THE
CREATION OF ANGELS AND DEVILS
ANGELŲ IR VELNIŲ SUTVĖRIMAS
“Sutvėres
pasaulį Ponas Dievas vaikščiojo po laukus ir
pievas……..”
Translated from
LITHUANIAN by GLORIA O’BRIEN
The Lord God (Ponas Dievas),
having created the world, walked around the fields and meadows, inspecting his
work. Walking past the riverside, he absentmindedly spat on the ground and
continued on his way. After a while he passed the same way again, and saw a
stranger standing at the side of the road. Ponas
Dievas approached him and asked:
“Who might you
be?”
“I know not” --
answered the fellow.
“Then why are you
standing here? Who put you here?”
The fellow just shrugged his
shoulders and made no response. Then, Ponas Dievas recalled that he had spat on
the road in that spot, and said:
“Ah, then you are
Lucifer. And since I created you, you must obey me.”
The fellow nodded, agreeing.
“Now, sink into the
river bottom here, pull two stones from there and
bring them back to me.”
Lucifer dove to the river
bottom and came back quickly carrying two stones. Ponas Dievas took the stones
and began to strike them against each other. Bright sparks flew and fell to the
ground as live embers. Wherever they fell, the embers turned into angels and
they stood around the Lord. When he was finished, the Lord threw the stones
back into the river and walked away, surrounded by his angels. As he left, he
said to Lucifer:
“Now, see that you do
not touch those stones. Remember that you must obey me, or there will be
trouble.”
Lucifer, left to himself,
began to contemplate: to obey the Lord or not?
“Oh so what - big deal,
if I don’t obey!” Šmurkšt - into the river, and
grabbing the stones, he began to strike them one against the other, as the Lord had done. But this time, instead of bright
sparks, fragments
of black coal fell to the ground, and each one turned into a devil: black,
ugly, grinning, with horns and horse’s hooves.
Ponas Dievas returned and
viewed the scene.
“What are you doing
here?” - he questioned Lucifer, who stammered
and knew not what to say.
“I forbade you to touch
those stones, but you disobeyed me. I will not allow you to remain on the
earth: from now on you will have to live in Hell with all these black devils
you have made.”
Ponas Dievas turned toward a
bog near the river, and waved his hand.
A huge dark hole yawned, into which Lucifer and all his
band quickly disappeared.
They are still living there,
to this very day.
Source:
From “Lietuviu Sakmes” - “Lithuanian Tales”
Compiled by Pranas Sasnauskas and published
by “Vaiga” in
© English Translation - Gloria O’Brien 2008
This article was printed in Bridges April 2008