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The Folk-Lore Society,
for Collecting and Printing
Relics of Popular Antiquities, &c.
Established in the Year MDCCCLXXVIII.
[Illustration: Alter et Idem.]
PUBLICATIONS
OF
THE FOLK-LORE SOCIETY.
XIII. (1886).
* * * * * *
List of Officers of the Society,
1888-1889.
PRESIDENT.
ANDREW LANG, ESQ., M.A.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
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F.S.A.
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LOCAL SECRETARIES.
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HONORARY SECRETARY.
J. J. FOSTER, 36, Alma Square, St. John's Wood, N.W.
* * * * * *
THE FOLK-TALES OF THE MAGYARS.
Collected by Kriza, Erdélyi, Pap, and Others.
Translated and Edited, with Comparative Notes,
by
THE REV. W. HENRY JONES
and
LEWIS L. KROPF.
London:
Published For The Folk-Lore Society
by
Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row.
1889.
Westminster: Printed by Nichols and Sons, 25, Parliament Street.
TO
PROFESSOR ARMINIUS VAMBÉRY,
WHOSE INDEFATIGABLE LABOURS AND INDOMITABLE ZEAL HAVE DONE SO MUCH TO
ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF MANKIND: AND WHOSE ILLUSTRIOUS LIFE IS SO
BRIGHT AN EXAMPLE TO EVERY STUDENT,
This Work
ON THE STORIES OF THE FATHERLAND HE LOVES SO WELL AND SERVES SO
FAITHFULLY
Is Dedicated.
PREFACE.
A vast and precious store of Folk-Lore is to be found amongst the
Magyars as yet but little known to English readers, and so it is hoped
that this work on the subject may prove of some value to the student of
Comparative Folk-Lore. The difficulty of the language is one which makes
it well nigh impossible for the unaided foreigner to do anything like
justice to the stories. We laboured together often till dawn to make the
translation as literal as possible, that the reader might have as true a
rendering of the Magyar story-teller's method and manner as so different
a tongue as English would permit.
Whilst engaged on the Finnish stories we received the greatest help from
Finnish friends, especially Mr. A. Nieminen, Dr. Fagerlund, Dr. Krohn,
Dr. Rancken, Professor Freudenthal, Mr. Halleen, and Mr. Walter von
Bonsdorff. In the Lapp stories Professor Friis of Christiania has ever
been a true helper. Amongst numerous kindly helpers we tender thanks to
Dr. Retzius, Stockholm; Professor Gittée, Charleroi; the Rev. Henry
Jebb, of Firbeck Hall; Mr. Quigstad, of Troms; Mr. Nordlander; Mr. O. P.
Petersson, Hernösand; Mr. Lindholm; Dr. R. Köhler; Baron Nordenskjöld;
and the Rev. Walter H. James, rector of Fleet.
We regret that we cannot do more than acknowledge the courtesy of the
late Dr. Greguss (Buda Pest), whose lamented death removed a scholar and
friend to Englishmen.
If this collection adds a mite to the knowledge of man, our labours will
not have been in vain.[1]
W. H. J.
L. L. K.
[1] Mr. Kropf desires it to be stated, that he is not responsible for
the Introduction and Notes beyond supplying certain portions of the
material for their compilation.
INTRODUCTION.
Before the arrival of the Magyars, Hungary was the "cock-pit of eastern
Europe;" its history one incessant struggle between nation and nation,
which either perished or was driven out by some more powerful neighbour.
First we hear of the subjection of what was known as Pannonia, by the
Romans; then, when that great power began to wane, a motley horde under
the great Attila swept down and founded a kingdom. "Attila died in
Pannonia in 453. Almost immediately afterwards the empire he had amassed
rather than consolidated fell to pieces. His too-numerous sons began to
quarrel about their inheritance; while Ardaric, the King of the Gepidae,
placed himself at the head of a general revolt of the dependent nations.
The inevitable struggle came to a crisis near the river Netad, in
Pannonia, in a battle in which 30,000 of the Huns and their
confederates, including Ellak,[1] Attila's eldest son, were slain. The
nation thus broken rapidly dispersed. One horde settled under Roman
protection in Little Scythia (the Dobrudsha); others in Dacia Ripensis
(on the confines of Servia and Bulgaria), or on the southern borders of
Pannonia."[2] A tradition asserts that the Magyars are descendants of
those Huns, who, after their defeat, returned to their homes in Asia. On
the other hand, one of their most learned men says, we cannot "form an
accurate idea as to the part the Hungarians took in the irruption of the
Huns, with which event they are associated in national tradition." But
yet he adds, "we fairly claim that the ancestors of the Hungarians took
part in the great devastating campaigns which Attila carried on against
Rome and the Christian West, as far as France." Legend carries us still
further back, saying that the giant Nimrod had two sons named Hunyor and
Magyar, from whom the Huns and Magyars descended.[3] Leaving legend, in
history we find that the Magyars appeared in Europe about 884, first on
the Ural, later on the banks of the middle Volga; and then, marching
westward, passed over the Danube and the Bug, crossing the Carpathians
between 888 and 900, under Álmos, the father of Árpád,[4] the founder of
modern Hungary, who is said to have claimed the country as his
inheritance from Attila. The Magyars, then, are part of the numerous
hordes of Turco-Tartar origin which, impelled by some mighty impulse,
left their home amid the Altai mountains, and, conquering the divided
forces on the rich plains of Hungary, settled down, and so founded the
race whose tales form the body of this work.[5]
Another people, the Székely,[6] speak a dialect of Magyar, which, like
other Magyar dialects, differs but slightly from the written language.
