Motif #2
Moving on to the second motif in Basic's[*] versions, we find more evidence for the same conclusions (figure 10). Once again the elemental structure compares relatively closely with that underlying the four instances in Kukuruzovic's[*] texts: after the boundary verses, Ibro places, in order, a statement of the banica's problem (d ), her complaint to her husband (
), and in two cases her demand for some ameliorative action (h ).[49] Against this background of similarity we do, however, discern some differences. First, there is no true z element, that is, no true ornamental passage to develop the ideas of units d and 
; since ornamental elements are by nature ubiquitous, generic, and optional, this represents no real omission but simply compositional expedience and personal habit. Second, as in general with Basic's[*] songs, many more boundary lines are present, setting off integral narrative units and furnishing transitions from one to the next. It is as if these verses serve for Basic[*] to mitigate the paratactic relationship of themes and thematic subdivisions; their frequent use amounts to a stylistic trademark, an idiolectal trait.
A third difference, or set of differences, also constitutes a stylistic idiosyncrasy. As with motif #1, the phraseology with which the singer verbalizes these thematic ideas varies more among parallel passages than does Kukuruzovic's[*] diction. We thus have two readings on verbal correspondence from instance to instance in the repertoire of a single singer; both show a number of repeated cola, verses, and runs, but the Basic[*] texts are more prone to addition, omission, and formulaic remaking. In neither case does one doubt the existence of the kind of theme described by Lord, for we have no shortage of the repeated words, lines, and parts of lines that he demands as one aspect of thematic structure. But neither could we apply the strictures of one poet's compositional style to that of the other. Fourth, and complementarily, verbal correspondence among occurrences is not of uniform density throughout the motif and theme; just as with Kukuruzovic's[*] texts, certain elements or even parts of elements are more stable than others. Fifth, as would be expected, Basic[*] and Kukuruzovic[*] employ widely variant diction in expressing the elements in motif #2. In part because he concentrates on the problem of nursing the frightened infant, Basic[*] uses a personalized mode of expression to render the same general ideas.
Figure 10. | ||||||||
Vidi, brate, pa banice mlade— | ||||||||
A da vidiš pa banova sina— | ||||||||
d | Ima ona malog Marijana; | d | Ona ima sina Marijana, | |||||
d | Marijana od godinu dana. | Njemu ima cetiri godine. | ||||||
Marijana zabun' ucinijo, | ||||||||
Marijan' se strašno prepanuo. | A jes' djete, brate, ustrašeno. | Pa se djete malo usplašilo. | ||||||
A da vidiš pa gospodje mlade— | 430 | |||||||
Sve ga cesi[*] banova gospoja, | 340 | Cesila[*] ga mila svoja majka, | 375 | |||||
A cesi[*] ga sa grla djerdana, | ||||||||
I, moj' brate, sisom iz njedara. | ||||||||
Al' se ne da djete ucesiti[*] . | Ne da joj se ucesiti[*] djete, | A ne da se mali Marijane, | ||||||
Vet' se djete prepanulo, brate. | 380 | Jer se djete, brate, usplasilo, | ||||||
Usplašilo suznja nevoljnika. | 435 | |||||||
Pa banici jadom ujadilo. | ||||||||
Kad se svanu i ogranu sunce, | Kad se svanu i ogranu sunce, | Kad se svanu i ogranu sunce, | ||||||
A da vidiš banice gospoje— | 345 | Vid' gospoje pa banice, brate—[2] | A da vidiš gospoje banice— | |||||
Die zavika banu u odaji: | Die eto je banu u odaju. | Die eto je banu u odaju, | ||||||
Ona nosi malog Marijana. | ||||||||
| Pa evako banu besjedaše: | 440 | ||||||
| "Dobro jutro, mladi gospodare." | | Pa mu 'vako dobro jutro viknu, | "Dobro jutro, od Zadarja bane. | ||||
A bane joj nazdravijo zdravljem: | 385 | |||||||
"Da si zdravo, vjerna moja ljubo. | "Da si zdravo, mlada gospojice." | |||||||
A besjedi od Zadarja bane: | ||||||||
Što ti tako nevesela, ljuba?" | "Što to jesi meni uranila?" | |||||||
(Figure continued on next page)
(Figure continued from previous page)
"Cu li mene, od Zadarja bane, | 350 | "Cu li mene, od Zadarja bane, | |||||||
Kakva jesi suznja ufatijo? | Kakva jesi suznja ufatijo? | 390 | Kakva jesi suznja ufatijo? | ||||||
Vas je Zadar zabun' ucinijo, | Nocas[*] ti je zabun' ucinijo; | Pa je Zadar zabun' ucinijo; | |||||||
A cmiljeci[*] u tešku zindanu. | |||||||||
Nikad mira ja imala njesam,[3] | |||||||||
Nisam mogla saspa't' u odaji; | 355 | ||||||||
Prep'o ti je sina Marljane . | Prep'o ti je malog Marijana, | A vidiš li malog Marijana— | |||||||
Pa se marl jes' prepanuo.[4] | 445 | ||||||||
Vas je Zadar zabun' ucinijo. | |||||||||
A najpošlje sa grin djerdana." | 395 | I najpošlje sa grin djerdana. | |||||||
(291b .372-95) | Pa se ne da ucesiti[*] , bogme. | ||||||||
h | Gospodare od Zadarja bane, | h | O cu li me, od Zadarja bane, | ||||||
Ja ga smici, ja ga preprodaji, | Ja ga smici, ja ga preprodaji, | 450 | |||||||
Ja ga spremi na svoju Krajinu, | Ja ga, bane, spremaj na Krajinu." | ||||||||
Jer se, bane, djete prepanulo." | 360 | (6597 .426-51) | |||||||
(1283.337-60) | |||||||||
1. Colon 1 is abort one syllable; on the model of 291b .375, we may assume that the "missing" element is the object pronoun ga . | |||||||||
2. An example of Ibro's common strategy of using a direct address to his audience ( brate ) to eke out the syllables of his line. | |||||||||
