KidLit Forum

The Folk-Tales of the Magyars
The Hunting Princes


A. Context
— country and language: Hungary, Hungarian (Magyar);
— original collector: Kriza János, Erdélyi János, Pap Gyula, and others;
— title of collection, year: The folk-tales of the Magyars, 1886;
— position among other collectors: First version;
— number of tales in that collection: 53 (“The Hunting Princes” is the 9th tale )
— English translation: translator’s name, year, place: Henry Jones and Lewis L. Kropf, London, 1889, London;
— Volume: XIII, page 39-46;


B. Summary
There once was a king passionate by hunting who had three sons. His realm had seven mountains, but the sons could hunt only over six of them, because the seventh, The Black Mountain was forbidden, even if the sons asked their father to allow them to hunt there.
Few years later, their father died, and they went impatiently to the Black Mountain. Firstly, they decided to separate and they also agreed that whoever shot an arrow uselessly, will be slapped in the face. The youngest brother was slapped three times by the other brothers, because he wanted to kill a raven, a falcon and a squirrel, but all of them escaped unhurt. However, he received from each of the animals a piece of steel, a flint and a fine piece of tender, the magical objects that will help him to make a fire later.
After that, the three brothers decided to not separate and to hunt together, so , in the night, they saw a fine roebuck coming to their path and killed it, cooking an excellent hunts-man’ supper.
Also, they agreed to guard the mountain during the night, so they arranged to take the duty in turns. On the first night, the guard was the elder brother, and he succeeded to kill a dragon with three heads and a flame three yards long protruding from its mouth, that appeared at midnight on that night. That dragon had two brothers and they lived in the Black Lake and such, no one could walk there because they slew everything that they found. On the second night, when the middle prince was the guard, a dragon that had five heads appeared, but the prince managed to slew it. Next night, the guard was the youngest prince, so he had to fight with a dragon that had seven heads. The prince killed the dragon, but the blood of the dragon extinguished their fire, so he was determined to go in the search of a source of fire.
On his way, firstly, he met the Midnight and he caught him and tied to a thick oak-tree. Few hours later, he met Dawn and he tied him too, until he will be back from his quest for a source of fire. Finally, he arrived at a fire that was surrounded by twenty-four robbers that belonged to his father’s kingdom. The robbers decided to kill him, but the chef thought that he may be useful to them if he helped them to kidnap the daughter of the King of the Black Sorrow town. So, they left to that town, taking the prince with them. There, the prince shoot off the iron cock which used to begin to crow when somebody went near it and then killed all the robbers, by cutting off their heads. Being alone, he entered the palace and found the king, the queen and the princesses sleeping. While he was walking into the castle, the youngest daughter saw him and was very frightened. The prince explained her everything and she accepted him as a lover, giving him a ring and a handkerchief as a sign of their betrothal. Then, he cut off the tips of the robbers’ noses and ears and returned to his brothers, making the fire again.
Meanwhile, there was a Knight Red in the palace, who discovered the dead robbers into the fortress and cut bits off their mutilated noses and ears , lying the King that he killed all the robbers. The king believed him and gave him the permission to choose which of the princesses he pleased for his wife. Fortunately, The Red Knight chose the younger daughter, who knew all about this affair. So, she refused to marry The Knight, until her fiancé arrived at the palace. Her father send a royal messenger into the desert meadow, to invite to the wedding the three princes.
When the youngest prince found out that his fiancée was to be married, he quickly left for the palace. There, the youngest Hunting Prince told them the whole story and placed upon the table the nose and ear-tips he had cut off the robbers. The King believed the prince and he ordered that the Red Knight to be tied to a horse’s tail and dragged through the streets of the whole town.
Finally, the three Hunting Princes married the three daughters of the king and the youngest prince became the heir-apparent in the town of Black-Sorrow.


C. Position in the Aarne-Thomson-Uther Index
It belongs to the category of REALISTIC TALES 850-999, the subcategory 869, The man marries the Princess.


D. Characters and functions according to Vladimir Propp:
Characters:
1. The Hero : The Hunting Prince ( The youngest prince)
2. The Villain :the dragons, the robbers
3. The Princess or prize : The youngest princess
4. Her father: The Old King ( The Hunting Princes’Father)
5. The dispatcher:-
6. The donor: Midnight, Dawn
7. The magical helper: the raven, the falcon and the squirrel;
8. The false hero: The Red Knight


1st Sphere: Introduction
A King has three sons and he is passionate about hunting.

F2: Interdiction –The King forbids the sons to hunt in the Black Mountain.
F3: Violation of interdiction – When the king dies, the Hunting Princes rush off to hunt in the Black Mountain.


2nd Sphere: The Body of the Story
F8: Villainy and lack – The blood of the third dragon killed by the princes extinguishes the fire.
F9: Mediation –The youngest prince searches any means of relighting the fire.
F11: Departure –The prince goes on a hill three days’ journey off , where he sees a fire of some sort glimmering.


3rd Sphere: The Donor Sequence

F12: Testing – The hero mets Midnight and Dawn who try to pass him unseen.
and he ties him, until he will be back.
F13: Reaction: The prince ties Midnight and Dawn , until he will be back.
F15: Guidance – The young prince arrives at the fire, where he found twenty –four robbers that want to kill him.
F16: Struggle –The robbers use the prince to help them to kidnap the daughter of the King of the Black Sorrow town.
F17: Victory – The prince cut off the heads of the robbers.
F18: Branding: - The hero receives a ring and a hand-kerchief from the youngest princess.
F19: Resolution –The prince got the fire and releases Midnight and Dawn.
returnes to his brothers and makes the fire again.


4th Sphere: The Hero’s Return

F20: Return –The hero returnes to his brothers and makes the fire again.
F24:Claim: The Red Knight discoveres the dead robbers into the fortress and cut bits off their mutilated noses and ears , lying the King that he killed all the robbers.
F 25: Task: The young prince has to reach the palace, in order to stop the marriage between his fiancee and The Red Knight.
F 26: Solution: The youngest Hunting Prince tells to the King the whole story and places upon the table the nose and ear-tips he had cut off the robbers.
F 27: Recognition: The prince is recognized by the King, due to the ring received by the princess.
F 28: Exposure: The King believes the prince.
F 30: Punishement: The King orderes that the Red Knight to be tied to a horse’s tail and dragged through the streets of the whole town.
F31: Marriage: The three Hunting Princes married the three daughters of the king and the youngest prince became the heir-apparent in the town of Black-Sorrow.


E. Similarities with other known tales
The tale is similar to the Romanian fairy-tale “Doi feti cu stea in frunte”, because, in both of them, there are three brothers that marry three sisters, but the difference between them is that in The Hunting Princes tale, the sisters are princess, not shepherdess.


F. Sources:
https://archive.org/stream/cu3192400648 ... 5/mode/2up

Student: Borgovan (Vranau) Maria