This race claims to be descendants of those Hunnish tribes that remained
in Europe after the defeats. They say, that when the Magyars arrived in
modern Hungary they found a Magyar-speaking people (the Székely)
inhabiting parts of Transylvania. This is confirmed to some extent by
the statement of Constantinus Porphyrogenitus, who, writing about 950,
asserted that, amongst others, some Magyar tribes lived on the banks of
the rivers Maros and Körös (Transylvania). Kriza, too, quotes several
Székely sayings referring to the Székely-Magyar relationship, _e.g._:
"A Székely has borne the Magyar."
"If there were no Székelys in the world, there would not be any
Magyars."
"There is the same difference between a Székely and a Magyar as there is
between a man's son and his grandson."
"Let the Magyar be thankful, that the Székely is his acquaintance."
With regard to the alleged descent of the Székelys from the Huns, the
evidence in proof of such a pedigree is very meagre. First, it has not
as yet--with any degree of accuracy--been determined who the Huns were.
Prof. Vambéry has, with infinite pains, collected and analysed some
seventy words, mostly proper names--all that has come down to us of the
old Hunnish language--and come to the conclusion that the Huns and Avars
for the greater part belonged to the Turco-Tartar branch of the
Ural-Altaic race; yet he is bound to acknowledge that he would gladly
welcome a few historical facts to support him in his conclusions, which
are built upon an almost entirely philological basis.[7] Indeed, it
seems as though the term "Hun" was a sort of conventional designation,
like "Scythian," or "Barbarian" with the ancient Greeks and Romans; or
"Frenghi" with the modern Turks. Attila and the various races he pressed
into his service were, of course, the Huns _par excellence_. After his
death and the fatal battle near the river Netad his hordes appear to
have well-nigh vanished from Europe; but their terrible deeds left an
indelible impression upon the people who were unfortunate enough to have
been brought into contact with the "scourge of God" and his fierce
warriors. In the lapse of time all kinds of weird traditions gathered
round their names, in the usual way, when great names pass into the
possession of the Folk Historian;[8] and so they drifted through legends
of saints into the region of myths. Thus we find the name Hüne (Heune,
Hewne, Huyne) becomes synonymous with "giant," and to this day the
Westphalian and Dutch peasant speaks of the great tumuli as "Hünen
gräber"--graves of the giants, or Huns.[9] To add to the confusion, it
would appear that there were some German tribes who were known as
Hunes. Mr. Karl Blind has pointed out in the _Gentleman's Magazine_,[10]
that our own Venerable Bede speaks of Hunes as being among the tribes of
Germany that came over to Britain together with the Saxons.
Elsewhere[11] he explains "the tribal origin of Siegfried (of the
Nibelungen lied) as a German Hüne;" a word which has nothing whatever to
do with the Mongolian Huns. We know mediæval writers were not very
particular about facts, and the _licentia poetica_ was claimed not only
by poets, but also by historiographers, as an indisputable privilege.
Thus, João Barros, in his chronicle of Clarimundus,[12] calmly tells us
that Count Henry of Portugal, the Navigator, was of Hungarian descent,
and that he found the statement in a Magyar book.[13] This alleged
pedigree was the cause of a fierce controversy amongst Hungarian
savants, and was fully threshed out in the early part of the present
century.[14]
Vigfusson[15] remarks that the northern poet, whom he designates the
"Tapestry poet," uses Hunar (Huns), Hynske (Hunnish) as a vague word for
"foreign." Probably the East Baltic folk would have been Huns to the
earlier poets. With regard to the German and Scandinavian Huns, it is
noteworthy what Olaus Magnus writes with regard to the "Huns" of his
time. The learned prelate says that "in provincia Middelpadensi versus
Boreales partes Suetiæ superioris, ubi ferè major pars virorum Huni
nomine appellantur tamquam populi clarius contra Hunos olim
belligerantes ac triumphantes."[16] His statement is borne out by his
colleague, Joannes Magnus,[17] who asserts that "non desunt qui dicant
ipsos Hunnos à Septentrionale parte Scandiæ utra Helsingorum terras ex
Medelphatia primum erupisse: in qua etiam hodie plurimi præstantissimæ
fortitudinis homines inveniuntur, qui Hunni proprio nomine appellantur,
quique magna et præclara opera in tyrannos, qui patriæ libertatem
vexaverat, peregerunt."
In the face of all this, it is quite evident how difficult a task awaits
those who attempt to identify the lineal descendants of the Huns: and
those who uphold the Hunnish descent of the Székelys do not appear, as
yet, to have advanced sufficient historical grounds to establish the
connection of the modern Székelys with the Huns of Attila.[18]
It is well known that the Hun descent of the Magyars and Székelys has
equally been questioned. Savants of such authority as Budenz and
Hunfalvy disclaim the Hun relationship, and endeavour to prove the
Finn-Ugrian origin of the Magyars. Whereas Professor Vambéry, in his
work on the "Origin of the Magyars," which received so favourable a
reception at the hands of the whole learned world, defends, as we saw
above, a Turco-Tartar descent.
