Fehérlófia (Hungarian folk tale)

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Fehérlófia
Folk tale
NameFehérlófia
Also known asThe Son of the White Horse; The Son of the White Mare
Data
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 301 (Three Stolen Princesses)
RegionHungary
Published inEredeti népmesék by László Arany (1862)
RelatedJean de l'Ours

Fehérlófia (lit. The Son of the White Horse or The Son of the White Mare) is a Hungarian folk tale published by László Arany (hu) in Eredei Népmesék (1862).[1] Its main character is a youth named Fehérlófia, a "Hungarian folk hero".[2]

The tale is classified in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as tale type ATU 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses". However, the Hungarian National Catalogue of Folktales classifies the tale as MNK 301B.

Summary[]

It was, it was not, a white mare that nurses its own human child for fourteen years, until he is strong enough to uproot a tree. The mare dies and the boy departs to see the world. He wrestles with three other equally strong individuals: Fanyüvő, Kőmorzsoló and Vasgyúró. The three strike a friendship and move to a hut in the forest. They set an arrangement: one should stay in the hut and cook the food while the others hunt.

One day, a little man or dwarf named Hétszűnyű Kapanyányimonyók. He invades the hut and beats Fehérlófia's companions to steal the food (a cauldron of porridge). Fehérlófia meets the dwarf and traps his beard in a tree trunk. The hero leads his friends to the dwarf's location but he seems to have escaped to somewhere. Fehérlófia and the other heroes follow after and find a pit or a hole that leads deep underground.

After his companion feel too frightened to descend, Fehérlófia himself climbs down a rope (a basket) to the underground. Down there, he finds the dwarf, who points him to three castles in this vast underworld: one of copper, the second of silver and the third of gold. Inside every castle, there is a lovely princess, a captive of a serpentine or draconic enemy. Féherlofia rescues the princess of the copper castle by killing her three-headed dragon captor and goes to rescue her sistes, the princess in the silver castle and the maiden of the golden castle.

He kills the six-headed dragon in the silver palace and the twelve-headed dragon of the golden palace. Then, all four return to the basket in order for the princesses to return to the upper world. Féherlófia lets the princess go first, since the four of them would impair the ascent of the basket. Some time later, the basket does not return to retrieve Fehérlófia, so he wanders about in the underworld and sees a nest of griffins chicks. He uses a bush to create a protection from the rain and the griffin bird arrives to thank him. The human hero says he could use some help to return to the upper world. The griffin is happy to oblige, but he needs to be fed on the way up.

Near the end of the ascent, Fehérlófia discovers the food supplies are gone, so, out of desperation, slices his own hand and leg to feed the bird. When they land, the griffin is atonished at the human's sacrifice, so it gives him a vial of magical liquid to restore his strength. A restored Fehérlófia, then, searches for his traitorous companions to teach them a lesson. The trio is shocked to see his fallen companion back from the underworld and die of fright. Fehérlófia takes the princesses to their father and marries the youngest.

Variants[]

Europe[]

In a tale collected in the Vend Romani dialect, the youth is the son of a "white horse", but the narration says the boy's father lifts the giant tree with a finger. Regardless, the boy is nursed by his mother for 21 years and finally uproots the tree. He travels the world and meets four other companions: Cliff-breaker, Hill-roller, Pine-twister and Iron-kneader. When he descends to the underworld, he rescues four princesses in the copper, silver, gold and diamond castles. Three of his companions marry three of the princesses, and the story concludes with the hero revealing Iron-kneader's betrayal and marrying the diamond princess.[3]

A Romani-Bukovina variant, titled Mare's Son, shows many identical elements with the Hungarian tale: the hero's supernatural birth (by a mare); the mare nursing the boy; the tree uproot test; the three companions (Tree-splitter, Rock-splitter and Tree-bender); the small-sized man who steals the food; the descent to the underworld; the rescue of the eagle nest and the escape on the eagle's back. However, in the Underworld, Mare's Son puts the escaped dwarf in the basket and helps an elderly couple against an evil fairy that stole their eyes.[4] Its collector and publisher, scholar Francis Hindes Groome, noted that the tale was "clearly defective", lacking the usual elements, despite the parallels with several other stories.[5]

Hungary[]

