1. Characteristics of the Hungarian Folk Tales

2. Historical and Cultural Background
Before the Conquest (896 A.D.)
Finno-Ugric in origin
inseparably amalgamated with Turkish tribes
influence of the Inner Asian, Caucasian, Iranian cultures

3. Historical and Cultural Background
After the conquest:
the Magyars settled in the Carpathian Basin
contact with Ancient Slavic and Byzantine cultures
King Saint Stephen (the first king of Hungary): coronation in 1000 A. D.,
Hungary became a Christian Kingdom, part of the Western culture

4. Historical and Cultural Background
Results:
Hungary became one of the sensitive focal points connecting different cultures between East and West
complexity of the history of Hungarian culture
Hungarian culture became a unifier, a synthesizer of many contradictory elements.
multi-layered nature of Hungarian folk tales

5. Questions
Can we distinguish typical Hungarian folk tale motifs, formulas, elements from those of other European tales?
Can we find typical strata of Hungarian folk tales which refer back to pre-Conquest times, to Oriental connections?

6. Conclusion
Several elements, images of shamanistic ceremonies and rites of the pre-Conquest Magyars do appear among the motifs of folk tales, and we cannot find their western equivalents in the western material, or their occurence is accidental, sporadic.

7. the topless tree/the tree that reached the sky
Examples
(the oldest elements of the Hungarian tales)
the topless tree/the tree that reached the sky

8. Examples
The seven-headed dragon

9. Examples
the castle that rotates on a duck’s (or other bird’s) foot.

10. Examples
The magic steed

11. Examples
The spring of eternal youth

12. Examples
the tale motif of cutting to pieces of the hero

13. Examples
The witch whose nose reached her knees

14. Examples
the formula of the sigh of the hero when he is resurrected after being dismembered :”Oh, what a strange dream I have had”.
the question “What are you doing here where even the birds don’t fly?”,
the answer the helpful old witch gives to the hero of the tale: “You are lucky that you called me grandma!”

15. Style: Realistic Depiction
No matter where the hero of the tale travels, the scene of the adventures in the Hungarian folk tale is the world of the Hungarian peasant, in the village, in a farmstead’s yard
The royal court very often recalls the prestigious household of a prosperous farmer.

16. Style: Realistic Depiction
the realistic depiction of small details,
details from the Hungarian countryside,
details from Hungarian peasant life
Magic tools: a spittle, a drop of blood, a comb, a starving nag– parts of the Hungarian peasant life

17. Thank you for your attention