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Satan in njegov grob
105 Satan and his Burial-Place
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land · Charles M. SkinnerO besedilu
Satan in njegov grob
- Vir
- Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
- Avtor
- Charles M. Skinner
- Jezik branja
- Slovenščina
- Jezik izvirnika
- English
- Čas branja
- 3 min branja
- Obseg
- 3 strani
- Naslov izvirnika
- 105 Satan and his Burial-Place
O izvirniku
Myths and Legends of Our Own Land
Obsežna zgodovinska zbirka ameriških legend, ki jih je Skinner zbral in avtorsko rekonstruiral. Bralni jezik je Slovenščina, izvirnik pa prihaja iz vira Myths and Legends of Our Own Land v jeziku English.
Besedilo
Satan in njegov grob
Zdi se, da je Satan prve naseljence v Ameriki nadlegoval skoraj tako hudo kakor nemške študente. Različnim ljudem se je prikazoval v najrazličnejših podobah in včasih je naletel na sebi enakega. Mar ni neke mesečne noči skušal ustaviti starega Petra Stuyvesanta, ko je ta veslal skozi Hell Gate, in mar ni tisti žilavi stari vojak prislonil k rami nečesa, kar je Satan imel za njegovo leseno nogo? A tisto ni bila noga, temveč puška, nabita s srebrno kroglo, ki jo je bil z molitvijo potisnil globoko v cev. Peter je ustrelil in krogla je odžvižgala proti Ward's Islandu, kjer so jo pozneje našli trije fantje in jo zamenjali za polne prgišče krofov in bonbonov »bikove oči«. Spotoma je švignila med hudičevimi rebri in zlodej se je razletel ob kriku in smradu — ta je bil žveplen —, Peter pa je ob tem občutil mešanico zadovoljstva in preplaha. In mar ni isti duh zla mučil stark ob Massachusetts Bayu ter spravljal ob pamet Francozov in Špancev na jugu? Pri Hog Rocku, zahodno od Milforda v Connecticutu, je prekinil prijetno razvedrilo:
»Nekoč štirje mladeniči na skalo so sedli, da bi ploščke po deski drsali, ko hudič prikazal se je v podobi prašiča in tako jih prestrašil, da so jo pobrali, staremu zlodeju pa igro končati pustili.«
Ena prvih stavb, ki so jih postavili v Ipswichu v Massachusettsu, je bila cerkev na skalni polici nad reko, in prav v tej cerkvi se je Satan skušal skriti, da bi zganjal hudobije. Zaradi tega ga je neko nevidno orodje pravičnosti z vrha zvonika zalučalo s tolikšno silo, da se je odtis njegovega kopita vtisnil v trden kamen v bližini. To ga ni odvrnilo od tega, da se ne bi ob začetku Whitefieldove pridige povzpel na strešno sleme in tam prekrižanih rok zavzel kljubovalne drže; ko pa je pod njim zagrmel mogočni glas tega pridigarja, je od groze poskočil v zrak in izginil.
Shakerji pripovedujejo, da so proti koncu osemnajstega stoletja hudobca preganjali po goščavah Mount Sinaija v Massachusettsu in ga tik pred svitom nekega poletnega jutra ujeli, ubili in pokopali. Shakerji so spiritisti in verjamejo, da so njihove vrste okrepili znameniti pokojni, med katere že prištevajo Washingtona, Lafayettea, Napoleona, Tamerlana in Pocahontas. Prva dva od teh posmrtnih komunistov pripadniki te vere še vedno videvajo, kadar ponoči hodijo mimo Satanovega groba: sedita namreč na belih konjih in stražita grob, da ne bi sovražnik človeštva vstal in znova začel povzročati gorja. Nekateri člani bratovščine pravijo, da ta legenda ponazarja pokop zlih nagnjenj v srcih tistih, ki so preganjali zlodeja, med drugimi pa se je iz roda v rod prenašala kot resničen dogodek. Shakerji imajo veliko mističnih izročil, ki so se po ustni poti ohranila vse do današnjih učencev »matere Ann«, vendar jih le redko pripovedujejo posmehljivcem »v svetu«, kakor imenujejo tiste, ki živijo zunaj njihovih čistih in miroljubnih komun. Med temi izročili je tudi pripoved o tem, kako se je neke nedelje v molilnici v Mount Lebanonu v New Yorku prikazal Janez Krstnik, odet v svetlobo, in vodil sveti ples vernikov, s katerim ti ponazarjajo, kako iz srca iztresejo vse meseno.
Izvirnik
105 Satan and his Burial-Place
Naslednje strani prikazujejo izvirno besedilo za primerjavo.
Satan appears to have troubled the early settlers in America almost as grievously as he did the German students. He came in many shapes to many people, and sometimes he met his match. Did he not try to stop old Peter Stuyvesant from rowing through Hell Gate one moonlight night, and did not that tough old soldier put something at his shoulder that Satan thought must be his wooden leg? But it wasn't a leg: it was a gun, loaded with a silver bullet that had been charged home with prayer. Peter fired and the missile whistled off to Ward's Island, where three boys found it afterward and swapped it for double handfuls of doughnuts and bulls' eyes. Incidentally it passed between the devil's ribs and the fiend exploded with a yell and a smell, the latter of sulphur, to Peter's blended satisfaction and alarm. And did not the same spirit of evil plague the old women of Massachusetts Bay and craze the French and Spaniards in the South? At Hog Rock, west of Milford, Connecticut, he broke up a pleasant diversion:
“Once four young men upon ye rock Sate down at chuffle board to play When ye Deuill appearde in shape of a hogg And frightend ym so they scampered away And left Old Nick to finish ye play.”
One of the first buildings to be put up in Ipswich, Massachusetts, was a church built on a ledge above the river, and in that church Satan tried to conceal himself for purposes of mischief. For this act he was hurled from the steeple-top by some unseen instrument of righteousness with such force that his hoofmark was stamped into a solid stone near by. This did not deter him from mounting to the ridge-pole and assuming a defiant air, with folded arms, when Whitefield began to preach, but when that clergyman's tremendous voice was loosed below him he bounced into the air in terror and disappeared.
The Shakers report that in the waning of the eighteenth century they chased the evil one through the coverts of Mount Sinai, Massachusetts, and just before dawn of a summer morning they caught and killed and buried him. Shakers are spiritualists, and they believe their numbers to have been augmented by distinguished dead, among whom they already number Washington, Lafayette, Napoleon, Tamerlane, and Pocahontas. The two first named of these posthumous communists are still seen by members of the faith who pass Satan's grave at night, for they sit astride of white horses and watch the burial spot, lest the enemy of man arise and begin anew his career of trouble. Some members of the brotherhood say that this legend typifies a burial of evil tendencies in the hearts of those who hunted the fiend, but it has passed down among others as a circumstance. The Shakers have many mystic records, transmitted verbally to the present disciples of “Mother Ann,” but seldom told to scoffers “in the world,” as those are called who live without their pure and peaceful communes. Among these records is that of the appearance of John the Baptist in the meeting-house at Mount Lebanon, New York, one Sunday, clothed in light and leading the sacred dance of the worshippers, by which they signify the shaking out of all carnal things from the heart.
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