Dark Age Pagans

[Armatus]

I'm slightly familiar with it, but not well enough to cross reference very well, thanks for the post still reading it.

[NikeBG]

Nav - The world of Gods

Uhm, Nav is the roots of the World Tree, the world of the dead and the monsters. Prav is the world of the gods, the crown of the World Tree. You can check the BG Wiki article on the World Tree (sorry, no Serbian in the links there) - it explains things rather well.
The rest of the things I'll check later when I have more time.

[Armatus]

Since we got right into Gods and Goddesses, does anyone have any ideas on what types of powers Gods may provide to their good followers?

-- within reason of course

[shikaka]

Since we got right into Gods and Goddesses, does anyone have any ideas on what types of powers Gods may provide to their good followers?

-- within reason of course

I think widely known religious figures could get an achievement with an honour bonus, or bonus to morale.

A widely known religious figure might be chosen to run a celebration/sacrifice.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Once upon a time there was a Hungarian princess who was very beautiful. One day she announced that she would only marry the man who could tell her father, the king, a story which he could not believe. Now, in a village there dwelt a poor young peasant, who, hearing of this proclamation, went up to the king's palace, and loudly knocking at the gates demanded an audience of His Majesty.
The king knew very well what the young fellow wanted, as by that time many princes and knights had come on the same errand, in the hope of winning the beautiful princess, but they had all failed. So John, the young peasant was admitted to the royal presence.
"Good morning, your Majesty," John said.
"Good morning, my lad. Well, what do you want?" asked the king, kindly.
"So please, your Majesty, I want a wife."
"Very good, lad; but what would you keep her on?"
"Oh! I dare say I could manage to keep her pretty comfortably. My father has a pig. A wonderful pig, your Majesty; he has kept my father, my mother, seven sisters, and myself, for the last twenty years."
"Indeed!" said the king.
"He gives us as good a quart of milk every morning as any cow."
"Indeed!" said the king.
"Yes, your Majesty, and lays most delicious eggs for our breakfast."
"Indeed!" said the king.
"And every day my mother cuts a nice bit of bacon out of his side, and every night it grows together again."
"Indeed!" said the king.
"The other day this pig disappeared, my mother looked for him high and low, he was nowhere to be seen."
"That was very sad," said the king.
"Finally, she found him in the larder, catching mice."
"A very useful pig!" said the king.
"Yes, your Majesty, and he pays all the bills out of the gold he picks up on the road."
"A very precious pig," said the king.
"Lately he has seemed unruly, and rather out of sorts."
"That's very sad!" said the king.
"He has refused to go where he is told, and won't allow my mother to have any more bacon from his side. Besides which, your Majesty, he is growing rather blind, and can't see where he is going."
"He should be led," said the king.
"Yes, your Majesty, that is why my father has just engaged your father to look after him."
"That's not true," yelled the king . . . then suddenly he remembered his daughter's promise. So he was obliged to allow the princess to marry the peasant's son, but this he never regretted, for the peasant's son became a most clever and amiable young prince, and lived happily with his bride and his father-in-law for very many years. Years after, when John became the king, all his people declared they had never had so wise a ruler. Then it was that he romanced no longer but was always believed and respected.

This specific tale above has quite a few things which are common in hungarian folk tales:
- the king who has a reward if somebody passes the trial (this figure is often an 'old man' or 'old woman')
- the hero, who wins with intelligence rather then brute strength
- the prize which is a girl

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Three sons set out to seek their fortune. The youngest, Ferko, was so beautiful that his older brothers thought he would be preferred, so they ate his bread while he slept, and refused to share theirs until he let them put out his eyes and break his legs. When they had blinded and crippled him, they left him.
Ferko crawled on and, in the heat of the day, rested under what he thought was a tree, but was a gallows. Two crows talked together, and one told the other that the lake below them would heal any injury, and the dew on the hillside would restore eyesight. As soon as evening came, he washed his face in the dew, and crawled down to the lake and was whole again. He took a flask of the water and went on. On the way, he met and healed an injured wolf, mouse, and queen bee.
Ferko found a kingdom and sought service with the king. His two brothers worked for the same king and were afraid he would reveal their wickedness. They accused him of being a wicked magician who had come to kidnap the king's daughter. The king summoned Ferko, told him the accusation, and said he would execute him unless he performed three tasks, in which case he would be exiled. His brothers suggested that he had to build a castle more beautiful than the king's. The princess was distressed by the cruelty of their act. Ferko despaired, but the bee came to him and heard his plight. The bees built such a castle, of flowers. For the next task, they suggested that the corn had been cut but not put in barns; let Ferko put all the corn in the kingdom into the barns during the night, not losing a stalk. The mice gathered the corn for him. For the third task, the brothers suggested that he drive all the wolves in the kingdom to the hill they were on. At this, the princess burst into tears, and her father locked her in a tower. The wolf gathered all his fellows and came to the hill, where the wolves tore the king, the wicked brothers, and all his court to pieces.
Ferko freed the princess and married her, and the wolves went peacefully back to the woods.

Common things in this one:
- three brothers, while the smallest one is the hero, the other 2 are usuaslly villanious
- a princess to rescue
- the ones who the hero helps selflessly come to the aid when it's time
- really serious injuries easily healed

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

'Son of a white horse' is a demigod, his mother is an animal. In most tales it is a 'white horse' (the white horse is the symbol of the 'old world' or 'old ways'). The horse is nursing the son for 7 years, three times. After each time (7 years passed), there is a trial in which the son has to tear a big tree with it's roots from the ground. Once he is able to do this, the horse dies (basicly gives over the task to defend the old ways) and the son goes on a journey. He meets three mighty brothers (treetearer/treelifter, cragcrummbler, ironkneader) one after an other, who want to beat him up and rob him, but he wins over each of them, and forces them to become his companions. With these companions, he goes to find disappeared girls. While the son of the white horse is away looking for the girls, a small big bearded man beats up the 3 companions every day (first the weakest, then the middle one, then the strongest), and the small man has dinner on their belly. When all 3 guys are beaten, the son of the white horse stays home to cook, and he gains the upper hand in the fight, but the small man gets away. They follow the trail, which lead to a hole which leads to the world below ground. The companions are staying up holding the rope, while the son of the white horse goes down. Here he finds 3 castles, a copper, a silver and a golden one. In each castle, there is a kidnapped girl, with a dragon as guardian. He battles all dragons, wins, and takes the girls to the rope, where his companions pull them up to the real world. When the son of the white horse is next, they don't pull him up, but laugh and leave him there. He starts to climb (in hopes of climbing back up) a cliff, where he finds some small griffins, which he saves from a snake. Grateful to him, the mother griffin flies with him to the real world, saying that he can only fly that high, if he is eating the journey all along. Since his food runs out during the journey, the son cuts his own leg and feeds it to the griffin. When they reach the normal world, the griffin sees the determination and the sacrifice the boy made, so he takes him to a fountain and the boy is healed.
He goes to find his companions, and he sees that the girl the boy chosen (as his kid) is now working for his former companions. Of course, outraged he punishis them, and later marries the girl he chose.

common things:
- an animal who symbolizes the will of the old gods (the white horse)
- the price which symbolizes the sun (the 3 girls are a symbol to the morning/noon/night sun)
- the 'old man' who helps after a trial (he shows the entrance to the underworld to the hero who defeats him)
- the 3 dragons (usually more then one head, 3 or 7 is common), which are a symbol of the 'new gods' 'new way of life')
- In some versions of the tale the hero is one of the brothers (so there is no different 'son of a white horse', just he is 'treetearer'), in this version the 3 brothers marry 1 girl each. The protagonist marries the blonde in all versions (= noon time sun)



Other common things in tales:
- an animal which is used by the 'oldgod' as a sign. The best example is that when the god wants to lead the brothers somewhere (namely better grasslands) he sends a beautiful deer which they want to catch. They cannot catch it, but following it they are led to the place where the god wants them to be.

[NikeBG]

Wow, it's amazing how similar all of those stories are to our own. The details are different, of course (especially the part about the son of the white horse), but the general storylines are the same.

Btw, here are also some modern tales from our Krali Marko epos (which was created during Turkish times (i.e. 15th-19th c.), so it includes things from the 14th c. and onwards, but it's believed that the South-Slavic heroic epos has saved much older renditions of it, but has simply updated the details with more modern events, heroes etc (it might be interesting to compare it with the Russian bogatyr stories, btw)) that I had translated some time ago. As a part of the heroic (yunak's) epos, they're not exactly typical folk-tales (well, they're based on folk-songs anyway, not on tales), but can be useful as well.


Edit: Ok, so I re-read the story about the “Unborn maiden”, which seems to be a pretty good collection of elements from other Bulgarian folk tales. Basically, it goes like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A prince built a fountain, which gave butter and honey, so young girls would come to it and he’d choose the most beautiful one. However, first came an old, poor woman and since he made fun of her, she cursed him to fall in love only in an unborn maiden, as a result of which he didn’t like any of the realm’s girls.
His mother advised him to go to the Sun’s palace in the west (where it sets) and ask him if he’s seen such a girl during all his travels around the world. The prince went there and was welcomed by the Sun’s mother, who turned him to a needle until the Sun comes home and finishes his dinner (otherwise he’s too grumpy). After the Sun finished eating, the prince told him of his problem and the Sun told him to go to his yard, pick a golden apple from the tree there, cut it and when the girl appears and asks for bread and salt, they would eat together and be bound for life.
When that was done, the prince and the golden girl reached one well and he told her to stay there and wait for him till he comes back with his family, wedding-guests, musicians etc. In the meantime, a Gypsy woman came by, saw the golden girl, killed her, threw the body in a well and got in her clothes. When the wedding procession arrived, she pretended she’s the golden girl, but has gotten black and ugly because she wasn’t used to all this Sun.
Reluctantly, the prince married her, but the golden girl eventually came back as a golden fish, which the Gypsy ordered to be cooked. A piece of fishbone eventually fell in the garden and a beautiful tree grew out of it. The Gypsy ordered it cut down, but a boy took a branch from it to ride as a horsey. The boy then brought the stick to his home, where he lived with his old grandma, and soon they found out that while they’re gone every day, somebody’s been cleaning their house, cooking some food for them etc. Eventually the grandma found out it’s the golden girl and convinced her not to turn into a stick anymore.
Soon enough, the prince was riding on the street past that house and saw the golden girl through the window. Intrigued, he ordered that all the maidens from the realm gather in his palace for a “sedyanka” (which is, basically, people gathering in one place for some talks, dances and small work like knitting etc). The golden girl arrived last and the prince ordered that each show some of their talents. The others sang and danced, while the golden girl said she’ll tell a story and told the whole tale of the golden girl up till the present moment. The Gypsy was then chased away and the young couple lived happily ever after.

Some interesting moments which can be found in other tales are:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

- The protagonist acting like a prick and being brought down to humility, usually by some curse and/or someone who appears to be weak and defenseless. Basically, humility and diligence/non-lazyness are among the usual morals of the folk tales I’ve read.
- Going to the Sun for advice (since he sees everything on Earth). The Sun seems to play an important part in the mythology of the Slavs (I think Yarilo was its god-version), although it apparently played a major part also in the culture of the Bulgars (who are said to have worshipped the Sun, the Moon and the stars) and the Thracians (Apollo), so it’s possible that particular motif might come from them and not the Slavs. In any case, I think I’ve read of a specific commonly Slavic motif called “Sun’s wedding” (f.e. one such-named tale I recently read was about a hedgehog who reluctantly went to the Sun’s wedding and started eating rocks, while all other animals ate the food from the Sun’s table. When he was asked why, the hedgehog said he’s preparing for the future, because that’s all there will be there to be eaten once two Suns appear over the Earth. Due to this, the Sun cancelled the wedding, the other animals got mad at the hedgehog and the Sun gave him his spikes to defend himself from them.)
- The three with the golden apples – I previously mentioned that seems to be an Iranic element (thus probably came through the Bulgars) from a very popular story about a tree with golden apples, protected by three brothers, of which the youngest wounds the dragon, chases him down and comes back with a princess.
- A girl (or more rarely a boy) appearing out of inanimate objects, i.e. unborn girl (boy). Often this is due to the mercy of one of the solar bodies – the Sun or the Moon.
- Someone evil taking the place of the good girl (whether it be the bad step-sister taking all the credits and trying to marry the prince, a la Cinderella) and then the good girl (or the protagonist) having to endure more hardships until she/he finally enjoys the happiness she/he deserves (like that third brother, who went to the lower world, his brothers brought up the three maidens he rescued there and then they left him rot, from shikaka's story (we have a similar one as well)).
- The cleaning of the house of the poor family – f.e. another tale about an unborn maiden was about a poor elderly couple with no children to look after them. The Moon eventually pitied them, so she came to them as a duckling and each day, when they were going out to pick mushrooms etc, she’d turn to a girl and clean their house etc. One day they only pretended to go out, caught her and burned her duckling feathers, so she would just stay as a girl. Because of that (and the fact that the Moon could now no longer turn herself back into a Moon and all nights would be dark), they had to go ask for a feather from all birds in the forests, bring them to some old witch there, who would make a new duckling costume, so the Moon could return to her old self.

Edit2: A whole lot more tales:
Here’s another tale – Gororoden and the three orisnitsi

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

There was a man, whose wife kept giving birth to female children, so he eventually kicked her out with her oldest daughter. But she was pregnant at the time, so they found refuge in the mountain and she gave birth to a boy, which they called Gororoden (“born in the mountain”). They had no warm water to wash him with, so the daughter found some hut, where the three orisnitsi were residing and asked them for water etc. They decided to foretell how the boy will die (first one said he’ll grow up, throw a stone and the stone would return and kill him; second said he’ll grow up, shoot an arrow and the arrow would return and kill him; third one said he’ll grow up, get married and a snake will bite him in his bed) and gave the girl everything she asked for, but warned her not to tell anyone about what she heard, else she’d turn to marble.
So, the boy eventually grew up, with his sister protecting him from the prophecies without telling him about it. Finally, he got married to an orphan-girl and his sister stood by his side that night and after she saved him from a snake, she started telling him about the prophecies, while slowly turning to marble. She then bequeathed him to help her in return, by going to the Sun’s palace and asking for the breadcrumbs from the Sun’s table and the water the Sun washes himself with.
On the way to the Sun’s palace, Gororoden eventually met three “things” – a snake stuck under a large boulder, a hollow rock standing in mid-air and some water flowing from one bank to the other. As he passed them, each of them asked him to ask the Sun how their problems could be resolved – how would the snake get out from under that boulder, how would the rock fall to the ground and how would the water start flowing down.
Gororoden eventually reached the palace, where he was greeted by the Sun’s mother, who first hid him, because, again, the Sun is apparently quite grumpy when it comes home. But after she explained him about their visitor, she introduced him and the Sun agreed to give him the breadcrumbs and water, as well as some advice – each of the three things could be free after it kills a man, so he should better tell them from a safe distance. And so Goroden did – he first passed them and then told them how they can get freed (the water should drown a man, the rock should crush a man and the snake should bite a man), with each of the things cursing “Ah, how I’m sorry I couldn’t drown/crush/bite you, since men don’t travel around in these parts”. After that Gororoden returned to his sister, freed her from the petrification and they all lived free from curses ever after.

