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Pater Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940)
By far the greatest and most influential figure of Albanian literature in the
first half of the twentieth century was the Franciscan pater Gjergj Fishta
(1871-1940) who more than any other writer gave artistic expression to
the searching soul of the now sovereign Albanian nation. Lauded and
celebrated up until the Second World War as the ‘national poet of Albania’
and the ‘Albanian Homer,’ Fishta was to fall into sudden oblivion when the
communists took power in November 1944. The very mention of his name
became taboo for forty-six years. Who was Gjergj Fishta and can he live up
to his epithet as ‘poet laureate’ half a century later?

Fishta was born on 23 October 1871 in the Zadrima village of Fishta near
Troshan in northern Albania where he was baptized by Franciscan
missionary and poet Leonardo De Martino (1830-1923). He attended
Franciscan schools in Troshan and Shkodra where as a child he was deeply
influenced both by the talented De Martino and by a Bosnian missionary,
pater Lovro Mihacevic, who instilled in the intelligent lad a love for
literature and for his native language. In 1886, when he was fifteen, Fishta
was sent by the Order of the Friars Minor to Bosnia, as were many young
Albanians destined for the priesthood at the time. It was at Franciscan
seminaries and institutions in Sutjeska, Livno and Kresevo that the young
Fishta studied theology, philosophy and languages, in particular Latin,
Italian and Serbo-Croatian, to prepare himself for his ecclesiastical and
literary career.

During his stay in Bosnia he came into contact with Bosnian writer Grga
Martiƒc (1822-1905) and Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjcevic (1865-
1908) with whom he became friends and who aroused a literary calling in
him. In 1894 Gjergj Fishta was ordained as a priest and admitted to the
Franciscan order. On his return to Albania in February of that year, he was
given a teaching position at the Franciscan college in Troshan and
subsequently a posting as parish priest in the village of Gomsiqja. In 1899,
he collaborated with Preng Doçi , the influential abbot of Mirdita, with prose
writer and priest Dom Ndoc Nikaj and with folklorist Pashko Bardhi (1870-
1948) to found the Bashkimi (Unity) literary society of Shkodra which set
out to tackle the thorny Albanian alphabet question. This society was
subsequently instrumental in the publication of a number of Albanian-
language school texts and of the Bashkimi Albanian-Italian dictionary of
1908, still the best dictionary of Gheg dialect. By this time Fishta had
become a leading figure of cultural and public life in northern Albania and
in particular in Shkodra.

In 1902, Fishta was appointed director of Franciscan schools in the district
of Shkodra where he is remembered in particular for having replaced
Italian by Albanian for the first time as the language of instruction there.
This effectively put an end to the Italian cultural domination of northern
Albanian Catholics and gave young Albanians studying at these schools a
sense of national identity. On 14-22 November 1908 he participated in the

                                - 2 -
Congress of Monastir as a representative of the Bashkimi literary society.
This congress, attended by Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim delegates from
Albania and abroad, was held to decide upon a definitive Albanian alphabet,
 a problem to which Fishta had given much thought. Indeed, the congress
had elected Gjergj Fishta to preside over a committee of eleven delegates
who were to make the choice. After three days of deliberations, Fishta and
the committee resolved to support two alphabets: a modified form of Sami
Frashëri’s Istanbul alphabet which, though impractical for printing, was
most widely used at the time, and a new Latin alphabet almost identical to
Fishta’s Bashkimi alphabet, in order to facilitate printing abroad.

In October 1913, almost a year after the declaration of Albanian
independence in Vlora, Fishta founded and began editing the Franciscan
monthly periodical Hylli i Dritës (The day-star) which was devoted to
literature, politics, folklore and history. With the exception of the turbulent
years of the First World War and its aftermath, 1915-1920, and the early
years of the dictatorship of Ahmet Zogu, 1925-1929, this influential journal
of high literary standing was published regularly until July 1944 and
became as instrumental for the development of northern Albanian Gheg
culture as Faik bey Konitza’s Brussels journal Albania had been for the Tosk
culture of the south. From December 1916 to 1918 Fishta edited the
Shkodra newspaper Posta e Shqypni ës (The Albanian post), a political and
cultural newspaper which was subsidized by Austria-Hungary under the
auspices of the Kultusprotektorat, despite the fact that the occupying
forces did not entirely trust Fishta because of his nationalist aspirations.

Also in 1916, together with Luigj Gurakuqi, Ndre Mjeda and Mati Logoreci
(1867-1941), Fishta played a leading role in the Albanian Literary
Commission (Komisija Letrare Shqype) set up by the Austro-Hungarians on
the suggestion of consul-general August Ritter von Kral (1859-1918) to
decide on questions of orthography for official use and to encourage the
publication of Albanian school texts. After some deliberation, the
Commission sensibly decided to use the central dialect of Elbasan as a
neutral compromi se for a standard literary language. This was much
against the wishes of Gjergj Fishta who regarded the dialect of Shkodra, in
view of its strong contribution to Albanian culture at the time, as best
suited. Fishta hoped that his northern Albanian koine would soon serve as
a literary standard for the whole country much as Dante’s language had
served as a guide for literary Italian. Throughout these years, Fishta
continued teaching and running the Franciscan school in Shkodra, known
from 1921 on as the Collegium Illyricum (Illyrian college), which had
become the leading educational institution of northern Albania. He was now
also an imposing figure of Albanian literature.

In August 1919, Gjergj Fishta served as secretary-general of the Albanian
delegation attending the Paris Peace Conference and, in this capacity, was
asked by the president of the delegation, Msgr. Luigj Bumçi (1872-1945),
to take part in a special commission to be sent to the United States to
attend to the interests of the young Albanian state. There he visited Boston,

                                - 3 -
New York and Washington. In 1921, Fishta represented Shkodra in the
Albanian parliament and was chosen in August of that year as vice-
president of this assembly. His talent as an orator served him well in his
functions both as a political figure and as a man of the cloth. In later years,
he attended Balkan conferences in Athens (1930), Sofia (1931) and
Bucharest (1932) before withdrawing from public life to devote his
remaining years to the Franciscan order and to his writing.

From 1935 to 1938 he held the office of provincial of the Albanian
Franciscans. These most fruitful years of his life were now spent in the
quiet seclusion of the Franciscan monastery of Gjuhadoll in Shkodra with
its cloister, church and rose garden where Fishta would sit in the shade and
reflect on his verse. As the poet laureate of his generation, Gjergj Fishta
was honoured with various diplomas, awards and distinctions both at home
and abroad. He was awarded the Austro-Hungarian Ritterkreuz in 1911,
decorated by Pope Pius XI with the Al Merito award in 1925, given the
prestigious Phoenix medal of the Greek government, honoured with the
title Lector jubilatus honoris causae by the Franciscan order, and made a
regular member of the Italian Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1939. He
died in Shkodra on 30 December 1940.

Although Gjergj Fishta is the author of a total of thirty-seven literary
publications, his name is indelibly linked to one great work, indeed to one
of the most astounding creations in all the history of Albanian literature,
Lahuta e malcís, Shkodra 1937 (The highland lute). ‘The highland lute’ is a
15,613-line historical verse epic focussing on the Albanian struggle for
autonomy and independence. It constitutes a panorama of northern
Albanian history from 1858 to 1913. This literary masterpiece was
composed primarily between 1902 and 1909, though it was refined and
amended by its author over a thirty year period. It constitutes the first
Albanian-language contribution to world literature.

In 1902 Fishta had been sent to a little village to replace the local parish
priest for a time. There he met and befriended the aging peasant Marash
Uci (d. 1914) of Hoti, whom he was later to immortalize in verse. In their
evenings together, Marash Uci told the young priest of the heroic battles
between the Albanian highlanders and the Montenegrins, in particular of
the famed battle at the Rrzhanica Bridge in which Marash Uci had taken
part himself. The first parts of ‘The highland lute,’ subtitled ‘At the
Rrzhanica Bridge,’ were published in Zadar in 1905 and 1907, with
subsequent and enlarged editions appearing in 1912, 1923, 1931 and 1933.
 The definitive edition of the work in thirty cantos was presented in
Shkodra in 1937 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the declaration of
Albanian independence. Despite the success of ‘The highland lute’ and the
preeminence of its author, this and all other works by Gjergj Fishta were
banned after the Second World War when the communists came to power.
The epic was, however, republished in Rome 1958, Ljubljana 1990 and
Rome 1991, and exists in German and Italian translations.


                                - 4 -
‘The highland lute’ is certainly the most powerful and effective epic to have
been written in Albanian. Gjergj Fishta chose as his subject matter what he
knew best: the heroic culture of his native northern Albanian mountains. It
was his intention with this epic, an unprecedented achievement in Albanian
letters, to present the lives of the northern Albanian tribes and of his
people in general in a heroic setting.

In its historical dimensions, ‘The highland lute’ begins with border
skirmishes between the Hoti and Gruda tribes and their equally fierce
Montenegrin neighbours in 1858. The core of the work (cantos 6-25) is
devoted to the events of 1878-1880, i.e. the Congress of Berlin which
granted Albanian borderland to Montenegro, and the resultant creation of
the League of Prizren to defend Albanian interests. Subsequent cantos
cover the Revolution of the Young Turks which initially gave Albanian
nationalists some hope of autonomy, and the Balkan wars of 1912 and
1913 which led to the declaration of Albanian independence.

It was the author’s fortune at the time to have been at the source of the
only intact heroic society in Europe. The tribal structure of the inhabitants
of the northern Albanian Alps differed radically from the more advanced
and ‘civilized’ regions of the Tosk south. What so fascinated foreign
ethnographers and visitors to northern Albania at the turn of the century
was the staunchly patriarchal society of the highlands, a system based on
customs handed down for centuries by tribal law, in particular by the Code
of Lekë Dukagjini. All the distinguishing features of this society are present
in ‘The highland lute’: birth, marriage and funerary customs, beliefs, the
generous hospitality of the tribes, their endemic blood-feuding, and the
besa, absolute fidelity to one’s word, come what may.

‘The highland lute’ is strongly inspired by northern Albanian oral verse,
both by the cycles of heroic verse, i.e. the octosyllabic Këngë kreshnikësh
(Songs of the frontier warriors), similar to the Serbo-Croatian juna…ke
pjesme, and by the equally popular cycles of historical verse of the
eighteenth century, similar to Greek klephtic verse and to the haidutska
pesen of the Bulgarians. Fishta knew this oral verse which was sung by the
Gheg mountain tribes on their one-stringed lahutas, and relished its
language and rhythm. The narrative of the epic is therefore replete with
the rich, archaic vocabulary and colourful figures of speech used by the
warring highland tribes of the north and does not make for easy reading
nowadays, even for the northern Albanians themselves.

An intimate link to oral literature is of course nothing unusual for an epic
poem, though some authors have criticized Fishta for ‘folklorism,’ for
imitating folklore instead of producing a truly literary epic. The standard
meter of ‘The highland lute’ is a trochaic octameter or heptameter which is
more in tune with Albanian oral verse than is the classical hexameter of
Latin and Greek epics. The influence of the great epics of classical antiquity,
 Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Vergil’s Aeneid, is nonetheless ubiquitous
in ‘The highland lute,’ as a number of scholars, in particular Maximilian

                                - 5 -
Lambertz and Giuseppe Gradilone, have pointed out. Many parallels in style
and content have thus transcended the millennia. Fishta himself later
translated book five of the Iliad into Albanian.

Among the major stylistic features which characterize ‘The highland lute,’
and no doubt most other epics, are metaphor, alliteration and assonance,
as well as archaic figures of speech and hyperbole. The predominantly
heroic character of the narrative with its extensive battle scenes is
fortunately counterbalanced with lyric and idyllic descriptions of the natural
beauty of the northern Albanian Alps which give ‘The highland lute’ a
lightness and poetic grace it might otherwise lack.

‘The highland lute’ relies heavily on Albanian mythology and legend. The
work is permeated with mythological figures of oral literature who, like the
gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, observe and, where necessary,
intervene in events. Among them are the zanas, dauntless mountain spirits
who dwell near springs and torrents and who bestow their protection on
Albanian warriors; the oras, female spirits whose very name is often taboo;
the vampire-like lugats; the witch-like shtrigas; and the drangues, semi-
human figures born with wings under their arms and with supernatural
powers, whose prime objective in life is to combat and slay the seven-
headed fire-spewing kulshedras.

The fusion of the heroic and the mythological is equally evident in a
number of characters to whom Fishta attributes major roles in ‘The
highland lute’: Oso Kuka, the fierce and valiant warrior who prefers death
over surrender to his Slavic enemy; the old shepherd Marash Uci who
admonishes the young fighters to preserve their freedom and not to forget
the ancient ways and customs; and the valiant maiden Tringa, caring for
her brother and resolved to defend her land.

