GOETHES “KING OF THULE” AND IT’S TRANSLATIONS INTO ALBANIAN GOETHE’NİN “THULE KRALI”

: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe placed his poem “The King of Thule” on the mythical island of Thule, which is thought to have been the northernmost place in which the ancient Greek sailors had the courage to travel to. Because of the fact that this poem has been included in all versions of this play, it is perceived as a part of Faust, which is the most famous tragic play of Goethe. The fact that this ballad is a champion in terms of its translation into Albanian, adds importance to the present study, and is therefore selected for analysis. It was translated for the first time, probably round 1900, by Ndre Mjeda, a well-known Albanian poet, and then later on by 11 other translators. This artistic ballad, in the original, in German language, is written in an artificial and outdated poetic language - to make it sound like traditional folk songs. The aim of this article is to see the reception of this work into the Albanian literature. The comparison of the translations will try to give answers to the research questions emphasised in this article: which of them is closer to the original one and to exhibit what did the translators used, in order to save the idea of old language, besides rhyme, style and string form. The article also aims to see the differences between the translations into two different Albanian dialects (Gegë and Toskë), and to analyze which one is more suitable for this ballad.


A few Words about the History of the Poem
Goethe's poem entitled Geistesgruß is considered to be a precursor of Der König in Thule as written by the time he traveled along the Lahn River in July 1774, after having seen Lahnen Castle. Under Herder's influence, the location of where the story takes place was changed to the mythical island of Thule, which is thought to have been the northernmost place in which the Greek antiquity sailors had the courage to travel to, or "The Tulle (Ultima Thule) the Romans called a Fairy Tale Country; by this name they considered, as it seems, Iceland; however, a "very far country in the north of Britain" (Luarasi, 1988: 185).
The poem, The King of Tule might have been originally written as a creation on its own, but perhaps, since the time of its creation coincides with Urfaust, it could have been conceived as Margarita's song. This poem was used as a part of this play in all its versions. There are distinct differences of this poem between the Faust's various versions, which reflect Goethes's progress in this tragedy. However, this poetry continued to exist even out of the drama. This shows the existence of many musical comopsitions that have been performed on this poem, the most famous being the Shubert's composition.
This song or artistic ballad is written in an artificial and outdated poetic language to make it sound like a traditional folk song and, as it was said, it was used as an introduction to Gretchen (Goethe, 2000:98).
The ballad has here a dual function: on the one hand, it is a part of the scene (Gretchen sings this song during dressing), on the other hand, it has an important symbolic and dramatic function: the ballad sings loyalty and this element could be considered as an opposite behaviour in regard to Faust's behaviour.
The Ballad "King of Thule" is one of Goethe's most popular poetry creations. Karl Friedrich Celter (1758-1832) and later also many others turned this ballad into a song. This might count as a reason for the popularity of this ballad. Goethe wrote this ballad in a style of a folk poem or a folk song, a style that was made popular by Herder and was considered as a very popular by the people of the nineteenth century and very soon were recepted as a "folk song".

