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HUNGARIAN
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SAMPLES - IN QUEST OF THE MIRACLE
STAG: THE POETRY OF HUNGARY |
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The Legend of the 'Miracle Stag' |
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The great Oriental King, Nimrod,
had two sons, Hunor and Magor.
They went hunting |
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one day and saw a creature that was snow
white and had golden antlers - it was both |
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female and male, "hind" and "stag."
It lured them farther and farther to the West, |
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where the hunting grounds were richer and
the land more fertile. The sons of Hunor |
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became the Huns, and the sons of Magor
became the Magyars, the Hungarians. |
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Some people could see the miraculous creature
flying in the air. They saw the stag with |
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the huge golden antlers between which it
carried the Sun and Moon. |
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The "Miracle Stag" thus led the
Magyars to present-day Hungary where they arrived in |
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the year 896. They were shamanists and warriors
who terrorized Europe for over a |
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century. In the year 1000 Saint
Stephen, who ruled until 1038, converted the |
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Hungarians to Christianity. |
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Then once again the "Miracle Stag"
appeared. It had burning candles on the tips of its |
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antlers- it was, in fact, a living cathedral
and the very messenger of the Virgin Mary
and |
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of Jesus Christ Himself. |
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Hungary's poets have been pursuing the "Miracle
Stag" for over seven centuries, each |
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according to his or her vision. In all its
incarnations, the image of the "Miracle Stag" is a |
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perennial symbol of an Oriental people whose
destiny it was to become European and |
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to act as the guardians of the West - against
the Tartar invasion of the 13th century, |
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the Turkish invasion of the 16th and the
17th, and the Soviet Communist invasion of the |
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20th century. In Hungary's poetry, ancient
Oriental Shamanism blended with the |
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Christianity
of Europe. |
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The "Miracle Stag" prances ever
westward. It has appeared in Germany, France, and |
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England, giving voice to the poetry
of Hungary. And now, on the 1,100th birthday of |
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Hungary, the "Miracle Stag"
has reached the shores of America. |
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Chicago, 1996. |
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Adam Makkai |
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