The heroic aspect of life in the mountains is one of the many characteristics
the northern Albanian tribes have in common with their southern Slavic,
and in particular Montenegrin, neighbours. The two peoples, divided as
they are by language and by the bitter course of history, have a largely
common culture. Although the Montenegrins serve as ‘bad guys’ in the
glorification of the author’s native land, Fishta was not uninfluenced or
unmoved by the literary achievements of the southern Slavs in the second
half of the nineteenth century, in particular by epic verse of Slavic
resistance to the Turks. We have referred to the role played by Franciscan
pater Grga Martic whose works served the young Fishta as a model while
the latter was studying in Bosnia.

Fishta was also influenced by the writings of an earlier Franciscan writer,
Andrija Kacic-Miosic (1704-1760), Dalmatian poet and publicist of the
Enlightenment who is remembered in particular for his Razgovor ugodni
naroda slovinskoga, 1756 (Pleasant talk of Slavic folk), a collection of
prose and poetry on Serbo-Croatian history, and by the works of Croatian
poet Ivan Mazhuranic (1814-1890), author of the noted romantic epic Smrt

                                - 6 -
Smail-age Cengica, 1846 (The death of Smail Aga). A further source of
literary inspiration for Fishta was the Montenegrin poet-prince Petar
Petrovic Njegos (1813-1851). It is no coincidence that the title ‘The
highland (or mountain) lute’ is very similar to Gorski vijenac, 1847 (The
mountain wreath), Njegos’ verse epic of Montenegro’s heroic resistance to
the Turkish occupants, which is now generally regarded as the national
epic of the Montenegrins and Serbs. Fishta proved that the Albanian
language, too, was capable of a refined literary epic of equally heroic
proportions.

Although Gjergj Fishta is remembered primarily as an epic poet, his
achievements are actually no less impressive in other genres, in particular
as a lyric and satirical poet. Indeed, his lyric verse is regarded by many
scholars as his best.
Fishta’s first publication of lyric poetry, Vierrsha i pershpirteshem t’kthyem
shcyp, Shkodra 1906 (Spiritual verse translated into Albanian), was of
strong Catholic inspiration. Here we find translations of the great Italian
poets such as the Arcadian Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) of Rome,
romantic novelist and poet Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873) of Milan
whom Fishta greatly admired, the patriotic Silvio Pellico (1789-1845) of
Turin, and lyricist and literary historian Giacomo Zanella (1820-1888) of
Vicenza, etc.

Fishta’s first collection of original lyric verse was published under the title
Pika voëset, Zadar 1909 (Dewdrops), and dedicated to his contemporary
Luigj Gurakuqi. It was followed in 1913, at the dawn of Albanian
independence, by the first edition of Mrizi i zâneve, Shkodra 1913
(Noonday rest of the Zanas), which includes some of the religious verse of
Pika voëset. The general tone of Mrizi i zâneve is, however, much more
nationalist than spiritual, the patriotic character of the collection being
substantially underlined in the subsequent expanded editions of 1924,
1925 and in the definitive posthumous edition of 1941. Poems such as
Shqypnija (Albania), Gjuha shqype (The Albanian language), Atdheut (To
the fatherland), Shqypnija e lirë (Free Albania) and Hymni i flamurit
kombtár (Hymn to the national flag) express Fishta’s satisfaction and pride
in Albania’s history and in its new-found independence. Also included in
this volume is the allegorical melodrama Shqyptari i gjytetnuem (The
civilized Albanian man) and its sequel Shqyptarja e gjytetnueme (The
civilized Albanian woman).

With his nationalist verse concentrated in the above volume, Fishta
collected his religious poetry in the 235-page edition Vallja e Parrîzit,
Shkodra 1925 (The dance of paradise). The verse in this collection,
including poems such as Të kryqzuemt (The crucifixion), Të zânun e pafaj
të Virgjërês Mri (The immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary), Nuntsiata
(The annunciation) and Shë Françesku i Asizit (St Francis of Assisi),
constitutes a zenith of Catholic literature in Albania.
Gjergj Fishta was also a consummate master of satirical verse, using his
wit and sharpened quill to criticize the educational shortcomings and

                                - 7 -
intellectual sloth of his Scutarine compatriots. His was not the benevolent,
exhortative irony of Çajupi, but rather biting, pungent satire, often to the
point of ruthlessness, the poetic equivalent of the blunt satirical prose of
Faik bey Konitza. Fishta had printed many such poems in the periodical
Albania using the telling pseudonym ‘Castigat ridendo.’ In 1907, he
published, anonymously, the 67-page satirical collection Anxat e Parnasit,
Sarajevo 1907 (The wasps of Parnassus), which laid the foundations for
satire as a poetic genre in Albanian literature and which is regarded by
many critics as the best poetry he ever produced.

In the first of the satires, Nakdomonicipedija (A lesson for Nakdo Monici),
he turns to his friend, Jesuit writer and publisher Dom Ndoc Nikaj, whom
he affectionately calls by his pen name Nakdo Monici, to convey his
sympathy that the latter’s 416-page Historia é Shcypniis (History of
Albania), published in Brussels in 1902, had not received due attention
among their compatriots. The Albanians were quite indifferent to their own
history and indeed to their present sorry state in general. The reason for
this indifference, Fishta tells us, was a contest between St Nicholas and the
devil. St Nicholas had sailed the seas at the command of the Almighty to
sell reason and taste. The devil, for his part, competed with a ship full of
old boots which he offered for sale. When the two merchants arrived at the
port of Shëngjin, the Albanians took counsel and decided to go for the
boots on credit. With such uneducated masses, Fishta recommends that
Nikaj take solace in the aloof and cynical attitude of Molière’s Tartuffe.
Anxat e Parnasit, later spelled Anzat e Parnasit, which contains many a
delightfully spicy expression normally unbecoming to a mild Franciscan
priest, was republished in 1927, 1928, 1942 and 1990, and made Fishta
many friends and enemies.

Gomari i Babatasit, Shkodra 1923 (Babatasi’s ass), is another volume of
amusing satire, published under the pseudonym Gegë Toska while Fishta
was a member of the Albanian parliament. In this work, which enjoyed
great popularity at the time, he rants at false patriots and idlers.

Aside from the above-mentioned melodramas, Fishta was the author of
several other works of theatre, including adaptations of a number of
foreign classics, e.g., the three-act I ligu per mend, Shkodra 1931 (Le
malade imaginaire), of Molière, and Ifigenija n’Aullí, Shkodra 1931
(Iphigenia in Aulis), of Euripides. Among other dramatic works he
composed and/or adapted at a time when Albanian theatre was in its
infancy are short plays of primarily religious inspiration, among them the
three-act Christmas play Barìt e Betlêmit (The shepherds of Bethlehem);
Sh’ Françesku i Asisit, Shkodra 1912 (St Francis of Assisi); the tragedy
Juda Makabé, Shkodra 1923 (Judas Maccabaeus); Sh. Luigji Gonzaga,
Shkodra 1927 (St Aloysius of Gonzaga); and Jerina, ase mbretnesha e
luleve, Shkodra 1941 (Jerina or the queen of the flowers), the last of his
works to be published during his lifetime.

The national literature of Albania had been something of a Tosk prerogative

                               - 8 -
until the arrival of Gjergj Fishta on the literary scene. He proved that
northern Albania could be an equal partner with the more advanced south
in the creation of a national culture. The acclaim of ‘The highland lute’ has
not been universal, though, in particular among Tosk critics. Some authors
have regarded his blending of oral and written literature as disastrous and
others have simply regarded such a literary epic with a virtually
contemporary theme as an anachronism in the twentieth century. Only
time will tell whether Fishta can regain his position as ‘national poet’ after
half a century of politically motivated oblivion.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Gjergj Fishta was indeed
universally recognized as the ‘national poet.’ Austrian Albanologist
Maximilian Lambertz (1882-1963) described him as "the most ingenious
poet Albania has ever produced" and Gabriele D’Annunzio called him "the
great poet of the glorious people of Albania." For others he was the
"Albanian Homer."

After the war, Fishta was nonetheless attacked and denigrated perhaps
more than any other pre-war writer and fell into prompt oblivion. The
national poet became an anathema. The official Tirana ‘History of Albanian
Literature’ of 1983, which carried the blessing of the Albanian Party of
Labour, restricted its treatment of Fishta to an absolute minimum: "The
main representative of this clergy, Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940), poet,
publicist, teacher and politician, ran the press of the Franciscan order and
directed the cultural and educational activities of this order for a long time.
For him, the interests of the church and of religion rose above those of the
nation and the people, something he openly declared and defended with all
his demagogy and cynicism, [a principle] upon which he based his literary
work.

His main work, the epic poem, Lahuta e Malësisë (The highland lute), while
attacking the chauvinism of our northern neighbours, propagates anti-
Slavic feelings and makes the struggle against the Ottoman occupants
secondary. He raised a hymn to patriarchalism and feudalism, to religious
obscurantism and clericalism, and speculated with patriotic sentiments
wherever it was a question of highlighting the events and figures of the
national history of our Rilindja period. His other works, such as the satirical
poem Gomari i Babatasit (Babatasi’s ass), in which public schooling and
democratic ideas were bitterly attacked, were characteristic of the savage
struggle undertaken by the Catholic church to maintain and increase its
influence in the intellectual life of the country. With his art, he
endeavoured to pay service to a form close to folklore. It was often
accompanied by prolixity, far-fetched effects, rhetoric, brutality of
expression and style to the point of banality, false arguments which he
intentionally endeavours to impose, and an exceptionally conservative
attitude in the field of language. Fishta ended his days as a member of the
academy of fascist Italy."




                                - 9 -
The real reason for Fishta’s fall from grace after the ‘liberation’ in 1944 is
to be sought, however, not in his alleged pro-Italian or clerical proclivities,
but in the origins of the Albanian Communist Party itself. The ACP, later to
be called the Albanian Party of Labour, had been founded during the
Second World War under the auspices of the Yugoslav envoys Dusan
Mugosa (1914-1973) and Miladin Popovic (1910-1945). In July 1946,
Albania and Yugoslavia signed a Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and
Mutual Assistance and a number of other agreements which gave
Yugoslavia effective control over all Albanian affairs, including the field of
culture. Serbo-Croatian was introduced as a compulsory subject in all
Albanian high schools and by the spring of 1948, plans were even under
way for a merger of the two countries. It is no doubt the alleged anti-Slavic
sentiments expressed in ‘The highland lute’ which caused the work and its
author to be proscribed by the Yugoslav authorities, even though Fishta
was educated in Bosnia and inspired by Serbian and Croatian literature.

In fact, it is just as ridiculous to describe ‘The highland lute’ as anti-Slavic
propaganda as it would be to describe El Cid and the Chanson de Roland as
anti-Arab propaganda. They are all historical epics with heroes and foreign
enemies. The so-called anti-Slavic element in Fishta’s work was also
stressed in the first post-war edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia of
Moscow, which reads as follows (March 1950): "The literary activities of the
Catholic priest Gjergj Fishta reflect the role played by the Catholic clergy in
preparing for Italian aggression against Albania. As a former agent of
Austro-Hungarian imperialism, Fishta, in the early years of his literary
activity, took a position against the Slavic peoples who opposed the
rapacious plans of Austro-Hungarian imperialism in Albania. In his
chauvinistic, anti-Slavic poem ‘The highland lute,’ this spy extolled the
hostility of the Albanians towards the Slavic peoples, calling for an open
fight against the Slavs."

After relations with Yugoslavia were broken off in 1948, it is quite likely
that expressions of anti-Montenegrin or anti-Serb sentiment would no
longer have been considered a major sin in Party thinking, but an official
position had been taken with regard to Fishta and, possibly with deference
to the new Slav allies in Moscow, it could not be renounced without a
scandal. Gjergj Fishta, who but a few years earlier had been lauded as the
national poet of Albania, disappeared from the literary scene, seemingly
without a trace. Such was the fear of him in later years that his bones were
even dug up and secretly thrown into the river.

Yet despite four decades of unrelenting Party harping and propaganda
reducing Fishta to a ‘clerical and fascist poet,’ the people of northern
Albania, and in particular the inhabitants of his native Shkodra, did not
forget him. After almost half a century, Gjergj Fishta was commemorated
openly for the first time on 5 January 1991 in Shkodra. During the first
public recital of Fishta’s works in Albania in forty-five years, the actor at
one point hesitated in his lines and was immediately and spontaneously
assisted by members of the audience - who still knew many parts of ‘The

                                 - 10 -
highland lute’ by heart.

