For Even
Now The Italian Cultivator Is Supposed To Make, And Actually Does Make,
"Voluntary" Presents To His Landlord At Certain Seasons; Gifts Which Are
Always A Source Of Irritation And, In Bad Years, A Real Hardship.
The
Albanians opposed themselves from the very beginning against these
mediaeval practices.
"They do not build houses," says an old writer, "so
as not to be subject to barons, dukes, princes, or other lords. And if
the owner of the land they inhabit ill-treats them, they set fire to
their huts and go elsewhere." An admirable system, even nowadays.
One would like to be here at Easter time to see the rusalet - those
Pyrrhic dances where the young men group themselves in martial array,
and pass through the streets with song and chorus, since, soon enough,
America will have put an end to such customs. The old Albanian guitar of
nine strings has already died out, and the double tibia - biforem dat
tibia cantum - will presently follow suit. This instrument, familiar
from classical sculpture and lore, and still used in Sicily and
Sardinia, was once a favourite with the Sila shepherds, who called it
"fischietto a pariglia." But some years ago I vainly sought it in the
central Sila; the answer to my enquiries was everywhere the same: they
knew it quite well; so and so used to play it; certain persons in
certain villages still made it - they described it accurately enough, but
could not produce a specimen. Single pipes, yes; and bagpipes galore;
but the tibia:
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