κουμαντάρει.
Ψηλή γυναίκα μην πάρεις —
δεντρί ξεριζωμένο·
το δεντρί ξεριζωμένο,
πάντα θα ’ναι μαραμένο.
Μελαχρινή και νόστιμη
και μαύρα μάτια να ’χει·
κι αν γεράσει κι αν χαλάσει,
πάλι μαύρα μάτια θα ’χει.
A carnival song offering sung advice to a bachelor on how to find a bride who will be a good match. In appropriately satirical and humorous Carnival fashion, a self-proclaimed “specialist” in women dismisses most potential brides due to natural imperfections that render them “defective”. For him, the choice must be based purely on appearance, with no regard for intellect or other virtues.
The folk poet’s clever comparisons provoke laughter and delight: the pale woman is likened to a sack of flour, the swarthy one to a fried cuttlefish, the short one to a tavern cask, and the tall one to an uprooted tree. While these supposed flaws will burden the rejected women for life, the dark-haired, dark-eyed maiden will always enchant with her bright black eyes — even after age has faded her beauty. She, then, is the ideal bride.
The song’s proverbial theme is widespread, especially on the islands and in seafaring communities, and it appears in numerous folk song collections (e.g. Dimitris Petropoulos, Greek Folk Songs II, “Choosing a Bride”, p. 188).
Theodor Kondaras (2022)
Live recording from the concert Songs of Asia Minor with Domna Samiou, held on 8 March 2005 at the Megaron —
the Athens Concert Hall. The song was recorded in 1982 in Nea Makri, Attica, by local resident Nikos Karageorgiou. He calls the song “marriage guidance”.
Nikos Karageorgiou. Nea Makri, Attica, 1982.
© Domna Samiou Archive
Singers
Clarinet
Violin
Constantinopolitan lute
Lute
Bendir (frame drum)
Bendir (frame drum)
Informant (source of the song)