                   The Highland lute (Lahuta e Malc í s)
                                               Malcí
                                 Canto 1
                              The bandits

(In 1858, despite four long centuries under the Turkish yoke, the Albanians
had not abandoned their will for freedom. The Tsar of Russia, hoping to
extend his influence in the Balkans, writes a letter to his friend, Prince
Nikolla of Montenegro, suggesting that the latter take possession of a piece
of northern Albania to keep the Turks on the defensive, and promising
assistance. The letter, borne over hill and dale by the Tsar’s personal
messenger, arrives at the court of Cetinje and finds favour with the
Montenegrin ruler who convinces the valiant Vulo Radoviqi, commander of
Vasoviqi, to ready his bandits to lay waste to Vranina on Lake Shkod ra. )



                Help me God as you once helped me,
                Five hundred years are now behind us
                Since Albania the fair was taken,
            5   Since the Turks took and enslaved her,
                Left in blood our wretched homeland,
                Let her suffocate and wither
                That she no more glimpse the sunlight.
                That she ever live in sorrow,
          10    That when beaten, she keep silent.
                Mice within the walls wept for her,
                Serpents under stones took pity!
                But when a steer is first yoked under,
                Oxbow weighing hard upon it,
          15    There's no sense at all to goad it,
                It will balk, not pull the ploughshare,
                Only crisscross fields at fancy,
                And make trouble for the farmer,
                Will refuse to till the furrows
          20    When alone or with another.
                So it is with the Albanians,
                Under foreign yoke unwilling
                To be slaves, pay tithes and taxes.
                Always have they wandered freely,
          25    None but God above them knowing,
                Never on their lands and pastures
                Would they bow before a master.
                Never with the Turks agreeing
                Never out of sight their rifles.
          30    They waged war on them, were slaughtered,
                Just as if with shkjas in battle.
                Therefore, when the Turkish ora

                               - 11 -
Started to lose power, weaken,
     When her drive began to crumble,
35   Russia day by day beset her
     And the tribesmen of the Balkans
     Began to flee the sultan's power,
     Did the Albanians start to ponder
     How to free their native country
40   From the Turkish yoke and make it
     As when ruled by Castriota,
     When Albanians lived in freedom,
     Did not bow or show submission,
     To a foreign king or sultan,
45   Did not pay them tithes and taxes.
     And Albania's banner fluttered
     Like the wings of all God's angels,
     Like the bolts of lightning flashing,
     Waving high upon their homeland.
50   But the Prince of Montenegro,
     Prince Nikolla the foolhardy,
     Yes, foolhardy, but a nuisance,
     Gathered weapons, gathered soldiers
     To attack and take Albania,
55   To subdue the plains and mountains
     Down the length of the Drin river,
     Right down to Rozafat's fortress,
     There to plant his trobojnica
     Place on Shkodra his kapica
60   Make it part of Montenegro,
     Leave a bloodbath there behind him.
     Sat the Turk there in a stupor,
     Teardrops from his eyes did tumble,
     For the shkjas he could not counter
65   Now that Moscow had surrounded
     Stamboul and besieged the city.
     The Seven Kings, they did take counsel,
     There they talked and pondered evil,
     - may their evil thoughts consume them! -
70   To deliver fair Albania
     To the hands of Montenegro.
     To their feet rose the Albanians,
     Deftly girded on their weapons,
     Swore an oath to the Almighty
75   Like that once sworn by their fathers
     In the age of Castriota,
     Some with shoes and others barefoot,
     Locked their flocks in pen and corral,
     Some with food and others hungry,
80   Left their sisters, wives and mothers,
     Their eyes tinder, hearts gunpowder,

                     - 12 -
Like a snowstorm in a fury
      Did they set on Montenegro.
      By the Cem that was the border,
85    There the heroes did do battle,
      There Albanian, shkja in combat
      Fought and slaughtered one another,
      They grappled, wounded, slew each other,
      On the ground were heaps of bodies
90    Left as food for kites and vultures.
      Handsome youths lay strewn all over,
      All those mountain hawks, the heroes.
      Nor did their poor mothers mourn them
      For with suckling breasts themselves
95    They'd driven back the shkja invaders.
      Once the shkja advance was broken
      Did the Albanians hold assembly,
      Sent stern message to the sultan
      That they'd pay no tithes and taxes
100   Neither to that Prince Nikolla
      Nor to Stamboul, to the sultan
      They'd no longer show submission,
      They now wanted independence,
      For Albania was not fashioned,
105   Made by God for the Circassians,
      Nor for Turks, their Moors and Asians,
      But for mountain hawks, those heroes
      Whom the world calls the Albanians,
      That they keep it for their children
110   For as long as life continues.
      When the Turk had read the message
      He was filled with rage and anger.
      How he set upon the land to
      Eat them up alive, those tribesmen.
115   But the Albanians were resolved
      He'd not devour or invade them.
      They had come to a decision,
      For their land they'd muster courage,
      If attacked by king or sultan.
120   Thus the Turk and the Albanian
      Seized each others' throats and strangled,
      Smashed each others' skulls to pieces,
      Crushed them like so many pumpkins!
      Fire broke out then in the Balkans.
125   The shkja, in anguish that Albania,
      Freed now of the sultan's power,
      Might not fall into his clutches
      As he had foreseen the matter,
      Set upon the Turk like lightning,
130   Like the wild boar with the jackal.

                      - 13 -
They did haggle and did grapple,
      Scuffled, wrestled, bit and murdered,
      Rifles volleyed, cannons battered,
      Blood in torrents swashed the clearings,
135   Over fields and through the thickets,
      'Til at last, midst din and clamour,
      Of the Turkish yoke released,
      As she'd wanted, was Albania,
      Free at last, as God had promised,
140   But no, brothers, do believe me,
      Not as Turk or shkja would have it.
      That the Turk begrudged our freedom
      I can understand, but don't know
      What got into Prince Nikolla,
145   Forcing to submit Albanians,
      Crush them under heel, enslave them,
      And to seize that land where once
      In ancient times Gjergj Castriota
      Brandished in a flash his sabre.
150   Nor did he show shame or sorrow
      That he'd caused the two such bloodshed,
      Both Albania and Montenegro.
      Moscow gave him heart and courage!
      In Petrograd the Tsar of Russia
155   Took an oath before his people,
      To be heard by young and old there
      Not to celebrate a Christmas,
      Not to take part as godfather
      In baptisms or in weddings,
160   Not to wash or comb his hair more,
      Not to take part in assemblies,
      Ere he'd entered into Stamboul,
      Ere he'd made himself the sultan,
      Ruler over land and water,
165   Cut off all of Europe's trade routes,
      Banning all their sales and buying,
      Letting no one start a trade up,
      Holding Europe in his power.
      Should she even seize a breadcrumb,
170   She would end up in his clutches,
      Captive in his bloodstained clutches,
      Which were deft at theft and stealing!
      But the sly old fox was clever,
      Cheater in both words and letters,
175   One whose falseness knew no equal,
      He knew well what lay before him,
      No light task to enter Stamboul,
      No light task subjecting Turkey
      Without his own neck in peril.

                      - 14 -
180 So he schemed and started plotting,
    Set the Slavs upon the Turks, to
    Have the Balkan shkjas attack them,
    Get accounts cleared with the sultan,
    Let them first solve all their problems,
185 Troublemaking and deception,
    Then from Russia would he come forth,
    Lunging like a bear in ambush,
    And attack the Turks like lightning
    To eradicate, destroy them,
190 Never did he once consider
    That his deeds might plunge the planet
    Altogether into mourning...
    When the tsar had finished scheming,
    Did he go back into his chamber,
195 At his desk he wrote a letter,
    Wrote a note to friends in Serbia,
    Friends in Zagreb and in Sofia,
    That the shkjas should all join forces
    From Budapest to Çanakkale,
200 All as one should work together,
    Keep at bay the sultan, harried,
    Keep him worried and incited,
    Day and night they were to hound him
    On his roads and at his borders,
205 Make demands and ultimatums,
    That their actions seem haphazard,
    Though designed to cause his downfall.
    Thereupon, this Slavic scion
    Wrote a letter to Cetinje,
210 To the prince with all the details,
    There to spin his web and swindle:
    "Greetings to you, Prince Nikolla
    Greetings from the Tsar of Russia,
    I've heard of your reputation,
215 Heard you're quite a daring fellow
    Heard you are a skilful speaker,
    Foes, they say, pale at your shadow.
    But, it seems, such praise is groundless
    For you sit there in Cetinje
220 On the rocks with half a sandal,
    A laughingstock the world has made you,
    You bring shame to friends and in-laws,
    You go begging, plead for breadcrumbs,
    While the Turk who is your neighbour,
225 On his haughty brow a turban,
    Heavy pleats are in his trousers,
    He's devoid of care or worry.
    If you look, you cannot see him,

                    - 15 -
Mounds of pilaf piled before him.
230   Say, have you been mutilated?
      Or been somewhere earning wages
      Or been serving as a farmhand
      That of you we've lost all traces?
      No, good man, it's not becoming
235   For the bandit of Cetinje
      To remain at home compliant
      And help women with their spinning.
      Have you never glimpsed Albania,
      Seen all those majestic mountains,
240   Viewed the verdant fields and lowlands?
      Have you never ventured out
      To carve yourself a piece of land there?
      Why then sit around and daydream?
      If you don't get yourself moving,
245   Saint Nich'las and God won't help you.
      If you act, luck will be with you,
      As the ancient saying has it.
      As for rations and for weapons,
      Ask me and I'll give them to you.
250   Come on, put on your kapica.
      Should the sultan try to harm you,
      I'll not let him touch a feather."
      Thus the tsar wrote his epistle,
      Taking great care, did he fold it,
255   Fold it and with dark wax seal it,
      Giving it to his young herald,
      For the prince of Montenegro.
      In his breast the herald placed it,
      Limbered up and started running,
260   Left the plains and dales behind him,
      Crossed the lofty mountain pastures,
      Forded rivers, mountain torrents,
      Travelled over land and water,
      'Til one day, while running westwards,
265   Did he finally reach Cetinje,
      Tattered jacket, shredded sandals,
      Did he give the prince the letter
      Which the tsar with wax had folded.
270   The prince received it, broke it open,
      Opened it and read the letter,
      Three times did the prince peruse it,
      Three days long he pondered on it.
      Thereupon he sent a message,
275   Summoned Vulo Radoviqi,
      Commander of the Vasoviqi,
      That he come down to Cetinje,
      Notwithstanding roads and weather.

                      - 16 -
Like a goshawk did he fly there
280   Off to meet the gospodari.
      Vulo the Commander, summoned,
      Had once been a wily hero,
      Earth itself could hardly hold him,
      None went raiding there without him,
285   Sans his word was nothing taken,
      Nor was murder 'venged without him,
      Nor could maidens ever marry,
      Nor was judgment ever taken.
      And the Turks of Montenegro,
290   He was at them like an eagle,
      Kept their heads bowed in submission.
      Once, this Slavic scion set out
      On the road down to Cetinje,
      There opened a woollen blanket,
295   Stretched it out across the roadway,
      Far and wide he told the people
      That no Turk of Montenegro
      Was to cross it without paying
      Toll and poll tax of one ducat.
300   That was quite a feat of daring,
      Made him famed throughout the country.
      Vulo's glance was like a windstorm
      And his eyes, they flashed with fire,
      His thick eyebrows like an oxbow
305   Bristled roughly like a boar hide,
      Ear to ear his branch-like whiskers,
      Like two ravens in a noose caught,
      Tall, his head reached to the ceiling.
      Such a man, if you had see him,
310   With his garments, shoes and weapons,
      You'd have thought he were a drangue,
      And the prince did dearly love him,
      Loved that Vulo, listened to him
      For he was a clever thinker,
315   Was a man of keen perception.
      Therefore did the prince call for him
      That he hasten to Cetinje.
      Thus came Vulo to Cetinje,
      Notwithstanding roads and weather,
320   Like a goshawk did he fly there.
      When Vulo had reached Cetinje
      Warmly did the prince receive him,
      Took him in and paid him honour,
      Offered him tobacco, coffee.
325   Then began the conversation:
      "Where've you been, Vulo, you rascal?
      Like a lonesome wolf you've vanished,

                     - 17 -
Never come here to Cetinje
      Where you've friends, blood-brothers waiting,
330   Who above all else do love you.
      How're you faring, any problems?
      How are things in Vasoviqi?"
      "You I wish long life, God willing,"
      Turned and spoke Commander Vulo,
335   "This year for us, gospodari,
      The harvest has not been abundant,
      Much bad weather have we suffered
      I don't know what now will happen,
      How I'll save my farm and family,
340   For our stocks of food are dwindling."
      "Oh, come on," the prince responded,
      "Has a bandit ever hungered?
      Is a falcon ever meatless?
      You can bring in double harvest,
345   All you need's a bit of booty
      To sustain your cows and oxen
      And to feed your tribe and village,
      Not to mention home and family.
      Hark my words, Commander Vulo,
350   Listen to the gospodari,
      Find some thugs as mean as serpents,
      But as light and swift as goshawks,
      Lie in wait among the bushes,
      Then go pounce upon Vranina,
355   Kill and slaughter all you find there,
      Burn the houses all to ashes,
      Rustle all the spoils around them,
      Loot and ransack, pillage, pilfer,
      Both by daytime or by nighttime.
360   This is why I sent the message,
      Summoned you here to Cetinje
      For I'm once more feeling tempted
      With the Turks to start a scuffle,
      Fight the Turks and decimate them,
365   For it seems to me improper
      Turks and shkjas should sit together."
      So the prince explained the matter,
      Convinced him of all the details,
      Both of them went on discussing
370   How to act, what they would need to
      Bathe in blood the town Vranina.
      When the two had reached agreement,
      The prince did bid him stay for dinner,
      And some money did he give him
375   And a muzzle-loading flintlock,
      Stock of which was silver-coated,

                      - 18 -
Unequalled in Montenegro,
                Even on a shelf it scares you,
                All the more when with a fighter,
                All the more when held by Vulo,
            380 With his teeth he'd bite through iron.
                Vulo, to his feet then rising,
                Bade farewell to Prince Nikolla
                And departed for the mountains.
                On his way did Vulo ponder
            385 How to lay waste to Vranina,
                As the prince had bid him do so.


