Oath, Honor & Aegis
Visualizing a series of old Albanian folk songs.
Illustration & storytelling
A song of Oath:
Konstantin’s promise.
“Have you ever heard?! Have you ever seen?! A dead man goes riding with the living!”
synopsis
When the only daughter in the family was to wed a prince in a distant land, Konstantin—the youngest of twelve brothers—promised to his mother that he would bring her daughter to visit as soon as mother wanted. Konstantin and all his brothers died in battle soon after, and his mother cursed Konstantin at his grave for a promise he couldn’t keep.
In the chill of the night, Konstantin rose from the dead to fulfill his promise.
Detail
A song of Honor:
George Elez Alia
Family honor is sacred.
synopsis
Known to have once been a great warrior, Gjergj (George) Elez Alia lay in his tower for nine years, suffering of nine great battle wounds. His sister tended to him night and day, neglecting her own life.
One day George felt wet drops on his face. His sister told him that it was not the rain he felt, but her tears falling on his face. She wept as she told him that a Baloz (evil knight) had come from the sea and had been destroying villages and enslaving daughters along his path. She feared that soon enough he would come for her.
Detail
A song of Aegis:
The brothers Mujo & Halil
“Forlorn will the one be, bereft of a brother.”
synopsis
The evil Harambash (warlord, bandit) had set out to do battle with the great warrior Mujo. Searching for him in the mountains, he came across three white Oras (mythical mountain fairies), —Mujo’s protectors— and tormented them. Sworn to avenge them, Mujo sets out for battle with his thirty warriors, leaving his younger brother behind.
His younger brother, Halil, followed a different path in order to defeat Harambash on his own and to prove his worth as a warrior, against his older brother’s wishes. Halil rode through the Cursed Mountains, and along the way, the Oras—disguised as mountain boulders—came to his aid. They spoke to him through the sound of the wind, and the song of birds.