It lies far beyond the limits of this work to give even a brief outline
of the history of the Székelys: yet a few data may not be out of place
to show that, although they are at the present time, and mayhap always
have been, a Magyar-speaking people, yet they are in many respects
distinct from the race known as the Magyars. Ibn Dasta, an Arab
writer,[19] at the end of the ninth century, informs us that in his time
some Bulgarians lived on the banks of the River Itil (Volga); and that
they consisted of three tribes, viz.: the Berzuls, the Esseghels, and
the Uz. He further says that "the first territory of the Magyars lies
between the country of the Bisseni and the Esseghel Bulgarians."
Another Arab writer, Ibn Muhalhal, about the middle of the tenth
century, mentions a people named "Jikil," who lived next to the
"Bajnak." If the writers who would identify in this Ashkal, Esseghel, or
Jikil people, the parents of the Székely race, be right in their
conclusions, then the Siculi (as they are called in Latin deeds) are of
Bulgarian descent.[20] But we know full well how dangerous it is to
build up theories on a mere similarity of names amongst barbarous or
semi-barbarous races. The first reliable information we have about them
is that about the year 1116 A.D. Bisseni and Siculi formed the
body-guard of the Magyar King Stephen II. in his war against the Czechs.
They supplied the vanguard of the army of King Géjza against Henry of
Austria about 1146. More than half a century later, _i.e._ A.D. 1211,
Andreas II. presented some uninhabited territory in Transylvania to the
Teutonic knights; and, in a deed dated 1213, William, Bishop of
Transylvania, granted the tithes of his territory to the same order, but
reserved to himself the right of collecting them from all Magyar or
Székely immigrants who might settle on the lands in question.[21] King
Béla IV. ordered the Székelys[22] to supply him with one hundred mounted
warriors in war; and later on, to show them his gratitude for their
faithful services, he created them military nobles:[23] "Quod non sub
certo numero (in a body as hitherto) sed eo modo sicut servientes
regales, per se et personaliter armata nobiscum exercituare
teneantur."[24] The Székelys of Hungary Proper gradually disappear, but
the Siculi of Transylvania figure throughout the pages of Hungarian
history as a separate people, with institutions and privileges of their
own, and acting as a sort of border-fencibles in the numerous wars with
the enemies of the Magyars. They furnished a separate title to the
Prince of Transylvania,[25] and, although recent reforms have swept away
old barriers, yet one still hears people speaking of the three nations
of Transylvania, viz. the Magyars, the Székelys, and the Saxons.[26]
Whether they ever spoke a language of their own we are unable to say;
they speak several dialects, which have been carefully studied by
Kriza,[27] himself a Székely by birth, and which possess peculiarities
not to be found amongst the Magyars, or any other part of the realm of
St. Stephen. A passage[28] in a work entitled "Hungaria et Attila," by
Nicolaus Oláh, Archbishop of Esztergom (died 1568), might, perhaps, be
quoted to prove that an independent Székely language had existed once,
but there is an ambiguity about the statement of the learned prelate
which makes it useless to the philologist. At any rate, we do not
possess a single scrap of the old language, if it ever existed.
Having thus made ourselves acquainted with the Székelys, we may proceed
to consider the other Magyar-speaking nationalities.
The Csángós[29] are Hungarian settlers in Moldavia; there are so many
similarities in their tongue to the Székely dialects that Hunfalvy
appears to be quite confident that they are a people of Székely
origin.[30] Of late years an attempt has been made to resettle them in
the less populous crown lands in Hungary; the result, as one might
expect, is, that some are content, whilst others lust after the
flesh-pots of Moldavia.
Next come the Kúns (Cumanians). The non-Magyar writers,[31] who have
made the old language of this people their study, declare it, with
almost unanimous consent, to be a Turkish dialect, whereas the Magyar
writers, with very few exceptions, staunchly defend the Magyar origin of
the Cumanians.[32]
Foremost in the ranks of the latter party was the late Stephen Gyárfás,
who denied that a _lingua Cumenesca_ had ever existed, and that the
various extant specimens are the remnants of the language of a people of
Magyar descent, who had become Turks during the lapse of centuries.[33]
His most powerful antagonist is Count Géjza Kuun, the learned editor of
the _Codex Cumanicus_,[34] who espouses the cause of the Turkish party.
Besides the valuable Glossary preserved in the Codex, several versions
of the Lord's Prayer and other scraps of the Cumanian tongue are in
existence, and have been examined by competent scholars, and pronounced
to be of undoubted Turkish origin.[35]
Jazygo-Cumanians have been quoted in the note, and so we proceed to
consider the next race--if one may use the word--viz.: the Jazyges,
formerly a military tribe, who, together with the Cumanians, live in
central Hungary, in the vicinity of the capital, and occupy a territory
on the banks of the rivers Danube, Zagyva, Sárrét, Tisza, and Körös.
From time immemorial, until quite recent times, they enjoyed certain
privileges and administered their own affairs in three districts--the
Jászság, Kis-Kúnság, and Nagy-Kúnság, entirely separate from the
surrounding population, thus forming a state within a state. They had
however to surrender some of their old rights in 1848, and by the law of
1876 (cap. xxxiii.), which readjusted the political divisions of the
kingdom, the limits of their territory disappeared altogether from the
map of Hungary.[36] With regard, then, to the nationality of the Jász
people, they are found at all periods of history in company with the
Cumanians, and so, as their institutions are the same as their fellow
armigerents, we may safely assume with Hunfalvy that they are a branch
of the Cumans, if they be not offspring of the same mother-stock.
