KidLit Forum

I thought that it would be nice if I would show you a piece of Hungarian literature. There are a lot of folk tales about poor people collected by Benedek Elek, but what is also outstanding is the collection about Matthias King. As we know he is considered by Hungarians to be the country’s golden age, and Matthias himself is the most popular historical figure. He is known as Matthias the Just, the monarch who wandered among his subjects in disguise, he remains a popular hero of Hungarian folk tales. His cult is based on the legends and tales of Hungarian folklore and persistently reinforced even by such popular cultural products as a cartoon series based on tales about him (sorry I couldn’t find in English any of them, but they are really interesting and funny).

There are hundreds of folktales about King Matyas. Most of them talk about how he disguised himself as a traveling student or a poor man and went from town to town, seeing the affairs of his subjects with his own eyes, and dispensing a trickter's justice. Unfortunately there are only a few of them translated in English, or I just cannot find them on the Internet.

This following tale is one of them. Its title is King Matyas and the Mayor of Gyevi. In this story King Matyas and one of his advisers was out in plain clothes, hunting, when they realized that night was about to fall and they were not going to make it back to the castle on time. The adviser suggests staying the night in the nearby town of Gyevi, and the King agrees with the idea. A local women was peering at them curiously and said "There must be a lot of rain where these men come from" one giggled "I have never seen a man so tall and handsome!"But before the king could give thank for it all of a sudden someone said "Except for the mayor!" This is the piquancy of the story, that if somebody says something, someone from nowhere abruptly says "Except for the mayor!"until that the king says just in the eyes of the mayor. Obviously, the mayor doesn’t recognize the king, like no one does in these fairy tales. He thrown the two of them into jail, just because the didn’t said what they would have to (Except for the mayor”) The king played out the mayor, and when he asked for them he prove that he already learnt the lesson by saying the following way: "His Royal Highness Kign Matyas embraces the people of Gyevi into his heart! Except for the mayor! They are all decent people and not idiots! Except for the mayor! He orders that no one should be paying taxes anymore! Except for the mayor! They shall eat from silver plates with golden spoons! Except for the mayor! They shall be given ten gold pieces as a parting gift! Except for the mayor!" Each of these stories has a moral. From this story people should learn that you cannot force respect on someone.

I couldn’t localize so much in ATU system, so I chose the AT 1539 – Cleverness and gullibility, because of the cleverness of the king, and the gullibility of the people from Gyevi.

From Propp’s sequences I could identify:
0.It has an initial situation, in which the author talks about Matthias King.
2.Interdiction:Hero is warned. The king is implicit warned that in one point he will come into conflict with the mayor if he still doesn’t want to say what he has to.
3.Violation of interdiction. The king ignores the warnings of the people.
4.Reconnaissance: Villain seeks something. The king now is face to face with the mayor.
Trickery: Villain attempts to deceive victim. The mayor throws them in jail.
10.Counteraction:Hero chooses positive action.The king reveals himself by playing out the mayor.
30.Punishment: Villain is punished. The mayor is ashamed and ran away, and was never seen again.

From Propp’s typology of characters I could identify:
The hero: Matthias King
The vilain: The Mayor