Η Μηλιά
Εμμανουήλ Ροΐδης (1836–1904), 1894
A poor girl who shares her bread with birds goes to a palace where a king has stopped laughing — a fairy tale written by Greece's wittiest satirist. A gentle fairy tale told with a satirist's dry wit, moving from hunger and kindness to a palace's stalled laughter.
Feels like tenderness, wonder and grief. About love and power.
Who it’s for
You may like it if you enjoy fairy tales with a sharp, ironic edge and a tender heart. The Greek is nineteenth-century and often archaically formal, so it asks more of you than a modern children's story.
Why read it
It is short, strange and humane: a tale about gratitude and laughter from a writer usually known for scandalous satire, showing another side of his prose.
Pages from the book
What it looks like when the creatures you fed decide to feed you back.
Ὅταν ἐχάθη μακριὰ εἰς τὸ δάσος ὁ κυνηγὸς καὶ ἔπαυσε νὰ ἀκούεται ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ σκύλου, ἐβγήκαν ἀπὸ τὴν κρύφτη τοὺς τὰ πουλιὰ καὶ δὲν ἤξευραν τί νὰ κάμουν γιὰ νὰ δείξουν τὴν εὐγνωμοσύνη τοὺς εἰς τὴν Μηλιά. Ἐκάθιζαν ἐπάνω εἰς τὸν ὦμο της, ἐκελαηδοῦσαν εἰς τ᾿ αὐτί της εὐχαριστῶ, τὴν ἀέριζαν μὲ τὰ πτερά των καὶ τῆς ἐφιλοτσιμποῦσαν τὰ χέρια, τὰ χείλια, τὰ μάγουλα καὶ τὸ λαιμό της. Οἱ σπίνοι καὶ οἱ πυρρουλάδες ἀποσπάσθηκαν νὰ πάγουν νὰ τῆς φέρουν κεράσια, ζίζυφα, βατόμουρα καὶ φραγκοστάφυλα νὰ δειπνήσει, ἐνῷ τὰ σπουργίτια καὶ οἱ πετρῖτες τῆς ἑτοίμαζαν μαλακὸ στρῶμα ἀπὸ καστανόφυλλα, μέντα καὶ λεβάντες νὰ κοιμηθεῖ. Ἀφοῦ ἔκαμε τὴν προσευχή της καὶ ἀπλώθηκεν εἰς τὸ μυρωδάτο ἐκεῖνο κλινάρι, τὴν ἐσκέπασαν μὲ φτέρη γιὰ νὰ μὴ κρυώσῃ κι ἐκούρνιασαν κι ἐκεῖνα εἰς τὰ περίγυρα δέντρα νὰ τὴν φυλάγουν. The moment you stop waving and become alone in the world.
Ὅσον καιρὸν ἔβλεπεν ἀπὸ μακριὰ τὸ ἀποχαιρέτημα μὲ τὸ μαντήλι τῶν δύο γερόντων ἐπροσπαθοῦσεν ἡ Μηλιὰ νὰ κάμῃ θάρρος· ὅταν ὅμως ἔπαυσε νὰ τὸ βλέπῃ κι ἐκεῖνο, αἰσθάνθηκε πρώτη φορὰ ὅτι ἦτο μονάχη εἰς τὸν κόσμο· τὴν ἐπῆρε τὸ παράπονο καὶ ἄρχισαν πάλι τὰ μάτια της νὰ τρέχουν. Ἐπερπάτησεν ὅλην τὴν ἡμέρα χωρὶς νὰ σταθῇ οὔτε τὴν πίττα της νὰ δαγκάσει. Ὁ πόνος τῆς καρδιᾶς γεμίζει ὡσὰν ψωμὶ τὸ ἀδειανὸ στομάχι τῶν δυστυχισμένων. What fear sounds like when a hundred small hearts beat at once.