[ Kangë e parë - Cubat, from the volume Lahuta e Malcís, Shkodra, 1937, p. 3-15, translated by
Robert Elsie ]

Nga: http://www.shkoder.net/en/fishta.htm




                                        - 19 -
1937 Fishta Kanga / Canto 5. 391-465




1937 | Gjerg j Fishta:
Lahuta e Malcís / The Highland Lute
         Malcí
Kanga / Canto 5. 391-465

        Por, s' din Shkjau me mbajtë miqs í!
        But the shkjas don't value friendship!

        Aman, Zot, kur duel Serdari,
        Lo, when the Commander got there,

        Se ç' kje ndez ë Vranina zhari!
        All Vranina was a bonfire.


                          - 20 -
Aman, Zot, kur mrrîni Pera,
      Lo, when Pera reached the battle,

395   Se shum krisi atbotë potera!
      There was such a din and uproar.

      Por kur rán Shkjét e Vraninës
      Albanians from the rear were fired on

      Shum u krisi plumja shpinës!
      When Vranina's shkjas came fighting.

      Porsi shé, qi m' nji natë gjâmet
      As a torrent in a night storm

      Rritet turr e del prej âmet
      Overflows its banks and rises,

400   Tuj ushtue - e tue shkumue,
      When it foams and when it rages,

      Shkaperderd het nper zallina,
      Flooding over beds of gravel,

      Ashtû u derdh Shkjau te Vranina,
      So the shkjas poured through Vranina,

      N' valë Shqyptarët krejt tue i pershî.
      In a wave submerged Albanians.

      S' lufton ndryshe e rrebtë kulshetra
      Thus does fight the fierce kulshedra

405   E me dhâmb ë edhè me kthetra,
      With its teeth and claws a-lashing,

      Zjarm e surfull tue flakrue,
      Spewing fire, fomenting sulphur,

      Kur drangojt t' a kenë rrethue;
      When surrounded by the drangues.

      Si i qindron sod Shkjaut Shqyptari
      Thus the Albanians, shkjas resisting,

      Per dhé t' amel, qi i la i Pari:
      For the sweet land of their fathers,

410   Kâmbë per kâmbë, tuj qitë pá dá,
      Shoulders in a phalanx battled,


                        - 21 -
Tue korrë krena neper Shkjá.
      Reaping heads among shkja fighters.

      U janë ndezun flakë breshânat,
      Spitting flames, fired their breshanas,

      U kullojn gjak n' dorë tagânat,
      Blood dripped on their hands from sabres,

      E u kullon gjak edhè zêmra,
      In their hearts their pulse was pounding,

415   Veç se vend it s' u lot thêmra.
      Though their heels stood fast, unmoving.

      Por ç' dobí: dielli tue lé
      But to what end? Then the sun rose,

      - Isht' tue lé m' at ditë per Shkjé! -
      Rose that day for Slavic triumph,

      I rán ndore Shkjaut t' terbuem
      Thirty dead and ten were injured,

      Trid hjetë t' vrám e dhetë t' shituem!...
      To the rabid shkjas fell victim.

420   O ata t' lumt, qi dhane jeten,
      Blessed those who gave their lives up,

      O ata t' lumt, qi shkrîne veten,
      Blessed those who sacrificed, who

      Qi per Mbret e vend të t' Parve,
      Died for sultan and their birthplace,

      Qi per erz e nderë t' Shqyptarve
      Died to save Albania's honour,

      Derdhen gjakun tuj luftue,
      Spilt their blood while doing battle,

425   Porsi t' Parët u pa'n punue!
      Fought as once had done their fathers.

      Letë u kjoftë mbí vorr led ina,
      O'er their graves may grass grow gently,

      Butë u kjoshin moti e stina,
      May the seasons, years weigh lightly,


                         - 22 -
Aklli, bora e serotina:
      Ice and snow and rainstorm. For as

      E dér t' kndoje n' ma l ndo 'i Zânë,
      Long as zanas sing in mountains,

430   E dér t' ketë n' dét ujë e rânë,
      Long as seas have sand and water,

      Dér sá t' shndrisin diell e hânë,
      Long as sun and moon are shining,

      Ata kurr mos u harrojshin,
      May they never be forgotten.

      N' kângë e n' valle por u kndojshin.
      Let song, dance commemorate them.

      E njaj gjak, qi kan dikue,
      All the blood that they did forfeit,

435   Bân, o Zot, qi t' jesë tue vlue
      May God make it boil and bubble

      Per m' i a xé zêmren Shqyptarit,
      Thus to hearten the Albanians

      Per kah vend i e gjûha e t' Parit!
      For their homeland and their language.

      Po, váll! Osja kû do t' jetë?
      But, oh where is Oso Kuka?

      Oso Kuka a mos ká mbetë?
      Could it be that he has fallen?

440   N' Xhebehane ká zatetë!
      He is holed up in the tower,

      Ká zatetë n' at kullë t' barotit,
      In that powder tower hiding

      Kû ká bâ êmrin e Zotit,
      And has sworn an oath to God that

      Se per t' gja llë nuk ká m' e lshue,
      He alive will not surrender,

      Shokët e vet per pá i pague
      Settling score for all his comrades,


                         - 23 -
445   Trid hetë t' vr ám e dhetë t' shitue.
      Thirty dead and ten there injured.

      Kur pau Shkjau se pushka mêni
      When the shkjas heard wane the firing

      Si kah vau, si kah Liq êni,
      At the ford and at the lakeside,

      E se mbetë s' kisht' Oso Kuka
      Noted missing Oso Kuka

      Me tjer ë t' vrám, perjashtë ke suka,
      'mongst the dead around the hillock,

450   M' Xhebehane u turr m' at hera,
      They at once attacked the tower.

      Si, kur t' lshojë kah Prendvera,
      As when at the start of springtime

      Vrullet bleta çark njaj zgjonit,
      Bees swarm out around the beehive,

      Tue zukatë si rryma e prronit.
      Humming like the brooks and currents.

      N' brohor í tue i lutë jetë Knjazit
      Thus, a hundred on the rooftop,

455   Njiqind vetë kcyen m' kulm t' pulla zit,
      Cried: "Long live the Prince!" rejoicing,

      Mâ t' permend unt kah trimnija,
      While the most courageous of them

      Njaq u njiten mbi frangija,
      Scrambled up to the embrasures,

      Tue thye muret n' gjak t' perlyeme:
      Breaching bloodied walls and fences.

      - Por ká gioben shpija e thyeme! -
      "All housebreaking must be paid for,"

460   Krisi Osja atbotë si ulâni,
      Roared out Oso like a lion,

      Mje m' Cetinë i vojti zâni:


                         - 24 -
To Cetinje his voice echoed:

                      "Ah kadalë, Nikollë, t' vraftë Zoti!
                      "Careful now, you damned Nikolla,

                      Pse ktû i thonë Oso baroti :
                      Here they call me Powder Oso,

                      Se s' ké pá Shqyptár me sy,
                      Never you've seen an Albanian

           465        Se djegë vehten edhè tý!"
                      Blow himself up and you with him."

           [English translation by Robert Elsie and Janice Mathie-Heck]




http://www.albanianlanguage.net/en/fishta.html




                                          - 25 -
1937 Fishta Kanga / Canto 13. 1-77




1937 | Gjergj Fishta:
Lahuta e Malc ís / The Highland Lute
         Malcí
Kanga / Canto 13. 1-77

        Prendoi dielli, n' qiell duel hâna,
        In the sky the sun set, moon rose,

        N' Veleçik po pingron Zâna:
        On Veleçik chirped the zana:

        Ehu! ju malet e Shqypnís,
        "Oh, you mountains of Albania,

        N' t' cillat strukë shqypja e lirís



                           - 26 -
On which once perched freedom's eagle,

05   N' t' bardhat kohë qi kan prendue
     In that golden age now vanished,

     S' lête anmik, jo, me i u afrue!
     You let not the foe approach you.

     E di shpat e di edhe prrue,
     Both the slopes and torrents know it,

     E di la ndë e di edhe gúr,
     Both the woods and cliffs bear witness,

     Shqyptarís kryq e terthuer,
     How much blood the foe left flowing

10   Se sa gjak atbotë i anmikut
     Everywhere, throughout our homeland,

     Vojti rrkajë prej t' bardhë çelikut,
     Blood spilt by a flashing sabre

     Qi flakote n' dorë t' Shqyptarit
     Brandished by Albania's fighters,

     Porsi rrfeja majes s' Sharit.
     Lightning from the peaks of Sharri.

     A kisht' mujtë kurr n' at kohë t' lume,
     Were marauding hands e'er able

15   (Me lot gjakut sod t' lotueme!)
     In that blessed age to plunder

     Veç nji troe t' tokës shqyptare
     (Age with bloody tears wept over)

     M' e rmue dora grabitçare?
     Of Albania's soil a handful?

     Ah! jo kurr; t' ish' çue mbarë bota...
     No, no, never, all had risen,

     Pse ndo 'i Lekë, a 'i Gjergj Kastriota
     Some Lekë, some George Castriota

20   Do t' kisht' dalë, at dorë rrembyese
     Would have leapt up, arms triumphant,



                        - 27 -
M' e cungue me armë ngadhnyese,
     And have lopped that thievish hand off,

     T' cilla t n' shekull do t' permenden
     Feats to be forever told as

     Hânë e hyj sa qiellve t' enden.
     Long as moon and stars do orbit.

     Por kan ndrrue sot moti e stina
     But the times have changed, the seasons,

25   Per dhé t' ngrît, kû rreh Martina!
     O'er this languid land clash rifles.

     Gjinde e mbajtun me lot t' shumit
     Off the poor man's tears folk live now,

     Qi n' djersë njomë bûcat e umit,
     Tears of sweat upon the tilled soil,

     Ja qi n' kullmë rreshket kumuese,
     Off the blacksmith broiled at anvil,

     Ja nper dét bjen valës shkumuese,
     Or on foaming waves the sailor

30   Per me mbajtë nji grue te shpija
     Trying wife at home to nourish

     S' cilles bukë i lypi fmija,
     While for bread do beg her children,

     Edhe i lên ndoshta me kjá,
     She perhaps must let them yammer

     Perse e mjera bukë nuk ká:
     For she has no food to feed them,

     Gjinde, s' cilles Zot i âsht ari,
     Folk who none but gold do worship,

35   T' zezen tokë qi i ngratë Shqyptari
     Want to parcel out their poor land,

     Shtrêjt me gjak e pat fitue,
     Dearly which in blood was paid for

     Pa ndo 'i dhimë, kjoshin ma llkue!
     By Albanian farmers paltry,


                        - 28 -
Sod m' e dá duen copa copa:
     Ruthless folk, I damn and curse them!

     E perse? Pse don Europa...
     You ask why? Well, Europe wished it.

40   Uh! Europë, ti kurva e motit,
     Europe, aging whore, it's you that

     Qi i rae mohit besës e Zotit,
     On your word and God have trampled.

     Po a ky â shêji i gjytetnís:
     Is it sign of all your culture

     Me dá token e Shqypnís
     That you parcel out Albania

     Per me mbajtë klysht e Rusís?
     Just to rear the cubs of Russia?

45   Po ti a kshtû sod na i perligje
     Is this how you've paid them back now,

     Njata burra qi m' kto brigje
     All those men who died to save you,

     Per tý vehten bâne flije
     Fallen, slain up in the hills while

     Kur ti heshtshe prej ligshtije?
     You yourself, too weak, kept silent?

     Ti qi i a kalle flaken diellit
     Thou who kindled fire for sunlight,

50   E i shestove rrathët e qiellit
     Thou who drew the spheres of heaven,

     Ti, prej eshtnash t' t' ngratë Shqyptarve,
     From the bones of our dead fighters,

     Qi bânë deken per dhé t' t' parve,
     Men who perished for their homeland,

     Bân sod t' bîjn fatosa t' rí,
     Cause to rise now hale young heroes,

     T' cillt nji troe t' ksajë Shqypní
     Who'll not let an inch of homeland


                        - 29 -
55   Mos t' a lâjn Shkjaut n' dorë me i rá
     Fall into those Slavic clutches,

     Krejt në gjak nji her ë pa e lá!
     Ere they bathe in blood the foemen!"

