#folklore

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I cannot stress this enough:

In a lot of traditions what we call fairy tales (or wonder tales) were for adults. Often told by grown men at the barracks or during work.

Which means uncensored fairy tale texts often include a whole lot of cussing. Because you'd yell "Sh**!" too if a devil chased you.

And this is how we get the scene where an evil king offers a hero money for his services and the hero flat out says "Your majesty, suck my d***"

Hungarian Roma

A man catches a glimpse of the Fairy Queen and starts saying that even the sole of her foot is prettier than the King's only daughter. He almost gets executed for this, but the Fairy Queen shows up in the last moment to prove that the sole of her foot IS indeed prettier than the princess.

(The King at this point decides to marry the Fairy Queen, and goes through a whole lot of adventures to win her. Also, Fairy Queen has flying elephants.)

Digging into the "Gift of the Little People" folktale type (ATU 503), where someone joins the singing of fairies and gets rewarded for it. The human usually adds a few days to the song of "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday!", delighting the fairies.

Hungarian versions, once again, have to be extra about it.

Instead of singing fairies, we have singing skeletons. And they get angry when someone adds "Monday" to their song.

Highly relatable.

Today on : Harman Dali

The story of a warrior woman who will only marry someone who outwrestles and outsings her. While most tales of this motif end with the woman defeated and humiliated, Harman Dali ends up with a husband she chooses for herself.

You know those scenes from action movies where a man and a woman fight, and it looks like they are... doing something else? This epic has several scenes like that 😄

Read more:
https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2025/04/h-is-for-harman-dali-womens-epics-to-z.html

The silhouette of a woman riding a horse against the sunset, with text over it: "H is for Harman Dali: A Turkmen epic about a woman who will only marry someone who bests her in wrestling and music. #WomensEpics "

Let's see... my plans for the next few months are:

April: Tales from "Deutsche Sagen" by the Brothers Grimm
May: Snakes
June: Tales from the region where I am doing my vacation ( in this case)
July: Another animal-themed month - I am dithering between "rodents", "insects and spiders", "wild animals", and "fish". Does anyone have any preferences?
August: Dunni yet. Maybe some treasure tales again? Or Ultraterrestrial Venetians? Or Fortean Weirdness?

I do want to do a monster-themed month, but that should wait for the darker months...

: The Song of Grotti

This one is a 12th century Icelandic saga about two giantesses who are captured and enslaved by a Danish king. He makes them turn a giant millstone that grinds out endless riches. When he refuses to give them rest time, or set them free, the giantesses sing a song that makes the mill grind out strife and an invading army. The king's rule is toppled by their revenge.

Read here:
https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2025/04/g-is-for-grottasongr-womens-epics-to-z.html

Photo of tall, snow-covered mountain peaks, and text over it: "G is for Grottasongr: An Icelandic saga about two enslaved giantesses who take revenge on a cruel king. #WomensEpics "

Today on : Fatima Dhat Al-Himma

The original text of this epic - the only one in the Arabic sira tradition that is named after a woman - is 5000 pages long. The English book was a partial translation, but it was still amazing.

Princess Fatima is a warrior woman with a life full of adventures. She battles armies, befriends djinn, quite literally fights for her right to divorce, and raises a son on her own.

Read here:
https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2025/04/f-is-for-fatima-al-amira-dhat-al-himma.html

Decorative frame with crescent moon and star, and text: "F is for Fatima Dhat Al-Himma: An Arabic epic about a legendary warrior woman who fights her evil ex-husband's schemes and goes through many adventures. #WomensEpcis "

: Manasa

This was one of my favorites.

Manasa is the goddess of serpents. She is born accidentally from Shiva, who doesn't want to accept her as his daughter for a long time. Manasa repeatedly has to prove her incredible powers to the gods to be accepted.

In the second half of the epic Manasa descends to the mortal realm to win their worship too. It's not an easy task; she even has to battle Death itself.

Read here:
https://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com/2025/04/e-is-for-epic-of-manasa-womens-epics-to.html

Dark green background decorated with snakes, and text: "E is for the epic of Manasa: a Bengali epic about the Goddess of Serpents who fights for her rightful place among the gods. #WomensEpics "
Dark green background decorated with snakes, and text: "E is for the epic of Manasa: a Bengali epic about the Goddess of Serpents who fights for her rightful place among the gods. #WomensEpics "