Some things to note:
- This seems to be a rather fitting tale for the Slavs – Slavic name for the protagonist, visit to the Sun’s palace in search for advice (very common theme), meeting some creatures in distress on the way (usually the protagonist helps them and they give him some item, with which he can call them in times of need, since they’re usually the king of the ants or snakes or rats or storks etc; though rarely, like in this case, they’re more of an ungrateful danger).

This is also an interesting one – The hero, who suckled for twenty five years

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The story goes that there was a hero who suckled for twenty five years. His mother couldn’t wean him herself, so she eventually had the judges exile him to the woods.
Eventually he met another hero, who could hear things even from nine lands afar (common expression in the tales – passing through nine mountains and nine rivers or nine lands etc), and they decided to become sworn brothers. Then they met another hero, who could make cauldrons out of big boulders, so they became sworn brothers, too. The third hero they met had huge moustaches, with which he could uproot a whole forest (naturally, they became brothers as well). The final hero they became sworn brothers with, had the ability to drink a whole lake.
They eventually made camp and went hunting, leaving one man to cook. But while he was cooking, a giant came out from the nearby lake and offered a bet – he would fight the hero and if the giant loses, the hero can take his head, but if the giant wins, he’ll eat what he’s cooked. They fought and the giant won. The same happened in the next several days as well, until our hero eventually defeated him, cut his head off and struck it in the ground, nine feet deep. But the giant’s body got up, took its head, put it on its place and ran back into the water.
So the heroes gathered, finally had some food and then the drinker-hero drank the lake and they saw a big hole in it. They tied the protagonist and lowered him down until he reached the land below. There he saw three very beautiful maidens, who were weeping. Next to them were some magical items – a loom and embroidery-frame that work by themselves and a group of golden chickens. They were the daughters of the giant and were weeping because he was injured. He offered them to take them to the upper world and they agreed, so he put the items in his pockets and grabbed the girls. The other heroes pulled him up and took the first two maidens, which were sitting on his shoulders, but then cut the rope, so he and the third girl started falling down, towards yet another lower land. There were a black and a white ram there and the girl told him to try to land on the white ram, which would take him to the upper world (and she fell on him), but he fell on the black one, which took him three worlds below.
So, the hero woke up five worlds below his own and saw a young maiden walking and weeping. He asked her why she’s weeping and she told him she’s the king’s daughter and she’s going to the sea, to be sacrificed to a fierce hala that lives there and demands maidens, lest she inflict drought on the town (Theseus, anyone? Or was it Perseus? In any case – probably Greek influence). But the hero wasn’t afraid, so he went with her, fell asleep in her lap and when the monster came, he killed it like it’s no big deal. All the previously eaten maidens got out of its belly and returned to the town.
Naturally, the king wanted to help the hero, so he gathered his kingdom and asked if anyone can take the hero to five lands above, but no one was up to the task. Eventually someone said only one three hundred year old eagle can do it, but they’d need to kill two oxen, mince their meat and fill one of the skins with the meat, while the other – with water. As they did so, the eagle took the hero and instructed him to give him meat when he says “vrak” and water when he says “gro”. Then they lift off, but the meat eventually ended, so the hero started cutting some pieces from his feet. As they reached the hero’s world, the eagle asked the hero to walk around a bit and, as he suspected, when the hero couldn’t, he spit out the pieces of feet and they instantly regenerated back on the hero.
Then the latter eventually found his former brothers, arguing who will get which girl, while the maidens themselves insisted they’ll marry only whoever brings them their magical items. Our hero brought them out of his pockets, so he took all three girls, married the two older ones to some princes, while he kept the third one for himself.

Some things to note:
- Heroes – very typical thing for Slavic tales – South Slavs have them (the yunak epos, especially the later Krali Marko/Marko Kraljevic, though it’s considered that his stories, like most of the other yunaks, are based on much older ones) and the Russians have them as well (the bogatyrs). I’m not too familiar with the Western Slavs, but I presume they have their own superhero-stories as well. Suckling is often a source of power for the yunaks, it seems (f.e. Krali Marko gains his strength after he suckles from a samodiva), though I’m not sure if that’s Slavic or not (one Bulgarian chronicle f.e. speaks about Ispor tsar (i.e. Asparuh, son of Kubrat, and the founder of Danubian Bulgaria) as a great child which was carried in a basket for three years (or was it he suckled for three years; anyway, the meaning’s the same – not weaned), as a sign of a heroic power), though it could be Slavic since that source is from later times when the Bulgarians were already Slavicized.
- Lower/upper worlds – also typical of the folk tales in this region (apparently including Hungary, as seen in shikaka’s tales). It should also be noted that some tales f.e. include zmeys (dragons, which can also turn to humans) who live in caves/holes which basically serve as portals to other worlds (lower worlds). Other tales include f.e. a vampire prince, who married a girl from this world and took her to his morbid kingdom several worlds below and she eventually lifted the spell from it. This also has some similarities with Greek mythology, AFAIK, since the Greeks (and Thracians, and probably others) thought that caves and holes in the ground lead to other worlds/the Underworld (f.e. Orpheus went to Hades for Eurydice through such a cave/hole, there’s also that temple to Hades in Greece in front of a cave (forgot its name though)). This can be quite useful, since it can be used to explain many of the mythical creatures – “They came from the lower worlds, they’re not natives of this world”. And for people who generally like to mix different settings, it’s a real blessing (yeehaa, imagine a mod where all kinds of settings come out through portals and meet/clash – Elves and Centaurs vs. Hoplites and Samurais, both of them harassed by Gryphons, Harpies and the brothers Wright (sp?), while being observed by the Starship Enterprise, who themselves are under the eye of Ra and Perun, who are actually Stargate Goa’ulds, whose Jaffa are battling the Cylons with the help of some Neanderthals on mammoths (yeah, I know I’m silly )).
- The refusal of the protagonist’s comrades (either his two older brothers, as usual, or in this case sworn brothers) to lift him up, after he delivers the girls, which, of course, they can’t actually get. And which our hero gets after he gloriously returns. Btw, it’s also worthy to note that the ancient Slavs were probably polygamist (or at least it wasn’t foreign to them, if it wasn’t a custom, as it was among the Bulgars), so it’s quite possible that the hero actually kept all three girls, while only in later, Christian renditions of those tales he gives the oldest ones to some princes or something.

Another somewhat typical tale is the Golden girl:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Basically, it starts a bit like Cinderella – a man had a good wife and beautiful and obedient daughter, but his wife eventually passed away and, as he couldn’t take care of the household by himself, he married another widow, which brought a daughter of her own, both of them being nasty towards the good daughter. Eventually, the step-mother harassed her husband so much that he agreed to take his daughter to some forest and leave her there.
When he did so, the good daughter found herself at a witch’s house (who only welcomed girls, btw) and since she was obedient and hard-working, the witch liked her and decided to reward her. So they went near a river, the witch fell asleep, but before that she told the girl to wake her when the river starts running yellow. When that happened, she immersed the girl in the river and told her to grab whatever she can. As the girl came out, she was all golden and was holding a little chest. She then found her way back home, much to the annoyance and amazement of her step-mother, and opened the chest which was full of gold coins.
The latter decided her own daughter should be turned so beautiful and rich, too, so she made her husband do the same with her as well. The bad daughter thus found the witch’s hut as well, but since she was lazy and arrogant, the witch disliked her and when she took her to the river, she told her to wake her up when the river starts running black. Before that, however, the girl liked the yellow river and tipped in her finger, which became golden. After that the witch submerged her in the black river and the girl, naturally, came out all black and ugly (basically, Slavs are like myself – they mostly like fair-skinned and fair-haired girls, not dark ones, thus “black” for a girl is a synonym for “god-damned-ugly”; black hairs are sometimes liked as well, though). Logically, when the bad girl returned home, her own chest contained only lizards, snakes and frogs.
Eventually word spread out of the beauty of the golden girl and the prince sent his matchmakers to bring this beautiful girl for his bride. But the evil step-mother learned about this, so she hid the golden girl under a tub, while she dressed her own black daughter in a wedding dress with a veil, telling her to only show out her golden finger. When the matchmakers came, they first took the black girl, but the nearby rooster started singing “Golden girl under tub, black girl on horse”, so they unveiled the bad girl, gave her back and took the golden girl where she married the prince.

Some things to note:
- A motif which seems to be very, very common in most tales I’ve read, including from the whole of Europe, is the evil step-mother with her evil, lazy and arrogant daughter(s), constantly harassing the good, obedient, hard-working girl. Another common thing (and moral) is that the hard-working and respectful people endure some suffering, but eventually get the goods, while the lazy and disrespectful first take it easy and when they try to take the goods by cheating, they’re caught and get nothing/are chased away.
- Talking animals – animals seem to talk quite often in folk tales. As mentioned before, they are often seen as “quest-givers” for the protagonist, who rescues them from some peril and in return they give him some favour. In other cases, like this one, they’re just third-rate characters who relay some message important to the story – f.e. the witch’s pets told her that the good girl fed them well, while the bad girl gave them too hot food, or the talking rooster. In some cases, even nature itself speaks, especially to heroes – f.e. in the most famous song/story of Krali Marko, where he rescues three chains of slaves from the Turks, he learns of them when he enters a blighted forest and she tells him that she became such from the sight of those slaves.

[NikeBG]

Btw, I've been updating my last post with the new story resumes, if you think they're of any use.

[Armatus]

I forgot to post here, I had a reply typed up and then got side tracked and logged out... eh. Lots of great stories here, I've read a few, but need to go back and spend some more time.

Good news is we hopefully are finally seeing the closest formation to a story team yet.

[NikeBG]

Ok, a few more tales:
The Flying Horse - now this is quite a peculiar tale, as I haven’t really seen any other like it:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

A king built himself a magnificent palace, the like of which the world hadn’t seen. But soon after it was built, a young man started coming to it, looking at it from all sides for hours. After a week, the king asked him what he’s doing, perhaps he’s a thief who wants to steal his treasures. Instead, the young man said he wanted to build to the king another palace, just the same as this one. He only needed 30 days, 20 workers, 100 carts of bricks and tiles, 100 carts of planks and beams, 10 bags of nails, lime, sand and some other things. The king agreed, but with the condition that if the man asks him for just one more nail or if just one brick is left unused, he’d take his head.
Naturally, the palace was done in time, without any materials being left or needed (and without additional ones being bought by the man himself, as testified by the guards the king sent). The only thing the man wanted as a reward was a document, claiming he’s the greatest master in the realm. The king was more than happy to agree with such a statement and gave him the document.
The young master went on his way and eventually started working as an apprentice to an old Armenian window-maker. One day, however, he saw the old man doing something the wrong way, corrected him and showed him the document.
A quarrel started, the two went to the judge and the judge favoured the old master. Upset, the young man went to the king, returning to him the document which seemed to be worthless. The amazed king ordered the old master to be brought, showed him the second palace, to which the Armenian told him he can do better, if the king gives him 40 days. The king agreed and asked the young man what he can do for 40 days, to which he replied that he wants only 40 gold coins, for eating and drinking, and on the 41st day he’ll show only for a few minutes he’s the greater master.
So, for the next 40 days the old man locked himself in a room, working secretly, and at the end brought a small box before the king, put it before the king, twisted it aside and it started playing some wonderful melodies. The young man said it’s nice indeed, but for 2-3 minutes he can do better, so he went out and came back with a bag on his back, asked everyone to close their eyes and quickly put together a wooden horse. After he was done (and everyone opened their eyes), he mounted it, flew out through the window, made a few circles around the palace and came back.
The courtiers started quarreling who’s the better master, with one side favouring the old man, while the other – the young one. The king chose the young man and wrote a new letter himself, saying he’s the greatest master in the whole kingdom.
After that he disassembled the wooden horse and gave it to a servant to burn it, so no one would learn his secret. But before she could do it, the prince passed by, stopped her and took the horse on an adventure to a distant kingdom, where he won the heart of a beautiful and kind princess (which is a redirection to some other story).

Things to note:
- Well, I can’t really think of any other tale like this, with a display and competition of personal engineering, as opposed to magical one (like a genie or a kingdom of ants building the palace). Might fit well for a Byzantine (and/or a Persian) story.

