Before one reads this story, one should know that Lithuanians
humorously classify themselves according to the supposed character traits
belonging to people living in different regions of
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THE DEVIL AND THE
LITHUANIANS
VELNIAS IR LIETUVIAI
By Evalda Jakaitienė
Translated from
Lithuanian by Gloria O’Brien
Kartą velnias labai supyko ant Lietuvių............
Once, the devil was very
angry with the Lithuanians, and he grabbed four – one each from
Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Suvalkija and Žemaitija. He shoved
them all into a big bag and hauled it to the seashore, intending to drown them.
But he grew weary carrying the heavy bag, and sat down on a rock to
rest. He put the bag down, stretched out his legs, and lit his
pipe. The bag soon became untied.
Sensing liberty, the
Dzūkas was the first to crawl out of the bag, and without a backward
glance, hurried home. He flew home all out of breath, closed the
shutters, crawled under the bed and hid.
Next, the
Aukštaitis extricated himself. He ran off a little way, and
seeing that the devil wasn’t pursuing him, he crouched beneath a bush, to
observe what would happen further.
The Suvalkietis was the third
to climb out, brushed off his clothing, beat the dust from his boots with his
hat, lit his own pipe from the devil’s, and, instead of fleeing,
just walked around.
“Well, what are you
waiting for?”, asked the surprised devil. “A pity to waste a
good bag”, answered the man. “When the last fellow
crawls out, I’ll just take it home”.
Even the devil was now
interested in the outcome, so he filled his pipe again and waited to see what
would happen. And the bag shook and moved around a bit, but no one came
out.
“Hey, what are you
doing there? Why don’t you come out?” The devil, losing
patience, shook the bag.
“Well, you shoved me in
here, now you pull me out!!” answered the stubborn Žemaitis,
fixing the bag around himself even more comfortably.
Source:
“Pasakaitė” from “Lietuviškai Apie
Lietuvą”
(“A Little Story” from “In Lithuanian, About
Lithuania”)
Publ. - Alma Littera - Vilnius, Lithuania
© English
Translation - Gloria O’Brien 2005
This article was printed in Bridges Nov 2005