3. I have taken the transcript reading ima as lapsus calami and restored the feminine inflection to imala . | |||||||||
4. A five-syllable second hemistich produces a short line, but one which could be emended logically by expanding jes ' to its full form, jeste . The use of jeste resembles that of | |||||||||
5. A five-syllable initial colon makes for a long line; cf. 6597 .431. | |||||||||
(Figure continued on next page)
(Figure continued from previous page)
See, brothers, the young banica— | ||||||||
But you should have seen the ban's son— | ||||||||
d | She had little Marijane; | d | She had her son Marijane, | |||||
d | The year-old Marijane. | He was four years old. | ||||||
[The prisoner] had Marijane in confusion, | ||||||||
Marijane was terribly frightened. | The child was surely frightened, brothers. | Then the child was a little frightened. | ||||||
But you should have seen the young | 430 | |||||||
The ban's lady tried to comfort him | 340 | His dear mother comforted him, | 375 | |||||
Comforted him with honey and sugar, | Comforted him with honey and sugar, sugar, | She comforted him with honey and sugar, | ||||||
And comforted him with her necklace, | ||||||||
Comforted with her necklace. | ||||||||
And, my brothers, with milk from her | ||||||||
But the child could not be | She could not comfort the child, | But little Marijane would not [nurse], | ||||||
For the child was frightened, brothers. | Because the child was frightened, | |||||||
Frightened of the unwilling captive. | ||||||||
So he caused the banica untold misery. |
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(Figure continued from previous page)
When the sun had dawned and risen, | When the sun had dawned and risen, | When the sun had dawned and risen, | ||||||
You should have seen the lady banica— | See the lady banica, brothers— | You should have seen the lady banica— | ||||||
Well, she began to speak in the ban's | Well, she went to the ban's chamber. | Well, she went to the ban's chamber, | ||||||
She bore young Marijane. | ||||||||
| Then she addressed the ban thus: | 440 | ||||||
| "Good morning, young master." | | Then she called good morning to him, | "Good morning, ban of Zadar. | ||||
And the ban wished her good health: | ||||||||
"Your health, my truelove. | "Your health, young lady." | |||||||
And the ban of Zadar addressed her: | ||||||||
Why are you so unhappy, love?" | "Why have you come to me so early?" | |||||||
"Hear me, ban of Zadar, | 350 | "Hear me, ban of Zadar, | ||||||
What sort of prisoner have you captured? | What sort of prisoner have you captured? | 390 | What sort of prisoner have you captured? | |||||
He had all Zadar in confusion, | Last night he had you in confusion; | Then he had all Zadar in confusion; |
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With his shouting in the terrible prison. | ||||||||
I have not had a moment's peace, | ||||||||
Nor could I sleep in my chamber; | ||||||||
He frightened your son Marijane. | He frightened your little Marijane. | But you should have seen little Marijane— | ||||||
The little one was surely frightened. | 445 | |||||||
He had all Zadar in confusion. | ||||||||
I comforted [the child] with honey and | I tried to comfort him with honey and | |||||||
And finally with my necklace." | 395 | And finally with my necklace. | ||||||
But he could not be comforted, by God. | ||||||||
h | Oh master, ban of Zadar, | h | Oh hear me, ban of Zadar, | |||||
Either remove him, or ransom him, | Either remove him, or ransom him, | 450 | ||||||
Or prepare him for his Krajina, | Or prepare him, ban, for the Krajina." | |||||||
Because, ban, your son is frightened." | 360 |
While there is a bit more than in motif #1 to cite as phraseology common to the two singers' texts,[50] still the guslari diverge greatly at the level of phraseology, even though they once again converge in respect to narrative pattern.
Because the AAVS begins, as indicated above, with a long flashback on the condition of VS's homeland and relatives and with the ban's initial unsuccessful attempt at bargaining with his Turkish prisoners, there is no reason for the ban to decry his wife's protestations and insist on AA's and VS's continuing incarceration without appeal. What is more, their captor has just exited the cell in a fury over their recalcitrance in granting him all of the outrageous conditions he has placed on their release; indeed, he has only a few lines earlier expressed that anger in the "grinding the bones" element (l ) employed by Kukuruzovic[*] as part of motif #3. From a traditional point of view, then, motif #3—or its equivalent—has already occurred once Basic[*] begins the Shouting in Prison theme in the AAVS ; to repeat it here, between motifs #2 and #4 in Basic's[*] version of the multiform, would be to disrupt the narrative flow of the story and to pervert its compositional structure. To put the same matter differently, the l element is another example of a mobile, generic unit that can answer a number of purposes, one that can participate in different ways in different narrative designs. That we do not find the unit in this particular theme in the AAVS simply illustrates the protean nature of thematic structure: its fabric of motifs and elements is seldom so impervious to change as to fail to adapt to the demands of divergent story-patterns. Multiformity means the potential for adaptation, and thematic structure depends in definite, observed ways on that multiformity.