The golden bird

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One king had three sons and an apple tree, which would blossom in the noon, form fruit in the evening and at night it would ripen with golden apples. But each night someone came and took all the apples, so the king couldn’t taste them. So he ordered his sons to guard the tree, but the two oldest ones both fell asleep on their watch and the apples were stolen. Only the third, youngest son, managed to not fall asleep, by slightly cutting his finger, so it would hurt him. At midnight a golden bird came and started eating the apples. The prince shot an arrow at it, but missed and the bird flew away, leaving only one golden feather on the ground. The king was so impressed with its beauty, that he ordered his sons to go out and not return without the bird.
The two older brothers were annoyed at the younger one, for being responsible for their sending away from the palace on some God-forsaken mission, so they beat him up and split off from him. The younger prince kept following them from a distance and they eventually reached an old man on the road – the two princes treated him badly, while the third was kind to him and told him of his quest. The old man agreed to help him, since he knew where the golden bird is. And every time they’d stop to rest on the way (around noon and in the evening), the prince would fall asleep and the old man would take him on his back and carry him to great distances.
Eventually they reached the palace of the king who owned the golden bird. The old man advised the prince that first he’ll pass through a large, open gate, guarded by two guards, which won’t see him. After that there are seventy seven smaller gates, with one guard each, which also wouldn’t see him. After that is the bird in a magnificent cage, but the prince shouldn’t take the cage, as the guards will catch him. However, when he got there, he thought the cage is very beautiful and he shouldn’t leave it standing there, so he took it and got caught. He was brought before the king, who told him he’ll forgive him and even give him his daughter, if in return he’d bring him the flying horse of another mighty king, otherwise he’d kill him.
The prince was then released and together with the old man they set off and eventually reached the mighty kingdom. This time the old man warned him that the first, big gate is guarded by six people and after that are ninety nine smaller gates with two guards each. After that is the stable with the flying horse, which also has a golden saddle and reins, which he shouldn’t take, otherwise he’ll be caught. This time the prince listened to his advice and took only the horse, with which they quickly flew back. Just before arriving, the old man blew and another flying horse appeared – one for the king and one for the prince.
The king was most happy and gave him the beautiful princess. As a gift to his daughter, he also gave her a ring that shines like the Sun and clothes which can fit in a nutshell. After that the old man went on his way, while the prince and the princess took the road toward the prince’s kingdom.
On the way, they stopped in an inn and saw that the innkeepers were the prince’s brothers, who had given up on the quest and had opened the inn, waiting for their father to die and then they’d return. The prince told them he found the golden bird, so they can return with him. They agreed, but on the way they grabbed him and decided to kill him, but since the second son didn’t want such a sin on his head, they tied him to a tree in a thick forest and left him to die from hunger. After that they threatened the princess and went on their way, intending to claim they found the golden bird.
Two days later a goat-herder found the prince, untied him and fed him. As repayment, they also exchanged clothes and with such rags the prince found his way to his father’s city. There he found out the eldest brother is preparing to marry his princess, so the young prince-in-disguise found work as assistant in the palace kitchen. One day he took out the Sun-shining ring and directed it towards the princess’ windows, so she understood he’s probably alive and somewhere here.
She then told the king that she won’t get married until someone gets for her royal clothes that can fit in a nutshell. No one in the entire kingdom knew how to make these, so the prince went to a master tailor and offered to make him such clothes in just one night in exchange for a quarter bushel of hazelnuts, a roast turkey and a piece of bread. The tailor agreed, so the prince gave him the clothes the next morning. When the princess saw them, she knew the prince was indeed alive and hiding here, so she told the king that he should first order all the people in the kingdom to pass before her to tell her a good word and then she’d get married.
On the next day all people passed, except for the prince, and when she asked if those were all people, the courtiers said there’s just one beggar left, but he’s too ragged, so they didn’t bring him. She ordered him to be brought and when she saw it’s the prince, she hugged him and told the king the whole story about who this “beggar” is. The angered king exiled his two older sons and gave half his kingdom to the young prince, who later inherited the other half after his father’s death. And he proved to be a good and just king, whom everybody loved.

Things to note:
- As far as I’ve read, the motif about the three sons, the golden apples being eaten by a dragon (in this case golden bird) and the third son being the worthy hero, is of a Persian origin, so it might fit best for the Sassanids. The rest of the things though (the kindness to the old man being repayed, the adventures in distant lands with magical items/creatures, the betrayal of the brothers and the final justice being served) are somewhat generic and can be found in the previous tales as well).

Mara Pepelyashka (Cinderella):

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There lived a man and a woman and their beautiful daughter called Mara. One day Mara wanted to go to the neighbours and knit together with them. Her mother agreed, gave her a bag of wool and told her if she doesn’t spin all of it, she’ll turn to a cow. However, the girl indeed couldn’t spin it all and when she returned, her mother didn’t open the door. When her father came back and forced the door, they saw she had indeed turned to a cow.
Eventually the man re-married and at some point the stepmother offered the cow to be slaughtered and cooked, since it appeared to be barren. They did so, but Mara didn’t eat from it, since she knew it was her mother. Instead, she took the bones that were left, buried them in the ashes and since then always stood there, neglecting herself, which is why people started calling her Mara Pepelyashka (i.e. Ash-girl, Cinderella).
One day her father and stepmother were invited to a wedding, but Mara didn’t want to go and they went alone. And while they were there, Mara unburied the bones from the ashes and was surprised to see they had turned to gold and wondrous clothes. She dressed up, went to the wedding, danced until the wedding’s over and then quickly returned home. When her parents came back, they told her about the gorgeous girl that had come at the wedding.
This continued for three more days, but on the fourth one, while she was hurrying to get home, she lost one of her golden slippers while crossing a bridge. On the next day the king’s horses were scared of the shiny gold in the river and didn’t want to drink, so the king found the slipper and decided to marry that girl, whose clothes were even better than his. He gathered all the maidens from the kingdom, but the slipper didn’t fit to any of them. Then he asked his courtiers if all maidens had come and they said only one hasn’t, since she’s so ragged and always stands next to the fireplace that it couldn’t be her. When they finally brought her, the slipper fit perfectly, she took out her other clothes and married the king.

Things to note:
- I don’t know if this is a local version of the Western Cinderella or if they both come from a common, older motif/tale, so I can’t say how useful this might be. It’s interesting to note some differences though – the mother turning to a cow is a quite peculiar motif and the stepmother (without a daughter of her own) actually isn’t bad and mistreating Pepelyashka.
- The gathering of the people from the whole kingdom (where the “kingdom” obviously means just a city and its immediate vicinity), then not finding the right person and the courtiers saying there’s just one more person, who hasn’t came since he/she is too ragged and poor – that seems to be a repeating motif as well, as can be seen in the previous tale.

Dragon’s wife (Zmey’s bride)

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There once lived a beautiful and hard-working girl and when the village’s best unmarried man asked her for her hand, she warned him not to marry her, since a zmey (dragon) flies around her house each night and wants to kidnap her for himself. The young man wasn’t scared, though, so they married, had a baby boy and lived for eight-nine years together, with the woman always staying inside the house.
Finally, they thought the dragon had forgotten her, so one day she prepared some food for her man, took their son and went to the field to bring her husband his lunch. But just as they sat down to eat, a dark cloud appeared with thunders and lightnings and when it passed away, the woman was gone. The man realized what had happened, but it was too late and he fell ill.
Years passed, the boy grew up to twenty years and finally asked her father what had happened to his mother. When he learned the story, he set off to find her and free her from the dragon. He soon found some shepherds guarding the dragon’s flock, so he waited and soon saw a woman coming for water, which recognized him immediately (as her son). He told her he came to free her, but she told him he can’t, since the dragon is very strong and invincible, because he has two hearts and his soul isn’t inside him, but is inside his second heart. And that second heart itself is in a monster in a distant mountain – in the mountain there’s a lake, in the lake is the monster, in the monster is a pig, in the pig is a rabbit, in the rabbit is a pigeon and in the pigeon is a small glass ball, in which the heart and soul is. Once the ball is broken, only then can the dragon die.
So the boy set off for the mountain, which was across seven rivers, seven forests and seven mountains, and on the way he wore out seven pairs of shoes. As he neared the mountain, he saw a large town in the distance, with many towers and palaces. A band of armed to the teeth guards appeared and took him in, since the princess was making eighteen that day and the orisnitsi had foretold her to marry the first traveler to approach the city that day. The boy was charmed by the beauty of the princess, but asked them not to hurry with the wedding, but tell him where the monster was.
The next morning, he went to the lake and started a fierce fight with the monster, which lasted for the whole day without anyone prevailing. At the end of the fight, the monster sighed that if only the dragon knew to drink a barrel of milk, the monster would bury the boy nine spans into the ground, to which he replied that if only the princess was here to look at him, he’d do the same to the monster.
Then they returned to their places (the palace and the lake) and the same thing happened the next day as well, though this time the worried princess, the king and their courtiers followed the man in secret (since he wasn’t telling where he’d been). At the end of the fight, after the same “sighs”, the princess came out and looked at the boy, who gained enormous strength and smashed the monster so hard that its belly split up and a black pig came running out of it. The king’s hunters killed it and when the boy gutted it, a white rabbit came out, which was also gutted and a grey pigeon came out of him. When the pigeon was captured and the glass pellet was secured, they all went back to the palace.
On the next day the boy set off to finally deal with the dragon. When it reached his palace, everything was quiet and in the last room in the palace he found the dragon gravely ill. The latter started begging to be allowed to touch the ball, but the boy smashed it hard in the marble floor instead and the dragon died instantly. Then the boy left all the dragon’s estates and riches to his parents and went to marry the princess, with which they lived happily ever after.

Things to note:
- Maiden-loving zmey (dragon) – One of the usual characteristics of the zmey is that he (or she) loves maidens (or young men, in the case of the much rarer tales about a zmeitsa) and, as I’ve described before in the parts about Slavic mythology and creatures, depression among girls (i.e. apathy, negligence to herself etc) was often believed to be a sign that a zmey has marked her for himself. Basically, they’re pretty sexual creatures (not to be confused with other dragonlikes, like the hala and lamya, which can like maidens and boys more in the sense of how good they taste, as was the case with the sea-monster from a previous tale).
- The dragon in the form of a cloud – One of the common things about the hala and the zmey is that they are sometimes described as assuming the shape of natural forces (clouds) and in the case of the zmeys – of humans. The lamya, on the other hand, is a common multi-headed hydra and I think she can’t transform to other shapes, especially non-solid ones.
- The previously mentioned “passing through x amount of rivers, forests and mountains” and “wearing off x amounts of shoes (sometimes even iron shoes)” as a way of saying “wandering a whole lot, passing through many obstacles”.
- The heart or soul being found somewhere outside the antagonist’s body, in some distant land, hidden in a matryoshka-series of things (pigeon in a rabbit in a pig in a monster in a lake in a mountain). I think this motif is especially correct for the Slavs, since I remember reading some Russian tales with such similar things as well (Koschey the Immortal?).

Tell me, spinning-wheel

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There was once a good old man with a beautiful and kind daughter – whenever she laughed, a rose would blossom out of her mouth, and whenever she cried, pearls would fall down. The king eventually heard of her and sent matchmakers to bring her, so he can marry her.
However, among the matchmakers was a girl, which wanted to marry the king herself. So whenever the good girl would get thirsty on the way, the bad one would force her to trade an eye for some water. When the good girl gave both of her eyes, the other matchmakers thought the king can’t have a blind wife, so they abandoned her and dressed the bad girl as the bride.
The good girl was eventually found by a poor old man, while the bad one married the king, who in vain waited for her to laugh or cry. Instead, the good one laughed twice and sent the old man to sell the rose in the city, in exchange for an eye. Thus the bad queen gave him the two eyes she had plucked out and the good girl regained her sight.
After that the old man would keep going to the town, selling roses and pearls to the queen and eventually word of it reached the king, who got suspicious. So he gathered all the maidens of the realm, where they all sang and finally the good girl, standing at the end with a veil, said she’ll tell a story instead, called “Tell me, spinning-wheel”. And as she starting spinning the wheel, she told her whole story, the king took off the veil, saw how beautiful she is and married her, punishing the bad girl severely.

Things to note:
- This tale is somewhat similar to a previous one, but the part with the roses and the pearls is new here.

The three brothers and the zmey (dragon)

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There was once a man with a beautiful wife and three little boys, but one day a zmey (dragon) came by and kidnapped their mother. When the boys grew up, their father told them about it and they all wanted to go and rescue her.
The oldest one set off first, but his father dressed up in a bear’s hide, hid under the bridge at the end of the village and stopped his son, who got scared and returned. The same happened with the second one as well, but the youngest wasn’t afraid and almost killed the would-be-bear. His father was proud and sent him off.
The young man travelled for three days and three nights and finally reached a big dark cave, where the dragon’s palace was. The guards saw him from afar and told their master that an armed man is coming in this direction, but the dragon believed the wolves guarding his sheep and the bears guarding his cows would stop him. But when the guards saw the young man slaughtering all the wolves and bears attacking him, the dragon prepared to meet him. As the boy was crossing a marvelous golden bridge of the castle’s moat, the bridged trembled under his feet, which scared the dragon even more.
So, when the man entered the dragon’s halls, the latter sniffed once and thus drew him almost next to himself. He then blew once and smacked him against the wall. But when he sniffed a second time, the boy charged with his sabre against him and almost killed him. The dragon got scared and told him to stop, since he always wanted such a hero like himself for a son, offering him everything he has.
So the two sat down and drank several large jugs of wine, shook hands and made piece. Then the dragon fell asleep for forty days, giving him a bundle of keys from the palace. The boy scoured through all the palace’s rooms, filled with all kinds of treasures, except for the last two which were locked with other keys. He then came back to the dragon and searched for those keys for three days, until he finally found them in the dragon’s green, long beard. In the first room he found his mother, while in the second one – a wonderful white horse. So they both mounted him and went home.

Things to note:
- Sometimes zmeys (dragons) also have castles, servants, herds and flocks (as well as the obvious riches). This, btw, reminds me also of a song I like by a BG folk-metal band – Balkandji’s “Zmey II”, although the hero there goes to the zmey’s castle to find his beloved. Note also that the zmey has a beard, i.e. is in human form (actually, I think they most often appear in humanoid form).
- The many rooms, filled with treasures, and the last and most important ones being locked – can be seen in many European tales.

Edit:
Kratuncho/Gourdy

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There lived an elderly couple with no children. The old woman eventually planted a gourd in the garden and since she kept calling it “This is grandma’s child, this is grandma’s child”, the gourd eventually grew and started following the old couple around their daily business, rolling after them.
The old people loved him and one day they thought he has grown enough and it’s time for him to get married. And since Kratuncho (i.e. Gourdy) wasn’t like the other bachelors, they thought they should marry him only to the king’s daughter. So the old man went to the palace and since the king couldn’t chase away a matchmaker, he agreed, but only if he built a palace better than his own, with a golden road between the two palaces and a golden chariot to ride in.
When the old man returned and told them the king’s conditions, Kratuncho went away for a whole day and night and then returned. And when the king got up that morning, he saw the new palace and the golden road and chariot. Thinking “Hmm, that boy’s good!”, he decided to give him his daughter.
When the princess finally reached the new palace and saw Kratuncho, she started crying. But fawned upon her and when the night came, a handsome young man, beautiful as the Sun itself, came out of the gourd. Thus, the princess was overjoyed and decided to stay and live happily with him, although during the day he’d return to the gourd.
Eventually, the king and the queen decided to check up on their daughter, see how she’s living in her new family. They say the gourd and how happy the princess was with him, so during the night they hid and saw the young man getting out of it. Wanting to keep him in his human form, they secretly took the gourd that was left off and burned it. When that happened, the young man hugged his bride and told her he’s sorry, but he has to leave and she’d find him only if she wears off a pair of iron shoes. Then he disappeared into thin air.
After much weeping, the princess finally took a pair of iron shoes and set off to look for him. After traversing many lands with no success, she decided she should better go to the Sun’s palace and ask for help there. She then travelled days, weeks, months and finally reached the palace, where she was welcomed by the Sun’s mother, who listened to her story and then turned her to a needle, so the Sun wouldn’t burn her. When the Sun came back and after he had a rest and something to eat, he gave her the advice to go to the west for thirty days and thirty nights, where she’d find a fountain with three spouts and three troughs. If she’d block the first spout with an iron, the handsome young man would stay with her.
When the princess eventually did so, she saw she had indeed worn off the pair of iron shoes. At sunset a fierce zmey suddenly appeared out of one cloud and tried to enter the spout, but he hit the iron and instantly turned to the young man. Then he and the princess hugged, cried from joy and happily went home.