     Lum, oj Zâna e Vele çikut,
     Blessed zana of Veleçik,

     Qi m' i a lshon ti namët anmikut,
     You who at the foe hurl curses,

     Qi m' i uron djelmt e Malc ís,
     You who wish well Highland fighters,

60   Qi m' i a kján hallin Shqypnís;
     You who mourn Albania's sorrows,

     Ksaj Shqypní, e cilla motit,
     Mourn that land which in past ages

     N' zâ kah pushka e besa e Zotit,
     Was for faith and arms remembered,

     Pat kênë çmue prej fisesh t' tâna
     Was esteemed by all our tribesmen

     Kah bjen dielli e kah mârr hâna!
     Where the sun shines and the moon glows,

65   Por, sado qi poshtë ká rá
     Now, behold, look how she's faltered,

     Sod me sod, e rrin tue kjá
     How she's languishing and weeping

     N' pluhen t' tokës, prej njer zve shá,
     In the dust, by men derided.

     Prap, oj Zânë, shkndija e burrnís
     But that spark of courage, zana,

     Nuk â shkimë n' ma le t' Shqypnís,
     Is not dead up in the mountains,

70   Qi, ma nà, edhè n' kto kohë t' reja
     Even now, upon occasion

     Ka 'i herë ndezet flakë si rrfeja.


                        - 30 -
Does it sparkle, flash like lightning,

                      S' kan mbetë shkret, jo, armët besnike,
                      Faithful arms are not abandoned,

                      Perse Arbnorja grue fisnike,
                      For Arbënia, noble woman,

                      Bân se bân fatosa t' rí,
                      Always brings forth new young heroes

            75        T' cillt trimnisht per ket Shqypní
                      Who in valour for Albania,

                      E per besë e t' bardhen Fé
                      For their word and blithe religion,

                      E bâjn deken si me lé.
                      View as birth their own extinction.

           [English translation by Robert Elsie and Janice Mathie-Heck]




http://www.albanianlanguage.net/en/fishta.html




                                          - 31 -

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Pater Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940)

