An eagle was flying / up high in the heavens / oui, aman, aman
2: Είσεν τσιαγκία κόκκινα / *Και το κουδούκ' νατ' μαύρον (etc.)
He had red beaks / and a black plume (etc.)
3: Εκράτ' νεν και 'ς σα κάρτσια του / Παλληκαρί' βρασιόνας
He was holding with his nails / the arm of a young man
4: Αητέ μ' για δός μ' ας σο κρατείς / Για πε με όθεν κείται
Eagle, give me what you are now holding / tell me where (the body) is
5: Ας' σο κρατώ 'κι δίγω σε / Αρ' όθεν κείται λέγω
I'm not giving you what I'm holding / but I will tell you where the body lies
6: Ακεί 'ς 'σο πέραν το ρασίν / Σο'πέραν κιαν τ' ελάτια
Over the mountain / behind the firs
7: Μαύρα πουλία τρωγν' ατον / Και άσπρα τριγυρίσκουν
Black birds are eating him / and white birds fly around
8: Φατέστεν πουλία, φατέστεν / Φατέστεν τον καρίπιν
Feast, you birds / feast on this poor lost soul
**9: 'Σ σην θάλασσαν κολυμπετής / σ' ομάλια πεχληβάνος
He was a swimmer in the sea / he was a wrestler in the plain
**10: 'Σ σον πόλεμον τραντέλλενας / Του Πόντου παλληκάρι ούϊ ναϊλιε 'μεν ντο θα 'ίνουμε.
In the war he was a great Greek / a brave man from Pontos; alas, what will happen to us now?
Feast, you birds / feast on this poor lost soul
**9: 'Σ σην θάλασσαν κολυμπετής / σ' ομάλια πεχληβάνος
He was a swimmer in the sea / he was a wrestler in the plain
**10: 'Σ σον πόλεμον τραντέλλενας / Του Πόντου παλληκάρι ούϊ ναϊλιε 'μεν ντο θα 'ίνουμε.
In the war he was a great Greek / a brave man from Pontos; alas, what will happen to us now?
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Notes: My first exposure to this grim song was through the Turkish folk ensemble "Kardeş Türküler", who used an alternating pair of musical motifs to represent the eagle and the singer's persona in dialogue. I was blown away by the use of instrumentation typical of the Pontus region, which features percussion, bagpipes, and the fast-paced buzzing lines of a bowed lyre (I think); the same kind of instrumentation also shows up in the music of Fuat Saka, based in Trabzon, and in the sound track of the TV show Sen Anlat Karadeniz, also set in the area.
*Rendered "και το τσαρκούλ’ν ατ’ μαύρον" in the Kardeş Türküler version, presumably with the same meaning.
** Omitted in the Kardeş Türküler version
** Omitted in the Kardeş Türküler version
Notes: My first exposure to this grim song was through the Turkish folk ensemble "Kardeş Türküler", who used an alternating pair of musical motifs to represent the eagle and the singer's persona in dialogue. I was blown away by the use of instrumentation typical of the Pontus region, which features percussion, bagpipes, and the fast-paced buzzing lines of a bowed lyre (I think); the same kind of instrumentation also shows up in the music of Fuat Saka, based in Trabzon, and in the sound track of the TV show Sen Anlat Karadeniz, also set in the area.
Kardeş Türküler rearranged the verses to show a back-and-forth between the eagle and its interlocutor. The order is: 1-2-5-6-3-4-7-8. Unfortunately, this compromises the narrative flow (not that I know enough Pontic Greek to be disturbed by this, though).
The last two verses which were omitted by them was because of the fact that Turkish law forbids any mention of the genocides of 20th Century Turkey around or after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, including those of the Anatolian and Pontic Greeks, Assyrians, Armenians, and others (my interpretation).
The source of this translation is from LyricsTranslate, on the version by Stelios Kazantzidis. Some corrections were made on this version to better fit the actual lyrics.
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