Things to note:
- The outbuilding of palaces as a requirement for the pauper to get the princess.
- The Sun’s palace – the same as all the previous tales including it, up to the very details (hero arriving while Sun’s not home, welcomed by Sun’s mother, who turns him/her to something so the Sun won’t burn him/her, then Sun comes back, has some rest and food and then gives advice).
- The traversing of great distances and wearing off of a certain pair of shoes or a pair of iron shoes.

The boy and the wind

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There lived a very hard-working, yet poor woman, whose only treasure was her boy. One day she decided to make some bread, so she sent her son to get some flour from the barn. The boy went, filled a cup with flour, but as it went outside, the wind scattered it around. This happened two more times, until there was no flour left anymore. Pissed off, the boy set off to search for the wind to ask for his flour back.
It travelled through many lands and finally found it. The wind apologized for his joke and since he had no flour, he offered the boy a magical piece of cloth, which could spawn forth all kinds of foods. The boy thanked the wind and set off for home, but as it stopped by an inn on the road and couldn’t pay for any dinner, it tried out the new piece of cloth, by telling it “Cloth, give me food!”, which summoned a great variety of delicious and exotic meals that kept coming up as the old ones were finished. When the innkeeper and his wife saw this, they waited till the boy falls asleep and then stole his cloth, replacing it with an ordinary one.
The boy returned home and tried to demonstrate the cloth to his mother, but it didn’t work, so it went back to the wind. This time the wind gave it a magical goat, which could make gold when it was told “Goat, give me money!”. The boy set off for home again, but stopped at the same inn, tested the gate to see if it’s working and, naturally, got robbed again.
When the boy went to the wind for the third time, the wind told him it’s his own fault, so this time it gave him a magical stick, which would fix things. The boy went to the inn and fell asleep right away. The innkeepers decided to steal the stick as well, but the boy noticed them and as they got near, it said “Stick, get to work!”. The stick livened up and started beating the innkeepers all over, leaving no place unharmed. Finally they agreed to give the cloth and goat back to the boy.
This time the boy returned to his mother with full hands and the two shared everything with the poor people, while the bad ones feared the stick and stood away.

The precious gem

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There was a shepherd once, who saw the nearby forest suddenly started burning and some screams coming from there. When he went to help, he saw a snake on the branch of a burning tree. He took it down with the help of his shepherd’s crook and in return the snake gave him a precious gem that would fulfill his wishes.
The shepherd soon got married and asked the gem to make for him a big and beautiful palace on the Danube, where he then lived with his wife and thought they’re happy. But not long after that, his wife stole his precious gem and ran away with another man beyond the Danube, taking the whole palace with him. When the shepherd woke up on the ground, he guessed what had happened, but since he couldn’t do anything, he started anew, taking a dog and a cat to keep him company.
One day the cat told the dog she feels sad about how miserable their master is, so she asked the dog to take her across the Danube to bring the gem back. They soon found the palace and saw the shepherd’s wife was keeping the gem in her mouth all the time, under her tongue. So when she fell asleep, the cat tipped her tail in vinegar, salt and hot red pepper and then put it at the woman’s mouth and nose. When she started sneezing, the gem fell out and the cat quickly grabbed it and ran back to the dog.
While the two were amidst the river, however, the dog demanded he wants to see the gem or he’ll through the cat in the river, but after it looked at it and tried to return it, the gem fell in the river and the two got home very sad. But the shepherd was glad to see them alive and well and told them not to worry – besides, at least his wife no longer has it. The shepherd then went to the town and bought them a fish, since they had gotten quite hungry. As they ripped it up, the gem appeared and the joyous shepherd brought his palace back, where the three lived happily ever after, with the shepherd marrying another nice, beautiful girl.

Old man Trak and the last zmey

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There were times when the zmeys were living on the earth amidst the people. They had wings, long tails and clothes from shiny scales. Whenever there was a war, they would turn invisible and whichever side they helped, that would be the winner. But eventually gunpowder was discovered and the zmeys started disappearing until there was only one left.
One day the last zmey met a clever old man and wanted to test him if he’s a real hero by squeezing a piece of iron and making it drip water. The zmey tried first, but as much as he tried, no water came out. But when old man Trak tried, white water started running down (since the zmey didn’t notice the old man had a piece of fresh, white cheese hidden in his hand).
Impressed, the zmey asked him to become his sworn-brother and the two went off together. Soon they found a cherry tree and the zmey bent the top branches down, so Trak could pick some cherries as well. But as the zmey finished eating, he let go of the branches and old man Trak flew across the tree. When the zmey asked him what he was doing, he said he jumped over the cherry-tree in order to catch the rabbit that ran that way. And, indeed, old man Trak had fallen in some thorn-bushes, from which a scared rabbit ran out into the field.
After some rest, the two set on the road again and soon reached a forest. Since the zmey was quite hungry, he proposed that they surround the forest with a fence, so they can catch all the animals there. Then he started carrying and placing some big heavy logs and boulders, while Trak simply filled the holes between them. Once the fence was done, the zmey started hunting all kinds of animals – rabbits, deers, wolves, foxes, bears and wild goats – and after he finished, old man Trak returned with a couple small magpies, saying “It isn’t heroism to hunt the animals that walk on the ground instead of the ones flying in the air.”
Then the zmey sent the old man to get some water from the river. But as he filled the cauldron, he couldn’t lift it. So, instead, he started digging up a ditch from the river towards the fire. When the zmey got tired of waiting, he went to the old man, who told him he thought the water in the cauldron might not be enough, so he started digging a channel. The zmey took the cauldron and Trak followed him empty-handed. After the food was cooked, the zmey started eating like a hero, while the old man was waiting for the zmey to look aside, so he could throw away his piece of meat and take another one.
Finally they reached the zmey’s house in the evening and were welcomed by his mother. Once the old man went to bed, the zmey told his mother he’s a greater hero than himself, so the mother recommended killing him in his sleep. But Trak heard this, so he silently got out of bed, filled it with rocks, covered them with his blanket and then hid himself. During the night the zmey came with his heaviest hammer and started hitting the bed with all his strength, until all the rocks became to dust. When he want back to his own bed, he told his mother “This man really is a greater hero than me – he was even letting out sparks while I was hitting him”.
On the morning old man Trak went out to stretch himself and happily greeted the surprised zmey. When the latter asked him “Where did you come from? Didn’t I kill you tonight?”, the smug old man answered “Oh, it was you? I thought a flea was biting me. Don’t try to kill me, because I’m so hardened that I’m invincible”.
The zmey’s mother then asked him to harden her son as well. To do that, Trak instructed them to fill two big cauldrons with boiling water. After that, they brought a big barrel in which the zmey entered. Trak then closed tightly the barrel, leaving only a small hole. When he started pouring the boiling water through it, the zmey started screaming he’s burning, but his mother told him to endure, so he’d get hardened as well. Then the clever old man told her to keep him there until the night falls and went on his way. When the moon appeared, she finally opened the barrel and, lo and behold, the zmey was dead.
Thus the last zmey disappeared from the face of the earth. There might have been others left, but if there were, they’re probably hiding very far away, fearing the cleverness of the people.

Things to note:
- I’ve read this tale in a somewhat different form, where the protagonist was the famous hero from our humorous tales about Hitar Petar/Clever Peter*. In that form, for example, the zmeys were giants of the old times, with great wings of fire, who lived in the deep mountain caves and would turn invisible when they fly. Whenever there’s a war, those giants would arrive on the battlefield first, fly over the soldiers’ heads and fight between themselves, creating lightnings when their swords hit. But during the great deluge all of them died off (they couldn’t swim and they couldn’t fly endlessly), except the one from the story, who landed on Noah’s arc and thus saved himself. After that he travelled around the world and finally made his home in a Balkan cave, where he found a witch to take care of his home.

Brother deer

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Once there was a widower with two children – a boy and a girl. When he re-married, the stepmother always harassed the children and one day, while the man was out, sent them off to the forest for firewood, so they’d get lost and not return (which indeed happened). After wandering around a whole day, the two children reached a small spring and the thirsty boy was about to drink, when his sister stopped him, saying there are bear steps around it, so if he drinks, he’ll turn to a bear-cub. Then the children walked on, until they reached a second spring, this time with wolf steps, so the sister stopped him from drinking again. On the third source, however, which had deer steps, the boy was too thirsty, didn’t listen and instantly turned to a deer.
Since then, the two of them started living in the forest, with the girl hiding in the crown of a tree, while the brother-deer was grazing and searching for food for her. One day, however, the king’s son went hunting and brought his horse to the spring to drink. But since he wouldn’t drink, because of the reflection of the girl in the water, the prince saw her, liked her and asked her to come down, so he’d take her to his palace.
She kept refusing for three days, so the prince eventually ordered a team of woodcutters to bring the tree down. They worked all day, but couldn’t cut it off, so they laid to rest in the evening. During the night, the brother-deer came, licked the splinters one by one and glued them back to the tree, healing its wounds. The same happened for two more days and finally the lumberjacks gave up and told the prince they can’t do it.
An old woman found out about his problem, so she volunteered to bring the girl down. She took some flour and a sieve and went to that spring. Pretending to be blind, she started to sift the flour, while holding the sieve upside down. The girl eventually told her she’s doing it wrong and went down to help her. The old woman then grabbed her and called the prince’s people, who took the girl to the palace, with the brother-deer following their chariot. The prince then asked her why she’s crying, she told him their story, so the prince allowed the deer inside, gildened his antlers and they all lived happily ever after.

Things to note:
- The “woman bringing down the girl hiding in a tree, by pretending to not know how to do something right” was actually also in the tale of the Unborn maiden (where that Gypsy was pouring water in an upside-down bucket).

The maiden and the twelve months

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There lived a woman with two daughters – one of her own and a stepdaughter. Naturally, she loved her own one and hated the other so much that she’d drown her in a drop of water, if she could. So one day she decided to send her to a faraway water-source, where it was rumoured that all kinds of talasams and samovilas gather at midnight.
When the girl went there, she saw eleven men (of different age and height) and an old woman sitting nearby. The woman asked her what she’s doing here so late at night and after the answer replied “Indeed. Where there is power, there is no justice”, after which she asked the girl which of the year’s twelve months is the best. The girl answered that there is no best and they’re all good in their own way, because of which the twelve months blessed her so a golden coin would fall out of her mouth for every word of hers.
When she returned and her stepmother saw her blessing (and fell into yet another fit of rage), the latter sent her own daughter on the next night, so she’d make gold coins as well. But when she was asked which month is best, she answered that all of them are bad, but especially bad are Kolozheg (January), Sechko (February) and grandma/baba Marta, which is very irritable and moody. For that she was blessed with snakes falling from her mouth for every word.
Several days later the bad girl’s brother returned and when he heard what had happened, he judged his mother with the proverb that “Whoever digs a grave for someone else, falls in it himself”.

Things to note:
- The tale is basically somewhat similar to that of the Golden girl, with some specific differences, like the personifications of the months (though today the only personification I know of is of baba Marta and to some degree Malak/Small Sechko (in that it’s the smallest month)).

*Worthy of note are also the tales not only from the later South-Slavic heroic epos (like the tales for Krali Marko I posted earlier, eventhough they're based around the 14th century, but considered to be of much older origin, with the 14th c. being the latest “update”), but also the humorous tales of the smart hero Hitar Petar/Clever Peter, who outwits various people:

Hitar Petar/Clever Peter and the jokers

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Hitar Petar once went to a certain village. Two local jokers who thought they’re very smart went to trick him. They brought wine, food and a roasted goose.
The two jokers suggested that whoever dreams the scariest dream during the night will eat the goose. Hitar Petar agreed, but during the night he woke up and ate it. On the morning the first joker started telling his dream:
- I dreamed I’ve risen up to the seventh sky. As I looked down, my head whirled from dizziness.
- And I dreamed that the ground shook and tore itself and I fell directly in hell – the second one said.
Hitar Petar told them:
- When I saw you’ve went so far away, I thought you won’t be back soon and ate the goose so it wouldn’t go to waste.

The bag with the jokes

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Hitar Petar liked joking since he was a kid. One day Nastradin Hodzha* met the boy on the street and asked him:
— Petar, tell me a joke.
— I’ll tell you, Hodzha, but wait here till I run back home and take my bag with my jokes! — Petar laughed, jumped on one foot and turned into the nearby street.
Nastradin waited for half an hour, then a whole hour and constantly looked if the boy’s coming. One peasant then passed by him and asked:
— Hodzha, what are you waiting for?
— I’m waiting for Petar to bring his bag with his jokes — Nastradin murmured.
— Ok, wait, if you have nothing else to do! — the peasant smiled and hurried away to tell the others about the hodzha’s wit.

*A clever hero of the Turkish tales. In Bulgarian tales, he's often a friend of Clever Peter and they like to outwit each other.

I have a lot of Hitar Petar stories, so if you find them interesting/useful, I'll translate some of the more interesting ones (they're usually not very long anyway).

