The legend of the "Miraculous hind"

(English)
The lark's aloft from bough to bough,
the song is passed from lip to lip.
Green grass grows o'er old heroes now
but song revives their fellowship...

Forth to the hunt they ride again
two brave sons that fair Enh bore,
Hunor and agyar, !hampions twain,
nr"t's twin sons in days of yore.

Ea!h !hooses fifty doughty knights
to go in es!ort at his side#
armed as for bloody war's delights,
they seek out game in youthful pride.

$ild beasts in pools of blood they drag#
they slaughter all the elk they find#
they have already killed the stag,
and now they all pursue the hind.

They !hase the hind !ontinually
along the %alt %ea's barren shore,
where neither wolf nor bear may be
lest it be lost forevermore.

&ut '!ross those wastes of prairie earth
the panther and the lion yelp#
the tawny tiger there gives birth
and in her hunger eats her whelp.

'n flies the bird, the song flies on
of Enh's sons' fair fellowship(
the lark's aloft from bough to bough,
the song is passed from lip to lip.

The sun is passing from their view,
pier!ing the !louds with fiery spears,
but still the hind they all pursue...
at sunset, lo, it disappears.

They find themselves as daylight sinks
where )ur's broad waters sweep and swell.
on meadows by the river*brinks
their weary steeds may pasture well.

%ays Hunor( +,et us bivoua!,
water our steeds, and turn to rest.+
%ays agyar( +$hen the dawn !omes ba!k,
let us go homeward from our -uest.+

&ut +ho, ho my heroes, knights of mine,
what mystifying land is this.
To eastward see the sunset shine.
it looks to human eyes amiss/+

+0t seems to me,+ a warrior !laims
+the light from down south issues forth.+
1nother vowes +2o, it remains
and it is glowing in the north...+

3ismounting all, their steeds they tend
and slumber by the river's foam,
and purposed, when the night should end,
to 4ourney with their es!ort home.

The dawn is !ool# a light wind blows#
the broad hori5on brims with blue#
the hind a!ross the river goes
and bravely leaps before their view.

'n flies the bird, the song flies now
of Enh's sons' fair fellowship(
the lark's aloft from bough to bough,
the song is passed from lip to lip.

+2ow, my -ui!k lads/ %peed on the !hase,
let's !at!h this apparition hind/+
&lithe or relu!tant, forth they ra!e
and press on, to their task resigned.

%o then they ford the river )ur,
and find the waste*land still more wild#
no drop of water dews the moor
no blades of grass in verdure smile.

The !rumbling surfa!e of the land
sweats soda from its sterile brow,
springs oo5e with poison from the sand
and sulphur stinks in many a slough.

$ith bubbling oils the springs are bright#
they burn untended here and there#
like wat!h*fires in a gloomy night
their fulgor fli!kers everywhere.

Ea!h night they bitterly repent
their longing for this game they tra!ed
with su!h unwearying intent
into the ma5es of the waste.

&ut when the dust of morning thins,
to !hase the hind their hearts are stirred
as thistledown obeys the winds
or shadow*wings pursue the bird.

'n flies the bird, the song flies now
of Enh' sons' fair fellowship(
the lark's aloft from bough to bough,
the song is passed from lip to lip.

They sear!h the waste( they tra!k the 3on
as far as e"t's lesser sea#
through boggy marshes they press on
to isles of fenny greenery.

1nd there the hind, like fleeting mist
of fog about her in the skies,
*again. &ut how !ould they have missed.*
now disappears before their eyes.

+Halloo/+ they !ry, +where is the game.+
+6onder she dashes/+ one does !all.
1nother shouts( +this way she !ame/+
1 third( +she is not here at all...+

Through every nook and !opse they sear!h#
through every bush they tra!k the hind,
by li5ard*lair and partridge*per!h,
but what they seek they !annot find.

