Folkrealm tidings - Folkrealm Studies

The Hungarian legend of the Wondrous Stag

8/7/2015

Hunt of the White Stag - Public Domain

After The Flood

A long, long time ago across the vast plains of Asia there was once mighty and powerful kingdom. Around its northern borders stood a range of high mountains and in the south it was bounded by the sea. Two mighty rivers flowed down across the land from the northern mountains and made their way to the sea in the south irrigating the fertile plain that lay between the mountains and the sea.

The people who lived in this land between the mountains and the sea were wonderfully clever and were renowned for their art, science and wisdom. They were a prosperous people in a fertile land of plenty and abundance. Originally they had come from the northern mountains to settle the fertile plain after the Great Flood and they created a new kingdom.

The people who lived in this land between the mountains and the sea were wonderfully clever and were renowned for their art, science and wisdom. They were a prosperous people in a fertile land of plenty and abundance. Originally they had come from the northern mountains to settle the fertile plain after the Great Flood and they created a new kingdom. Read more

The story of how Pygmalion fell in love in Greek mythology

8/7/2015

Pygmalion et Galatée (La Hyre) - Laurent de la Hyre - Public Domain

In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a wonderfully gifted sculptor who created a marvelous statue of a beautiful woman. The statue was so flawless and lifelike he becomes obsessed with his own sculpture falling in love with it.

Pygmalion lived on the island of Cyprus where the goddess Aphrodite was widely revered and he was devoted to her. Not everyone shared this devotion. The daughters of Propoetus of Amathus, who were known as known as the Propoetides, did not worship Aphrodite or pay her due respect.

As a punishment Aphrodite filled them with an immoral passion causing them to act as wanton prostitutes. Pygmalion abhorred their behaviour and grew to loathe them so much that he swore never to marry. For many years he separated himself from such behaviour concentrating on his work. During this time of isolation he created a statue of a woman of the most perfect beauty that was so amazingly lifelike he fell in love with it. Read more

The Mermaid’s Pool, Kinder Scout, Peak District, England

8/7/2015

The Mermaid's Pool - Dave Dunford - CC BY-SA 2.0

The Peak District is an area of England that has been shaped and carved by the forces of nature for millions of years. It is place of stunning and rugged, natural beauty with many strange and unexpected landscapes and places to discover. Its highest point is Kinder Scout, a moorland plateau some 2,088 feet (639 metres) above sea level.

The pool and the waterfall One such place is a bleak, dark and rather forbidding pool of water that lies below Kinder Scout known as the Mermaid’s Pool. Many people think the pool and the nearby waterfall of Kinder Downfall may have been places that were sacred to Celtic and earlier people who inhabited the area. Read more

The magic word - Abracadabra!

6/7/2015

Image by Julien DAVID - CC BY-SA 3.0

Abracadabra!’ cried the magician and with wave of his hand he manifests a pure white dove from his silk handkerchief. We all know the word “abracadabra,” but is it just a word that magicians say to create drama, or does it have some other meaning lost to modern society?

We know abracadabra as the ‘magic’ word used by stage magicians to cast the spell that makes their tricks work. It is the spoken incantation of the word that invokes the spell into action. Read more

The Pedlar of Swaffham - A dream of fortune!

6/7/2015

Pedlar of Swaffham on a Swaffham town sign - Stavros1 - CC BY 3.0

The folktale of the Pedlar of Swaffham tells of how a poor pedlar came to find his fortune by following a dream. The story begins in the historic English market town of Swaffham in the county of Norfolk in the 15th century.

A Dream of Fortune

The legend tells of how John acquired his money after a strange dream he experienced three times on consecutive nights. In that dream he saw the great city of London and he saw London Bridge stretching across the River Thames. He heard a voice telling him that if he was to travel all the way from Swaffham in Norfolk to London, where on London Bridge, he would meet someone who would tell him the most wonderful news. Read more

The legend of Sang Nila Utama and the founding of Singapore

2/7/2015

Crest of the Singapore Municipal Commission, Central Fire Station, Singapore - 20110505.jpg: Jacklee - CC BY-SA 3.0

Today Singapore is a thriving, bustling, modern, cosmopolitan city that is a meeting place for many people of different cultures and ethnicity. This provides a melting pot that exudes its own unique and vibrant character. It is a place where people live the multicultural experience to the full. Singapore is a major trading centre and plays an important part in the economies of the region and the rest of the world.