Next come the Palócz folk,[37] who live scattered among the other races
in several of the northern counties of Hungary, and speak a dialect of
their own. Hunfalvy asserts that they are the same people as the
"Polovczi" mentioned by early Russian and Slavonic writers. And as
Jerney, in his paper _The Palócz Nation and The Palócz Chronicle_, has
proved beyond doubt that, whatever the Magyar Chronicles and Byzantine
writers relate anent the Cumans can be traced, statement for statement,
in Russian and Polish writers, with reference to the Polovczi, Hunfalvy
draws the conclusion that the Palócz people are Cumans.[38]
Their name first occurs in Russian Annals A.D. 1061, and the Magyar
savant to whose rich store of learning this work is so deeply indebted
thinks that the migration of the Cumans into Hungary took place in two
distinct streams, one, an earlier one, from the North, _viâ_ the Slave
countries across the Northern Carpathians, and another, later one from
the south-east, through the passes and defiles of the south-eastern
extension of the same range of mountains.
Before leaving this part of the subject, the reader must be reminded
that all the foregoing races or nationalities at the present time speak
one or other Magyar dialect,[39] and that the old Cuman tongue is the
only other language of which we know anything.[40]
Having, we hope, somewhat cleared the way as to people amongst whom the
stories have been collected, we may now proceed to say a few words about
the tales themselves. Of course, the stories will be found to bear a
strong resemblance to other collections, as indeed they must do; the
very fact of the striking way in which not only tales, but even little
superstitions, reappear in all manner of strange places,[41] is of
itself a fact which is of the deepest interest to those who study the
history of man. We have attempted to give some few variants to the tales
in this work, chiefly confining ourselves to Lapp and Finnish tales,
which are but little known in England, and of which, as of the Magyar,
there is a rich store. The more one considers comparative folk-lore, the
more one is convinced that many of these tales were the common property
of mankind before they migrated from their Asiatic home.[42] Of course
local circumstances often colour the stories, but do not change the
theme. Amidst the stories from Hungary we find, as we might presume, the
Székely stories telling of snow-clad mountains, whilst those from the
banks of the Danube dwell on the beauties of the Hungarian plains. The
fierce conflicts of the past, too, have left their marks on the stories,
and so we find the Turkish Sultan[43] and the Dog-headed Tartar[44] as
the tyrants of the tale; and even, in one case, so modern a fact as the
French invasion[45] is used to frighten an old-world witch. We see later
on the influence of Mohammedanism, and also the marks of
Christianity,[46] in some tales which become as it were, a folk-lore
palimpsest. Nor must we omit other ways by which the tales have been
modified. Many of the mediæval romances were, of course, translated into
Hungarian; and even to this day the penny bookstall is always present at
fairs and popular gatherings where "yards of literature" are to be
obtained for a nominal sum. The vendor cannot afford a booth or stall,
so a mat or tarpaulin is spread on the ground, and weighted at the four
corners with brickbats or paving stones, hence the Hungarian name
"ponyva-irodalom" (tarpaulin literature). Here we find mediaeval
romances, bits of national history, biographies and panegyrics of famous
robbers, the wicked doings of the mistress of some castle and her
punishment, the exploits of Magyar heroes, the chronicles of Noodledom,
in prose, or versified by some such favourite poet of the people as
Peter Tatár; and by this means certain tales have been imported, others
modified. Then again, the wandering students were entertained by the
country folk during their peregrinations, and no doubt in return amused
the old folks with the latest news from the town, and the young ones
with tales from the Greek and Roman Mythologies.[47] Another mode of
dissemination and modification was the soldiers. When the Hapsburgs were
at the height of their glory the emperor-king's soldiers were scattered
far and wide over Europe; and, after long years of service in an
infantry regiment and absence from home, the old private returned to his
native village, and at eventide in the village inn related how he, as
"Sergeant of Hussars," caught with his own hand the Emperor Napoleon,
and only let him go at the earnest entreaties of his wife, and upon
receiving a rich bribe in gold.[48] The old soldier was well received in
every family, and enjoyed great authority as a man who had seen the
world. The children sat upon his knee, or stood round about him
open-mouthed, and listened to his marvellous yarns.[49]
In Hungary, as in other countries, until the labours of the Brothers
Grimm directed attention to the importance of the Folk-tales, nothing
was done in the way of collecting them; and, even after Grimm's work
appeared, no move was made in Hungary until Henszlman read his paper in
1847 before the Kisfaludy Society on the "Popular Tales of Hungary," in
which paper he examined some 14 tales which afterwards appeared in
Erdélyi's Collection, vols. 1 and 2. Ladislaus Arany in May 1867 read
another paper before the same society and according to his calculation
some 240 tales had been collected up to that date: the collections
quoted by him were as follows:--
John Erdélyi,[50] _Folk-Songs and Popular
Tales_, 3 vols. containing 34 tales
George Gaál,[51] _Hungarian Folk-Tales_, 3 vols. " 53 "
John Erdélyi, _Hungarian Popular Tales_, 1 vol. " 13 "
Ladislaus Merényi, _Original Popular Tales_, }
2 vols. }
}
Ladislaus Merényi, _Popular Tales from the_ }
_Valley of the Sajó_, 2 vols. } " 65 "
}
Ladislaus Merényi, _Popular Tales from the_ }
_Banks of the Danube_, 2 vols. }
Ladislaus Arany, _Original Popular Tales_, 1 vol. " 35 "
John Kriza,[52] _Wild Roses_, 1 vol.[53] " 20 "
Julius Pap, _Palócz Folk-Poetry_, 1 vol. " 6 "
Count John Majláth,[54] _Hungarian Fairy Tales_,
_Sagas and Popular Tales_, translated from the
German by G. Kazinczy, 1 vol. " 6 "
Maurus Jókai, _Witty Tales of the
Hungarian Folk_, 1 vol. " 8 "
-------
Total, 240
Of these, Erdélyi's first collection and Kriza's _Wild Roses_ are the
most important, and the translation of them form the bulk of this
volume. Since 1867 the work of collecting the Popular Tales has been
going on steadily, and the _Hungarian Language Guardian_ (Magyar
Nyelvör) is a paper specially devoted to the purpose: publishing popular
sayings, proverbs, children's games, nursery rhymes, &c. Very little of
the Folk-lore treasure is known outside of Hungary. There is Count
Majláth's collection, which appeared originally in German, and also a
German edition of Gaál, and one by Stier, which contains some of
Erdélyi's stories. In English the only translations we are aware of are
the tale of "The talking grapes, the smiling apple, and the tinkling
apricot," from Erdélyi's collection, which was translated by Mr. E. D.