Others worthy of note are regional tales, like the Shop's (the Shopi are the people from my region (and me included), although our name supposedly comes from a Pecheneg tribe that was supposedly settled her by the Byzantines around the 11th c.) tales of the three fools (note that I've translated these tales many years ago, so the translation quality is rather terrible; also, be advised that we Shops have a very specific and somewhat dark humour, which isn't so usual for the other regions in Bulgaria, let alone for all Slavs; and if you like the clips, just search for "тримата глупаци" in YouTube):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The three fools
A shop’s tale

Once there were three fools. They set off to seek profit for themselves. They walked, they walked for three days and three nights and found a pumpkin on the road. They gathered above it and they wondered and they marveled.
- Huh, what would that be?
- It should be something for eating!
- How would it be for eating?! No, it’s for playing, for rolling…
- Ah, I get it - it’s a camel’s egg. Let’s hatch it.
And the three fools started squatting one after each other above the egg, squatting to hatch it.
The place was steep and I don’t know how the pumpkin rolled over, and here, and there, and – bang! – it went into the bushes.
A rabbit jumped out of the bushes, bent its ears, raised its tail and ran away.
There was a field – it soon ended. The rabbit turned to the forest, the fools turned after it.
The forest was dense and the rabbit hid itself well.
- Hah, what now! What do we do?
- You know what? – the smartest one said. – Let’s go back and take our axes, so that we come here to cut and cut down the forest, to catch the little camel.
Said and done.
The three fools went back, took their axes, sharpened them well and went on to cut the forest.
- As I’ve sharpened my axe, if I lift my hand once, I’ll cut down a hundred trees – the first one bragged.
- And I, as I’ve sharpened mine… if I lift my hand once, a half of the forest will fall! – said the second one.
- E-he – laughed the third one, - and if I only raise mine, the whole forest will fall…
They argued, they argued, until they started a quarrel.
Ahead of them was coming a priest with a mare and a colt.
- Why are you arguing, heroes?
- For this and that. We ask you, old priest, judge whose axe is sharper.
- Allright, - said the priest, - give me the axes here and I’ll place them in the saddlebags, so that I would gallop with the mare. Whose axe cuts first through the saddlebags, that one’s the sharpest.
The three fools gathered the axes, placed them with the blade upside in the priest’s saddlebags, he galloped with the mare and carried them away.
When the three fools understood what’s going on, they took the priest’s colt and said:
- Wait, take off, brothers, your clothes – to load it up, to load it up, so that its veins would tear apart.
The three fools took off their clothes, loaded all of their clothes on the colt and hit it with a stick… The colt jumped once-twice and ran away with the clothes.
- Ha, do you see how its back-legs are lifting – its veins are tearing!...
The three fools went on, naked as chickens. Where to go, what to do now?!...
They reached a mountain. The sun was setting down behind it and gildened with its rays a small cloud above the peak itself.
- Look, look, a piece of gold above the mountain.
- Where did it come from?...
- It should be from the sky… I’ve heard from grandma that the grandma of her grandma told her grandma…
- What?!
- That the sky is filled with gold…
- Really?
- Really…
- Then let’s go up to the mountain – said the smartest one – let’s make a hole in the sky, to drain the whole gold from it!
Said and done.
The three fools set off, naked as chickens, all the way to the mountain’s peak.
But the sky was high and unreachable.
They slept, trembled whole night, on the next day they woke up and what did they see – a thick white fog surrounding the mountain, you can’t see a thing…
- Hah, what would that be?!
- This is fresh cheese for eating.
- This isn’t fresh cheese for eating, but it’s white cotton for rolling into it.
- Let’s roll in it, to get warm then!
- Ok, let’s!
The three fools jumped in the glen and killed themselves.


Plus a couple of more I had translated then:

Clever thieves

Two Gypsies decided to steal the horse and the weapons of one rich Turk.
As they met him on the road once, one of the Gypsies went back and started supposinlgy to run and to cry. And his friend started shouting after him:
- Don’t be afraid, Mango, hold on, come back!
- Why is your friend running? – the Turk asked him and stopped the horse.
- He’s afraid, aga/master! He’s afraid that you might tell him: “Mango, climb on this horse!”
- Is that so? – the Turk laughed and decided to have a joke with Mango. He lowered his gun and shouted to the running Gypsy:
- Hold or I’ll shoot you!
The Gypsy stopped and his teeth were rattling from fear.
- Get soon upon this horse! – said the Turk, as he was coming down from the horse.
The Gypsy cried, begged, then he climbed upon the horse and cried with all his voice.
- Why are you crying, Mango? – asked the Turk.
- He’s afraid, aga, that you might tell him: “Take, Mango, the gun and the pistol!” – answered his friend.
The joker Turk laughed and shouted to the coward, as he gave him his weapon:
- Take, Mango, the gun and the pistol!
The Gypsy took the weapons and rode away, so that he couldn’t be seen.
- Oh dear, aga, what have you done! My friend got mad from fear and who knows where he’ll go now! – the other Gypsy supposedly cried and went on to look for him.
And the Turk stayed puzzled in a wonder.


The guilty thief runs away unchased

In one village some money were stolen from a villager. All the villagers gathered at the village square to think how they would catch the thief.
Suddenly one of the men shouted:
- Brothers, look! The thief’s hat is burning!
Then one young man quickly took his hat off his head and threw it to the ground.
Thus the thief showed himself.

Btw, if you like any of those stories, whose resumes I'm posting, I could translate the ones you point me to. Though I better finish with the resumes first...

[Armatus]

This is got to be the most text filled topic lol... so much reading I have to do!!!

Why did Justinian close the Platonic Academy?
The closing down of the schools in Athens is often held up as the symbolic moment when the traditions of the classical world finally ended. It’s usually portrayed as... [Read on]

[NikeBG]

A few more tales, the last ones from the book I've been re-reading. After that I'll make resumes/summaries for a only a few, but very long authored tales, which mix quite a lot of magical-folk-tale elements, and then maybe some short non-magical and humorous ones.

The poor man and the devil*

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

*Note that in Bulgarian folklore the devil is not the Devil – i.e. there are many devils, which often don’t seem to have too much in common with the Christian Devil, nor his demons (the Biblical Devil is one, sometimes raised to almost divine level, while his demons can possess people; on the other hand, the folklore devils are more like imps or something like that – bad, dark creatures, which are often either not very strong or not very smart and sometimes possess magic).

There was once a very poor, old man, who died and left only a piece of wool as heritage for his only son. The son took the wool and went on to search for work. On the way the strings of his shoes got torn, so he started coiling the wool to make new ones. As he was doing so, he reached a river which didn’t seem to have a way to the other side, so he sat at the bank to think.
A small imp came out of the water and asked him what he’s doing, to which the man replied that he’s preparing a rope to tie the river and take it home. The imp plunged into the water and went to his father – the old, limping devil – who thought that the man is sent by some other devil, an enemy of theirs, and since they had nowhere else to live, he sent the imp to challenge the man to a wrestling bet for the ownership of the river.
As the imp went above and offered these terms to the man, he agreed, but only if they go to his village. Then they went to the cave of a very fierce zmey, where the man told him that since the imp is the devil’s son, while he’s a grown man, the imp should fight his own son instead. At that point the zmey appeared, with fiery eyes and flame-breath, and the little imp ran away scared back to his father.
There he told him to go up again and challenge him to another bet – whoever throws an apple to the furthest distance, he’ll win the river. As they did so, the imp threw the apple to the other bank of the river, while the man only pretended that he’s throwing the apple, but actually quickly hid it in his pocket, saying “You see, I threw it farther than you. Your apple could be seen how it flies and where it fell, while mine was neither seen how it flies, nor how it fell.” The shamed imp went back to the river.
As he heard his son was bested again, the old devil took his crutch and limped up to the surface, where he offered to give the man two bags of gold and carry them to his home. The men went on and the old devil slowly dragged the bags behind him. As they reached the man’s village, the devil sat down to rest, while the man thought that if he takes him home, tomorrow he’ll gather all the devils and they’ll come to take the gold back. So the man thought a bit and then spread his fingers and started measuring the devil in spans. When the devil asked him what he’s doing, the man said that he had covered his house with devil skins, but there was still one spot left and he wanted to see if his would be enough. After that he lied down to have a rest, while the old devil started limping away with full speed, leaving the gold to the clever man.

Things to note:
- Devils/imps are common antagonists in the folk tales, especially from newer times. F.e. I remember one other story (probably from another book) where a young boy was given to several master-craftsmen, but couldn’t do any of the work. So at the end his parents gave him as an apprentice to an imp, where he learned magic even better than his master, for which the latter tried to kill him and thus a shapeshifting game ensued, with the two of them turning to various animals, monsters and even seeds etc.

A gold coin for a word

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One poor man served for twenty years to a rich man. And when his service ended and the wealthy guy had to pay him for his service, he put on one side of the table a large pile of coins, while on the other – three gold coins – telling him the large pile is his full pay for all these years, but if he takes them, he won’t see anything good out of them, while if he takes the three coins – they’re give to him with a blessing. The man thought and took the three coins.
On his way home, he met three friends and started talking with two of them, while the third one kept quiet like a mute. The old man eventually noticed this and asked the others why the third one doesn’t speak, to which they told him he takes a gold coin for a word. The man thought “I’m poor anyway, let’s give him a gold coin and see what he has to say”, to which the third man said “Don’t wade in turbid waters” and shut up again. They walked on and the man gave him another coin, to which the silent guy said “If you see eagles flying in circles, go check what’s in there!” For the third and last coin he said “Whatever you do, think first!”
Soon they parted ways and the old man eventually reached a river with turbid waters. He stopped to think, since he remembered the first saying of the silent man. In the meantime a mounted merchant came by, asked him why he’s not crossing, laughed at him for his stupidity and entered the river, but just amidst it the horse tripped and the merchant fell and drowned. The horse managed to get out and the old man took it for himself and saw it was loaded with gold. Soon they found a crossing and went on their way.
After some time the man saw eagles circling in the sky above one rock, so he went there and found several dead bandits scattered around – apparently they had a quarrel over the loot and killed each other. The old man gathered as much gold as he could (which wasn’t much, considering the horse was already loaded), took a sabre and a gun (could be replaced with a bow or something) and went on his way again. Eventually he reached his home, looked through the window and saw his wife dining and talking cheerfully with a handsome young man. He raised his gun to kill the man, but then stopped and thought “Wait, I’ve given a gold coin for that word as well. Let’s see – I left my home twenty years ago. Dear God, that must be my son!” Then he went home where he was greeted with tears of joy.
Several days later the old man asked his son what he wants to work as and the latter told him he wants to be a merchant. His father gave him three thousand silver coins, bought him a horse and gave him an advice that wherever he goes, he shouldn’t sit with young people. The son took the road and eventually reached a cemetery (NOTE: the Slavs, AFAIK, practiced ritual burning, so they may have not had actual cemeteries yet (which also reminds me that this would be the beginning of vampire folklore for them, something new and associated with the Christians and other inhumation-practitioners)), where three men were violently beating a fresh grave. When he asked them why they are doing so, they told him the deceased owed them three thousand silver coins. The young man felt sorry for the dead man and gave them his money. When he returned home and told his father what he had done, the latter was glad his son had been raised as such a good man, gave him six thousand silver coins and sent him off again, giving him the advice that even if he enters an inn, he shouldn’t sit with young people.
The young man set off and eventually entered an inn, where he sat down next to an old man, who offered to become his partner in trading, if the young man buys him a horse and sabre. As they did so, they took the road and when they reached one mountain, the old man told the young one to go on, while he’ll pass directly through the woods and once the young man sees him on one rock, he should start singing loudly. As that happened, a bunch of bandits started coming out from a dark cave in that rock. But the old man, with a sabre in hand, stood at the entrance, turned invisible and killed them all.
Then he loaded his horse and with the young man they set off for another kingdom. The king’s daughter there had been married to many noble and wealthy young men, but when each of them would go to their chambers after the wedding, he’d die. The king was very worried and had announced that if anyone survives the first night, even if he’s not of gentle birth, would receive half his kingdom. So the two men, the old and the young one, went to the palace and offered the young one to marry the princess. After that he bought a bag and scissors for the old man, who told him not to go to the chambers until he tells him “I release you”. The young man then waited a long time that night and when the old man told him “I release you”, he went in. The old man turned invisible again and also went in.
The young man lied down next to the princess, while the old one stood near his head. When the newlyweds fell asleep, a snake jumped out of the princess’ mouth and tried to bite the young man’s forehead. The old man cut off its head and put it in the bag, but its body returned to the princess’ mouth. This happened two more times and then the old man went out. As the young lad came out alive the next morning, the king was overjoyed and gave him half his kingdom, which the young man refused, saying he got married for the princess herself, not for the kingdom.
After a couple of months the old man, the young one and the princess set off towards the lad’s home. As they reached the bandits’ cave, they loaded the king’s chariot with treasures, then went on and stopped at the cemetery. Then they split the treasures between the two of them, but the old man said they should also split the princess, as they were partners in everything. Unwillingly, the young man agreed, as he had promised to share everything with him. As the old man took the sabre to cut the princess in half, she got scared and opened her mouth to cry, but a three-necked headless snake came out instead. The old man killed it and told him that snake’s the one that was killing all the princess’ grooms (since some witch had cursed her to not have a living husband and never be happy) and that’s why he wanted to share the princess, which is no longer required. Then he gave them also his share of the treasures, telling the man he felt very hurt when those three bad men were hitting his grave and he wanted to repay the young man’s kindness. Then he entered his grave, while the newlyweds went home and lived long years in peace and love.

Things to note:
- The mysterious fortune-cookie advices – Certainly not present in every magical folk tale, but one of my most favourite motifs.
- The protagonist helping someone in distress and getting repayment from him. In this case, with a somewhat 6th Sense twist.
- The princess marrying many men, none of which lives long enough to see the light of day, because of some curse (except the protagonist, of course).