In another Hungarian tale, collected by János Erdélyi and titled Shepherd Paul, a shepherd finds a two-year-old boy in a meadow and names him Paul. He gives the boy to a ewe to suckle, and the boy develops great strength to uproot a tree after fourteen years. Paul goes to travel the world and meet three equally strong companions: Tree-Comber, Stone-Crusher and Iron-Kneader. They strike a friendship and set an arrangement: one will stay at home while the others go hunt some game. Paul's three companions stay home and are attacked by a dwarf that steals their food. Paul defeats the dwarf and ties his giant beard to a giant tree. Paul scolds his companions and wants to show them the defeated foe, but he has vanished. They soon follow him to an opening that leads underground. Paul descends, enters three castles, kills three many-headed dragons, liberates three princesses and transforms the castles into golden apples with a magic wand. The last dragon he kills was the dwarf in the surface, under a different form. Paul is betrayed by his companions, protects a nest of griffins with his cloak and their father takes him to the surface after a three day journey. After he rests a while, the hero goes after his traitorous companions, kills them and marries the youngest princess.[6]

Russia[]

In a Russian tale titled Ivan the Mare's Son, collected in Riazan district, an old peasant couple buys a small mare from twelve brothers. Later, the old man buys a fine colt from a gentleman and forgets about the little mare. Feeling dejected, the mare flies away to the open steppes and gives birth to a human boy named Ivan, who grows by the hour. The human boy fixes some food and water for his equine mother and goes on a journey to rescue the tsar's daughter, kidnapped by an evil twelve-headed serpent. He meets two companions on the road, Mount-Bogatyr and Oak-Bogatyr, and they set for the entrance to the serpent's underground lair (this version lacks the episode of the little man and the hut). Ivan the Mare's Son descends the well, kills the serpent and rescues the tsar's daughter. His companions betray him and abandon him underground. Very soon (and suddenly), twelve doves appear and offer to take Ivan back to the surface (acting as the eagle of the other variants). After he arrives, he sees that his mother has died and ravens are pecking its body. He captures of the ravens as help in unmasking his traitorous companions.[7] This tale was originally collected by Russian folklorist Ivan Khudyakov (ru) with the name "Иванъ - Кобьлинъ сынъ".[8]

In a tale attributed to the Tungus of Siberia, also titled Ivan the Mare's Son (Russian: "Иван Кобыльников сын"),[9][10] the mare escapes from its owners who wanted to eat it. After she rushes into a forest, she sees the corpse of a fallen Tungus warrior and licks it, becoming instantly pregnant with a human child, Ivan. He grows up and decides to leave his mother to see the world, but his mother advises him to always leave an arrow standing upwards in the ground as a token of his well-being. On his travels, he meets two similarly named individuals, Ivan the Sun's Son and Ivan the Moon's Son. The three decide to live together in a hut made of wooden poles and animal skins. For two nights, after they hunt in the forest, they come home and see the place in perfect order. On the third night, Ivan, the Mare's Son, decides to stay awake and discovers that three herons descending to the ground and taking off their feathers and wings to become maidens. Ivan, the Mare's Son, hides their bird garments until they reveal themselves. The Mare's Son, marries heron maiden Marfida, and her sisters the other two Ivans. They live together for some time, until a day when an evil serpent crawls out of a hole behind their house to suck on the blood of the wives. The Three Ivans expel the foe, but it returns the next day with a thunder cloud and an army of demons, kills the three heroes and take their wives down the hole. Ivan's mother, the mare, appears in the nick of time to revive her son and the others. Ivan the Mare's Son descends through a rope to the underworld, rescued Marfida and her sisters and kills the serpent. After he takes the heron maidens to the rope, the other Ivans cut the rope and abandon the Mare's Son in the underworld. The mare rescues her son again and acts as the eagle in this variant, asking for her son to feed her meat on the journey back to the world of the living.[11]

Mari people[]

Hungarian scholarship located a similar tale of the horse-born hero among the Mari people.[12] In a Hungarian translation of the tale, titled Vültak, a fehér kanca fia ("Vültak, The Son of the White Mare"), hero Vültak is born of a white mare. He joins forces with two companions, Tölcsak ("Son of the Moon") and Kecsamös ("Son of the Sun"), and each of them marries a maiden. The three couples live together, until one day a strange personage tries to enter their house, but Vültak dismisses him. Some time later, the strange man beats the three heroes to a pulp and kidnaps their wives to his undergorund lair. Vültak's mother, the white mare, heals the trio at the cost of her own life. Vültak descends to the underground with a rope, rescues the girls and defeats the villain (whose soul was hidden outside his body).[13]

Literary variants[]

According to scholarship, Romanian author Ion Creanga used similar plot elements to write his literary tale Făt-frumos, fiul iepei ("Făt-Frumos, Son of the Mare"),[14][15] or Prince Charming, the Mare's Son.[16]

