Volume 66, Issue 3-4

In this article I examine some Greek versions of Tall Tales (ATU 1875–1999), not represented correctly either in the Greek or the international Index of Folktales. Consequently, the impression is created that many of the Tall Tales described in the international catalogue are unknown in Greece. For these Greek versions Georgios Megas (the compiler of the Greek catalogue of Folktales) created a new type: AT 1920 D*. However, a thorough study of them shows that they include many more episodes, motifs, and images from the strange world of Tall Τales included in the ATU 2004 edition and proves that many themes prevalent in other European countries were eventually known in Greece as well. I hope that this article will contribute to the comparative research of Tall Tales and to the very interesting topic of the upside-down world in oral folk literature.

This study explores the Pontic Greek folktale Ήλεν Μαρáντον ( The Undying Sun ), a variant of ATU 460B, within the cultural and historical context of the Pontic Greek diaspora following their exile from Asia Minor in 1923. The analysis examines how the narrator created a richly traditional yet subtly subversive tale, particularly through the rare use of an elderly woman as the seeker-hero. By comparing The Undying Sun with regional and international variants, the study identifies four key narrative motifs and takes into account how successive generations of migrants preserve and adapt their storytelling traditions. Additionally, it considers the stylistic distinctions between female and male narrators and situates the tale within its historical milieu to propose insights into the anonymous narrator, the original audience, and the social fabric of the community.

This article analyzes Diana Toucedo’s Trinta lumes ( Thirty Souls, 2018) as an example of folk horror rooted in Galician folklore and shaped by the aesthetics of magical realism. It explores how the film reimagines oral traditions and ancestral beliefs through a cinematic language that blurs the boundaries between documentary and fiction, nature and culture, life and death. By focusing on liminal figures – particularly the young female protagonist – the study examines how folklore serves as a medium for cultural memory, continuity, and resistance.

Zusammenfassung Erzählungen von Toten, die nicht wirklich tot sind, die sogenannten Untoten/Wiedergänger, beschäftigen Menschen in allen Kulturen mit besonderer Intensität. Weitverbreitet ist die Vorstellung, dass der Tote eine Hand aus dem Grab streckt. Die Untersuchung zeichnet die Überlieferungswege des Motivs von der Hand aus dem Grab in historischen Quellen und wechselnden literarischen Genres nach und macht Leitfassungen sowie Paradigmenwechsel erkennbar.

Zusammenfassung Kurz nach dem Tod von Roberto De Simone, dem international anerkannten Musikwissenschaftler und Ethnologen, untersucht dieser Beitrag seine Bühnenadaption von Giovan Battista Basiles cunto , La gatta Cenerentola , die 1976 in Spoleto uraufgeführt wurde. Ausgehend von den neueren, theaterwissenschaftlichen Überlegungen zu Diegese und Mimesis – im Kontext der Diskussionen in der Populärliteraturforschung über den Übergang von Mündlichkeit zu Schriftlichkeit – wird analysiert, wie diese Inszenierung das traditionelle Verhältnis im Märchen von Vorder- und Hintergrundgeschehen unterläuft bzw. auf den Kopf stellt. Das Märchen, Aschenputtels individueller Traum und zugleich kollektiver Traum einer ganzen Stadt (Neapel), erscheint in einer kunstvollen und zugleich höchst vergnüglichen karnevalesken Vermischung musikalischer Gattungen erweitert, dekonstruiert, neu gerahmt und für fortwährende Neuinterpretationen geöffnet – als Kontrapunkt zu einem Text, der in einem Ton bitterer Ernüchterung und Desillusionierung schließt, wie er bereits in Basiles Eklogen anklingt.

Are female figures in fairy tales full of courage, intelligence, resourcefulness, and perseverance or are they lacking autonomy and are incapable of taking control of their own lives? In the context of a research-project on the Italian popular traditional fairy tales (Thompson 1946), a substantial difference was revealed with respect to the entirely passive protagonist. The two tale types analysed ( Cinderella ATU 510A and The Clever Farmgirl ATU 875) show two intelligent girls who make a choice and take responsibility for their own desires using their resources in an active way.

This article examines the often-overlooked tradition of the meddah , a form of storytelling in the Ottoman Empire, through the lens of its political dimensions. While prominent Turkish theatre critics Özdemir Nutku and Metin And have written extensively on the meddah tradition in the 20th century, it has garnered little international attention. This study aims to fill that gap by exploring how meddah performances, particularly in the coffeehouses of Istanbul, served as a medium for political commentary and dissent. By analyzing historical accounts and traveler observations, the article reveals the intricate ways in which meddahs incorporated satire and humor to address social and political issues. Additionally, the article investigates the decline of the meddah tradition following the establishment of the Turkish Republic, offering insights into the cultural and political shifts that led to its disappearance.

The study is dedicated to the traditions that hold key value in the travelogue of the German traveler Johann Schiltberger and that directly relate to Saint Gregory the Illuminator, who played a major role in the dissemination of Christianity in Armenia. As in Armenian literature – beginning in the fifth century and continuing throughout its development – the figure of Saint Gregory, the Illuminator in Schiltberger’s travelogue is also inseparable from the history of the adoption of Christianity in Armenia and is presented as an integral part of the travelogue.