Thursday, January 17, 2019

Difference between fairy tale and legend, illustrated from Hungary


I
Hungarian Folk Tales: The Two Princes with Hair of Gold
Hungarian Folk Tales | 3.IV.2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Em03UdVqGJg


II
Die Belagerung von Ödenburg
SAGEN.at >> Traditionelle Sagen >> Ungarn
http://www.sagen.at/texte/sagen/ungarn/belagerung_oedenburg.htm


For those who don't know German, the second title translates as "Siege of Ödenburg" or "Siege of Sopron", and the first sentence is like this in German and in English translation:

1605 kamen die Anhänger des Stephan von Botskay, aus Siebenbürgern, Ungarn und Türken bestehend, von dem Neusiedler See herangezogen, verbrannten auf ihrem Zuge alle Dörfer, und Mord oder Gefangenschaft war das traurige Los der in ihre unmenschlichen Hände geratenen Bewohner.

In 1605 the adherents of Stephan von Botskay, consisting of TRansylvanians, Hungarians and Turks, came along from the Neusiedler See, burnt all villages on their way, and murder or captivity was the sad fate of inhabitants who had come into their inhuman hands.


Now, can you pick out, which of these two, I or II, is fairy tale, and which one is legend?

Before you look at the solution, here is the deal: fairy tales are like novels, they invent freely for entertainment. Sure, the freedom can be limited by some conventions, but there is no need whatsoever to take any of it as limited strictly or less strictly by historical fact. Legends are history as orally or artistically transmitted.

If you still don't know, here is the solution : Solution on legend vs fairy tale

Hans Georg Lundahl
Nanterre UL
St. Anthony the Great
17.I.2019

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