Folktales about adoptive fathers (International Father's Day)

It's father's day, and I felt like making another post, so here it is. 

(Everybody calm down, this is a stock photo)

We are celebrating fathers - and father figures - all around the world today. I already posted about the importance of caring fathers in folklore a few years ago. Today I decided that I want to highlight stories about adoptive fathers - because adoption is a topic near and dear to my heart, and because it is often represented in a negative way in folklore.

So, let's hear it for great adoptive fathers, both in folklore and in the real world!

(Links in the titles, as usual.)

The Flying Horse of Earthdom (Scottish Traveller tale)

One of Duncan Williamson's tales. A king's son is born with a hump on his back, and the king orders the baby to be abandoned in the woods. He is adopted by an old hunchbacked man who takes him to a secret place called Earthdom, populated by people shunned by society. The boy is raised there, and since his adoptive father teachers him archery, his back straightens by the time he grows up. He returns to court to win a series of contests. When the king finds out the young man is his son, he wants to take him back - but the boy refuses him, and returns to Earthom to the kind people who raised him.

The Wild Man's Daughter (Greece)

A king's daughter sees a dream that foretells her father bowing before her. The king grows so angry that he orders her to be abandoned in the wilderness. She ends up in the house of a Wild Man, who adopts her and cares for her, and helps her grow in confidence and find a worthy husband. Even after his death, he leaves her some magic to ensure her happiness.

Heimer and Aslaug (Iceland)

This is a sequel to the epic story of Sigurd and Brynhildr. The tragic couple has a daughter, Aslaug. After the death of her parents she is saved and spirited away by Heimer, who becomes her foster-father. He hides the baby girl inside a harp and travels with her to faraway places, disguised as a wandering musician. Eventually he is killed, but he manages to save Aslaug's life.

N'oun Doaré (Brittany)

The hero of this story (whose name means "I don't know") is found as a small child by the Marquis of Coat-Squiriou. The kind marquis adopts him and raises him. When N'oun Doaré grows up, he goes through a series of adventures, supported by his parents. Eventually he even finds out about his own origins - however, when asked, he still names the marquis and his wife as his true parents.

Boris Son o' Three (Ukraine)

A boy is kidnapped by an eagle and lost in the woods. He is found by three brothers who decide to raise the baby together; they christen him Boris Son o' Three. When he grows up, the fathers gift him a magic foal, and he goes on to amazing adventures.

The Wild Cat of the Forest (Austria)

A charcoal burner encounters a large man in the forest and invites him to baptize his newborn child. The godfather names the boy Wild Cat. Growing up, the boy keeps getting into trouble and his parents abuse him, so one night he runs away and goes to live with his godfather. The wild man teaches him a useful trade and cares for him, until Wild Cat runs away again to other adventures.

There are more stories, but this is all I had time for today. I hope I managed to demonstrate that kind adoptive fathers do exist in folklore :) 

Happy father's day!

The most beautiful folktales from Ukraine

I have been trying to put together a list of folktales about peace and war, but it all feels awkward and is hitting too close to home. So instead, I made a list of my favorite folktales from Ukraine. Some Ukrainian, some Rusyn, some Cossack, some Hungarian. It is a diverse country with many beautiful traditions. (Links in the titles)

The first pysanky

The origin story of the famous Ukrainian painted eggs. One year a harsh winter arrives early, and people collect half-frozen birds that could not migrate away in time. They care for them in their own homes throughout the winter. When the warm weather comes, the birds fly away, and bring beautiful colorful eggs as a sign of gratitude: the first pysanky. (This one also has a picture book retelling.)

The Christmas spiders

One of the most beautiful Christmas tales I know. Spiders explore a family's tree, covering it in silver thread - and, true to the miracle of the season, the threads actually turn into tinsel.

Ivan, the giant's son

A poor man chases his youngest son away, and the boy takes service in the home of a friendly giant. When he grows into a young warrior, the giant sends him out in various directions to defeat vampires. He hacks his way through cursed forests and makes deserts bloom again. He also kills a dragon and rescues a princess.

The princess who slapped a dragon

A Transcarpathian variant of a well-known tale type, but with a marvelous twist. Three superpowered brothers rescue a princess, but on the way back a shapeshifting dragon takes the place of one of them. The brother left behind has to find a way down the Glass Mountain to reveal the truth before the dragon marries the princess. When he does, the princess takes matters into her own hand. Quite literally.