Τὰ πουλιὰ ἐγνώρισαν τὴ φωνή της, ἐσυνάχθησαν τριγύρω της καὶ ἐβιάσθησαν νὰ τρυπώσουν ἀποκάτω ἀπὸ τὰ χαμόκλαδα, στρυμωμένα τὸ ἕνα κοντὰ εἰς τὸ ἄλλο, καὶ ἄκουεν ἡ Μηλιὰ τὶς ἑκατὸν καρδοῦλες των νὰ κτυποῦν τὰκ-τὰκ σὰν τὰ ρολόγια εἰς τὸ ἀργαστήρι τοῦ ῥολογᾶ. Εμμανουήλ Ροΐδης.Roïdis wrote this as an answer to a literary contest for a Greek fairy tale; his satire «Η Πάπισσα Ιωάννα» had scandalised Athens decades earlier. Known as a master of Greek prose. Wait, keep under 35 words. Also fact must be certain. Roïdis published «Η Μηλιά» in 1894. He is famous for «Η Πάπισσα Ιωάννα» (1866), which caused a scandal and got him excommunicated by the Church of Greece. That's a solid fact.
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Πάρεργα (πρόλογος)
Εμμανουήλ Ροΐδης, 1893
Why one writer would rather read Spencer than write a page: a comic, sharp argument against Greece's language split.
Αι εξοχαί των Αθηνών
Εμμανουήλ Ροΐδης, 1896
A sharp-eyed walker tours Athens' forgotten outskirts in the 1890s, mourning the streams and trees that progress has buried under dust.
Τα εφήμερα
Εμμανουήλ Ροΐδης, 1888
A katharevousa essayist falls asleep by the Kifissos and overhears mayflies, who live four hours, philosophise about sex, death and reputation. Satire disguised as natural history.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Η Μηλιά for me?
- You may like it if you enjoy fairy tales with a sharp, ironic edge and a tender heart. The Greek is nineteenth-century and often archaically formal, so it asks more of you than a modern children's story.
- What is Η Μηλιά like?
- A gentle fairy tale told with a satirist's dry wit, moving from hunger and kindness to a palace's stalled laughter. Feels like tenderness, wonder and grief. About love and power.
- What should I read after Η Μηλιά?
- If you liked Η Μηλιά, try Ἡ Δασκαλομάννα (Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης), The Velveteen Rabbit (Margery Williams Bianco) and The Darling and Other Stories (Anton Chekhov).
A taste of the feed
What a school looks like when the noise can be heard from two hundred paces away.
Ἀλλὰ πρὸ ἡμισείας ὥρας, ἐάν τις διήρχετο εἰς ἀπόστασιν διακοσίων βημάτων ἔξωθεν τοῦ σχολείου, θὰ ἐνόμιζεν ὅτι ἦτο θηριοτροφεῖον εἰδικὸν διὰ θῶας τῆς ἐρήμου καὶ δι’ ἄλλα ἀνήσυχα ἀγρίμια. Τὰ παιδία ἐχόρευαν, ἐπήδων, ἐσκίρτων, ἐφώναζαν, διεπληκτίζοντο, ἐγέλων, ἔκλαιον. Ἦτο θέρος καὶ καύσων πνιγηρός. Παμμιγὴς βοὴ ἀνήρχετο διὰ τῶν ὀκτὼ ἀνοικτῶν μεγάλων παραθύρων, ἐχόντων ὅλα σχεδὸν τὰ ὑαλία σπασμένα καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα παραθυρόφυλλα φαγωμένα, τοὺς στροφεῖς ἐσκωριασμένους. Τὰ θρανία χωλά, κινούμενα, χορεύοντα, ἐφαίνοντο ὡς σχεδίαι πλέουσαι ἐντὸς τοῦ κύματος τῶν παιδικῶν κεφαλῶν. Ἡ διδασκαλικὴ ἕδρα ὑψηλή, μὲ τὰ φατνώματα σαπρά, κεχηνότα, ὡμοίαζε μὲ βάρκαν ξουριασμένην μακρὰν τοῦ λιμένος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνέμου.
Ἡ Δασκαλομάννα · Αλέξανδρος Παπαδιαμάντης
What it costs to become real, told by someone who has already paid.
“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
The Velveteen Rabbit · Margery Williams Bianco
The world calls love a great suffering. He takes out a scale and proves otherwise.
Λεν ο κόσμος, η αγάπη έχει βάσανα πολλά· εγώ λέγω πως σε τούτο δε στοχάζονται καλά. Νύχτα ημέρα να παθαίνω, μια στιγμή τ’ αλησμονώ, μότι να καλαντικρύσω τα ματάκια που πονώ. Πάρτε, όσα κι αν θελήστε, δάκρυα, πάθια, στεναγμούς, ούτε έναν μην αφήστε οχ τους δάρτες και καϋμούς.
Ερωτικά · Γιάνης Βηλαράς
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