The Basque History of the World - Mark Kurlansky [3]
And this contradiction—preserving the house while pursuing the world—may ensure their survival long after France and Spain have faded.
Historian Simon Schama wrote that when Chinese premier Zhou En-lai was asked to assess the importance of the French Revolution, he answered, “It’s too soon to tell.” Like Chinese history, the Basque history of the world is far older than the history of France. The few hundred years of European nation-states are only a small part of the Basque story. There may not be a France or a Spain in 1,000 years or even 500 years, but there will still be Basques.
THE ISLAND AND THE WORLD
Nire aitaren etxea,
I shall defend
defendituko dut,
the house of my father,
Otsoen kontra,
againtst wolves,
sikatearen kontra,
against draught,
lukurreriaren kontra,
against usury,
justiziaren kontra,
against the law,
defenditu
I shall defend
eginen dut
the house of my father.
nire aitaren etxea.
I shall lose
Galduko ditut
cattle,
Aziendak,
orchards,
soloak,
pine groves;
pinudiak;
I shall lose
galduko ditut
interest
korrituak
income
errentak
dividends
interesak
but I shall defend the
baina nire aitaren etxea defendituko dut.
house of my father.
Harmak kenduko dizkidate,
They will take my weapons,
eta eskuarekin defendituko dut
and with my hands I shall defend
nire aitaren etxea;
the house of my father;
eskuak ebakiko dizkidate
they will cut off my hands,
eta besoarekin defendituko dut
and with my arms I will defend
nire aitaren etxea;
the house of my father;
besorik gabe
They will leave me armless,
sorbaldik gabe,
without shoulders,
bularrik gabe
without chest,
utziko naute,
and with my soul I shall defend
eta arimarekin defendituko dut
the house of my father.
nire aitaren etxea.
I shall die,
Ni hilen naiz,
my soul will be lost,
nire arima galduko da,
my descendants will be lost;
nire askazia galduko da,
but the house of my father
baina nire aitaren etxeak
will endure
iraunen du
on its feet.
Zutik.
—Gabriel Aresti
Part One
THE SURVIVAL OF
EUSKAL HERRIA
* * *
Nomansland, the territory of the Basques, is in a region called Cornucopia, where the vines are tied up with sausages. And in those parts there was a mountain made entirely of grated Parmesan cheese on whose slopes there were people who spent their whole time making macaroni and ravioli, which they cooked in chicken broth and then cast it to the four winds, and the faster you could pick it up, the more you got of it.
—Giovanni Boccaccio, THE DECAMERON, 1352
* * *
* * *
The Basque Cake
The truth is that the Basque distrusts a stranger much too much to invite someone into his home who doesn’t speak his language.
—LES GUIDES BLEUS PAYS BASQUE FRANÇAIS ET
ESPAGNOL, 1954
* * *
THE GAME THE rest of the world knows as jai alai was invented in the French Basque town of St.-Pée-sur-Nivelle. St. Pée, like most of the towns in the area, holds little more than one curving street against a steep-pastured slope. The houses are whitewashed, with either red or green shutters and trim. Originally the whitewash was made of chalk. The traditional dark red color, known in French as rouge Basque, Basque red, was originally made from cattle blood. Espelette, Ascain, and other towns in the valley look almost identical. A fronton court—a single wall with bleachers to the left—is always in the center of town.
While the French were developing tennis, the Basques, as they often did, went in a completely different direction. The French ball was called a pelote, a French word derived from a verb for winding string. These pelotes were made of wool or cotton string wrapped into a ball and covered with leather. The Basques were the first Europeans to use a rubber ball, a discovery from the Americas, and the added bounce of wrapping rubber rather than string—the pelote Basque, as it was originally called—led them to play the ball off walls, a game which became