Scarce had she passed to ope the door, and lo! her soul passed from her.
The versions of this ballad which have been collected are very numerous[1033], and some of them differ so widely from others in language as not to have a single line in common. That which I have selected for translation is one of the most complete, presenting fairly all the essential points of the story, and free from the eccentricities which some versions have developed. At the same time it must be allowed that here the mother’s curse is only implied by her action of tearing up the gravestones and adjuring Constantine to rise, whereas in one or two versions, otherwise inferior, it is clearly and forcibly expressed.
Thus in one[1034] her words run:
πέτρα νὰ γίνῃ ὁ Κωσταντής, λιθάρι νὰ μὴ λει̯ώσῃ,
πώστειλε τὴν Ἀρέτω μου, τὴν Ἀρετὼ ’στὰ ξένα.
‘May Constantine become as rock, yea even as stone, and have no loosing (i.e. dissolution), for that he sent my Areto to a strange land.’
And in another[1035]:
Ὅλοι μου οἱ γυιοὶ νὰ λυώσουνε κῂ ὁ Κώστας νὰ μὴ λυώσῃ,
Ὅπ’ ἔδωκε τὴν Ἀρετὴ πολὺ μακρυὰ ’στὰ ξένα.
‘May all my other sons have “loosing” and Constantine be not “loosed,” for that he let my Areté be taken afar to a strange country.’