Ὁ κλεφτοκοτᾶς
Ανδρέας Καρκαβίτσας (1865–1922), 1899
A night watchman, his chickens and one pair of glowing eyes under the mulberry tree: a Christmas tale where folk terror and household comedy share the same yard. Only a few pages. That doesn't ruin much except sleep. Still under 30 words. Good. A Christmas yard turns eerie and funny at once, with a quick folk-tale pulse and plain village voice.
Feels like dread, wonder and tenderness. About freedom, home and nature.
Who it’s for
You may enjoy it if you like short folk tales that mix dread with household comedy. The polytonic Greek and old-fashioned phrasing can slow you down, even in only a few pages.
Why read it
It gives you a compact taste of Karkavitsas's village storytelling: fear, humor and a sharp eye for ordinary people in a few pages.
Pages from the book
Two eyes in the dark, and no animal they could possibly belong to.
Ἔξαφνα ὅμως ἀνατριχίασε. Ἀντίκρυ του, κάτω ἀπὸ τὴ μουριὰ εἶδε ἕνα μαῦρον ὄγκον, ὄχι μεγαλύτερον ἀπὸ σταμνὶ καὶ ἐπάνω εἰς τὸ σταμνὶ δύο φωτεινὰ σημάδια, κατακόκκινα ἄλλοτε καὶ ἄλλοτε χαλκοπράσινα, πάντα ὅμως στυλωμένα ψηλὰ πρὸς τὶς κότες του. Ὁ καρολόγος ἐσκέφθη, ὅτι τέτοιο πράγμα δὲν ἦτο πρὶν ἐκεῖ. Οὔτε βέβαια τὸ εἶδε νὰ ἔρχεται ἀπὸ πουθενά. Ἐξεφύτρωσε ξαφνικά· ἀλλὰ πῶς ἐξεφύτρωσε; Κι ἐνῶ ἐβασάνιζε τὸν νοῦν του νὰ λύσῃ τὸ μυστήριον, εἰς μίαν του φεγγαριοῦ ἀκτίνα παρετήρησε τὸ σταμνὶ νὰ μεταμορφώνεται εἰς τετράποδον μὲ αὐτιὰ μακριά, δυσανάλογα πρὸς τὸ ἀνάστημά του, κινούμενα ἐμπρὸς ὀπίσω ἀδιάκοπα καὶ οὐρὰν μακριὰν καὶ μαλλιαρήν. What your hands do when your mind has already decided there is something in the yard.
Ὁ Σταμάτης θυμήθηκε ὅτι τὰ Δωδεκαήμερα ἀκόμη δὲν ἐτελείωσαν καὶ ὅτι οἱ Καλικάντζαροι καὶ τ᾿ ἄλλα πονηρὰ πνεύματα, ἀκόμη περιτρέχουν τὴν γῆν καὶ πειράζουν διαφοροτρόπως τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. Ἠθέλησε νὰ κάμῃ τὸν σταυρόν του· ἀλλὰ τὸ χέρι ἦτο ἀπρόθυμον νὰ ὑπακούσῃ. Ἠθέλησε νὰ ψιθυρίσῃ κανένα τροπάρι· ἀλλ᾿ οὔτε ὁ νοῦς οὔτε τὰ χείλη του τὸν ἐβοηθοῦσαν. Ἐδοκίμασε νὰ σηκώσῃ τὰ μάτια του ἀπὸ τὸ τετράποδο· ἀλλὰ δὲν εἶχαν ξεκολλημό. Ἡ καρδιά του ἐβροντοκτύπα εἰς τὰ στήθη του καὶ τοὺς ἄκουε τοὺς κτύπους σὰν τὰ σφυριὰ στὸ ἀμόνι μακριά. Ἅπλωσε τὸ χέρι του εἰς τὸ ὅπλον του καὶ τὸ χέρι ἔπεσε ξερό. Δὲν εἶχε θέληση, δὲν εἶχε δύναμη πιὰ ὁ καρολόγος. A man counts everything he loves, then cannot keep counting.