Asia[]

In an Eastern Tibetan (Amdo) variant, The Mare's Boy, a mare gives birth to a human boy who is adopted by an old woman. He grows up and strikes a friendship with two other human companions. During a heavy storm, the trio take shtlter in a nearby cave, on August 15th. They see three pigeons enter the cave and become three goddesses. The women say their prayers, return to their pigeon bodies and fly away. The same event happens in the next two years. On the third year, Mare's Boy and his companions burn the pigeon bodies to force the goddesses to retain their human forms. They marry the three goddesses, who alert the humans spouses that disease will come to afflict the men and animals in the area. Times passes; the human hunters notice the goddesses are becoming pale and thin. One day, they wait outside the hut; they see a kite flying by and becoming a copper-nosed creature or witch. It sucks on the goddesses' blood and flies away again. Mare's Boy shoot an arrow at it, hurting the bird. They follow a trail of blood to a hole. Mare's Boy descends into the hole through a rope. The rope cuts off. He is now in a strange land. He meets the witch's son, who guards part of his mother's strength. He kills him, and goes next to the witch. He breaks the next item of external strength and defeats the witch. He leaves the witch's house and kills a snake that was menacing a nest of birds. Their father, the Garuda, in gratitude, decides to help him back to his realm.[17]

Analysis[]

Classification[]

According to scholar Ágnes Kovács, the tale belongs to type AaTh 301B, "The Strong Man and his Companions".[18][a] She also stated that Fehérlófia was "one of the most popular Hungarian tales",[20] with more than 50 variants.[21] A recension by scholar Gabriella Kiss, in 1968, listed 64 variants across Hungarian sources.[22] Fieldwork conducted in 1999 by researcher Zoltán Vasvári amongst the Palóc population found 4 variants of the tale type.[23]

Scholarship also sees considerable antiquity in the tale.[24] For instance, Gabriella Kiss stated that the tale "Son of the White Horse" belonged to the "archaic material of Hungarian folk-tales".[25]

In regards to the journey on the back of a giant bird (an eagle or a griffin), folklorist scholarship recognizes its similarities with the tale of Etana helping an eagle, a tale type later classified as Aarne–Thompson–Uther ATU 537, "The Eagle as helper: hero carried on the wings of a helpful eagle".[26]

Origins of the hero[]

In another tale of the same folktype, AaTh 301B ("The Strong Man and his Companions"), named Jean de l'Ours, the hero is born from a human woman and a bear. The human woman is sometimes lost in the woods and the animal finds her, or she is taken by the animal to its den. In a second variation, the hero is fathered by a lion and he is called Löwensohn ("The Lion's Son").

Professor Michael Meraklis cited that the episode of a lion or bear stealing a human woman and the hero born of this "living arrangement" must preserve "the original form of the tale", since it harks back to the ancient and primitive notion that humans and animals could freely interact in a mythical shared past.[27]

In the Hungarian tale, however, the father is unknown, and the non-human parentage is attributed to a female animal (the white mare). This fantastical birth could be explained by the fact that the character of Fehérlófia was "originally a totem animal ancestor".[28] This idea seems supported by the existence of other Hungarian tales with a horse- or mare-born hero (like Lófia Jankó and Lófi Jankó) - a trait also shared by Turkish and Chuvash tales - and the existence of peoples that claim descent from a mythical equine ancestor.[29] A similar conclusion has been reached in regards to the animal-born hero of Russian folktales: the hero "magically born from a totem" represents "the oldest character type".[30]

Parallels[]

Professor Mihály Hoppál's (de) study, titled Feherlófia, found "Eastern parallels" to the tale across the Eurasian steppes, in Mongols and Turkic peoples of Inner Asia and in Kyrgyz folklore (namely, the Er Töstük epic).[31] Also, according to him, the story of Fehérlófia does not have parallels in Europe, but belongs to a select group of tale types shared by Hungary and other Asian peoples.[32] In another article, he states that the type "can be traced all the way to the Far East (including the Yugur, Daur, Mongol and Turkic peoples of Central Asia)".[33]

In the same vein, professor Tünde Tancz says the type "belongs to the fairy tale area of West Asia", a region that encompasses "the repertoire of Finno-Ugric peoples and many Turkic peoples".[34]

Parallels have also been argued between Fehérlófia and other Inner Asian stories that follow the same narrative sequence and involve an animal-born hero, in particular an Asian tale from the collection of Vetala (also known as The Bewitched Corpse Cycle) about a cow-born hero.[35][36]

Adaptations[]

The tale was used as the plot of the 1981 Hungarian animated fantasy film Fehérlófia ("Son of the White Mare"), by film director Marcell Jankovics.