Then agyar speaks with many a sigh(
+$ho knows the way that leads us ba!k.
on every side there's boundless sky*
we'll perish on this far*off tra!k.+

%ays Hunor( +,et us not retreat/
&ut build a !amp and !all it home*
the grass here's soft, the water's sweet*
and trees with sap are all afoam.

&right fishes are the river's gift,
and tawny game makes tasty food.
The bows are taut, the arrows swift,
and booty*our adventure's gift...+

'n flies the bird, the song flies now
of Enh's son's fair fellowship(
the lark's aloft from bough to bough
the song is passed from lip to lip.

&ut soon they wish to venture out,
they yearn for newer, different game*
as they get bored with fish and trout,
and so they enter on the plain.

1nd there a!ross the level prairie
at dead of night, strange musi! streams,
out in the wasteland, wide and airy,
as if from heaven or in dreams.

There fairy maidens did subsist
and dan!ed with 4oy in elfin measure#
housed in a tent of woven mist,
they passed their nights in tuneful pleasure.

2o man may spy the elfin s!hool#
for mortal maids surpassing fair*
daughters of )ings, &el7r and 38l,
are learning elfin magi! there.

Fairest are 38l's two girls to view,
old &el7r's twelve are sweet and warm#
their !ompany, five*s!ore and two,
are poised to take on fairy form.

To win it, ea!h must kill a man,
bewit!h nine youths with magi! lure,
tease them along to love's hot plan
yet keep their own white bodies pure

Thus are they taught the fatal art
the fearful knowledge of the fairy#
ea!h night their progress they impart,
ea!h night in dan!ing they make merry.

'n flies the bird, the song flies now
of Enh's sons' fair fellowship*
the lark's aloft from bough to bough,
the song is passed from lip to lip.

The men follow the fairy*sound
they stalk a*tiptoe on the sly#
the fli!kering lights they spy and hound,
as if !hasing a butterfly.

%ays agyar( +&rother, that sweet fife
ti!kles my marrow through and through/+
%ays Hunor( +2othing in my life
has stirred me as those maidens do/+*

+9p, knights, and at them/ :oin the !hase/
,et ea!h one bear a woman ba!k,
holding her tight in his embra!e/
The wind will !over up our tra!k/+

They spur their horses on and fling,
the reins aside that they may sei5e
the maidens dan!ing in a ring
all unprepared for deeds like these.

The girls run wild with pier!ing !ries,
but fire and stream hem in their !harms#
whi!hever way a virgin flies,
she falls into a rider's arms.

1way their fairy tea!hers fly,
on frightened wings they flutter free...
&ut what !an mortal maidens try
to save their sweet virginity.

2ow, in that pla!e, no maid remains#
the horsemen gallop with a will,
e;ultant# and upon those plains
the empty night is dark and still.

'n flies the bird, the song flies now
of Enh's sons' fair fellowship*
the lark's aloft from bough to bough,
the song is passed from lip to lip.

)ing 38l's two daughters, the most fair,
to Hunor and to agyar fall.
The hundred knights in rapture share
the hundred girls, and love them all.

<roud maids in time do re!on!ile,
though thwarted in their virgin plan.
They seek their homes no more, but smile
atonement, bearing sons to man.

Their isle be!omes a !ountry sweet#
their tents be!ome a treasured home#
their beds be!ome a blest retreat,
from whi!h they do not wish to roam.

They bring forth boys, brave !lans to please,
fair girls they bear for love's warm hour*
the handsome slips of youthful trees
in pla!e of their lost virgin flower.

Heroi! !hildren, two by two,
be!ome the heads of every !lan#
five*s!ore and eight their bran!hes grow,
and fertile marriage spreads their span.

&rave Hunor's bran!h be!ome the Huns,
and agyar's is the agyar nation#
beyond all number are the sons
that overrun their island station.

'n %!ythia then they sweep in spate,
)ing 38l's ri!h empire in the south*
sin!e when, ' pair of heroes great,
your glory flies from mouth to mouth/

Watson Kirkconnell, Anton N. Nyerges and
akkai, 1dam