The Story of the Rise of Singapore

The Malay Annals also known as The Sejarah Melayu tell of the origin of how Singapore was founded by Sang Nila Utama, who was also known as Prince Niltanam, or Sri Tri Buana. He was the ruler of the Srivijaya Empire of Sumatra and his capital was Palembang.

According the Malay Annals he was one of the princes who were believed to be descendants of Raja Iskandar Dzu’l-Karnain who was also known more commonly as Alexander the Great, the ruler of the Macedonian Empire. Read more

The Suffolk folktale of the Green Children of Woolpit

2/7/2015

The "green children" of Woolpit on the village sign - Rod Bacon - CC BY-SA 2.0

Woolpit is a village in Suffolk that has a history that goes back 2,000 years or more. It has seen many events in its long history, but perhaps one of the strangest must be the appearance of two mysterious green children. Their story was recorded by two chroniclers; Ralph of Coggershall and William of Newburgh. There are also a number of other versions, some set in the neighbouring county of Norfolk, but it is the Suffolk version that is dealt with here.

The story begins on a clear, bright, day during harvest time when the villagers were out reaping their crops. As they worked they became aware of the sound of someone weeping and crying. The cries, although sad, were strange and seemed to be in words that they could not understand.

With growing concern that someone might be in trouble the villagers began searching the area. Following the weeping sounds they found two small children; a young boy and a young girl. Nearby, was the opening to a wolf-pit which they appeared to have come out of. They were very frightened and cried bitterly.

The villagers were astonished to find that although the children were very much the same physically as any other children; they had some very strange differences. For a start the two children were wearing clothes of a style the villagers had never seen before and they spoke in a language that they could not understand. It was certainly not any form of English that the villagers knew. Stranger still, the villagers saw the children’s skin was a shade of green on all parts of their body. Read more

Legends of Rapa Nui

2/7/2015

Rapa Nui is better known as Easter Island and is one of the most isolated populated places in the world. Situated in the south eastern Pacific Ocean around 4,000 kilometres from Chile, South America its nearest inhabited neighbour is Pitcairn Island 2,075 to the west. There in the extreme isolation of the vast Pacific Ocean a unique and amazing civilization evolved that created the most wonderful giant statues and left behind a fascinating and mysterious legacy. Today the inhabitants of the island are known as the Rapanui. According to legend the original settlers named the island Te Pito Te Henua which translates as Navel of the World.

According to most versions of the legend of how the people came to Rapa Nui it was a priest called Hau-Maka who had a dream which he then told to Hotua Matu’a. In that dream Hau-Maka had flown out over the sea and discovered an island called Te Pito ‘o te Kāinga’, which means ‘the centre of the earth’ He then appeared to Hotu Matu’a in a dream to tell him this news. Hotu Matu’a believed the dream was his destiny and that of his people, so he sent out seven scouts in canoes to find this place. When they found it they ate and rested and planted crops of yams, and other plants on the new island so that when they returned with their King and people they would have something ready to eat. Read more

Prince Csaba in Hungarian legend

2/7/2015

Csaba and his warriors - Bertalan Székely - CC BY-SA 3.0

It is said that the Hungarian name of Csaba, which means gift from the sky or gift from heaven, originated from a legendary warrior named Prince Csaba who according to legend was the savior of his people on a number of occasions. There are many legends about Prince Csaba and many versions of the following legend which tells how he became to be seen as a gift from heaven for his people.

Who would rule the Hun kingdom? When the Attila, the great leader of the Huns died an untimely death the tribes that made up the Hun nation found themselves at war with the Germanic tribes of the empire as fierce battles were fought to decide the future leadership of the empire. Attila had many wives from many different tribes and races and he had fathered many sons. Although everyone expected one of his sons to rule the question was which one? Read more