Butler, and appeared in a London suburban paper; and another tale, "The
Round Stone," in the February number of the _St. Nicholas Magazine_,
1882; so that this collection opens up new ground. The great difficulty
in considering these tales--in common with the Finn, Esthonian, and
Lapp--is the language; and the aim of the present translation is but to
be as literal as possible in its rendering of the stories; there being
no attempt whatever made to polish or beautify the tales, but simply an
endeavour to reproduce as near as may be the stories as told by the
people; in many cases, especially with regard to the Székely stories,
this has been a work of very great difficulty, on account of the
dialect, and must plead for the many shortcomings in the translations.
A brief consideration of some points in Magyar Folk-lore may be found of
interest in a study of the stories. And I am indebted for the following
information on giants, fairies, and witches to a valuable paper,
entitled _Mythological Elements in Székely Folk-lore and Folk-life_,
read by Kozma before the Hungarian Academy in 1882.
I. GIANTS.[55]
Many of the characteristics of the Magyar giants are the same as those
to be found in the Greek and German mythologies, but we do not find
anything extraordinary in their appearance, such as one eye--as
Cyclops[56], or sundry heads as the northern giants, nor redundant
fingers and toes as the Jews; they are simply big men. There is no trace
of any struggle between the gods and the giants in Magyar mythology.
They are said to be sons of witches,[57] and as tall as towers,[58] and
step from mountain-top to mountain-top as they walk.
The length of their stride and the pace at which they walk is
illustrated in a tradition, according to which the giants who inhabited
a fortress called Kadicsavár, near the River Nyikó, were in the act of
shaving when the bells rang first from the church-tower of
Gyula-Fejérvár, at the second ringing they dressed, on the third ringing
they sat in church.[59]
Near Szotyor in Háromszék[60] there is a rock, which is called the
"Giant's Stone," on the top of this there is a cavity resembling in
shape the heel of a man; the diameter of this hole is five feet, and
popular tradition says it is the imprint of a giant's heel.
When the giant is angry he strikes a blow with his fist on the rock, and
traces of his fist are shown now-a-days on a rock near Ikavar; his
footstep is shown in the neighbourhood of Kézdi-Borosnyó, on a rocky
ledge near a spring, where he used to come down to drink.
With one foot he stands on the mountain where Csiki-Bálványos-vár castle
stands; with the other on a mountain opposite, and bending down, he
picks up the water of the River Olt, running in the valley below, in a
gigantic bucket, with one swoop.
He mounts a horse of such size that it stands with its hind legs on a
mountain in Bodok in Háromszék, while its fore-legs rest on another
mountain in Bickfalú, and its head reaches far into Wallachia, where it
grazes in a green clover-field.
On short outings he walks; on long journeys he goes on horseback; his
steed is a tátos,[61] with whom he holds many conversations. On
returning home from a long ride he throws his mace, weighing forty
hundredweights, from a distance of forty miles (= about 180 English
miles), which drops into the courtyard of the castle, and penetrating
into the ground taps a subterranean spring.[62]
While the giant of the Germans lives during the flint-period, and uses
gigantic stones and masses of rock as weapons, the Hungarian giant uses
swords and maces of iron and copper, and also goes in for wrestling. He
is not a cannibal. He is fond of a good supper and warm food, and is not
a teetotaller. He always takes plenty of provisions on the journey.
Kozma has come across a tale, "Iron-made Peter," in which there figure
six giants, each of whom is proficient in one thing or another. They
bear names which characterise their special accomplishments. In English
they would be as follows: Sharp-eye, Fast-runner, Far-thrower, Glutton,
Drinker, Shiverer. The first is sitting on a mountain-peak reaching up
to heaven's vault, and keeps on bowing in every direction, muttering
"Which way shall I look? Is there nothing else to be seen? I have
already seen everything in the world." The second is wandering about a
vast plain, the boundaries of which cannot even be seen, and is moaning,
evidently in great trouble. "Where shall I run? In which direction? No
sooner do I start than I am at the end of this place." The third is seen
sitting among huge pieces of rock, and crying, "Where shall I throw now?