Translation of "Der König in Thule" into Albanian
After a comprehensive study of Goethe's reception in the Albanian Literature, it can be stated once again that "King of Thule" is the champion in terms of the number of its translations into Albanian. To date, fourteen different translations of this poem are known in Albanian, starting with the most well-known one of the writer Ndre Mjeda, followed by other authors and translators.
The ballad "The King of Thule" was translated for the first time by Ndre Mjeda (1866Mjeda ( -1937 and was published in the summary of his poems, known as "Juvenilia", published in Vienna in 1917. Since the poems and lyrics of this collection were written years before their publication, we believe that Goethe's King of Thule was also translated prior to 1917. The reason for the selection of this ballad might be his wish to bring Albanians closer to the world literature.
The first strophe in the original is as follows: Es war ein König in Thule, Gar treu bis an das Grab, Dem sterbend seine Buhle einen goldnen Becher gab. (Goethe, 2000:98) In Ndre Mjeda's translation it is:
Tek vdiste, një kupë ari i fali mikja e vet. (Bala, 1998:10) The first verse sounds almost like the beginning of a fairy tale: "Na ishte një mbert në Tule..." (There was a King in Thule ...). The most important thing to say about this king is a short sentence: "Besnik gjer në varr" (Faithful to the grave) (2. verse). He was "gar treu" which in Albanian would be translated "entirely, completely, fully faithful" that seems to have been used to show the king much nobler. His girlfriend has given him a golden cup before she died and this explains the initial condition, but not the reason why.
Because of the use of "Na ish një mbret" (There was a King) in the first verse, as it is in the original, the first verse in Gjeçi's and Luarasi's translation seem to be more like the beginning of a fairy tale, but the other translations also create a similar feeling.
Interestingly, everyone translated the word König as Mbret (King), which is actually the proper word in Albanian for that. But we see that its first interpreter, Ndre Mjeda, translated it as Padishah. So, he chose the word with an old use like Padishah, which refers to the title used for the Sultan in the Ottoman Empire or a title formerly used for various rulers, including the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The reason could be assigned to the fact that the translator had in mind the reader's better comprehension, because, as we have said above, this ballad may have been translated long before it was published, that is, at a time when Albanian territories were part of the Ottoman Empire and for the public, the word Padishah was more understandable. However, we think that Mjeda may have even used this word to create the idea of an ancient empire.
It is also questionable whether the word chosen by Goethe Buhle (dear, lover) (strophe I, verse III), which even in the late eighteenth century was already outdated, has the meaning of wife or the illegitimate lover.
Only in the first Albanian translation of this poetry, that of Ndre Mjeda, this word has been translated with "e dashtna e vet" (the love of his), which leaves open the issue of her status, making it closer to the original. Meanwhile, in all other subsequent translations the words dashnore or mike which are used, have the meaning of illegitimate lover in albanian. Both translations dashnore and mike, in Albanian associate only the lover, but never the wife. Bala and Bllaci even change the place of the word by puting it in the last verse so that they can rime mbret-vet.
Similarly, like the rhyming word "Thule" (a legendary kingdom in the distant north), the selection of words might have been used intentionaly to make the events timeless and fixed to no place and to make them an example -similiar to the folk songs. Evidence of this can be other obsolete phrases that Goethe uses in his ballad, like the formulation taken from the Martin Luther's Bible "die Augen gingen ihm über" to say "cry".

Goethe:
Und als er kam zu sterben, Zählt' er seine Städt' im Reich, Gönnt' alles seinen Erben, Den Becher nicht zugleich. (Goethe, 2000:98) So the king was on the verge of death. In translations into Albanian the same is translated into different forms, although all of them correct:
Gjeçi: E piu n'mes tyre krejt t'fundit afsh t'jetës plaku, mandej kupën e shenjt ndër valë të detit flaku. (Gjeçi: 2008, 142) Bala: Të fundit afsh piu plaku të jetës në një ças, pastaj putirin flaku në detin me tallaz. (Bala, 1998:10) Luarasi uses the word plaku (the old man) and in the last verse he also adds the word bekriu, which is a Turkish word to describe best what Goethe means with this verse. So, not just someone who drinks too much, but someone who is very fond of drinking (sot, drunkard, winebibber): Atje të jetës afshin e fundit plaku piu, pastaj të shenjtën kupë, e flaku n'det bekriu. (Luarasi, 1988: 185) In this strophe the word hinunter (down), that Goethe uses to describe the end of the cup, also foreshadows "the path" of the king. In the last strophe Goethe uses the verbs "stürzen, trinken, sinken" (fall, drink, sink) to describe its end. Falling and sinking show the way of the cup while drinking its fate, because it was the one from which the king has always drunk, and now it drinks the tide, loses what it is destined for and does'nt give a drop more. Just the way the cup is sinking, so does the king's eyes fall and he dies. The king's death is related to the end of the drink, because drinking from the cup of love was his life.
Er sah ihn stürzen, trinken Und sinken tief ins Meer, die Augen täten ihm sinken, Trank nie einen Tropfen mehr. (Goethe, 2000:99) This last strophe is translated by Mjeda this way: Tuj u zhyt' e pa n'fund t'zallit, Tuj këcye nalt, tuj hupë me turr; E n'at ças i ranë prej ballit Fikun syt' e s'piu ma kurr! (Mjeda, 1982: 85) We see, that in Mjedas translation of this strophe in albanian, he reached the same effect by using the verbs: u zhyt n'fund t'zallit (sank at the botom of the sand) i ranë prej ballit/ syt' e s'piu ma kurr! (his eyes fell out of his forehead/ and he never drunk again) At the same time, these verses show that Mjeda, like in the translation of the poems "Capricorn" and "The Burial of Sir John Moore after Coruna" of Sharl Wolfe, the main values of the poem remain in the last two verses (Quku, 2004: 469-470).