See also[]

Footnotes[]

  1. ^ It should be noted, however, that the third revision of the Aarne-Thompson classification system, made in 2004 by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther, subsumed both subtypes AaTh 301A and AaTh 301B into the new type ATU 301.[19]

References[]

  1. ^ László Arany. Eredeti népmesék. Pest: Nyomatott Landerer és Heckenastnál. 1862. pp. 202-215.
  2. ^ Sándor, András. [Reviewed Work: Fehérlófia by László Kemenes Géfin]. In: World Literature Today 54, no. 1 (1980): 142-43. doi:10.2307/40134687.
  3. ^ VEKERDI, J., and L. VEKERDI. "THE VEND GYPSY DIALECT IN HUNGARY". In: Acta Linguistica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 34, no. 1/2 (1984): 65-86. Accessed March 2, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44310143.
  4. ^ Groome, Francis Hindes. Gypsy folk-tales. London: Hurst and Blackett. 1899. pp. 74-79. [1]
  5. ^ Groome, Francis Hindes. Gypsy folk-tales. London: Hurst and Blackett. 1899. pp. 79-80. [2]
  6. ^ The Folk-Tales of the Magyars: Collected by Kriza, Erdélyi, Pap, and Others. Editor: W. Henry Jones and Lajos Kropf. London: Published for the Folk-lore Society. 1889. pp. 244-249.
  7. ^ Haney, Jack V. An Anthology of Russian Folktales. Routledge. 2009. pp. 27-30. ISBN 9780765623058
  8. ^ Khudi︠a︡kov, Ivan Aleksandrovich. "Великорусскія сказки" [Tales of Great Russia]. Vol. 2. Saint Petersburg: 1861. pp. 39-43.
  9. ^ Сказка Е. М. Кокорина. Русская сказка. Избранные мастера: В 2 т. Ред. и коммент. М. К. Азадовского. [М.; Л.]: Academia, 1932. Т. I. pp. 224—236. http://feb-web.ru/feb/skazki/texts/im1/im1-224-.htm
  10. ^ Русские народные сказки Сибири о богатырях. Edited by: Руфина Матвеева [Rufina Matveyeva]. Новосибирск: Наука (Сибирское отделение), 1979. pp. 119-128.
  11. ^ Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 128-130. ISBN 9781576070635.
  12. ^ Hóppál, Mihály. Fehérlófia. Európai Folklór Intézet, 2007. p. 122. ISBN 9789639683860
  13. ^ Árvay János; Enyedy György. Kígyót szült az öregasszony: Mari Népmesék. Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó, 1962. 15-24.
  14. ^ Creanga, Ion. Făt-frumos, fiul iepei.
  15. ^ Stein, Helga. "VII. Besprechungen. Birlea, Ovidiu, Povestile Ion Creangä (Creangas Geschichten). Studu de folclor (Volkskundliche Studien), Literaturverlag (Bukarest) 1967. 318S". In: Fabula 10, no. Jahresband (1969): 225, 227. https://doi.org/10.1515/fabl.1969.10.1.221
  16. ^ Creangă, Ion. Folk Tales from Roumania. Translated by Mabel Nandris. Routledge and Kegan Paul. 1952. pp. 67ff. ISBN 9787230009669.
  17. ^ Folk Tales from Eastern Tibet. Translated by Ryoshun Kajihama, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 2004. pp. 117-123. ISBN 9788186470367.
  18. ^ Kovács, Agnes. "Rhythmus und Metrum in den ungarischen Volksmärchen"". In: Fabula 9, no. 1-3 (1967): 172. https://doi.org/10.1515/fabl.1967.9.1-3.169
  19. ^ Uther, Hans-Jörg. The types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Folklore Fellows Communicatins (FFC) n. 284. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia-Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004. p. 177.
  20. ^ A similar assessment is shared by professor Éva Vígh: "Az egyik legnépszerűbb magyar népmesénk a Fehérlófia. Ez a népmesetípus Európa-szerte megtalálható, de a magyar népmesevilágban különösen népszerű". Vígh Éva. ÁLLATSZIMBÓLUMTÁR: A-Z. Budapest: Balassi Kiadó. [2018?] p. 206. ISBN 978-963-456-049-4.
  21. ^ Kovács Ágnes. "Fehérlófia". In: Ortutay Gyula főszerk. Magyar Néprajzi Lexikon. Volume 1. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1979. pp. 92–93.
