In another Hungarian tale, A tizenkét aranyhajú gyermek ("The Twelve Golden-Haired Children"), the youngest of three sisters promises the king to give birth to twelve golden-haired boys. Later, they go to the public square to tend to and bathe their mother, sewn in seven buffalo skins and exposed. Kuvik then convinces the twins to seek a mirror that can see the whole world. Seeing their good heart, the beggar summons a supernatural helper to guide them. Years later, they decide to seek their true parents and meet a beggar man on the road, to whom they give alms. The pair is saved by a fisherman and his wife. A creature named Kuvik, the "bird of death", takes the children as soon as they are born and throws them in the sea. In his travels, he and his butler pass by three princesses in a garden: the oldest says she can weave strong enough clothes for the entire army that would never tear up, the second one that she can make a bread of corn to feed the army, and the youngest sister promises golden-haired twins, a boy with the sun on his forehead, and a girl with a star on the front. In a third variant, A Szárdiniai király fia ("The Son of the King of Sardinia"), the dying King of Sardinia makes his son promise to find a suitable queen. Įlek Benedek collected the second part of the story as an independent tale named Az Aranytollú Madár ("The Golden-Feathered Bird"), where the children are reared by a white deer, a golden-feathered bird guides the twins to their house, and they seek "the world-sounding tree", "the world-sweetly speaking bird" and "the silver lake the golden fish". This tale was published by György von Gaal in his German language book Mährchen der Magyaren with the title Die Drillinge mit den Goldhaar ("The Triplets with Golden Hair"): the baker's three daughters, Gretchen, Martchen and Suschen each profess their innermost desire: the youngest wants to marry the king, for she will bear him two princes and one princess, all with golden hair and a golden star shining on the forehead. Regional tales Īccording to scholarship, the oldest variant of tale type 707 in Hungary was registered in 1822. įieldwork conducted in 1999 by researcher Zoltán Vasvári amongst the Palóc population found 3 variants of tale type 707. In the same vein, professor Linda Dégh stated that the national Hungarian Catalogue of Folktales (MNK) listed 28 variants of the tale type and 7 deviations. Professor Ágnes Kovács commented that the tale type 707 is frequent and widespread in Hungarian-language areas. Īccording to Hungarian-American scholar Linda Dégh, Hungarian variants may show two forms: the golden-haired sister rescues her golden-haired brothers and reveals the truth with the help of a truth-speaking bird, or the wonder children are helped by the Brother's fairy bride. Variants collected in Hungary and Hungarian-language territories show parallels with similar tales from nearby regions, like Grimm's The Three Little Birds. Hungarian scholarship classify the ATU 707 tale under the banner of "The Golden-Haired Twins" ( Hungarian: Az aranyhajú ikrek). The secong part of the tale (children born with special features) is tale type ATU 707, " The Three Golden Children". Other tales of this classification are Italian The Pig King, French Prince Marcassin and Romanian The Enchanted Pig (first part).ĪTU 707: The Three Golden Children The first part of the tale is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as ATU 441, " Hans My Hedgehog", a cycle of stories where the animal bridegroom is a porcupine, a pig or a hog. This tale is classified in the Hungarian Folktale Catalogue ( Magyar népmesekatalógus, or MNK) as type 441 and type 707. When they reach adulthood, their aunt sets them on a quest for "the world-sounding tree", "the world-sweetly speaking bird" and "the silver lake the golden fish". Her middle sister, seething with envy, dumps the royal babies in the forest, but they are reared by a Forest Maiden. They marry and she gives birth to twins, Yanoshka and Marishka. Only the eldest agrees to be the hedgehog's wife, which prompts him to reveal his true form as a golden-haired, golden-mouthed and golden-toothed prince. The tale begins with a merchant promising a hedgehog one of his daughters, after the animal helped him escape a dense forest. The second part of the tale belongs to the cycle of the Calumniated Wife and is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children". The first part of the tale refers to the international cycle of Animal as Bridegroom, wherein a human maiden marries a prince cursed to be an animal. The Hedgehog, the Merchant, the King and the Poor Man ( Hungarian: A sündisznó English: "The Hedgehog") is a Hungarian fairy tale collected by László Merényi and translated by folklorist Jeremiah Curtin. Hungarian fairy tale about wonder children
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