  • 2. Pater Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940) By far the greatest and most influential figure of Albanian literature in the first half of the twentieth century was the Franciscan pater Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940) who more than any other writer gave artistic expression to the searching soul of the now sovereign Albanian nation. Lauded and celebrated up until the Second World War as the ‘national poet of Albania’ and the ‘Albanian Homer,’ Fishta was to fall into sudden oblivion when the communists took power in November 1944. The very mention of his name became taboo for forty-six years. Who was Gjergj Fishta and can he live up to his epithet as ‘poet laureate’ half a century later? Fishta was born on 23 October 1871 in the Zadrima village of Fishta near Troshan in northern Albania where he was baptized by Franciscan missionary and poet Leonardo De Martino (1830-1923). He attended Franciscan schools in Troshan and Shkodra where as a child he was deeply influenced both by the talented De Martino and by a Bosnian missionary, pater Lovro Mihacevic, who instilled in the intelligent lad a love for literature and for his native language. In 1886, when he was fifteen, Fishta was sent by the Order of the Friars Minor to Bosnia, as were many young Albanians destined for the priesthood at the time. It was at Franciscan seminaries and institutions in Sutjeska, Livno and Kresevo that the young Fishta studied theology, philosophy and languages, in particular Latin, Italian and Serbo-Croatian, to prepare himself for his ecclesiastical and literary career. During his stay in Bosnia he came into contact with Bosnian writer Grga Martiƒc (1822-1905) and Croatian poet Silvije Strahimir Kranjcevic (1865- 1908) with whom he became friends and who aroused a literary calling in him. In 1894 Gjergj Fishta was ordained as a priest and admitted to the Franciscan order. On his return to Albania in February of that year, he was given a teaching position at the Franciscan college in Troshan and subsequently a posting as parish priest in the village of Gomsiqja. In 1899, he collaborated with Preng Doçi , the influential abbot of Mirdita, with prose writer and priest Dom Ndoc Nikaj and with folklorist Pashko Bardhi (1870- 1948) to found the Bashkimi (Unity) literary society of Shkodra which set out to tackle the thorny Albanian alphabet question. This society was subsequently instrumental in the publication of a number of Albanian- language school texts and of the Bashkimi Albanian-Italian dictionary of 1908, still the best dictionary of Gheg dialect. By this time Fishta had become a leading figure of cultural and public life in northern Albania and in particular in Shkodra. In 1902, Fishta was appointed director of Franciscan schools in the district of Shkodra where he is remembered in particular for having replaced Italian by Albanian for the first time as the language of instruction there. This effectively put an end to the Italian cultural domination of northern Albanian Catholics and gave young Albanians studying at these schools a sense of national identity. On 14-22 November 1908 he participated in the - 2 -
  • 3. Congress of Monastir as a representative of the Bashkimi literary society. This congress, attended by Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim delegates from Albania and abroad, was held to decide upon a definitive Albanian alphabet, a problem to which Fishta had given much thought. Indeed, the congress had elected Gjergj Fishta to preside over a committee of eleven delegates who were to make the choice. After three days of deliberations, Fishta and the committee resolved to support two alphabets: a modified form of Sami Frashëri’s Istanbul alphabet which, though impractical for printing, was most widely used at the time, and a new Latin alphabet almost identical to Fishta’s Bashkimi alphabet, in order to facilitate printing abroad. In October 1913, almost a year after the declaration of Albanian independence in Vlora, Fishta founded and began editing the Franciscan monthly periodical Hylli i Dritës (The day-star) which was devoted to literature, politics, folklore and history. With the exception of the turbulent years of the First World War and its aftermath, 1915-1920, and the early years of the dictatorship of Ahmet Zogu, 1925-1929, this influential journal of high literary standing was published regularly until July 1944 and became as instrumental for the development of northern Albanian Gheg culture as Faik bey Konitza’s Brussels journal Albania had been for the Tosk culture of the south. From December 1916 to 1918 Fishta edited the Shkodra newspaper Posta e Shqypni ës (The Albanian post), a political and cultural newspaper which was subsidized by Austria-Hungary under the auspices of the Kultusprotektorat, despite the fact that the occupying forces did not entirely trust Fishta because of his nationalist aspirations. Also in 1916, together with Luigj Gurakuqi, Ndre Mjeda and Mati Logoreci (1867-1941), Fishta played a leading role in the Albanian Literary Commission (Komisija Letrare Shqype) set up by the Austro-Hungarians on the suggestion of consul-general August Ritter von Kral (1859-1918) to decide on questions of orthography for official use and to encourage the publication of Albanian school texts. After some deliberation, the Commission sensibly decided to use the central dialect of Elbasan as a neutral compromi se for a standard literary language. This was much against the wishes of Gjergj Fishta who regarded the dialect of Shkodra, in view of its strong contribution to Albanian culture at the time, as best suited. Fishta hoped that his northern Albanian koine would soon serve as a literary standard for the whole country much as Dante’s language had served as a guide for literary Italian. Throughout these years, Fishta continued teaching and running the Franciscan school in Shkodra, known from 1921 on as the Collegium Illyricum (Illyrian college), which had become the leading educational institution of northern Albania. He was now also an imposing figure of Albanian literature. In August 1919, Gjergj Fishta served as secretary-general of the Albanian delegation attending the Paris Peace Conference and, in this capacity, was asked by the president of the delegation, Msgr. Luigj Bumçi (1872-1945), to take part in a special commission to be sent to the United States to attend to the interests of the young Albanian state. There he visited Boston, - 3 -
  • 4. New York and Washington. In 1921, Fishta represented Shkodra in the Albanian parliament and was chosen in August of that year as vice- president of this assembly. His talent as an orator served him well in his functions both as a political figure and as a man of the cloth. In later years, he attended Balkan conferences in Athens (1930), Sofia (1931) and Bucharest (1932) before withdrawing from public life to devote his remaining years to the Franciscan order and to his writing. From 1935 to 1938 he held the office of provincial of the Albanian Franciscans. These most fruitful years of his life were now spent in the quiet seclusion of the Franciscan monastery of Gjuhadoll in Shkodra with its cloister, church and rose garden where Fishta would sit in the shade and reflect on his verse. As the poet laureate of his generation, Gjergj Fishta was honoured with various diplomas, awards and distinctions both at home and abroad. He was awarded the Austro-Hungarian Ritterkreuz in 1911, decorated by Pope Pius XI with the Al Merito award in 1925, given the prestigious Phoenix medal of the Greek government, honoured with the title Lector jubilatus honoris causae by the Franciscan order, and made a regular member of the Italian Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1939. He died in Shkodra on 30 December 1940. Although Gjergj Fishta is the author of a total of thirty-seven literary publications, his name is indelibly linked to one great work, indeed to one of the most astounding creations in all the history of Albanian literature, Lahuta e malcís, Shkodra 1937 (The highland lute). ‘The highland lute’ is a 15,613-line historical verse epic focussing on the Albanian struggle for autonomy and independence. It constitutes a panorama of northern Albanian history from 1858 to 1913. This literary masterpiece was composed primarily between 1902 and 1909, though it was refined and amended by its author over a thirty year period. It constitutes the first Albanian-language contribution to world literature. In 1902 Fishta had been sent to a little village to replace the local parish priest for a time. There he met and befriended the aging peasant Marash Uci (d. 1914) of Hoti, whom he was later to immortalize in verse. In their evenings together, Marash Uci told the young priest of the heroic battles between the Albanian highlanders and the Montenegrins, in particular of the famed battle at the Rrzhanica Bridge in which Marash Uci had taken part himself. The first parts of ‘The highland lute,’ subtitled ‘At the Rrzhanica Bridge,’ were published in Zadar in 1905 and 1907, with subsequent and enlarged editions appearing in 1912, 1923, 1931 and 1933. The definitive edition of the work in thirty cantos was presented in Shkodra in 1937 to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the declaration of Albanian independence. Despite the success of ‘The highland lute’ and the preeminence of its author, this and all other works by Gjergj Fishta were banned after the Second World War when the communists came to power. The epic was, however, republished in Rome 1958, Ljubljana 1990 and Rome 1991, and exists in German and Italian translations. - 4 -
  • 5. ‘The highland lute’ is certainly the most powerful and effective epic to have been written in Albanian. Gjergj Fishta chose as his subject matter what he knew best: the heroic culture of his native northern Albanian mountains. It was his intention with this epic, an unprecedented achievement in Albanian letters, to present the lives of the northern Albanian tribes and of his people in general in a heroic setting. In its historical dimensions, ‘The highland lute’ begins with border skirmishes between the Hoti and Gruda tribes and their equally fierce Montenegrin neighbours in 1858. The core of the work (cantos 6-25) is devoted to the events of 1878-1880, i.e. the Congress of Berlin which granted Albanian borderland to Montenegro, and the resultant creation of the League of Prizren to defend Albanian interests. Subsequent cantos cover the Revolution of the Young Turks which initially gave Albanian nationalists some hope of autonomy, and the Balkan wars of 1912 and 1913 which led to the declaration of Albanian independence. It was the author’s fortune at the time to have been at the source of the only intact heroic society in Europe. The tribal structure of the inhabitants of the northern Albanian Alps differed radically from the more advanced and ‘civilized’ regions of the Tosk south. What so fascinated foreign ethnographers and visitors to northern Albania at the turn of the century was the staunchly patriarchal society of the highlands, a system based on customs handed down for centuries by tribal law, in particular by the Code of Lekë Dukagjini. All the distinguishing features of this society are present in ‘The highland lute’: birth, marriage and funerary customs, beliefs, the generous hospitality of the tribes, their endemic blood-feuding, and the besa, absolute fidelity to one’s word, come what may. ‘The highland lute’ is strongly inspired by northern Albanian oral verse, both by the cycles of heroic verse, i.e. the octosyllabic Këngë kreshnikësh (Songs of the frontier warriors), similar to the Serbo-Croatian juna…ke pjesme, and by the equally popular cycles of historical verse of the eighteenth century, similar to Greek klephtic verse and to the haidutska pesen of the Bulgarians. Fishta knew this oral verse which was sung by the Gheg mountain tribes on their one-stringed lahutas, and relished its language and rhythm. The narrative of the epic is therefore replete with the rich, archaic vocabulary and colourful figures of speech used by the warring highland tribes of the north and does not make for easy reading nowadays, even for the northern Albanians themselves. An intimate link to oral literature is of course nothing unusual for an epic poem, though some authors have criticized Fishta for ‘folklorism,’ for imitating folklore instead of producing a truly literary epic. The standard meter of ‘The highland lute’ is a trochaic octameter or heptameter which is more in tune with Albanian oral verse than is the classical hexameter of Latin and Greek epics. The influence of the great epics of classical antiquity, Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Vergil’s Aeneid, is nonetheless ubiquitous in ‘The highland lute,’ as a number of scholars, in particular Maximilian - 5 -
  • 6. Lambertz and Giuseppe Gradilone, have pointed out. Many parallels in style and content have thus transcended the millennia. Fishta himself later translated book five of the Iliad into Albanian. Among the major stylistic features which characterize ‘The highland lute,’ and no doubt most other epics, are metaphor, alliteration and assonance, as well as archaic figures of speech and hyperbole. The predominantly heroic character of the narrative with its extensive battle scenes is fortunately counterbalanced with lyric and idyllic descriptions of the natural beauty of the northern Albanian Alps which give ‘The highland lute’ a lightness and poetic grace it might otherwise lack. ‘The highland lute’ relies heavily on Albanian mythology and legend. The work is permeated with mythological figures of oral literature who, like the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, observe and, where necessary, intervene in events. Among them are the zanas, dauntless mountain spirits who dwell near springs and torrents and who bestow their protection on Albanian warriors; the oras, female spirits whose very name is often taboo; the vampire-like lugats; the witch-like shtrigas; and the drangues, semi- human figures born with wings under their arms and with supernatural powers, whose prime objective in life is to combat and slay the seven- headed fire-spewing kulshedras. The fusion of the heroic and the mythological is equally evident in a number of characters to whom Fishta attributes major roles in ‘The highland lute’: Oso Kuka, the fierce and valiant warrior who prefers death over surrender to his Slavic enemy; the old shepherd Marash Uci who admonishes the young fighters to preserve their freedom and not to forget the ancient ways and customs; and the valiant maiden Tringa, caring for her brother and resolved to defend her land. The heroic aspect of life in the mountains is one of the many characteristics the northern Albanian tribes have in common with their southern Slavic, and in particular Montenegrin, neighbours. The two peoples, divided as they are by language and by the bitter course of history, have a largely common culture. Although the Montenegrins serve as ‘bad guys’ in the glorification of the author’s native land, Fishta was not uninfluenced or unmoved by the literary achievements of the southern Slavs in the second half of the nineteenth century, in particular by epic verse of Slavic resistance to the Turks. We have referred to the role played by Franciscan pater Grga Martic whose works served the young Fishta as a model while the latter was studying in Bosnia. Fishta was also influenced by the writings of an earlier Franciscan writer, Andrija Kacic-Miosic (1704-1760), Dalmatian poet and publicist of the Enlightenment who is remembered in particular for his Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga, 1756 (Pleasant talk of Slavic folk), a collection of prose and poetry on Serbo-Croatian history, and by the works of Croatian poet Ivan Mazhuranic (1814-1890), author of the noted romantic epic Smrt - 6 -
  • 7. Smail-age Cengica, 1846 (The death of Smail Aga). A further source of literary inspiration for Fishta was the Montenegrin poet-prince Petar Petrovic Njegos (1813-1851). It is no coincidence that the title ‘The highland (or mountain) lute’ is very similar to Gorski vijenac, 1847 (The mountain wreath), Njegos’ verse epic of Montenegro’s heroic resistance to the Turkish occupants, which is now generally regarded as the national epic of the Montenegrins and Serbs. Fishta proved that the Albanian language, too, was capable of a refined literary epic of equally heroic proportions. Although Gjergj Fishta is remembered primarily as an epic poet, his achievements are actually no less impressive in other genres, in particular as a lyric and satirical poet. Indeed, his lyric verse is regarded by many scholars as his best. Fishta’s first publication of lyric poetry, Vierrsha i pershpirteshem t’kthyem shcyp, Shkodra 1906 (Spiritual verse translated into Albanian), was of strong Catholic inspiration. Here we find translations of the great Italian poets such as the Arcadian Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) of Rome, romantic novelist and poet Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873) of Milan whom Fishta greatly admired, the patriotic Silvio Pellico (1789-1845) of Turin, and lyricist and literary historian Giacomo Zanella (1820-1888) of Vicenza, etc. Fishta’s first collection of original lyric verse was published under the title Pika voëset, Zadar 1909 (Dewdrops), and dedicated to his contemporary Luigj Gurakuqi. It was followed in 1913, at the dawn of Albanian independence, by the first edition of Mrizi i zâneve, Shkodra 1913 (Noonday rest of the Zanas), which includes some of the religious verse of Pika voëset. The general tone of Mrizi i zâneve is, however, much more nationalist than spiritual, the patriotic character of the collection being substantially underlined in the subsequent expanded editions of 1924, 1925 and in the definitive posthumous edition of 1941. Poems such as Shqypnija (Albania), Gjuha shqype (The Albanian language), Atdheut (To the fatherland), Shqypnija e lirë (Free Albania) and Hymni i flamurit kombtár (Hymn to the national flag) express Fishta’s satisfaction and pride in Albania’s history and in its new-found independence. Also included in this volume is the allegorical melodrama Shqyptari i gjytetnuem (The civilized Albanian man) and its sequel Shqyptarja e gjytetnueme (The civilized Albanian woman). With his nationalist verse concentrated in the above volume, Fishta collected his religious poetry in the 235-page edition Vallja e Parrîzit, Shkodra 1925 (The dance of paradise). The verse in this collection, including poems such as Të kryqzuemt (The crucifixion), Të zânun e pafaj të Virgjërês Mri (The immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary), Nuntsiata (The annunciation) and Shë Françesku i Asizit (St Francis of Assisi), constitutes a zenith of Catholic literature in Albania. Gjergj Fishta was also a consummate master of satirical verse, using his wit and sharpened quill to criticize the educational shortcomings and - 7 -
