grozdanka

Updated: May 17, 2025

Grozdanka, mother's treasure mine, For nine long years I nourished thee, For nine months see thou do not speak To thy first love that marries thee.

Andrew Lang - Custom and Myth

In backward parts of Europe a strange custom forbids the bride to speak to her lord, as if in memory of a time when husband and wife were always of alien tribes, and, as among the Caribs, spoke different languages. In the Bulgarian 'Volkslied, the Sun marries Grozdanka, a mortal girl. Her mother addresses her thus:

Andrew Lang - Custom and Myth