The silver stag

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There was once a very skilled hunter, who never missed his target. But he was a slave/servant and had to bring everything he caught to his master. The local king once announced he’s going to marry his daughter, so the hunter’s master ordered the marksman to kill nine carts of game as a gift for the feast. Just as he was finishing this task, the hunter saw an unusual silver stag, who talked to him and asked for mercy. In exchange he offered to make him the king’s son-in-law.
After the hunter delivered his catch, he returned to the stag and the latter told him to prepare to go to the king’s feast. First he had him take out two snakes from under one rock and use them as reins and a whip, thus the stag instantly turned to a wonderful white horse. Then the hunter broke off a branch and raked the moss under the stone where he got the snakes from – thus the branch immediately turned to a sharp sabre, while magnificent clothes appeared from the moss.
Thus the hunter and the horse reached the king’s feast just when the heralds were telling the king will marry his daughter to whoever outrides the other candidates, shoots a fly in the air and splits a stone with his sabre. The marksman and his horse finished first in the race, only he managed to hit a fly in the air, while no one else even dared to split a stone, which the young man did with one strike. The king gave him his daughter and after the big wedding the horse-stag left for his forest, leaving one of his hairs to the hunter – if he would ever need him, he’d just have to warm it up and the stag will immediately come.
One night the princess, however, heard her husband talking about his humble origins in his sleep, so she told it to the king, who got very angered and gave his daughter to the hunter’s former master. Then he asked the princess how should the young man be punished, to which she replied with “Throw him in the sea, so the fishes would eat him”.
As that happened, one great fish swallowed the man (influence from the Biblical Jonah?) and spit him up at the coast, then it turned into the silver stag. The upset hunter first wanted to beat him, for he was the source for these troubles, but the stag told him it’s his own fault and he should be glad he came to help him even without being called. He then gave him a flower with three leafs, to pluck a leaf every time he’s in trouble, since the man was beyond his power now. He also told him to remember his luck is in the front tooth, the first splinter and a beautiful maiden. Then he disappeared.
On the way back, the hunter was beset by wild beasts and lost his way, plucking the first two leafs out. As he reached the gates of the capital, he plucked the third one and turned into a heady scarlet horse. He then entered the yard of some poor folk, who were overjoyed and decided to sell him. Many people gathered, including the king and his new son-in-law, who liked the horse and decided to buy it and test it out. But as soon as he mounted him, the horse threw him to the ground. The upset “prince” got angered and ordered the horse be killed.
Then one beautiful maiden from the prince’s servants caressed the horse and sighed that he should be killed on the will of the king’s son-in-law. The horse then whispered to her to take his front tooth, once he’s killed, and bury it in the garden near the palace. By evening a wondrous tree grew out from it, whose branches didn’t rustle, but sang. In the morning everyone came to look at it, including the king’s son-in-law, but as soon as he neared it, the tree stopped singing, thorns grew on its branches and it started slapping the prince’s face. He got angered again and ordered the tree be cut.
The beautiful maiden sighed again about how such a wondrous tree should be cut on the whim of the king’s son-in-law and the tree again whispered to her to take the first splinter and throw it in the lake. As she did so, the splinter immediately turned into a golden duck. The prince saw it and managed to shoot it down with his third arrow. He then jumped into the lake to catch it, but as soon as he got near it, the duck flew to the shore near the prince’s clothes and turned into a man. When the king’s son-in-law recognized his former slave, he got scared, swallowed water and drowned.
The hunter then took his clothes, bow, arrows and sabre and went to the palace. He split the iron gates with his sabre and pierced with his arrows everyone who tried to stop him. Then he reached the princess, who ran crying to him, swearing she loves him. When he asked why did she want to have him thrown to the fishes then, she asked in return “But you’re alive, aren’t you?”, to which he replied that he’ll have her and her father thrown in the sea as well and let them survive, if they can. After that he married the beautiful maiden and the two of them reigned as king and queen, doing many good deeds to the poor and honest people.

[Armatus]

Then they went to the cave of a very fierce zmey, where the man told him that since the imp is the devil’s son, while he’s a grown man, the imp should fight his own son instead. At that point the zmey appeared, with fiery eyes and flame-breath,

I'm confused.

[shikaka]

Note that in Bulgarian folklore the devil is not the Devil – i.e. there are many devils, which often don’t seem to have too much in common with the Christian Devil, nor his demons (the Biblical Devil is one, sometimes raised to almost divine level, while his demons can possess people; on the other hand, the folklore devils are more like imps or something like that – bad, dark creatures, which are often either not very strong or not very smart and sometimes possess magic

This is similar in hungarian folklore too.
A devil is more like a fiend, often living in forests or caves, and they usually want something from heroes. Some task which they think is not possible to do, service, usually in exchange for something (freedom, treasure, leaving them alone.)
While they are usually very strong (physically, sometimes posess magic), the folklore heroes can fool them with smart thinking.
A good example is a man who is in a contest with a devil, 'who can whip louder'. The devil whips really loud, then the old man convinces him to close his eyes because the last time he whipped the eyes of the attendance fell out. The devil closes it's eye, then the old man bashes his head with a mace, later asks 'it was loud isn't it? Luckily you closed you eyes'




The Clever Girl

(this was my favourite as a small kid )

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Once upon a time there was a cruel king and this cruel king had a village. One day the king got angry with this village and ordered its people to skin the millstone in the yard of the mill otherwise he would have all the rich farmers’ head chopped off.

The people in the village had been having a village meeting every single day for three weeks but they could not agree how to skin the millstone.

Among the villagers there was a poor man who had a seventeen-year-old beautiful daughter. One day this girl asks her father,
‘My dear father, where do you go every day? You either eat or not and you do not tell a word to anybody.’
‘Where do I go? Don’t you know that this cruel king ordered us to skin the millstone in the yard of the mill? This is why we have been holding meetings for more than three weeks. However, nothing got into our minds.
‘Listen to me, father, go up to the judge of the village and tell him not to gather the people of the village again. Then go up to the king tell him the following: “Your Majesty, my life and death are in your hands, I was sent to represent this village. We would like to ask you to have the blood of this millstone taken otherwise the people cannot skin it.”

Goes up the poor man to the king and tells him what his daughter ordered him. The king asks him,
‘Well, you, poor man, who gave you this piece of advice? Confess it right now or you will get fifty sticks at this moment.’
‘Your Majesty, my life and death are in your hands, I have a seventeen-year-old daughter at home. She gave me this piece of advice.’

Says the king,
‘Now, you poor man, you have pulled the thorn out of the leg of the village and pushed it into yours. I will give you trouble if you have not had enough so far.’
So the king turns around and picks up a pot. The side of the pot was cracked.
‘Tell your daughter’ says the king, ‘to mend this pot so that neither the patch nor the sewing should be seen. If she cannot do it, I will have both your and your daughter’s head chopped off.’

The poor man takes the cracked pot and goes home in sorrow and sadness. He arrives at his daughter and says,
‘Well, my dear daughter, you have pulled the thorn out of the leg of the village and pushed it into yours. The king has sent you this pot.’ – and he tells her what the king ordered.
‘It is all right, father, therefore do not worry about it. Sit down, eat and drink and have a rest.’

When the poor man wakes up, her daughter says to him,
‘Well, my father, take this cracked pot back to the king and tell him the following: “Your Majesty, my daughter was brought up as an orphan without a mother, but she has never seen anybody patching a sack or shirt from outside. If Your Majesty has the pot turned inside out, I will mend it as he wishes.”

The poor man tells his daughter’s message to the king. The king turns aside and hides his smile.
‘You just wait’ – he says. ‘I will send trouble to your daughter if she has not had enough.’
So he picks up three bunches of hemp and gives them to the poor man.
‘Here you are, you poor man, take these three bunches of hemp to your daughter and tell her to spin and weave underwear from them for all my inside and outside servants and for soldiers of a squadron. If not, I will destroy you together with your daughter.’

The poor man leaves for home with a heavy and sad soul. He arrives home and says to her daughter,
‘Oh, my dear daughter, here sends the king three bunches of hemp to you to spin and weave underwear for all his inside and outside servants and for soldiers of a squadron.’
The girl says,
‘Sit down, my father, eat, drink and have a rest.’

Then she goes into the hovel and picks up two little pieces of wood, not bigger than two pipe stems.
‘Well, my father, have you eaten and drunk enough? Have you had a rest?’
‘I have already eaten and drunk enough and had a good rest.’
‘Then go back to the king and tell her that since I am a motherless orphan, I don’t have a loom so I ask him to have a loom made from these two pieces of wood but in a way that nothing should be added or taken away from them. If he makes it, I will spin and weave underwear from that three bunches of hemp not only for his servants but for all his soldiers in the whole country.’

Goes up the poor man to the king and tells it to him. The king turns aside to laugh and then asks,
‘How old is your daughter, you poor man?’
‘She is seventeen, Your Majesty.’
‘Tell your daughter to come up to me on this and this day. She must not come on the road or by the road. She must not come on foot or on horseback. She should and should not greet me. She should bring some presents and she should come without it.’

The poor man takes leave of the king and goes home.
‘Well, my dear daughter, I am saved from going to the king. Now it is your turn to go there.’
‘What did the king tell you, father?’
‘He told you to go up to him on this and this day, but you must not go on the road or by the road, you must not go on foot or on horseback, you should and should not greet him and you should take a present to him and go without it.’
‘It is all right, father.’

The girl goes into the village, where he knew a farmer who had a donkey. She asks him to lend it to her. She takes the donkey home and gives it some hay. Then she buys two doves and takes them home, too.

She was eagerly looking for the day when she had to start.

The blessed day when she has to go up to the king arrives at last. The girl starts her journey on the back of the donkey and in the middle of the road. She is carrying the two doves between two wooden bowls on her back.

The king is waiting for the girl outside the palace. When she arrives the king greets her,
‘Welcome, you, poor girl.’
But she says no word just jumps off the back of the donkey and bows to the king. Then she says,
‘Here I am, Your Majesty for your order. I did not come on the road or by the road. I did not come on foot or horseback. However, I arrived. I have brought you a present and I came without it.’
Saying so, she opens up the two wooden bowls and the doves fly away.
The king gets to like the girl and invites her into the palace.
The king sends for a priest and he marries the poor girl.

When the wedding ceremony is over, the king says to his wife,
‘Now, you, poor girl, you are my wife. However, I order you not to give advice to anybody without my intention otherwise you will see bad times.
‘I don’t intend to give advice anybody, Your Majesty’ – she says.

There lived two poor men in the town of the king. One of them had a little cart and the other had a pregnant mare. Since they were friends, they helped each other and went to the wood with the mare and the little cart to carry some wood.

One day, when they were going to the wood, an icy wind was blowing from the wood. The one who had the mare was sitting on its back and the other who had the cart was sitting on his cart. But they both turned their faces backward because they could not stand the wind blowing into their eyes.

Suddenly the one who was sitting on the cart says,
‘Hey, my friend, let’s stop, because my cart has kidded a colt.’
‘Yes, it was my mare’ – says the one on the horseback.
‘But the colt came from under my cart’ – insists the first man.
So they immediately turn back and go up to the king. They can’t find the king at home. The queen asks them what the matter is.
The man with the mare starts,
‘Your majesty, it is just a small thing. This friend of mine has a little cart and I have a mare. As we were going to the wood, my friend told me to stop because his cart kidded a colt. W stopped, but since we could not decide whose the colt was, we had to come to the king for justice.

After listening to the two litigants the queen says,
‘Oh, you, two miserable men, why are you quarrelling over such a thing? The world will laugh at you. I advise you to go home and tie the mare to the cart. If the colt suckles the cart, then it is the cart’s colt, but if it suckles the mare, it is the mare’s.

The two men try it, but that damn colt suckles the mare and not the cart. The man with the cart gets angry, pulls the colt from under its mother and pushes it under the cart and says,
‘Dogs eat you up! If you were under my cart in the wood, be there now, too!
But the colt runs back to its mother.

When the king comes back from hunting, the two men go up to him again and tell him the story in details to the king himself. The king gets angry with the two men because they dared to bother him with such a foolish thing. He scolds the man with the cart and threatens him to have him hung up or his head chopped off if he ever insists on that the colt belongs to his cart. But he also gets very angry to his wife because she gave advice without his permission.

‘Now, my darling wife, you trustless poor girl, what resolution did you make when I married you? Did you tell me not to give advice to anybody? And now you did. But from now on you won’t eat from the same table as I will.
‘Whether I will or not, my darling husband, first I will make you a last dinner then I will leave’ – she says.

The queen makes the dinner and the king says,
‘After dinner have six horses harnessed into a coach, take whatever is the most precious for yourself and go wherever you like but you won’t live with me any longer.’

After dinner the queen has six horses harnessed into a coach. But she had already put some sleeping powder into the king’s drink and when he was sleeping fast had him put in the coach because her most precious thing was her husband.

She has been driving for two nights and three days when suddenly the king wakes up. He looks around and asks,
‘Where are you taking me, my darling wife?’
‘Do you know, my darling husband, what you have told me? You have told me that I can take the most precious thing with myself when I leave your palace. I have not got more precious thing than you, so now I am taking you with myself.’
‘God will pay you for it, my darling wife, but let’s stop and turn back home. I won’t disagree with you and won’t horn in your things any longer.’

So the return home safe and sound. The king gives a big feast. Plates and bowls were enough but one was a lucky man who got a drop of soup. The king and the queen still live if they haven’t died. Let them be your guests tomorrow!