Which way? The whole world is covered by the stones I have thrown." The
fourth is watching a bullock roasting, and continues yelling, "Oh, how
ravenously hungry I am! What can I eat?" The fifth is rolling about on
the sea-shore, roaring, "Oh, how thirsty I am! What will become of me?
What can I drink? If I drain the ocean there will not be left anything
for to-morrow!" The sixth is shivering on the top of a huge stack of
wood all in a blaze, and exclaiming, "Oh, how cold I am! I am freezing."
The hero of the tale finds suitable employment for each of the giants.
"Fast-runner" goes on an errand into the seven-times-seventh country,
and returns in five minutes, although he goes to sleep on the road from
the sleeping draught administered to him by a witch. "Sharp-eye"
discovers him asleep; and "Far-thrower" knocks away the pillow from
underneath his head, thus enabling him to return by the appointed time.
"Glutton" consumes 366 fat oxen within six hours. "Drinker" empties
during the same interval the contents of 366 casks, each holding 100
buckets of wine. "Shiverer" creeps into a furnace, which has been
brought to, and kept in, a glowing heat for the last twenty-four years
by twenty-four gipsies,[63] and by so doing lowers the temperature so
that his mates, who have gone with him, are shivering with cold although
they are wrapped up in thick rugs.[64]
The giants in northern regions live in six-storied diamond castles, or
in golden fortresses which swivel round on a leg; more generally,
however, they inhabit fortresses built by their own hands on the top of
lofty mountains or steep rocks. In Székelyland the ruins of thirty-six
such castles are existing, all of which are ascribed by the people to
the giants. Some of their names show this; they are called the "Giant's
Rock," the "Giant's Castle," the "Giant's Hill." In one case (Egyeskö in
Csikszèk) they show the giants' table and bench in the rock. Sometimes,
however, the castles are inhabited by fairies.
Tall mountain chains are sometimes said to be roads built by giants.
Their names are "Attila's Track," "Devil's Ridge," &c. These roads were
constructed by devils and magic cocks who were in the service of the
giants. Hence also the name "Cocks' Ridge." In one case, however, near
Száraz Ajta, the ridges were made by giants themselves,[65] who used
silver-shared ploughs drawn by golden-haired bullocks for this purpose.
The giants left their homes when "the country was given away to
mankind," or when "modern mankind commenced to exist." When the
husbandmen appeared and began to till the lands in the valleys and
lowlands the giants did not associate with men, but kept to their
castles and only visited the impenetrable woods.
There is a tale which occurs in several localities about a giant's
daughter who finds a husbandman, picks up him and his team and puts them
into her apron and carries them off as toys, showing them to her father.
The father exclaiming angrily, "Take him back, as he and his
fellow-creatures are destined to be the lords of the globe," or "Their
anger might cause our ruin," or "They will be our successors." We thus
see that, while in the German tale the giant of Nideck-burg in Alsacia
bids his daughter to take back the ploughman and his team for fear that
by preventing his tilling the land the bread-supply might fail, in the
Hungarian tales the giant openly acknowledges the superior power of the
human race.[66]
The giants, unlike their brethren in foreign lands, are gregarious and
live under a royal dynasty. They hold assemblies, at which their king
presides. Several royal residences exist in Székeland. Near Besenyö
there is one that is called "Csentetetö." Tradition has even preserved
the giant-king's name, which was Bábolna. This king used to convoke the
other giants to the assembly with huge golden bells. On feeling his
approaching death he ordered the bells to be buried in a deep well in
the castle, but on feast days they are still to be distinctly heard
ringing, which sets the whole rock vibrating.
The name of another king of giants is to be found in Kriza's "Prince
Mirkó" (Kutyafejü = Dogheaded.)
Sometimes the giants were good-natured and full of kindness towards the
weak.[67]
They marry, their wives are fairies, so are their daughters. They make
very affectionate fathers. They had no male issue, as their race was
doomed to extermination. They fall in love, and are fond of courting.
Near Bikkfalva, in Háromszék, the people still point out the "Lovers'
Bench" on a rock, where the amorous giant of Csigavár used to meet his
sweetheart, the "fairy of Veczeltetö."
The giants lived to a great age. Old "Doghead" remembers a dream he
dreamt 600 years ago. His friend Knight Mezei finds him after a
separation of 600 years, and they live happy for a great many years
after.[68]
They have magic powers. They know when a stranger is hidden in their
home. Doghead knows who has thrown back his mace from a distance of 180
English miles. They are acquainted with the conjuring formulæ and charms
of the fairies, and know how to overcome them. They have a thorough
knowledge of geography, and can give advice to those who enter their
service, &c. They have great physical strength, and can build huge
castles and roads, subdue whole countries, amass treasures[69] which
they have guarded even after their death. Magic beings, animals, and
implements await their commands.
In the castle of Hereczvára, near Oltszem, the giants were negroes, and
their servants were black dwarfs. Among the magic animals who guarded
the giant's treasures we may mention the bullock with golden hair, the
tátos, &c. Of weapons, charms, &c., Doghead's copper mace, Prince
Mirkó's magic sword, the wine kept in a cask in the seventh cellar, each
drop of which equals the strength of five thousand men.