  • 8. intellectual sloth of his Scutarine compatriots. His was not the benevolent, exhortative irony of Çajupi, but rather biting, pungent satire, often to the point of ruthlessness, the poetic equivalent of the blunt satirical prose of Faik bey Konitza. Fishta had printed many such poems in the periodical Albania using the telling pseudonym ‘Castigat ridendo.’ In 1907, he published, anonymously, the 67-page satirical collection Anxat e Parnasit, Sarajevo 1907 (The wasps of Parnassus), which laid the foundations for satire as a poetic genre in Albanian literature and which is regarded by many critics as the best poetry he ever produced. In the first of the satires, Nakdomonicipedija (A lesson for Nakdo Monici), he turns to his friend, Jesuit writer and publisher Dom Ndoc Nikaj, whom he affectionately calls by his pen name Nakdo Monici, to convey his sympathy that the latter’s 416-page Historia é Shcypniis (History of Albania), published in Brussels in 1902, had not received due attention among their compatriots. The Albanians were quite indifferent to their own history and indeed to their present sorry state in general. The reason for this indifference, Fishta tells us, was a contest between St Nicholas and the devil. St Nicholas had sailed the seas at the command of the Almighty to sell reason and taste. The devil, for his part, competed with a ship full of old boots which he offered for sale. When the two merchants arrived at the port of Shëngjin, the Albanians took counsel and decided to go for the boots on credit. With such uneducated masses, Fishta recommends that Nikaj take solace in the aloof and cynical attitude of Molière’s Tartuffe. Anxat e Parnasit, later spelled Anzat e Parnasit, which contains many a delightfully spicy expression normally unbecoming to a mild Franciscan priest, was republished in 1927, 1928, 1942 and 1990, and made Fishta many friends and enemies. Gomari i Babatasit, Shkodra 1923 (Babatasi’s ass), is another volume of amusing satire, published under the pseudonym Gegë Toska while Fishta was a member of the Albanian parliament. In this work, which enjoyed great popularity at the time, he rants at false patriots and idlers. Aside from the above-mentioned melodramas, Fishta was the author of several other works of theatre, including adaptations of a number of foreign classics, e.g., the three-act I ligu per mend, Shkodra 1931 (Le malade imaginaire), of Molière, and Ifigenija n’Aullí, Shkodra 1931 (Iphigenia in Aulis), of Euripides. Among other dramatic works he composed and/or adapted at a time when Albanian theatre was in its infancy are short plays of primarily religious inspiration, among them the three-act Christmas play Barìt e Betlêmit (The shepherds of Bethlehem); Sh’ Françesku i Asisit, Shkodra 1912 (St Francis of Assisi); the tragedy Juda Makabé, Shkodra 1923 (Judas Maccabaeus); Sh. Luigji Gonzaga, Shkodra 1927 (St Aloysius of Gonzaga); and Jerina, ase mbretnesha e luleve, Shkodra 1941 (Jerina or the queen of the flowers), the last of his works to be published during his lifetime. The national literature of Albania had been something of a Tosk prerogative - 8 -
  • 9. until the arrival of Gjergj Fishta on the literary scene. He proved that northern Albania could be an equal partner with the more advanced south in the creation of a national culture. The acclaim of ‘The highland lute’ has not been universal, though, in particular among Tosk critics. Some authors have regarded his blending of oral and written literature as disastrous and others have simply regarded such a literary epic with a virtually contemporary theme as an anachronism in the twentieth century. Only time will tell whether Fishta can regain his position as ‘national poet’ after half a century of politically motivated oblivion. At the outbreak of the Second World War, Gjergj Fishta was indeed universally recognized as the ‘national poet.’ Austrian Albanologist Maximilian Lambertz (1882-1963) described him as "the most ingenious poet Albania has ever produced" and Gabriele D’Annunzio called him "the great poet of the glorious people of Albania." For others he was the "Albanian Homer." After the war, Fishta was nonetheless attacked and denigrated perhaps more than any other pre-war writer and fell into prompt oblivion. The national poet became an anathema. The official Tirana ‘History of Albanian Literature’ of 1983, which carried the blessing of the Albanian Party of Labour, restricted its treatment of Fishta to an absolute minimum: "The main representative of this clergy, Gjergj Fishta (1871-1940), poet, publicist, teacher and politician, ran the press of the Franciscan order and directed the cultural and educational activities of this order for a long time. For him, the interests of the church and of religion rose above those of the nation and the people, something he openly declared and defended with all his demagogy and cynicism, [a principle] upon which he based his literary work. His main work, the epic poem, Lahuta e Malësisë (The highland lute), while attacking the chauvinism of our northern neighbours, propagates anti- Slavic feelings and makes the struggle against the Ottoman occupants secondary. He raised a hymn to patriarchalism and feudalism, to religious obscurantism and clericalism, and speculated with patriotic sentiments wherever it was a question of highlighting the events and figures of the national history of our Rilindja period. His other works, such as the satirical poem Gomari i Babatasit (Babatasi’s ass), in which public schooling and democratic ideas were bitterly attacked, were characteristic of the savage struggle undertaken by the Catholic church to maintain and increase its influence in the intellectual life of the country. With his art, he endeavoured to pay service to a form close to folklore. It was often accompanied by prolixity, far-fetched effects, rhetoric, brutality of expression and style to the point of banality, false arguments which he intentionally endeavours to impose, and an exceptionally conservative attitude in the field of language. Fishta ended his days as a member of the academy of fascist Italy." - 9 -
  • 10. The real reason for Fishta’s fall from grace after the ‘liberation’ in 1944 is to be sought, however, not in his alleged pro-Italian or clerical proclivities, but in the origins of the Albanian Communist Party itself. The ACP, later to be called the Albanian Party of Labour, had been founded during the Second World War under the auspices of the Yugoslav envoys Dusan Mugosa (1914-1973) and Miladin Popovic (1910-1945). In July 1946, Albania and Yugoslavia signed a Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance and a number of other agreements which gave Yugoslavia effective control over all Albanian affairs, including the field of culture. Serbo-Croatian was introduced as a compulsory subject in all Albanian high schools and by the spring of 1948, plans were even under way for a merger of the two countries. It is no doubt the alleged anti-Slavic sentiments expressed in ‘The highland lute’ which caused the work and its author to be proscribed by the Yugoslav authorities, even though Fishta was educated in Bosnia and inspired by Serbian and Croatian literature. In fact, it is just as ridiculous to describe ‘The highland lute’ as anti-Slavic propaganda as it would be to describe El Cid and the Chanson de Roland as anti-Arab propaganda. They are all historical epics with heroes and foreign enemies. The so-called anti-Slavic element in Fishta’s work was also stressed in the first post-war edition of the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia of Moscow, which reads as follows (March 1950): "The literary activities of the Catholic priest Gjergj Fishta reflect the role played by the Catholic clergy in preparing for Italian aggression against Albania. As a former agent of Austro-Hungarian imperialism, Fishta, in the early years of his literary activity, took a position against the Slavic peoples who opposed the rapacious plans of Austro-Hungarian imperialism in Albania. In his chauvinistic, anti-Slavic poem ‘The highland lute,’ this spy extolled the hostility of the Albanians towards the Slavic peoples, calling for an open fight against the Slavs." After relations with Yugoslavia were broken off in 1948, it is quite likely that expressions of anti-Montenegrin or anti-Serb sentiment would no longer have been considered a major sin in Party thinking, but an official position had been taken with regard to Fishta and, possibly with deference to the new Slav allies in Moscow, it could not be renounced without a scandal. Gjergj Fishta, who but a few years earlier had been lauded as the national poet of Albania, disappeared from the literary scene, seemingly without a trace. Such was the fear of him in later years that his bones were even dug up and secretly thrown into the river. Yet despite four decades of unrelenting Party harping and propaganda reducing Fishta to a ‘clerical and fascist poet,’ the people of northern Albania, and in particular the inhabitants of his native Shkodra, did not forget him. After almost half a century, Gjergj Fishta was commemorated openly for the first time on 5 January 1991 in Shkodra. During the first public recital of Fishta’s works in Albania in forty-five years, the actor at one point hesitated in his lines and was immediately and spontaneously assisted by members of the audience - who still knew many parts of ‘The - 10 -
  • 11. highland lute’ by heart. The Highland lute (Lahuta e Malc í s) Malcí Canto 1 The bandits (In 1858, despite four long centuries under the Turkish yoke, the Albanians had not abandoned their will for freedom. The Tsar of Russia, hoping to extend his influence in the Balkans, writes a letter to his friend, Prince Nikolla of Montenegro, suggesting that the latter take possession of a piece of northern Albania to keep the Turks on the defensive, and promising assistance. The letter, borne over hill and dale by the Tsar’s personal messenger, arrives at the court of Cetinje and finds favour with the Montenegrin ruler who convinces the valiant Vulo Radoviqi, commander of Vasoviqi, to ready his bandits to lay waste to Vranina on Lake Shkod ra. ) Help me God as you once helped me, Five hundred years are now behind us Since Albania the fair was taken, 5 Since the Turks took and enslaved her, Left in blood our wretched homeland, Let her suffocate and wither That she no more glimpse the sunlight. That she ever live in sorrow, 10 That when beaten, she keep silent. Mice within the walls wept for her, Serpents under stones took pity! But when a steer is first yoked under, Oxbow weighing hard upon it, 15 There's no sense at all to goad it, It will balk, not pull the ploughshare, Only crisscross fields at fancy, And make trouble for the farmer, Will refuse to till the furrows 20 When alone or with another. So it is with the Albanians, Under foreign yoke unwilling To be slaves, pay tithes and taxes. Always have they wandered freely, 25 None but God above them knowing, Never on their lands and pastures Would they bow before a master. Never with the Turks agreeing Never out of sight their rifles. 30 They waged war on them, were slaughtered, Just as if with shkjas in battle. Therefore, when the Turkish ora - 11 -
  • 12. Started to lose power, weaken, When her drive began to crumble, 35 Russia day by day beset her And the tribesmen of the Balkans Began to flee the sultan's power, Did the Albanians start to ponder How to free their native country 40 From the Turkish yoke and make it As when ruled by Castriota, When Albanians lived in freedom, Did not bow or show submission, To a foreign king or sultan, 45 Did not pay them tithes and taxes. And Albania's banner fluttered Like the wings of all God's angels, Like the bolts of lightning flashing, Waving high upon their homeland. 50 But the Prince of Montenegro, Prince Nikolla the foolhardy, Yes, foolhardy, but a nuisance, Gathered weapons, gathered soldiers To attack and take Albania, 55 To subdue the plains and mountains Down the length of the Drin river, Right down to Rozafat's fortress, There to plant his trobojnica Place on Shkodra his kapica 60 Make it part of Montenegro, Leave a bloodbath there behind him. Sat the Turk there in a stupor, Teardrops from his eyes did tumble, For the shkjas he could not counter 65 Now that Moscow had surrounded Stamboul and besieged the city. The Seven Kings, they did take counsel, There they talked and pondered evil, - may their evil thoughts consume them! - 70 To deliver fair Albania To the hands of Montenegro. To their feet rose the Albanians, Deftly girded on their weapons, Swore an oath to the Almighty 75 Like that once sworn by their fathers In the age of Castriota, Some with shoes and others barefoot, Locked their flocks in pen and corral, Some with food and others hungry, 80 Left their sisters, wives and mothers, Their eyes tinder, hearts gunpowder, - 12 -
  • 13. Like a snowstorm in a fury Did they set on Montenegro. By the Cem that was the border, 85 There the heroes did do battle, There Albanian, shkja in combat Fought and slaughtered one another, They grappled, wounded, slew each other, On the ground were heaps of bodies 90 Left as food for kites and vultures. Handsome youths lay strewn all over, All those mountain hawks, the heroes. Nor did their poor mothers mourn them For with suckling breasts themselves 95 They'd driven back the shkja invaders. Once the shkja advance was broken Did the Albanians hold assembly, Sent stern message to the sultan That they'd pay no tithes and taxes 100 Neither to that Prince Nikolla Nor to Stamboul, to the sultan They'd no longer show submission, They now wanted independence, For Albania was not fashioned, 105 Made by God for the Circassians, Nor for Turks, their Moors and Asians, But for mountain hawks, those heroes Whom the world calls the Albanians, That they keep it for their children 110 For as long as life continues. When the Turk had read the message He was filled with rage and anger. How he set upon the land to Eat them up alive, those tribesmen. 115 But the Albanians were resolved He'd not devour or invade them. They had come to a decision, For their land they'd muster courage, If attacked by king or sultan. 120 Thus the Turk and the Albanian Seized each others' throats and strangled, Smashed each others' skulls to pieces, Crushed them like so many pumpkins! Fire broke out then in the Balkans. 125 The shkja, in anguish that Albania, Freed now of the sultan's power, Might not fall into his clutches As he had foreseen the matter, Set upon the Turk like lightning, 130 Like the wild boar with the jackal. - 13 -
  • 14. They did haggle and did grapple, Scuffled, wrestled, bit and murdered, Rifles volleyed, cannons battered, Blood in torrents swashed the clearings, 135 Over fields and through the thickets, 'Til at last, midst din and clamour, Of the Turkish yoke released, As she'd wanted, was Albania, Free at last, as God had promised, 140 But no, brothers, do believe me, Not as Turk or shkja would have it. That the Turk begrudged our freedom I can understand, but don't know What got into Prince Nikolla, 145 Forcing to submit Albanians, Crush them under heel, enslave them, And to seize that land where once In ancient times Gjergj Castriota Brandished in a flash his sabre. 150 Nor did he show shame or sorrow That he'd caused the two such bloodshed, Both Albania and Montenegro. Moscow gave him heart and courage! In Petrograd the Tsar of Russia 155 Took an oath before his people, To be heard by young and old there Not to celebrate a Christmas, Not to take part as godfather In baptisms or in weddings, 160 Not to wash or comb his hair more, Not to take part in assemblies, Ere he'd entered into Stamboul, Ere he'd made himself the sultan, Ruler over land and water, 165 Cut off all of Europe's trade routes, Banning all their sales and buying, Letting no one start a trade up, Holding Europe in his power. Should she even seize a breadcrumb, 170 She would end up in his clutches, Captive in his bloodstained clutches, Which were deft at theft and stealing! But the sly old fox was clever, Cheater in both words and letters, 175 One whose falseness knew no equal, He knew well what lay before him, No light task to enter Stamboul, No light task subjecting Turkey Without his own neck in peril. - 14 -
