Poetry
Eglė žalčių karalienė
Not translated into English
Salomėja Nėris · 1940
Synopsis
Eglė, Queen of the Grass Snakes: the poem retells the folk tale. Sisters are bathing, and when the youngest, Eglė, wants to take back her shirt, a grass snake has coiled itself in it and gives it back only in exchange for a promise of marriage. Suitors from the sea soon claim the bride, and the family tries to deceive them. At last Eglė follows the king of the grass snakes, Žilvinas, to the bottom of the waters and lives happy years there, but homesickness takes hold of her again. The poet gives the tale a lyrical depth and attends to the inner world of her heroine.
Context
The poem, written in 1940, was published in Kaunas the same year by the state publishing house, then reissued in 1946, in 1961, with the subtitle of poem-tale, and in 1998. It can be read as a poem of motherhood, sacrifice and the brothers' betrayal. The Lėlė puppet theatre in Vilnius has staged adaptations of it in 1958 and 2007. Eduardas Balsys's ballet and many illustrators have taken up the same legend.
Who it is for
A narrative poem in singing verse; the word “žaltys” means the grass snake, a domestic and sacred animal of the old religion, not a venomous snake. No French or English translation has been found.
Prizes and reception
Presented as one of the most important Lithuanian poems, and as a model of the literary use of folklore.