The king of the giants of Görgény is bullet-proof; but if a man who is
the seventh son of his mother (and all the elder brothers of whom are
alive) casts a bullet, at the first appearance of the new moon, by a
fire of wheat straw, this bullet will kill the monarch. Such a man was
found, and the bullet was made, and it killed the king. The other giant,
now being without a leader, evacuated the fortress and withdrew to
Hungary Proper. Thus we see a giant can only be killed with a magic
weapon.
In one of Kozma's tales the hero is in possession of a rusty padlock,
from which two giants appear whenever he commands. They produce by
charms, a golden cloak, and a golden fortress on the swivel principle,
which they hand over to their master in a nutshell. They then clothe the
poor lad in a copper suit and seat him on a copper steed so that he may
appear decently dressed before the king; they change his miserable hovel
into a fine palace at eleven o'clock, and at noon the whole royal
family, who are his guests, sit down to a sumptuous dinner; they carry
their master and his royal bride across a sea of flames, &c. There are
several other tales which attribute the power of flying to giants.
Some of the giants have grown old and died a natural death. The greater
part of them, however, were killed by enterprising knights. They have
buried their treasures in deep wells, in huge mountains, or in extensive
cellars under the fortresses. In the well of the Várhegy in Száraz-Ajta
there lies hidden the silver plough and the golden bullock; in the
cellar the silver plough with the fluid gold. In the cellars of
Hereczvára in black casks the accumulated treasure of the negro-giants
is guarded by the black dwarfs, who spend their time in eating,
drinking, and dancing. In the cellar of Kézdi-Szent-Lélek castle the
treasure is guarded by a copper greyhound. In the well and cellar of the
Várbércz, near Kis-Borosnyó, the gigantic golden bells and other
treasures of the king of giants are guarded by two black goats. Near
Angyalos, in the Bábolna dyke, King Bábolna's golden sun and golden lamb
are guarded by two black greyhounds and a snow-white stallion in full
harness. In the well of Csigavàr there is a gold bucket on a golden
chain, and in the bowels of the Tepej mountain, near Alsó-Rákos, the
rams with golden fleece, &c.
Some of the cellar doors open every third, others every seventh year.
People have been inside, but were careless and lost the treasure on the
way back to the surface, others were more careful, and succeeded in
bringing some of it out; but the moment the wind touched it it changed
into dry leaves or bits of charcoal. Some unwise people have been
foolhardy enough to try the expedition a second time, but the huge iron
doors closed behind them. But whereas the natives have hitherto been
unsuccessful in recovering the hidden treasure, foreigners come and
carry it off wholesale on the backs of horses, which are shod with shoes
turned the wrong way.[70]
II. FAIRIES.[71]
Fairy, in Hungarian, "tündér," from the same root as "tün" (verb) and
"tünés" (noun) = comparitio, apparitio, and "tündökōl" = to shine.
Cf. the Mongolian "Tinghir."
The queen of the fairies is sometimes called a goddess. Thus, south of
the sulphur cave, Büdös, near Altorja, behind a mountain called the
Priests' Mountain, is situated the very ancient village of Ikafalva,
through which runs a brook named Furus. According to the tradition, the
ancestors of the people of the village were led to this place more than
1,000 years ago, in the time of the conquest of the country, by a hero
who encouraged his warriors in the name of "the goddess Furuzsina." The
hero fell in the struggle, and on the spot where his blood had flowed a
spring appeared, close to which the warriors built the present village,
and named the brook after their goddess. The water of this brook is
collected, even at the present day, into ponds; and drinking from this
"blood and water" has made the villagers so strong that they have quite
a name for physical strength in the neighbourhood. If a lad of Ikafalva
performs some feat of pluck or strength they say: "It is no wonder, he
has grown up on Furus water!"
Although the fairies, as a rule, are kind, good-natured persons, and
take the hero's part in the tales, the Székely folk-lore furnishes a
case to the contrary, _i.e._ that of two fairies, "Firtos" and "Tartod,"
the former being the queen of the good, the latter the queen of the bad,
fairies.[72]
Kozma has found another variation of the first-named tale in "Fairy
Helena." Helena's father blows across a broad river, whereupon a golden
bridge appears. The young fairy takes a "kourbash," and wipes a rusty
table-fork with it, which at once changes into a steed with golden hair,
on which her lover, the prince, flees to Italy. When they discover that
they are followed, Helena spits on the floor,[73] on the door-handle,
and on the hinge of the door, whereupon the planks, the handle, and the
hinge commence to speak to the king's messengers from behind the closed
door, and the fugitives gain time to make their escape. Her father is
sent after them in the shape of a gigantic spotted eagle, who with the
tip of one wing touches heaven and with the other earth. On the road the
same things happen as in "Fairy Elisabeth," with this difference, that
Helena's mother changes into a buffalo who drinks all the water in the
pond on which the lovers swim about as ducks, whereupon they change into
worms; and, as the mother cannot find them in the mud, she pronounces
the curse of oblivion upon them.
Their means of charming were: The pond of beautifying milk, dresses,
tears, the saliva, fascinating look, word of command, rejuvenating herb,
rejuvenating water, wound-healing herb, water of life and death, iron
bar, copper bridle, leather belt, gold and diamond rod, copper and gold
whip, at the cracking of which dragons and devils appear; magic wand,
curse of oblivion, sleeping draughts (wine), and the table that covers
itself. The daughter of Doghead rides on a tátos. The magic animals in
their service are: the cat and the cock, although the loud crowing of
the latter has, by indicating the time, very often a fatal influence on
fairies who are forgetful. One fairy queen, Dame Rapson, has the devil
himself in her service.