  22. ^ Kiss, Gabriella. "Hungarian Redactions of the Tale Type 301". In: Acta Ethnographica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 17 (1968): 357-358.
  23. ^ VASVÁRI Zoltán. "Népmese a Palócföldön". In: Palócföld 1999/2, pp. 93-94.
  24. ^ Tancz Tünde. "Evolúciós pszichológiai közelítések a népmeséhez". In: Fordulópont 9/1, évf. 39. 2008. p. 30.
  25. ^ Kiss, Gabriella. "Hungarian Redactions of the Tale Type 301". In: Acta Ethnographica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 17 (1968): 365.
  26. ^ Annus, Amar & Sarv, Mari. "The Ball Game Motif in the Gilgamesh Tradition and International Folklore". In: Mesopotamia in the Ancient World: Impact, Continuities, Parallels. Proceedings of the Seventh Symposium of the Melammu Project Held in Obergurgl, Austria, November 4–8, 2013. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag - Buch- und Medienhandel GmbH. 2015. pp. 289-290. ISBN 978-3-86835-128-6
  27. ^ Merakles, Michales G. Studien zum griechischen Märchen. Eingeleitet, übers, und bearb. von Walter Puchner. (Raabser Märchen-Reihe, Bd. 9. Wien: Österr. Museum für Volkskunde, 1992. p. 128. ISBN 3-900359-52-0
  28. ^ Szilárdi, Réka (2013). "Neopaganism in Hungary: Under the Spell of Roots". In: Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe. Acumen Publishing. p. 241
  29. ^ RÁSONYI, L. "L'ORIGINE DU NOM Székely (SICULE)". In: Acta Linguistica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 11, no. 1/2 (1961): 186-187. Accessed March 2, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44309192.
  30. ^ Anglickienė, Laima. Slavic Folklore: DIDACTICAL GUIDELINES. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Cultural Studies and Ethnology. 2013. p. 127. ISBN 978-9955-21-352-9
  31. ^ Pócs, Éva. "The Hungarian táltos and the shamanism of pagan Hungarians. Questions and hypotheses". In: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 63, 1 (2018): 178-179. accessed Mar 2, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1556/022.2018.63.1.9
  32. ^ Bartha Júlia. Hoppál Mihály (szerk.): Fehérlófia. In: HONISMERET: A Honismereti Szövetseg Folyoirata. XXXVI Évfolyam. 2008/3. p. 93.
  33. ^ Hoppál Mihály. "Kell-e nekünk magyar mitológia?". In: Magyar Napló XXVII: 8. 2015. p. 47.
  34. ^ Tancz Tünde. "Evolúciós pszichológiai közelítések a népmeséhez". In: Fordulópont 9/1, évf. 39. 2008. p. 30.
  35. ^ Windhoffer Tímea. "A Fehérlófia Belső-Ázsiában". In: Birtalan Ágnes; Rákos Attila (szerk.). Bolor-un gerel. Kristályfény. The Crystal-Splendour of Wisdom. Essay Presented in Honour of Professor Kara György's 70th Birthday. Vol. II. Budapest: ELTE Belső-ázsiai Tanszék‒MTA Altajisztikai Kutatócsoport. 2005. pp. 901–909. ISBN 963 463 767 1.
  36. ^ "A mongol eredetmondák, mítoszok". In: Birtalan Ágnes; Apatóczky Ákos Bertalan; Gáspár Csaba; Rákos Attila; Szilágyi Zsolt (editors). Miért jön a nyárra tél? Mongol eredetmondák és mítoszok [Mongolian proverbs and myths]. Budapest: Terebess Kiadó, 1998. pp. 5-7.

Further reading[]

  • Horváth, Izabella (1994). “A fehérlófia mesetipus párhuzamai a Magyar és török népmesekben” [Parallel construction of Son-of White-Horse folk tale type in Hungarian and Turkic folk tales]. In: Történeti és Néprajzi Tanulmányok. Zoltán Ujváry ed. Debrecen. pp. 80–92.
  • Kollarits, J., and I. Kollaritz. "Reviewed Work: Die ungarische Urreligion (Ungarisch). Magyar Szemle. Bd. 15 by S. Solymossy". In: Zeitschrift Für Ethnologie 66, no. 1/3 (1934): 277-79. Accessed March 2, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25839481.

External links[]

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