THE BOY WHO COULD KEEP A SECRET

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Once upon a time there lived a poor widow who had one little boy. At first sight you would not have thought that he was different from a thousand other little boys; but then you noticed that by his side hung the scabbard of a sword, and as the boy grew bigger the scabbard grew bigger too. The sword which belonged to the scabbard was found by the little boy sticking out of the ground in the garden, and every day he pulled it up to see if it would go into the scabbard. But though it was plainly becoming longer and longer, it was some time before the two would fit.
However, there came a day at last when it slipped in quite easily. The child was so delighted that he could hardly believe his eyes, so he tried it seven times, and each time it slipped in more easily than before. But pleased though the boy was, he determined not to tell anyone about it, particularly not his mother, who never could keep anything from her neighbours.
Still, in spite of his resolutions, he could not hide altogether that something had happened, and when he went in to breakfast his mother asked him what was the matter.
'Oh, mother, I had such a nice dream last night,' said he; 'but I can't tell it to anybody.'
'You can tell it to me,' she answered. 'It must have been a nice dream, or you wouldn't look so happy.'
'No, mother; I can't tell it to anybody,' returned the boy, 'till it comes true.'
'I want to know what it was, and know it I will,' cried she, 'and I will beat you till you tell me.'
But it was no use, neither words nor blows would get the secret out of the boy; and when her arm was quite tired and she had to leave off, the child, sore and aching, ran into the garden and knelt weeping beside his little sword. It was working round and round in its hole all by itself, and if anyone except the boy had tried to catch hold of it, he would have been badly cut. But the moment he stretched out his hand it stopped and slid quietly into the scabbard.
For a long time the child sat sobbing, and the noise was heard by the king as he was driving by. 'Go and see who it is that is crying so,' said he to one of his servants, and the man went. In a few minutes he returned saying: 'Your Majesty, it is a little boy who is kneeling there sobbing because his mother has beaten him.'
'Bring him to me at once,' commanded the monarch, 'and tell him that it is the king who sends for him, and that he has never cried in all his life and cannot bear anyone else to do so.' On receiving this message the boy dried his tears and went with the servant to the royal carriage. 'Will you be my son?' asked the king.
'Yes, if my mother will let me,' answered the boy. And the king bade the servant go back to the mother and say that if she would give her boy to him, he should live in the palace and marry his prettiest daughter as soon as he was a man.
The widow's anger now turned into joy, and she came running to the splendid coach and kissed the king's hand. 'I hope you will be more obedient to his Majesty than you were to me,' she said; and the boy shrank away half-frightened. But when she had gone back to her cottage, he asked the king if he might fetch something that he had left in the garden, and when he was given permission, he pulled up his little sword, which he slid into the scabbard.
Then he climbed into the coach and was driven away.
After they had gone some distance the king said: 'Why were you crying so bitterly in the garden just now?'
'Because my mother had been beating me,' replied the boy.
'And what did she do that for?' asked the king again.
'Because I would not tell her my dream.'
'And why wouldn't you tell it to her?'
'Because I will never tell it to anyone till it comes true,' answered the boy.
'And won't you tell it to me either?' asked the king in surprise.
'No, not even to you, your Majesty,' replied he.
'Oh, I am sure you will when we get home,' said the king smiling, and he talked to him about other things till they came to the palace.
'I have brought you such a nice present,' he said to his daughters, and as the boy was very pretty they were delighted to have him and gave him all their best toys.
'You must not spoil him,' observed the king one day, when he had been watching them playing together. He has a secret which he won't tell to anyone.'
'He will tell me,' answered the eldest princess; but the boy only shook his head.
'He will tell me,' said the second girl.
'Not I,' replied the boy.
'He will tell me,' cried the youngest, who was the prettiest too.
'I will tell nobody till it comes true,' said the boy, as he had said before; 'and I will beat anybody who asks me.'
The king was very sorry when he heard this, for he loved the boy dearly; but he thought it would never do to keep anyone near him who would not do as he was bid. So he commanded his servants to take him away and not to let him enter the palace again until he had come to his right senses.
The sword clanked loudly as the boy was led away, but the child said nothing, though he was very unhappy at being treated so badly when he had done nothing. However, the servants were very kind to him, and their children brought him fruit and all sorts of nice things, and he soon grew merry again, and lived amongst them for many years till his seventeenth birthday.
Meanwhile the two eldest princesses had become women, and had married two powerful kings who ruled over great countries across the sea. The youngest one was old enough to be married too, but she was very particular, and turned up her nose at all the young princes who had sought her hand.
One day she was sitting in the palace feeling rather dull and lonely, and suddenly she began to wonder what the servants were doing, and whether it was not more amusing down in their quarters. The king was at his council and the queen was ill in bed, so there was no one to stop the princess, and she hastily ran across the gardens to the houses where the servants lived. Outside she noticed a youth who was handsomer than any prince she had ever seen, and in a moment she knew him to be the little boy she had once played with.
'Tell me your secret and I will marry you,' she said to him; but the boy only gave her the beating he had promised her long ago, when she asked him the same question. The girl was very angry, besides being hurt, and ran home to complain to her father.
'If he had a thousand souls, I would kill them all,' swore the king.
That very day a gallows was built outside the town, and all the people crowded round to see the execution of the young man who had dared to beat the king's daughter. The prisoner, with his hands tied behind his back, was brought out by the hangman, and amidst dead silence his sentence was being read by the judge when suddenly the sword clanked against his side. Instantly a great noise was heard and a golden coach rumbled over the stones, with a white flag waving out of the window. It stopped underneath the gallows, and from it stepped the king of the Magyars, who begged that the life of the boy might be spared.
'Sir, he has beaten my daughter, who only asked him to tell her his secret. I cannot pardon that,' answered the princess's father.
'Give him to me, I'm sure he will tell me the secret; or, if not, I have a daughter who is like the Morning Star, and he is sure to tell it to her.'
The sword clanked for the third time, and the king said angrily: 'Well, if you want him so much you can have him; only never let me see his face again.' And he made a sign to the hangman. The bandage was removed from the young man's eyes, and the cords from his wrists, and he took his seat in the golden coach beside the king of the Magyars. Then the coachman whipped up his horses, and they set out for Buda.
The king talked very pleasantly for a few miles, and when he thought that his new companion was quite at ease with him, he asked him what was the secret which had brought him into such trouble. ' That I cannot tell you,' answered the youth, 'until it comes true.'
'You will tell my daughter,' said the king, smiling.
'I will tell nobody,' replied the youth, and as he spoke the sword clanked loudly. The king said no more, but trusted to his daughter's beauty to get the secret from him.
The journey to Buda was long, and it was several days before they arrived there. The beautiful princess happened to be picking roses in the garden, when her father's coach drove up.
'Oh, what a handsome youth! Have you brought him from fairyland?' cried she, when they all stood upon the marble steps in front of the castle.
'I have brought him from the gallows,' answered the king; rather vexed at his daughter's words, as never before had she consented to speak to any man.
'I don't care where you brought him from,' said the spoilt girl. 'I will marry him and nobody else, and we will live together till we die.'
'You will tell another tale,' replied the king, 'when you ask him his secret. After all he is no better than a servant.'
'That is nothing to me,' said the princess, 'for I love him. He will tell his secret to me, and will find a place in the middle of my heart.'
But the king shook his head, and gave orders that the lad was to be lodged in the summer-house.
One day, about a week later, the princess put on her finest dress, and went to pay him a visit. She looked so beautiful that, at the sight of her, the book dropped from his hand, and he stood up speechless. 'Tell me,' she said, coaxingly, 'what is this wonderful secret? Just whisper it in my ear, and I will give you a kiss.'
'My angel,' he answered, 'be wise, and ask no questions, if you wish to get safely back to your father's palace; I have kept my secret all these years, and do not mean to tell it now.'
However, the girl would not listen, and went on pressing him, till at last he slapped her face so hard that her nose bled. She shrieked with pain and rage, and ran screaming back to the palace, where her father was waiting to hear if she had succeeded. 'I will starve you to death, you son of a dragon,' cried he, when he saw her dress streaming with blood; and he ordered all the masons and bricklayers in the town to come before him.
'Build me a tower as fast as you can,' he said, 'and see that there is room for a stool and a small table, and for nothing else. The men set to work, and in two hours the tower was built, and they proceeded to the palace to inform the king that his commands were fulfilled. On the way they met the princess, who began to talk to one of the masons, and when the rest were out of hearing she asked if he could manage to make a hole in the tower, which nobody could see, large enough for a bottle of wine and some food to pass through.
'To be sure I can,' said the mason, turning back, and in a few minutes the hole was bored.
At sunset a large crowd assembled to watch the youth being led to the tower, and after his misdeeds had been proclaimed he was solemnly walled up. But every morning the princess passed him in food through the hole, and every third day the king sent his secretary to climb up a ladder and look down through a little window to see if he was dead. But the secretary always brought back the report that he was fat and rosy.
'There is some magic about this,' said the king.
This state of affairs lasted some time, till one day a messenger arrived from the Sultan bearing a letter for the king, and also three canes. 'My master bids me say,' said the messenger, bowing low, 'that if you cannot tell him which of these three canes grows nearest the root, which in the middle, and which at the top, he will declare war against you.
The king was very much frightened when he heard this, and though he took the canes and examined them closely, he could see no difference between them. He looked so sad that his daughter noticed it, and inquired the reason.
'Alas! my daughter,' he answered, 'how can I help being sad? The Sultan has sent me three canes, and says that if I cannot tell him which of them grows near the root, which in the middle, and which at the top, he will make war upon me. And you know that his army is far greater than mine.'
'Oh, do not despair, my father,' said she. 'We shall be sure to find out the answer'; and she ran away to the tower, and told the young man what had occurred.
'Go to bed as usual,' replied he, 'and when you wake, tell your father that you have dreamed that the canes must be placed in warm water. After a little while one will sink to the bottom; that is the one that grows nearest the root. The one which neither sinks nor comes to the surface is the cane that is cut from the middle; and the one that floats is from the top.'
So, the next morning, the princess told her father of her dream, and by her advice he cut notches in each of the canes when he took them out of the water, so that he might make no mistake when he handed them back to the messenger. The Sultan could not imagine how he had found out, but he did not declare war.
The following year the Sultan again wanted to pick a quarrel with the king of the Magyars, so he sent another messenger to him with three foals, begging him to say which of the animals was born in the morning, which at noon, and which in the evening. If an answer was not ready in three days, war would be declared at once. The king's heart sank when he read the letter. He could not expect his daughter to be lucky enough to dream rightly a second time, and as a plague had been raging through the country, and had carried off many of his soldiers, his army was even weaker than before. At this thought his face became so gloomy that his daughter noticed it, and inquired what was the matter.
'I have had another letter from the Sultan,' replied the king, 'and he says that if I cannot tell him which of three foals was born in the morning, which at noon, and which in the evening, he will declare war at once.'
'Oh, don't be cast down,' said she, 'something is sure to happen'; and she ran down to the tower to consult the youth.
'Go home, idol of my heart, and when night comes, pretend to scream out in your sleep, so that your father hears you. Then tell him that you have dreamt that he was just being carried off by the Turks because he could not answer the question about the foals, when the lad whom he had shut up in the tower ran up and told them which was foaled in the morning, which at noon, and which in the evening.'
So the princess did exactly as the youth had bidden her; and no sooner had she spoken than the king ordered the tower to be pulled down, and the prisoner brought before him.
'I did not think that you could have lived so long without food,' said he, 'and as you have had plenty of time to repent your wicked conduct, I will grant you pardon, on condition that you help me in a sore strait. Read this letter from the Sultan; you will see that if I fail to answer his question about the foals, a dreadful war will be the result.'
The youth took the letter and read it through. 'Yes, I can help you,' replied he; 'but first you must bring me three troughs, all exactly alike. Into one you must put oats, into another wheat, and into the third barley. The foal which eats the oats is that which was foaled in the morning; the foal which eats the wheat is that which was foaled at noon; and the foal which eats the barley is that which was foaled at night.' The king followed the youth's directions, and, marking the foals, sent them back to Turkey, and there was no war that year.
Now the Sultan was very angry that both his plots to get possession of Hungary had been such total failures, and he sent for his aunt, who was a witch, to consult her as to what he should do next.
'It is not the king who has answered your questions,' observed the aunt, when he had told his story. 'He is far too stupid ever to have done that! The person who has found out the puzzle is the son of a poor woman, who, if he lives, will become King of Hungary. Therefore, if you want the crown yourself, you must get him here and kill him.'
After this conversation another letter was written to the Court of Hungary, saying that if the youth, now in the palace, was not sent to Turkey within three days, a large army would cross the border. The king's heart was sorrowful as he read, for he was grateful to the lad for what he had done to help him; but the boy only laughed, and bade the king fear nothing, but to search the town instantly for two youths just like each other, and he would paint himself a mask that was just like them. And the sword at his side clanked loudly.
After a long search twin brothers were found, so exactly resembling each other that even their own mother could not tell the difference. The youth painted a mask that was the precise copy of them, and when he had put it on, no one would have known one boy from the other. They set out at once for the Sultan's palace, and when they reached it, they were taken straight into his presence. He made a sign for them to come near; they all bowed low in greeting. He asked them about their journey; they answered his questions all together, and in the same words. If one sat down to supper, the others sat down at the same instant. When one got up, the others got up too, as if there had been only one body between them. The Sultan could not detect any difference between them, and he told his aunt that he would not be so cruel as to kill all three.
'Well, you will see a difference to-morrow,' replied the witch, 'for one will have a cut on his sleeve. That is the youth you must kill.' And one hour before midnight, when witches are invisible, she glided into the room where all three lads were sleeping in the same bed. She took out a pair of scissors and cut a small piece out of the boy's coat-sleeve which was hanging on the wall, and then crept silently from the room. But in the morning the youth saw the slit, and he marked the sleeves of his two companions in the same way, and all three went down to breakfast with the Sultan. The old witch was standing in the window and pretended not to see them; but all witches have eyes in the backs of their heads, and she knew at once that not one sleeve but three were cut, and they were all as alike as before. After breakfast, the Sultan, who was getting tired of the whole affair and wanted to be alone to invent some other plan, told them they might return home. So, bowing low with one accord, they went.
The princess welcomed the boy back joyfully, but the poor youth was not allowed to rest long in peace, for one day a fresh letter arrived from the Sultan, saying that he had discovered that the young man was a very dangerous person, and that he must be sent to Turkey at once, and alone. The girl burst into tears when the boy told her what was in the letter which her father had bade her to carry to him. 'Do not weep, love of my heart,' said the boy, 'all will be well. I will start at sunrise to-morrow.'
So next morning at sunrise the youth set forth, and in a few days he reached the Sultan's palace. The old witch was waiting for him at the gate, and whispered as he passed: 'This is the last time you will ever enter it.' But the sword clanked, and the lad did not even look at her. As he crossed the threshold fifteen armed Turks barred his way, with the Sultan at their head. Instantly the sword darted forth and cut off the heads of everyone but the Sultan, and then went quietly back to its scabbard. The witch, who was looking on, saw that as long as the youth had possession of the sword, all her schemes would be in vain, and tried to steal the sword in the night, but it only jumped out of its scabbard and sliced off her nose, which was of iron. And in the morning, when the Sultan brought a great army to capture the lad and deprive him of his sword, they were all cut to pieces, while he remained without a scratch.
Meanwhile the princess was in despair because the days slipped by, and the young man did not return, and she never rested until her father let her lead some troops against the Sultan. She rode proudly before them, dressed in uniform; but they had not left the town more than a mile behind them, when they met the lad and his little sword. When he told them what he had done they shouted for joy, and carried him back in triumph to the palace; and the king declared that as the youth had shown himself worthy to become his son-in-law, he should marry the princess and succeed to the throne at once, as he himself was getting old, and the cares of government were too much for him. But the young man said he must first go and see his mother, and the king sent him in state, with a troop of soldiers as his bodyguard.
The old woman was quite frightened at seeing such an array draw up before her little house, and still more surprised when a handsome young man, whom she did not know, dismounted and kissed her hand, saying: 'Now, dear mother, you shall hear my secret at last! I dreamed that I should become King of Hungary, and my dream has come true. When I was a child, and you begged me to tell you, I had to keep silence, or the Magyar king would have killed me. And if you had not beaten me nothing would have happened that has happened, and I should not now be King of Hungary.'

[Armatus]

I'm reading the farmer's daughter one lol... that king is sick, but I do think this may be embellished from the later middle ages, I just get that feeling. It's good though.