Their conjuring formulae are: "You are mine, I am thine." "Be there,
where you have come from!" "Fog before me, smoke behind me." "Hop, hop!
let me be, where I wish to be." "Hop, hop! they shall not know where I
have come from, nor where I am going to! Let me be, where my thoughts
are!" They can teach their magic formulae to their heroes.
As to _their occupations_. Of serious ones, our tales only mention
embroidery. Their more favourite pastimes seem to be: bathing, banquets,
singing, frivolous dances, and love adventures. After their nocturnal
dances, flowers spring up where their feet have touched the ground. If
anybody approaches them while they are dancing, they, in their unbounded
merriment, drag him also into the dance.
On one occasion they enticed a shepherd into Borza-vára Cave, and kept
him there for three days, amusing him with singing, dancing, playing
music, and cajoling; finally they invited him to a game of cards and
dismissed him with a big hatful of gold. From the castle-hill of
Makkfalva the merry song of the fairies can be heard now every night as
they dance round the castle-walls to the strains of music. They are
reserved in their love; but, having made their choice, they are
faithful, and their passion has no bounds. The daughter of Doghead is an
instance of this; she reveals to her hero her father's charms, in order
to ensure his victory in his struggle for life and death. The young and
pretty mistress of Kisvártetö Castle, near Zsögöd, in the county of
Csík, stood on a rock-ledge, waiting for the return of her husband from
the war, till she faded away in her grief. The impression of her foot
can still be seen in the rock. The fairy daughter of the giant who
inhabited the castle near Bereczk fell in love with a hero who played
the flute, disguised as a shepherd, at the foot of the rock; but her
haughty father smashed the shepherd with a huge piece of rock, which is
still to be seen in the bed of the brook. His daughter thereupon
escaped from the father's castle, and built a castle (Leányvár =
Maiden's Castle) near Ojtoz for herself, where she spent the rest of her
days mourning for her lover, until grief killed her. Another such a
pretty tale is associated with Firtos Castle. The fairy who lived here
was in love with a knight; and, notwithstanding that her father forbade
the intercourse, they secretly met in the garden every night. One
beautiful moonlight night she was standing on the brink of the rock,
when, as she extended her arm to assist her lover up the steep slope,
the knight's horse slipped, and they were precipitated arm in arm into
the depth below, and thus perished, united for ever in death. The horse
caught on a projecting piece of rock, and petrified. "Firtos's horse" is
still to be seen. Dame Rapson's daughter, Irma, a fairy, also fell a
victim to prohibited love, and fell from a lofty peak where her mother's
castle stood, with her lover, Zelemir, into the depth below, where Dame
Rapson found them, and died of a broken heart. They all three were
buried under the rock below, which tradition names "Zelemir's Tower."
At the south angle of the Firtos there is a group of rocks which is
called "Fairy Helena's Carriage," in which the fairies who lived in the
castle used to drive out on moonlight nights. But one night they were so
much engrossed in their enjoyments that they returned home late; and lo!
the cock crew, and the carriage turned into stone.
The fairies live in castles on lofty mountain peaks. They build their
castles themselves, or inherit them from giants. Sometimes they are at a
great distance, as _e.g._ Fairy Elisabeth's Castle in the town of
Johara, in the "Land of Black Sorrow."
Kozma enumerates the names of about 23 castles which belonged to fairies
and which still exist. The castle of Kadacs formerly belonged to giants,
upon whose extinction the fairies moved into it. Dame Rapson's castle
near Paraja was built of materials which were carried up on the almost
perpendicular side of the rock, to a height which makes one's head swim,
by a magic cat and cock. The road leading to the castle was constructed
by the Devil for a "mountain of gold," and a "valley of silver." Dame
Rapson owed the Devil his wages for several years, although he kept on
reminding her of it, till at last the cunning fairy presented him with a
gold coin between the tips of her upheld fingers, and a silver coin in
her palm, explaining to him that the gold coin is the mountain and the
silver coin the valley.[74] The Devil, seeing that he was outwitted, got
into a fearful rage and destroyed the road, the traces of which are
still shown as far as the Görgény (snow-clad) mountains, and is still
called "Dame Rapson's Road." The tale about building the road for a
mountain of gold and valley of silver is also mentioned in connection
with the Várhegy, near Köszvényes-Remete, but in this case it is Fairy
Helen's daughter who cheats the devil. There is such a dam also at the
foot of the Sóhegy, near Paraja, extending as far as Mikhàza, and this
bank too is called "Dame Rapson's Road," and also "Devil's Dyke." A dam,
similar to the "Cock's Ridge," near Rika, extends in the neighbourhood
of Gagy and Körispatak in the direction of Firtos, and is called "Pretty
Women's Road," or "Fairies' Road." Another high dam with a deep moat at
its southern side, and also called the "Fairies' Road," is to be seen
between Enlaka and Firtos. Under the Szépmezö (Beautiful Meadow) in
Háromszék, the golden bridge of the fairies lies buried. On the
outskirts of Tordátfalva there is a peak called "Ebédlö-Mál" (ebédlö =
dining-place) on which the fairies coming from Firtos to Kadacsvára used
to assemble to dinner.