Folklore · Romanian traditions
Miorița · the speaking ewe
Romanian oral poetry · a ballad with many variants
The story
A shepherd hears a warning from a speaking ewe, and a pastoral world becomes the setting for a meditation on loss and belonging.
The hillside is inhabited by shepherds, flocks and a voice that crosses the boundary between human and animal. In a widely known version of Miorița, a ewe warns its shepherd of danger. The poem turns toward imagined burial and a wedding-like vision of the natural world. Its many variants and interpretations have kept the ballad alive in Romanian cultural discussion.