Αὐτὸ ἐγινότανε τακτικὰ κάθε μέρα πιά, ὥσπου ἡ κότα ἔβγαλε τὰ πουλιά της. Ὢ χαρὲς καὶ παιγνίδια ἡ κυρα-Δεσποινιὼ μὲ τὰ ξεπεταρόνια της! Ὢ τὰ χαρωπὰ γαυγίσματα τοῦ Φρίγκου, ποὺ τὰ μάζευε ὅταν τὰ ἔβλεπε μακριὰ ἀπὸ τὸ κοτέτσι· τὰ μάζευε ἁβρά, ἁπαλὰ μὲ τὸ στόμα καὶ τὰ ἔφερνε κοντὰ εἰς τὴν μάνα τους. Ὢ ἡ μανούλα ἡ παλαβὴ πὼς ἐσήκωνε τὰ πούπουλά της καὶ ἐτέντωνε τὸ λαιμό της καὶ ἀγρίευε σὰν τίγρης νὰ ξεσχίσῃ τὸν ἀγαθὸ τὸ Φρίγκο ὅταν ἐπλησίαζε τὰ πουλιά της! Καὶ ἀκόμη ὤ! κι ὁ Σταμάτης ὁ καρολόγος, ὅταν τὴν ἔβλεπε ὅλη μαζὶ τὴ φαμελιά του: τὰ κοτοπούλια, τὶς κότες, τ᾿ ἄλογό του, τὸ σκυλί του, τὴ γυναίκα του καὶ τὰ παιδιά του!.. Ανδρέας Καρκαβίτσας.Karkavitsas trained as a doctor and spent years as a ship's physician, gathering the sailor and village tales that made his name; he also wrote one of the first Greek social novels, «Ο Ζητιάνος».
Books that feel like this
More by Ανδρέας Καρκαβίτσας
Ο ζητιάνος
Ανδρέας Καρκαβίτσας, 1896
A begging mastermind and a priestess of superstition in a Thessalian village that will pay for a baby to stay away. Appalling, funny, exact.
Λόγια της Πλώρης
Ανδρέας Καρκαβίτσας, 1899
Sailors, sponge-divers and captains tell of the sea's justice, its monsters and its dead, in stories that turn folk belief into salt-stung literature.
Ηρώων τέκνα
Ανδρέας Καρκαβίτσας, 1911
A comic, merciless anatomy of election fever in post-revolutionary Mesolongi, where the sons of heroes trade glory for votes and turn a portrait into a god.
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Questions readers ask
- Is Ὁ κλεφτοκοτᾶς for me?
- You may enjoy it if you like short folk tales that mix dread with household comedy. The polytonic Greek and old-fashioned phrasing can slow you down, even in only a few pages.
- What is Ὁ κλεφτοκοτᾶς like?
- A Christmas yard turns eerie and funny at once, with a quick folk-tale pulse and plain village voice. Feels like dread, wonder and tenderness. About freedom, home and nature.
- What should I read after Ὁ κλεφτοκοτᾶς?
- If you liked Ὁ κλεφτοκοτᾶς, try The Lady of the Barge (W. W. Jacobs), Short Fiction (Nikolai Gogol) and Ghost Stories (E. F. Benson).
A taste of the feed
A house after a death keeps the shape of the people who left it.
Long before anybody else was astir he arose and stole softly downstairs. The sunlight was stealing in at every crevice, and flashing in long streaks across the darkened rooms. The dining-room into which he looked struck chill and cheerless in the dark yellow light which came through the lowered blinds. He remembered that it had the same appearance when his father lay dead in the house; now, as then, everything seemed ghastly and unreal; the very chairs standing as their occupants had left them the night before seemed to be indulging in some dark communication of ideas.
The Lady of the Barge · W. W. Jacobs
Some people hold a wounded bird the way a hungry person holds a plate.
It was clear that the kindest thing to do would be to put the bird out of its pain, but when I suggested that, she took a step back from me, and covered it with her other hand. Her eyes gleamed, her mouth smiled, and I saw the tip of her tongue swiftly pass over her lips as if licking them.
Ghost Stories · E. F. Benson
Every attempt to make mankind happy has failed. One dog has not.
Man’s nature is such, that happiness appears to be a thing unattainable; unconsciously and unintentionally friend offends friend, and even lovers inevitably fall out and quarrel at times. And since all legislators, from Lycurgus down to those of today, in their attempts to bestow happiness on mankind have failed miserably, I can at least comfort myself greatly with the thought of having made even one dog happy.
Short Fiction · Xavier de Maistre
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