  • 15. 180 So he schemed and started plotting, Set the Slavs upon the Turks, to Have the Balkan shkjas attack them, Get accounts cleared with the sultan, Let them first solve all their problems, 185 Troublemaking and deception, Then from Russia would he come forth, Lunging like a bear in ambush, And attack the Turks like lightning To eradicate, destroy them, 190 Never did he once consider That his deeds might plunge the planet Altogether into mourning... When the tsar had finished scheming, Did he go back into his chamber, 195 At his desk he wrote a letter, Wrote a note to friends in Serbia, Friends in Zagreb and in Sofia, That the shkjas should all join forces From Budapest to Çanakkale, 200 All as one should work together, Keep at bay the sultan, harried, Keep him worried and incited, Day and night they were to hound him On his roads and at his borders, 205 Make demands and ultimatums, That their actions seem haphazard, Though designed to cause his downfall. Thereupon, this Slavic scion Wrote a letter to Cetinje, 210 To the prince with all the details, There to spin his web and swindle: "Greetings to you, Prince Nikolla Greetings from the Tsar of Russia, I've heard of your reputation, 215 Heard you're quite a daring fellow Heard you are a skilful speaker, Foes, they say, pale at your shadow. But, it seems, such praise is groundless For you sit there in Cetinje 220 On the rocks with half a sandal, A laughingstock the world has made you, You bring shame to friends and in-laws, You go begging, plead for breadcrumbs, While the Turk who is your neighbour, 225 On his haughty brow a turban, Heavy pleats are in his trousers, He's devoid of care or worry. If you look, you cannot see him, - 15 -
  • 16. Mounds of pilaf piled before him. 230 Say, have you been mutilated? Or been somewhere earning wages Or been serving as a farmhand That of you we've lost all traces? No, good man, it's not becoming 235 For the bandit of Cetinje To remain at home compliant And help women with their spinning. Have you never glimpsed Albania, Seen all those majestic mountains, 240 Viewed the verdant fields and lowlands? Have you never ventured out To carve yourself a piece of land there? Why then sit around and daydream? If you don't get yourself moving, 245 Saint Nich'las and God won't help you. If you act, luck will be with you, As the ancient saying has it. As for rations and for weapons, Ask me and I'll give them to you. 250 Come on, put on your kapica. Should the sultan try to harm you, I'll not let him touch a feather." Thus the tsar wrote his epistle, Taking great care, did he fold it, 255 Fold it and with dark wax seal it, Giving it to his young herald, For the prince of Montenegro. In his breast the herald placed it, Limbered up and started running, 260 Left the plains and dales behind him, Crossed the lofty mountain pastures, Forded rivers, mountain torrents, Travelled over land and water, 'Til one day, while running westwards, 265 Did he finally reach Cetinje, Tattered jacket, shredded sandals, Did he give the prince the letter Which the tsar with wax had folded. 270 The prince received it, broke it open, Opened it and read the letter, Three times did the prince peruse it, Three days long he pondered on it. Thereupon he sent a message, 275 Summoned Vulo Radoviqi, Commander of the Vasoviqi, That he come down to Cetinje, Notwithstanding roads and weather. - 16 -
  • 17. Like a goshawk did he fly there 280 Off to meet the gospodari. Vulo the Commander, summoned, Had once been a wily hero, Earth itself could hardly hold him, None went raiding there without him, 285 Sans his word was nothing taken, Nor was murder 'venged without him, Nor could maidens ever marry, Nor was judgment ever taken. And the Turks of Montenegro, 290 He was at them like an eagle, Kept their heads bowed in submission. Once, this Slavic scion set out On the road down to Cetinje, There opened a woollen blanket, 295 Stretched it out across the roadway, Far and wide he told the people That no Turk of Montenegro Was to cross it without paying Toll and poll tax of one ducat. 300 That was quite a feat of daring, Made him famed throughout the country. Vulo's glance was like a windstorm And his eyes, they flashed with fire, His thick eyebrows like an oxbow 305 Bristled roughly like a boar hide, Ear to ear his branch-like whiskers, Like two ravens in a noose caught, Tall, his head reached to the ceiling. Such a man, if you had see him, 310 With his garments, shoes and weapons, You'd have thought he were a drangue, And the prince did dearly love him, Loved that Vulo, listened to him For he was a clever thinker, 315 Was a man of keen perception. Therefore did the prince call for him That he hasten to Cetinje. Thus came Vulo to Cetinje, Notwithstanding roads and weather, 320 Like a goshawk did he fly there. When Vulo had reached Cetinje Warmly did the prince receive him, Took him in and paid him honour, Offered him tobacco, coffee. 325 Then began the conversation: "Where've you been, Vulo, you rascal? Like a lonesome wolf you've vanished, - 17 -
  • 18. Never come here to Cetinje Where you've friends, blood-brothers waiting, 330 Who above all else do love you. How're you faring, any problems? How are things in Vasoviqi?" "You I wish long life, God willing," Turned and spoke Commander Vulo, 335 "This year for us, gospodari, The harvest has not been abundant, Much bad weather have we suffered I don't know what now will happen, How I'll save my farm and family, 340 For our stocks of food are dwindling." "Oh, come on," the prince responded, "Has a bandit ever hungered? Is a falcon ever meatless? You can bring in double harvest, 345 All you need's a bit of booty To sustain your cows and oxen And to feed your tribe and village, Not to mention home and family. Hark my words, Commander Vulo, 350 Listen to the gospodari, Find some thugs as mean as serpents, But as light and swift as goshawks, Lie in wait among the bushes, Then go pounce upon Vranina, 355 Kill and slaughter all you find there, Burn the houses all to ashes, Rustle all the spoils around them, Loot and ransack, pillage, pilfer, Both by daytime or by nighttime. 360 This is why I sent the message, Summoned you here to Cetinje For I'm once more feeling tempted With the Turks to start a scuffle, Fight the Turks and decimate them, 365 For it seems to me improper Turks and shkjas should sit together." So the prince explained the matter, Convinced him of all the details, Both of them went on discussing 370 How to act, what they would need to Bathe in blood the town Vranina. When the two had reached agreement, The prince did bid him stay for dinner, And some money did he give him 375 And a muzzle-loading flintlock, Stock of which was silver-coated, - 18 -
  • 19. Unequalled in Montenegro, Even on a shelf it scares you, All the more when with a fighter, All the more when held by Vulo, 380 With his teeth he'd bite through iron. Vulo, to his feet then rising, Bade farewell to Prince Nikolla And departed for the mountains. On his way did Vulo ponder 385 How to lay waste to Vranina, As the prince had bid him do so. [ Kangë e parë - Cubat, from the volume Lahuta e Malcís, Shkodra, 1937, p. 3-15, translated by Robert Elsie ] Nga: http://www.shkoder.net/en/fishta.htm - 19 -
  • 20. 1937 Fishta Kanga / Canto 5. 391-465 1937 | Gjerg j Fishta: Lahuta e Malcís / The Highland Lute Malcí Kanga / Canto 5. 391-465 Por, s' din Shkjau me mbajtë miqs í! But the shkjas don't value friendship! Aman, Zot, kur duel Serdari, Lo, when the Commander got there, Se ç' kje ndez ë Vranina zhari! All Vranina was a bonfire. - 20 -
  • 21. Aman, Zot, kur mrrîni Pera, Lo, when Pera reached the battle, 395 Se shum krisi atbotë potera! There was such a din and uproar. Por kur rán Shkjét e Vraninës Albanians from the rear were fired on Shum u krisi plumja shpinës! When Vranina's shkjas came fighting. Porsi shé, qi m' nji natë gjâmet As a torrent in a night storm Rritet turr e del prej âmet Overflows its banks and rises, 400 Tuj ushtue - e tue shkumue, When it foams and when it rages, Shkaperderd het nper zallina, Flooding over beds of gravel, Ashtû u derdh Shkjau te Vranina, So the shkjas poured through Vranina, N' valë Shqyptarët krejt tue i pershî. In a wave submerged Albanians. S' lufton ndryshe e rrebtë kulshetra Thus does fight the fierce kulshedra 405 E me dhâmb ë edhè me kthetra, With its teeth and claws a-lashing, Zjarm e surfull tue flakrue, Spewing fire, fomenting sulphur, Kur drangojt t' a kenë rrethue; When surrounded by the drangues. Si i qindron sod Shkjaut Shqyptari Thus the Albanians, shkjas resisting, Per dhé t' amel, qi i la i Pari: For the sweet land of their fathers, 410 Kâmbë per kâmbë, tuj qitë pá dá, Shoulders in a phalanx battled, - 21 -
  • 22. Tue korrë krena neper Shkjá. Reaping heads among shkja fighters. U janë ndezun flakë breshânat, Spitting flames, fired their breshanas, U kullojn gjak n' dorë tagânat, Blood dripped on their hands from sabres, E u kullon gjak edhè zêmra, In their hearts their pulse was pounding, 415 Veç se vend it s' u lot thêmra. Though their heels stood fast, unmoving. Por ç' dobí: dielli tue lé But to what end? Then the sun rose, - Isht' tue lé m' at ditë per Shkjé! - Rose that day for Slavic triumph, I rán ndore Shkjaut t' terbuem Thirty dead and ten were injured, Trid hjetë t' vrám e dhetë t' shituem!... To the rabid shkjas fell victim. 420 O ata t' lumt, qi dhane jeten, Blessed those who gave their lives up, O ata t' lumt, qi shkrîne veten, Blessed those who sacrificed, who Qi per Mbret e vend të t' Parve, Died for sultan and their birthplace, Qi per erz e nderë t' Shqyptarve Died to save Albania's honour, Derdhen gjakun tuj luftue, Spilt their blood while doing battle, 425 Porsi t' Parët u pa'n punue! Fought as once had done their fathers. Letë u kjoftë mbí vorr led ina, O'er their graves may grass grow gently, Butë u kjoshin moti e stina, May the seasons, years weigh lightly, - 22 -
  • 23. Aklli, bora e serotina: Ice and snow and rainstorm. For as E dér t' kndoje n' ma l ndo 'i Zânë, Long as zanas sing in mountains, 430 E dér t' ketë n' dét ujë e rânë, Long as seas have sand and water, Dér sá t' shndrisin diell e hânë, Long as sun and moon are shining, Ata kurr mos u harrojshin, May they never be forgotten. N' kângë e n' valle por u kndojshin. Let song, dance commemorate them. E njaj gjak, qi kan dikue, All the blood that they did forfeit, 435 Bân, o Zot, qi t' jesë tue vlue May God make it boil and bubble Per m' i a xé zêmren Shqyptarit, Thus to hearten the Albanians Per kah vend i e gjûha e t' Parit! For their homeland and their language. Po, váll! Osja kû do t' jetë? But, oh where is Oso Kuka? Oso Kuka a mos ká mbetë? Could it be that he has fallen? 440 N' Xhebehane ká zatetë! He is holed up in the tower, Ká zatetë n' at kullë t' barotit, In that powder tower hiding Kû ká bâ êmrin e Zotit, And has sworn an oath to God that Se per t' gja llë nuk ká m' e lshue, He alive will not surrender, Shokët e vet per pá i pague Settling score for all his comrades, - 23 -
  • 24. 445 Trid hetë t' vr ám e dhetë t' shitue. Thirty dead and ten there injured. Kur pau Shkjau se pushka mêni When the shkjas heard wane the firing Si kah vau, si kah Liq êni, At the ford and at the lakeside, E se mbetë s' kisht' Oso Kuka Noted missing Oso Kuka Me tjer ë t' vrám, perjashtë ke suka, 'mongst the dead around the hillock, 450 M' Xhebehane u turr m' at hera, They at once attacked the tower. Si, kur t' lshojë kah Prendvera, As when at the start of springtime Vrullet bleta çark njaj zgjonit, Bees swarm out around the beehive, Tue zukatë si rryma e prronit. Humming like the brooks and currents. N' brohor í tue i lutë jetë Knjazit Thus, a hundred on the rooftop, 455 Njiqind vetë kcyen m' kulm t' pulla zit, Cried: "Long live the Prince!" rejoicing, Mâ t' permend unt kah trimnija, While the most courageous of them Njaq u njiten mbi frangija, Scrambled up to the embrasures, Tue thye muret n' gjak t' perlyeme: Breaching bloodied walls and fences. - Por ká gioben shpija e thyeme! - "All housebreaking must be paid for," 460 Krisi Osja atbotë si ulâni, Roared out Oso like a lion, Mje m' Cetinë i vojti zâni: - 24 -
  • 25. To Cetinje his voice echoed: "Ah kadalë, Nikollë, t' vraftë Zoti! "Careful now, you damned Nikolla, Pse ktû i thonë Oso baroti : Here they call me Powder Oso, Se s' ké pá Shqyptár me sy, Never you've seen an Albanian 465 Se djegë vehten edhè tý!" Blow himself up and you with him." [English translation by Robert Elsie and Janice Mathie-Heck] http://www.albanianlanguage.net/en/fishta.html - 25 -
  • 26. 1937 Fishta Kanga / Canto 13. 1-77 1937 | Gjergj Fishta: Lahuta e Malc ís / The Highland Lute Malcí Kanga / Canto 13. 1-77 Prendoi dielli, n' qiell duel hâna, In the sky the sun set, moon rose, N' Veleçik po pingron Zâna: On Veleçik chirped the zana: Ehu! ju malet e Shqypnís, "Oh, you mountains of Albania, N' t' cillat strukë shqypja e lirís - 26 -
  • 27. On which once perched freedom's eagle, 05 N' t' bardhat kohë qi kan prendue In that golden age now vanished, S' lête anmik, jo, me i u afrue! You let not the foe approach you. E di shpat e di edhe prrue, Both the slopes and torrents know it, E di la ndë e di edhe gúr, Both the woods and cliffs bear witness, Shqyptarís kryq e terthuer, How much blood the foe left flowing 10 Se sa gjak atbotë i anmikut Everywhere, throughout our homeland, Vojti rrkajë prej t' bardhë çelikut, Blood spilt by a flashing sabre Qi flakote n' dorë t' Shqyptarit Brandished by Albania's fighters, Porsi rrfeja majes s' Sharit. Lightning from the peaks of Sharri. A kisht' mujtë kurr n' at kohë t' lume, Were marauding hands e'er able 15 (Me lot gjakut sod t' lotueme!) In that blessed age to plunder Veç nji troe t' tokës shqyptare (Age with bloody tears wept over) M' e rmue dora grabitçare? Of Albania's soil a handful? Ah! jo kurr; t' ish' çue mbarë bota... No, no, never, all had risen, Pse ndo 'i Lekë, a 'i Gjergj Kastriota Some Lekë, some George Castriota 20 Do t' kisht' dalë, at dorë rrembyese Would have leapt up, arms triumphant, - 27 -
  • 28. M' e cungue me armë ngadhnyese, And have lopped that thievish hand off, T' cilla t n' shekull do t' permenden Feats to be forever told as Hânë e hyj sa qiellve t' enden. Long as moon and stars do orbit. Por kan ndrrue sot moti e stina But the times have changed, the seasons, 25 Per dhé t' ngrît, kû rreh Martina! O'er this languid land clash rifles. Gjinde e mbajtun me lot t' shumit Off the poor man's tears folk live now, Qi n' djersë njomë bûcat e umit, Tears of sweat upon the tilled soil, Ja qi n' kullmë rreshket kumuese, Off the blacksmith broiled at anvil, Ja nper dét bjen valës shkumuese, Or on foaming waves the sailor 30 Per me mbajtë nji grue te shpija Trying wife at home to nourish S' cilles bukë i lypi fmija, While for bread do beg her children, Edhe i lên ndoshta me kjá, She perhaps must let them yammer Perse e mjera bukë nuk ká: For she has no food to feed them, Gjinde, s' cilles Zot i âsht ari, Folk who none but gold do worship, 35 T' zezen tokë qi i ngratë Shqyptari Want to parcel out their poor land, Shtrêjt me gjak e pat fitue, Dearly which in blood was paid for Pa ndo 'i dhimë, kjoshin ma llkue! By Albanian farmers paltry, - 28 -
  • 29. Sod m' e dá duen copa copa: Ruthless folk, I damn and curse them! E perse? Pse don Europa... You ask why? Well, Europe wished it. 40 Uh! Europë, ti kurva e motit, Europe, aging whore, it's you that Qi i rae mohit besës e Zotit, On your word and God have trampled. Po a ky â shêji i gjytetnís: Is it sign of all your culture Me dá token e Shqypnís That you parcel out Albania Per me mbajtë klysht e Rusís? Just to rear the cubs of Russia? 45 Po ti a kshtû sod na i perligje Is this how you've paid them back now, Njata burra qi m' kto brigje All those men who died to save you, Per tý vehten bâne flije Fallen, slain up in the hills while Kur ti heshtshe prej ligshtije? You yourself, too weak, kept silent? Ti qi i a kalle flaken diellit Thou who kindled fire for sunlight, 50 E i shestove rrathët e qiellit Thou who drew the spheres of heaven, Ti, prej eshtnash t' t' ngratë Shqyptarve, From the bones of our dead fighters, Qi bânë deken per dhé t' t' parve, Men who perished for their homeland, Bân sod t' bîjn fatosa t' rí, Cause to rise now hale young heroes, T' cillt nji troe t' ksajë Shqypní Who'll not let an inch of homeland - 29 -
  • 30. 55 Mos t' a lâjn Shkjaut n' dorë me i rá Fall into those Slavic clutches, Krejt në gjak nji her ë pa e lá! Ere they bathe in blood the foemen!" Lum, oj Zâna e Vele çikut, Blessed zana of Veleçik, Qi m' i a lshon ti namët anmikut, You who at the foe hurl curses, Qi m' i uron djelmt e Malc ís, You who wish well Highland fighters, 60 Qi m' i a kján hallin Shqypnís; You who mourn Albania's sorrows, Ksaj Shqypní, e cilla motit, Mourn that land which in past ages N' zâ kah pushka e besa e Zotit, Was for faith and arms remembered, Pat kênë çmue prej fisesh t' tâna Was esteemed by all our tribesmen Kah bjen dielli e kah mârr hâna! Where the sun shines and the moon glows, 65 Por, sado qi poshtë ká rá Now, behold, look how she's faltered, Sod me sod, e rrin tue kjá How she's languishing and weeping N' pluhen t' tokës, prej njer zve shá, In the dust, by men derided. Prap, oj Zânë, shkndija e burrnís But that spark of courage, zana, Nuk â shkimë n' ma le t' Shqypnís, Is not dead up in the mountains, 70 Qi, ma nà, edhè n' kto kohë t' reja Even now, upon occasion Ka 'i herë ndezet flakë si rrfeja. - 30 -
  • 31. Does it sparkle, flash like lightning, S' kan mbetë shkret, jo, armët besnike, Faithful arms are not abandoned, Perse Arbnorja grue fisnike, For Arbënia, noble woman, Bân se bân fatosa t' rí, Always brings forth new young heroes 75 T' cillt trimnisht per ket Shqypní Who in valour for Albania, E per besë e t' bardhen Fé For their word and blithe religion, E bâjn deken si me lé. View as birth their own extinction. [English translation by Robert Elsie and Janice Mathie-Heck] http://www.albanianlanguage.net/en/fishta.html - 31 -