THE WAR OF GREEK INDEPENDENCE 1821 TO 1833 BY W.ALISON PHILLIPS 1897

THE KLEPHTS 11
valour against the Turk were sung in countless ballads,
and the names of their celebrated leaders repeated from
mouth to mouth in awe-struck tones. And indeed,
though of schooling they knew nothing beyond their
wild war-chaunts, in courage and physical endurance
they in no wise fell short of the heroes of antiquity.
One thing alone they feared: to fall alive into the
hands of the Turks;
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save them from this fate. Yet,
and their accustomed toast was
the welcome bullet which should
if it should befall
them, it was easier to crush their body than their spirit.
The following story is characteristic.
The chief Katsantonis and his brother George had
been betrayed into the hands of their mortal enemy
Ali Pasha, and were by him condemned to have their
limbs broken piecemeal with heavy hammers. Katsantonis
was operated on first. Weakened by illness, he
was unable to bear the agony, and, when the hammer
fell upon his knee, uttered a sigh.
George turned to
*
him in surprise. What, Katsantonis, are you howling
like a woman? ' When his own turn came, he lay
without a sound or look of suffering, while both his
legs, from the hips to the ankles,
were shattered to
pieces.
The following story is delightfully reminiscent of
our own Kobin Hood and Friar Tuck. The Klephts