The tulip soldiers

A Hungarian historical legend from Transcarpathia. A boy (who later grew up to be revolution leader Rákóczi Ferenc II) protects his mother's tulips from a sudden hailstorm. Later, when their castle is besieged, the grateful flowers transform into colorful soldiers, and protect the boy and his family.

The boy who wanted to walk on the clouds

I translated a whole collection of Transcarpathian folktales, but this one is probably my favorite story in the collection. A boy dreams of walking on the clouds while everyone believes he is a fool. He sets out on an adventure, climbs a mountain, and eventually finds his way to the Cloud Kingdom - proving that dreams do come true.

Boris, Son of Three

A boy is adopted by three brothers, who name him Boris, Son of Three. He sets out on a great adventure involving treasures, firebirds, and the Sun itself, until he finds a kingdom and a happy ending.

The poor man and the Raven Czar

A giant raven makes a man choose between his meager wealth and his son - and the poor man chooses right. In exchange the raven czar offers him a reward, and the son of the man sets out to claim it. I like this story because it subverts some old folktale tropes.

The origin of the Tisza River

A magical Rusyn legend about the river Tisza, which flows from the Ukraine across Hungary until it joins the Danube in Serbia. A kind fairy from the salt caves turns two fearsome giants into two bears - then, to protect people from the bears, but still give use to their strength, she turns them into two great rivers.

Sirko and the Wolf

An old dog is chased away from home for being useless. He befriends a wolf, who comes up with a plan to help. He pretends to steal a child, so the dog can rescue it; after that, the dog is cherished by people again. In exchange he invites the wolf to a feast in secret - and when people try to attack him, the dog helps him get away.

Foxy-Loxy

I just wanted to add here that Ukrainian folktales have a really fun female trickster, a vixen that gets back at a mean wolf in various creative ways. Yay!

Giants, vampires, lady foxes (Following folktales around the world 59. - Ukraine)

Today I continue the blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Ukrainian Folk Tales
Anatole Bilenko
Dnipro Publishers, 1974.

This English-language volume, published in the Soviet era, contains twenty folktales from the Ukraine. Some have origins specified by region ("Transcarpathian folktale", "Bukovinian folktale"), but other than those, we don't learn much about their backgrounds. The text sometimes reads odd, like something not translated by a native English speaker, using phrases that are amusingly out of context for the tales. The book is illustrated in black-white-gold drawings. Entertaining read, but other than a few footnotes, not very useful for further research.

Highlights

The best story in the book was The Poor Man and His Sons, in which a boy, chased away from home by his father, was raised by a wise giant, and sent out on quests to defeat vampires and save kingdoms. I also liked The Poor Man and the Raven Czar, a tale of haunting imagery, in which a poor man did not unwittingly promise his son away, and the magic mill did not end up sinking into the ocean.
The most amusing of the animal tales was The Goat and the Ram - a smart but small goat, and a strong but cowardly ram ran away together, and managed to outwit a bunch of wolves. I could almost see the Pixar movie...
The tale of Oh was essentially that of the Sorcerer's Apprentice, with some really nice embellishments. A lazy boy was trained by the dwarf king Oh in an underground kingdom, burned and revived multiple times until he turned into a shapeshifting hero. Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale Robber were already familiar to me; I included that story in my own book, because of the robber's unique ability to create a sonic blast with his whistle.
I also liked Boris Son O'Three for his name: The abandoned boy was raised by three brothers who all loved him like a son, so they named him "Son of Three [Fathers]". Yay for non-traditional family models!

Connections

In a very amusing variant of the Fox and the Wolf, a vixen named Foxy-Loxy outwitted a (male) wolf in several classic ways (tail trapped in the ice, etc.), in order to punish him for breaking the sledge she had made herself. She also featured into the story of Pan Kotsky, the tomcat that became the ruler of the forest by scaring the wits out of all animals (after shacking up with the vixen). And it was also the clever fox-girl who ended up devouring the runaway Kolobok the Johnnycake (a Ukrainian version of the gingerbread boy). I am not entirely sure what was translated into English as johnnycake, though.

Where to next?
Moldova!