KidLit Forum

How the dragon was tricked
J. G. von Hahn in Griechische und Albanesische Märchen

How the Dragon was Tricked is a Greek fairy tale collected by J. G. von Hahn in Griechische und Albanesische Märchen and Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book.

There was a man who had two sons. The older brother was jelous of his younger brother because he was more handsome. The older one, wanted to revenge and he decided to tie his youngest brother to a tree. After a while a shephard saw him and asked why is he tied to that tree. The boy answered because he wanted to straighten out his back, and with this, he convinced the shephard to be tied in his place to straighten out his back too.

The boy drove off the sheep and on his way he met horse boy and a driver of oxen. They went toghether and played many tricks until they became famous and even the king heard of them. The king captured the boy and said to him that he must die because of his tricks, but he told to the boy that he want the dragon’s flying horse and if he manage to bring him this horse, he will be saved.
The boy went to the dragon to steal the dragon’s horse, but the horse neighed and neighed until the dragon woke up and beat him. After a while the boy led the horse out, mounted him and rode off to the king. The king wanted the dragon’s bed coverings and the boy went after it.

The boy decided to go there by night, and tried to hook the blanket but was seen by the dragon. The dragon said to his wife that she must cook the boy when she came form chucrh. The dragoness untied the boy to cut his throat more easily, but the voy tricked her and cut her throat and put her into the oven, than stole the blanket and went with it to the king.
When the king saw this, he said to the boy that he wanted the dragon itself. The boy agreed, but wanted to wait two years until his beard would grown to use it as a disguise. After two years the boy went to the dragon’s house again, but on his way he chaned his clothes with a beggar and when he arrived at dragon’s house found it making a box in order to catch him.the boy said to the dragon that box is to small and they must to try it to see if the bouy could escape. The dragon entered into the box and the boy put a lid upon it and brought it to the king. The youth merried the king’s daughter and became a king in his place.

According to Propp’s scheme, the first function I identified in the fairytale „How the dragon was tricked” is absentation, which means that the hero leaves home and by this it is introduced an initial tension into the plotline. In this fairytale the boy is tied on to a tree in the forest which is far away from home. This initial situation creates tension and generates the following situations into the story.

The second function I identified in this fairytale is villainy or lacking which presents the villain who injures a family member. In the present fairytale the villain is the older brother and the hero of the story and also the victim in this initial situation is the younger borther. The villain tied on to a tree the hero because he tought that the hero is more handsome than he is.
In the function called : beginning counter-action which emphasized the fact that the hero finds ways to resolve the issue by searching about a magical item, I think that here isn’t a magical item, but a trick. When the hero was tied to the tree he tricked the shepherd and so he saved himself, without his trickery which in this situation we can say thatreplaces the magical item, the hero couldn’t move on.

The next function it is called first function of the donnor and says that the hero meets a helper or a donor in their path. In this fairytale, the hero it is helped by the shepherd, but not counsciously.The shepherd it is tricked by the hero in order to be tied to the tree and the boy could go on.It is not a real helper, because the shepherd did not appeared in the story having in his mind to help the boy, but without him, the hero couldn’t escape from there.

In the next function, hero’s reaction which emphasize how hero responds to the actions of their donnor, we can identify the atitude of the hero towards shepherd: „This was soon done, and then the young man drove off the sheep, leaving their real shepherd to repent of his folly; and before he had gone very far he met with a horse boy and a driver of oxen, and he persuaded them to turn with him and to seek for adventures.” The boy is pleased with what he done and with the fact that he is free again.He just went away, looking for others adventures.
The next function wich I identified in the fairy tale it is guidance. This function describes the fact that the hero is lead or is transferred to a vital location. In this fairytale the vital location is the king’s palace, from here he received the tasks . Because of his tricks the king heard that he was famous and wanted to kill him, then decided to give him another chances.This chances are in fact, tasks which he must accomplish.The way until the king’s palace it is not described.In the fairytale it is mentioned that he arrived at the king’s palace.

Liquidation. This function deals with the fact that some of the earliest problems or task are solved by the hero, the spells are broke or the captives are released. The fairytale show us that the hero managed to accomplish the first tasks given by the king. The boy brings to the king what he asked.The first tasks weren’t easy to do, but the boy brought the dragon’s horse and the dragon’s bedcovers, and in the end he brought the dragon itself.

In the next function called pursuit i the hero is captured by the adversary and this want to kill or eat them. In this fairy tale it is best described this situation, when the dragon’s wife came from the church and wanted to cook the hero.The dragoness untied the boy to cut his head more easy, but he tricked the dragoness and cut its head and put it into the oven instead of him. „So the following morning the dragoness took hold of the young man and reached down from the shelf a sharp knife with which to kill him. But as she untied the cords the better to get hold of him, the prisoner caught her by the legs, threw her to the ground, seized her and speedily cut her throat, just as she had been about to do for him, and put her body in the oven. Then he snatched up the covering and carried it to the king”.
In the function dificult task the hero must accomplish a task which is tought to be imposible or he must endure a test of streinght or other ordeals. In the fairytale the hero must fulfill some hard tests given by the king in order to save his life. He managed to pass all the tasks and even the last one in which he had to capture the dragon itself. The hero is an ordinary boy who fulfilled the tasks only by tricking their adversary, he has no supernatural powers or other helpers who could help him in order to win the tasks.

Another function which I identified in this fairytale it is the solution in which the hero accomplishes a dificult task. The boy brought the dragon to the king into a box, and in this way he managed to fulfill the las task given by the king. „The dragon pressed as hard as he could, but the lid never moved.
'It is all right,' he cried; 'now you can open it.'
But instead of opening it, the young man drove in long nails to make it tighter still; then he took the box on his back and brought it to the king. And when the king heard that the dragon was inside, he was so excited that he would not wait one moment, but broke the lock and lifted the lid just a little way to make sure he was really there. He was very careful not to leave enough space for the dragon to jump out, but unluckily there was just room for his great mouth, and with one snap the king vanished down his wide red jaws”.

The last function which I identified in this fairytale it is called the wedding. The fairytale ends up with the wedding. After passing the tasks and after the king was ate by the dragon, the hero was alive and finally he could merry with the king’s daughter, the princess.Moreover he became the king and inherited the entire kingdom.

According to ATU scheme, this farytale it is type 328- the boy steals the giant’s treasure.
In this fariytale we have the hero who can be identified as “the boy” or how the characters addressed to him: “young man”. “So he commanded his guards to capture the young man and bring him before him.

And when the young man stood before the king, the king spoke to him and said, 'By your tricks and the pranks that you have played on other people, you have, in the eye of the law, forfeited your life.”
The giant is the king, who has the role to give task or to test the hero.He has the power to kill the young man, but he decided to give him chances to save his life.

The treasure it is, of course, the kingdom and the princess. In the end, the hero inherited all the king’s treasure and managed to merry to his daughter.The word ‘steal’ doesn’t necessarily mean that the boy sole something, but with his trickery managed to defeat the dragon, to pass all the tasks and even to win the king’s kingdom and to replace him.