Hadjenek was a man, then, and he lived in
the cold land, waiting for his people to come
and take him home.
He was not a good man; he tried to be,
but he was all alone.
But he had seen the woman Djiril,
and he wanted her.
He tried to make her come to him;
he didn't know she was a seal.
Before the snows, before the sea was white,
old Hadjenek came out of his house, and he was hungry
He saw the Dureg-seal on the ledge before him,
and he said: - Why do you come here?
But this Dureg-seal said to him: - I take fish to eat. Come and eat with me.
But Hadjenek was too proud for that.
and began to fish by himself. He sat
and fished like a great white bear.
But Dureg went into the water, and took the fish
where he swam, and before the sun had moved
he was filled with fish, but Hadjenek had taken
only four.
Dureg came out of the water, and he was a man.
Hadjenek sat on the ledge by himself, and he was hungry.
He said: - Mednanda, I can't live here in this cold,
nor can I fish. Get some fish for me: I'm hungry.
Dureg was still, and the sun moved. He said:
--I don't want to get fish for you; I think you are
always hungry.
--Then go and get the woman Djiril; maybe she will
fish for me.
Dureg went into the water, and the sun moved again.
* * *
The waves came. Hadjenek was up in the field,
looking for food.
The waves went away again.
* * *
Then Hadjenek heard the calling
and he went down to the water.
Duree came out of the water, and he was a man. He said: I brought Djiril. Tell her
what you want.
Hadjenek looked out on the land, but he saw
no Djiril, so he called to her:
Oh, Djiril is kind, they say,
Djiril is beautiful, too,
but I don't see her
.
And that was true; he couldn't see her. He looked
out on the land and out on the water, and still
he saw no Djiril; all he could see was the head of
a seal in the third wave, watching.
So he called again:
Oh, Djiril is kind, they say,
Djiril is beautiful, too, but I don't see her.
All I do see, in the wave before me, is a little
seal with a grey head, watching.
Why do I see no woman walking?
The seal stayed between waves, but she sang to him:
Kayou, yethaa. O, ythyree, Gedanda:
All I do see walking before me:
hunger and shouting,
sorrow and weeping,
though I do hear no man speaking.
Hadjenek heard her, then, but he didn't understand,
so he called again:
Oh, Djiril, grey grows the eastwind, blowing.
Snow comes, and wind, to fill my door.
Cold is my house, now, and poor,
and fish nor friend have I
to keep me.
The seal stayed between waves, and the sun
moved behind her. But then she sang to him:
Kayou, yethaa. o, ythyllee, Gedanda:
Grey grows the eastwind, blowing.
Snow comes, and wind, to fill your door.
Would I stay in snow and wind
when all the seas are warm?
Then Hadjenek knew it was the Djiril-seal,
and he was sad. But still he called to her:
Oh, Mednanda, listen to me:
Before this land, before this water,
another land, another water.
Houses I see, like ships-on-end
with gold and silver; warm and shining.
A ship I see, and it comes to take me.
It comes to take you, too;
come with me.
Djiril listened to him then, and the sun moved
above her. She came into the next wave,
and she sang to him:
Kayou, yethaa. O, ythyree, Gedanda:
After this water, after this land,
another land made of water.
I have seen a ship-on-end:
very deep, the whale beside her.
Nothing warm there, nothing shining.
The ship with the wind-oar
sleeps in the sea.
Then Hadjenek knew that his ship was gone,
and he was afraid, and he got angry.
He went down on the ledge and said to her:
No, Mednanda: hunger and cold,
these are cruel things.
But I did ask for beauty and was given
only mockery. When I asked for kindness:
sorrow and drowning.
There is no kindness in this land, no beauty.
All I see now, in the wave before me
is an ugly seal, with a grey head, laughing.
Djiril listened to him then, and the sun moved
before her.
And she came into the first wave, and sang to him:
Kayou, yethaa. o, ythyree, Gedanda:
I did not ask for beauty,
nor was it given me.
Sorrow I cannot give you,
for it is sunk in the sea.
I was not told of kindness ever,
only of hunger.
I did not ask for a master,
nor with fish will I feed one.
When Hadjenek heard that, he was filled with anger,
and he took up a great rock from the sea-ledge
and he threw it at the Djiril-seal,
and the rock did kill her.
And then he sat down on the sea-rock and wept,
and the sun went away,
and it was cold.
* * *
The snow that comes, blowing down the bay,
makes the islands blind.
Man is born with snow in his eyes.
The white bear fishes from the ledge,
The seal beside him:
The seal is blind
But the white bear is born without eyes.
The seal will go wherever seas
Are turning;
The white bear will die in the hills.
All life that comes to us, turning,
comes in burning to the earth and lives burning.
Turns then, and burns no more.
We were the leaning trees we loved, andiranda,
we were the hills and grasses, and we are:
given to them, as they were given.
Now the years run, turning:
earth slows her turning to the sun.
Slow turns the ice to come again.
Now are good things come and gone, andiranda;
gone soon the man and all the dreaming.
Still turn the seas from land to land.
Only the turning seas remain.
Andiranda (the turning):
the telling of Djiril's Hymn.