[NikeBG]

Aye, I've read a similar one myself. The most memorable moment is when the king told her to arrive neither dressed, nor naked, so she simply loosened her long hairs and covered herself with them.

Anyway, I'm starting with the authored stories:

Hero and blind man

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There was a young hero once, who wasn’t afraid of anything. He would wander from town to town in search of fear. One night he found himself in a deserted house, which he had been told was haunted by talasams. Many other heroes had went for the night to that house before, but they had all died. During the night, our hero heard horrifying noises in the room, without seeing anyone. Without getting scared, he eventually drew out his sabre, telling the talasams to either come out to fight or go away. Then a great noise was heard and the wall before him crumbled down, with a pile of gold coins pouring out from it. The hero collected them and went out to spread them among all the hard-working people who were up so early.
He then met an old man, who told him of a scary place – a distant mountain, where his brother lives, as well as three samovilas who plucked out his eyes. The hero went to the mountain, climbed the rocks to get to the top (since there was no path) and eventually found a great palace, where the old blind man was surprised to meet him. The latter then offered the hero to become his son and help him, since he was old and blind, while the hero was so fearless and young. But first, in order to test the hero’s strength, the old man would strike him three times with his staff – the hero lied down and put a bedding on top, which got torn from the old man’s hits.
The latter then gave him keys for ten of the twelve locked doors in the palace, saying the other two are empty. The hero took a look around the ten rooms and saw they were filled with all kinds of treasures, but still wanted to see the other two – maybe the fearful thing the old man’s brother told him about was there. When he asked the old man about it, he instead sent the hero to take out the sheep to graze, since he himself hadn’t taken them in a long time. But wherever he goes, he should go to the samovila’s peak, because the samovilas would take his sheep and his eyes and that’s where the real scare is.
Naturally, the young man soon went exactly there. He then took out a kaval (shepherd’s pipe) and started playing. When they heard the music, three samovilas appeared and started dancing around the shepherd. He then stopped for a bit to have some food and in the meantime the three women talked between each other on the samovila’s language. They then offered him a bet – he’ll play and they’ll dance; if they get tired first – he’ll get whatever he wants from them, if he gets tired first – they’ll take out his eyes. He agreed and played for well over three hours, eventually getting tired and playing with lesser and lesser tempo. Impressed by his persistence, the samovila’s told him to stop playing, pausing the bet for a moment, and tell him if he’s tired or not, to which he replied he wasn’t, but was remembering how he’d braid the tail of his horse and this confused his fingers. The samovilas then asked him to braid their hairs, which he did – three braids for each, but one of each samovila’s braids was tied together with the other samovilas (they had long hairs, to the ground). After he was done, the hero hanged the three samovilas by their common braid on a nearby tree and then started playing again, continuing the bet. The samovilas started twisting around and crying and eventually agreed to his conditions – they told him the old man’s eyes were in two apples (which the latter had to eat) in the cave where they live, but when the hero goes there, he should make sure to not make much noise, so he doesn’t scare their children and they fall in the fire. The hero went there, took the apples, but thought what’s so scary that the samovilas could do to him, so he scared their children and they fell in the fire and burned. He then returned and released the samovilas and went back to the palace.
He then told the old man he has his eyes, but will trade them for the remaining keys. The old man gave him one key and took a bite from one of the apples, getting back one of his eyes. In the meantime the young man opened one of the rooms and saw a spring with golden water and a bound winged horse next to it. Since he was rather sweaty from the heat, he went to refresh himself in the spring, but noticed that every part of his body that had contact with the water was turning golden. He then washed his whole self like that, as well as the winged horse, except for his wings, since the horse told him he wouldn’t be able to fly otherwise. When the old man told him he does indeed look unique and asked him if he was born like that (golden), the hero told him he was indeed born like that and the room was empty. Of course, the old man knew it was actually because of the spring and felt sorry for giving the young man his key, so he decided to go to his room during the night and steal the keys and the remaining apple. But the hero sensed him and pretended he’s having a nightmare, grabbing a nearby staff and swinging it around, scaring the old man away.
On the next day the old man took the sheep to pasture, but far away from the samovila’s peak, since he was afraid they’d harm him again. But as they had found out their children were killed, they had sworn to take revenge on the young man and as they saw the flock is staying down below, they went to it themselves. They offered the old man a new bet – if they get tired from dancing first, they’ll give him whatever he wants, but if he gets tired first, he’ll let them in at night to strangle his adopted son. He readily agreed and, naturally, lost the bet.
In the meantime, the hero entered the eleventh room and the winged horse told him of his pending doom, urging him to flee. The fearless man wanted to stay, but the horse told him he won’t meat fear here, only pain and finally death, not in a heroic fight, but through guile. The hero then agreed, but the horse also warned him that in the twelfth room is a winged mule which is faster than him, so the young man should take a vial of water, a handful of salt and a comb first. They set off and after some time they were reached by a horrible wind, the horse warning him the old man’s coming with his flying mule, so he should throw the comb. As the comb hit the ground, the whole field behind them got covered with thick and high thorns. The mule couldn’t pass through them, so the old man was delayed a bit, until he passes around the bushes. But he eventually caught up to the young man again and the latter threw the salt this time, with the whole field behind him instantly turning to high rocks, sharp as needles. The hero again gained some distance, but was eventually caught up by the old man and this time he threw the vial of water, which turned to a wild and deep river. The mule got scared and refused to go further.
The young man then met a shepherd and exchanged his golden clothes with the shepherd’s ones. He then reached a cave at dusk, which the horse told him he won’t enter, since it belonged to forty bandits – the thirty nine were good heroes, but the fortieth, their voivode (leader), was bad – where he couldn’t win with force, he won with guile. The hero then took the horse to the bandits’ stables and entered the cave, where the bandits welcomed him and after they listened to his stories, the thirty nine offered him to become their leader, to which he refused. The voivode, however, felt bad that his comrades preferred him over himself, so he urged the hero to stay, since there’s something scary every day in a bandit’s life, planning to send him to his death.
The next morning he pretended to be ill and when the hero offered to find him a cure, the bandit leader sent him across two mountains, to the third one, on whose peak was a samovila’s water spring, where the vampires gather to have a chat at midnight. If someone would bring him water from that source, he’d get better. The hero gladly volunteered and on the way the horse told him they’re going to their old peak, so he should be careful the old man doesn’t notice them and chase them with his mule again. Then they reached the spring, the young man filled a gourd with the water, but saw a glitter in it, so he looked up and saw one of the three samovilas sitting on the three, combing her hair with a diamond comb. As she stretched her arm to catch him, he drew out his sabre and cut the arm off, which he then took, together with a shiny gold bracelet on it. He then returned to the bandit cave, gave the water to the voivode and told the bandits about his encounter, showing them the samovila’s arm and bracelet.
Not long after that, the bandit leader got ill again. This time the only thing that could save him was for someone to go to the cemetery at the samovila’s peak and roast a lamb over a fresh grave there, which he’d then eat. The hero went there and started roasting one lamb and as the smell started spreading, voices started appearing out of nowhere, demanding for a piece of the meat and threatening him in various way. The young man whirled around his sabre and the voices stopped. Then one hand appeared from the fresh grave, asking for one of the lamb’s shoulders, to which the hero told he’ll give it once the lamb’s roasted. Then the arm appeared from another place, so he cut it off and after the lamb was done, he threw one of the shoulders on the grave, where another arm appeared and took it. The hero then returned, gave the lamb to his leader and told his comrades about his encounter.
After some time, the voivode got ill again. His cure this time was some living water from a spring in a cave deep inside the sea, which is guarded by all kinds of monsters, samovilas, devils and vampires. But the horse told him reaching that cave would be no problem for them, since the golden water had made them able to reach the bottom of the sea. When the hero entered the cave, which was so small he had to crawl in it, he met a large fish (which was actually a vampire in the form of a fish) with an opened mouth, waiting to eat him, but he grabbed it and threw it all the way to the coast. He then entered the cave, filled a gourd with the living water and returned, giving it to the voivode.
After a few days the bandits set out for hunting and robbing, but the hero joined them only for the hunting. The leader then tried to convince the other bandits to kill the young man for not wanting to join them, but they told him they prefer to get rid of him instead of the hero. So the voivode decided to send him to town, to sell whatever the bandits had saved up (since he couldn’t lead them to much robberies, because of his illnesses) in exchange of food for the winter, so he’d eventually be captured and imprisoned. He also tried to convince him to leave his horse, since he had noticed he succeeds because of it, but the hero was insistent on taking it with him. So, the hero went to a jeweler to sell his bracelet from the samovila’s arm. But the jeweler saw he can’t buy that bracelet even with all his money, so instead he claimed that it belonged to his wife, trying to scare the hero away with threats of calling the guards. The angered hero in return told him he has thirty nine more of these bracelets and offered a bet – if he returns with thirty nine such other bracelets, he’d take the jeweler’s shop and head, if he doesn’t – the jeweler would have his horse and head. The latter agreed, thinking this is just a ploy for the young man to escape from prison. After that the hero sold the other things to another jeweler, bought enough food, brought it to the bandits and then set off for the sea cave.
As he entered the cave, he met the fish again, but as it recognized him, it started pleading for its life, which the hero granted it in exchange for getting thirty nine of the samovila’s bracelets. The fish started knocking with its head on the cavern’s wall and a small, bright window appeared in it, from which a female voice asked who is it. She then complained it can’t get out, since a week ago a golden hero had cut off her arm. A second voice also said it’s still healing its cut-off arm (the one which wanted a lamb’s shoulder at the grave). Finally a third voice said it’ll come out, since the hero had given the shoulder to him that night. Then a scary devil with red hairs, red beard, green eyes and long silver horns appeared, asking what the hero wants from his cousins. He then opened a crack in the wall and a beautiful room, with a floor of gems and walls of pearls, appeared. In the room was a gathering of samovilas, devils, vampires, dwarves and other kinds of monsters, which all bowed to the hero and gathered for him the thirty nine bracelets. After that they sent him off on his way, amazed by his winged horse.
The hero then went to the jeweler, gathered all the witnesses of the bet and showed him the bracelets. The jeweler then fell to his knees, giving him his shop and all his possessions, but begging for his life. The hero granted his request, sold his shop and possessions, loaded the gold on his horse and flew to the mountain. But the old man had already died, so the hero started living in the palace, while the samovilas became his obedient and meek sworn-sisters/friends.


Things to note:
- This is the first of the authored tales by Nikolay Raynov, one of our most revered magical story-tellers. However, I’ve noticed some things in his tales which seem more specific to him. One of them is f.e. that the antagonist is often not a prime example for a paragon of virtues. In the case of this tale – the hero intentionally kills children, just so the samovilas would want revenge from him and thus offer a challenge in his search for fear; he befriends and helps bandits (even if he doesn’t help them with the robberies) and many other little details in the story I’ve missed. As can be seen, when compared to the other tales, those things seem rather specific to this author (which I kinda like – makes it more realistic, more sarcastically ironic and offers some food for thought about the matters of black, white and grey, which are missing from the usual, black and white, tales) and are not a common element of the folk tales in general (which doesn’t mean they can’t be used – every tale existed in as many forms as there were story-tellers, so it’s quite possible that there would’ve been some people with a darker sense of humour telling it).
- Another thing to note is the role of the samovilas, vampires etc., which in Raynov’s tales seems a bit more mixed and abstract than the modern stereotype of these creatures (which, of course, keep in mind that the characterization of the mythical creatures also varied in time and space and among the people, so for some f.e. the zmey was a flying reptilian, while for others he was an abstract force that caused draughts or floods and could turn to clouds etc). In the case of this story, the vampires actually seem to be much closer to the role of the devils (or imps, as mentioned in a previous tale) – a generic boogeyman, while the samovilas are their female version (much closer to harpies than to nymphs, although in the general view of South-Slavic mythology they’re not always so “black/evil”, but are in some cases even rather “white/good”, especially in the heroic epos). Thus, it should be remembered that Raynov’s depiction of these creatures is to some great part his own.

[shikaka]

Hehe, there is a hungarian version with that moment too!

Check this from about 6:30:

[Armatus]

@6:42

[NikeBG]

Btw, @post31, what are you confused about, Armatus? About the trick (that the clever man tricked the little imp and told him the dragon/zmey is his own son and the little imp should fight it) or the appearance of the dragon?

@6:42 - real blonde, huh?
Btw, the last paragraph of the Clever girl story is also a rather common thing in folk tales. Especially common is the ending from the type of "Then they feasted for three days and three nights. And I was there, and I ate and drank and had fun", with some eventual customized endings like "And I was there, and was about to eat my piece of meat, but your dog jumped out of nowhere and took it from me. So I came to tell you to keep a watch of your dog." or "And I was there, and I brought back home a full jar of honey, but I tripped at the doorstep, the jar fell and broke and I couldn't even taste it." or "And I was there, and I brought you these three golden apples from there" etc.

[shikaka]

@6:42

Hehe.
There are two of these serieses, one is 'Magyar népmesék' (Hungarian folk tales), the other is 'Mondák a magyar történelemből' (Legends from hungarian history), both by the same cartoonist, Marcell Jankovics.
He is very skilled. I mean at first this cartoon does not seem top quality, but if you look at the details, it is really awesome, (imho even today). He is notorious for drawing everything in the tale/legend: if someone is naked, he will draw a naked person, if somebody is vomiting because of drinking, he will draw it too.
It might be strange for foreigners, but for hungarians his tales are natural, and noone cares about a naked girl here and there. Kids love it. (and adults love it too).


A sample of his other works:
János vitéz


Lehel kürtje (the horn of Lehel)

[Armatus]

I see where you're coming from it's a smaller community where most share each other's outlooks towards what's acceptable.

But it is odd. (Edit: 'These days')

I wasn't clear on the story though, I stopped at the part where she was going to mend a bowl or something which she did.

Edit: Who is the voice actor for that weird guard character, he sounds awfully reminiscent to gollum in the 1977 Hobbit animation by rankin and bass.

[shikaka]

I see where you're coming from it's a smaller community where most share each other's outlooks towards what's acceptable.

But it is odd. (Edit: 'These days')

I will be honest with you, I don't understand what you are saying

If you mean that if it is strange, that in Hungary it is considered completely normal that someone shows a cartoon to kids, where a person is drawn as naked, I agree it is strange (to foreigners). For hungarians it is not important, the kids will see these sooner or later anyway, a part of life. I think this is not even a consideration, at least I don't remember any discussions to ban these or something, everyone loves these cartoons.