E n'at ças i ranë prej ballit
Fikun syt' e s'piu ma kurr! (Mjeda, 1982: 85) At Pashko Gjeçi's translation it is like this: E pa si ra, si u zhyt si u mbytë e pa në det; i mbylli të dy sytë e nuk piu më për jetë. (Gjeçi: 2008, 142) This strophe at Vehbi Bala's translation is like this: E pa si ra tej zallit, si vala e përpiu: iu fikën sytë e ballit e kurr' me të më s'piu. (Bala, 1998:10) Luarasi: E pa si ra, prej zallit, si shkoi në fund, atë. Iu shuan sytë e ballit e s'piu kurrë më. (Luarasi, 1988: 185) Before we come to the conclusion, we should mention another fact as far as these translations is concerned. All of them, accept for the first one, presented by the Albanian poet Ndre Mjeda, are in the Standard Albanian language. In contrast, Mjeda's translation of King of Thule is done in the Gegë dialect, one of the two dialects of Albanian. Gegë belongs to the northern regions of Albanian-speaking territories. Precisely because it is in Gegë, rather than in the Standard variety (which is predominantely based on the other dialect, that of Tosk) may sound better and closer to the original version in German, which, as we have emphasized at first, is intentionally written using archaic words to resemble the folk literature creation. The fact that the translation is in the Gegë dialect makes it look older, more archaic, too. The reason for this is that the oldest and most important works of Albanian Literature and history were written in the Gegë dialect, and as soon as one sees a creation in this dialect, arouses a memory of a past time.

Conclusion
Out of all that is said above, we can conclude that all the Albanian translations of J. W. von Goethe's Ballad "Der König in Thule" analysed in this article, have preserved the scheme of rhyme and have been very welladapted to the original. They sound as if they were written in Albanian by translators themselves: stylistically / poetically very achieved ones in the target language. However, the translation of Mjeda will be emphasised. Not only because of the preservation of the poetic structure, the aestheticpoetic values of the original, but also because of the selection of words. Despite its simplicity, it is considered to be among the most accurate and the most trustful at the time created: the interpreter, instead of using words that are originally Albanian, such as Mbret, for example, uses older words such as Padishah, which is the name for the rulers of ancient empires, but also for the Ottoman Sulltan. At the time when Mjeda translated it, Ballkan territories were part of the Ottoman Empire. We believe the translator does this, not only to bring it closer to the readers of the time, but also to create the idea of exotic places, such as the Orient. During the analysis, we have noticed that even the other translator, Skënder Luarasi, who is perhaps the most famous translator from German into Albanian, also uses a Turkish word, probably for the same reason. Luarasi translated it in 1957, but he, as we said, uses the old Turkish word bekri instead of just using the albanian word pijanec (a drunkard). Through this, the translator achieves the goal of creating the idea of a previous, historical time, in the same way as Goethe does in his poem Der König in Thule.