thehungarianwitchling

[thehungarianwitchling]

Cerceruska

 I wanted to revive this blog with the tale of Cerceruska because it’s one of my favourites. Our heroine Cerceruska is a strong, nurturing and kind young lady and her story shows (in true fairytale fashion) that through true love anything is possible.

Version I. (from the Hungarian Folktales series by Kecskemétfilm)

There was a poor, old widower who had two daughters. In the house next door lived an old widow who asked the man to marry her many times. She said she would raise the two girls with love. Eventually the father did marry her but the widow didn’t keep her promise and abused the sisters. She even asked their father to leave them in the woods to die (imagine trying that in a disney movie). The father was hesitant, but agreed to do it for his wife.

The older daughter was called Cerceruska and she overheard the stepmother’s plan. She put millet seeds in her pocket so that she could leave a trail behind and find the way back home. But of course the birds ate the millet so the two girls had to survive somehow all alone. As if that was not enough their stepmother (who was apparently a witch) cursed them so that if they drank from the foot print of an animal they would turn into said animal. Things did not look good.

Cerceruska knew about the curse and warned her sister too. But the little sister got so thirsty that she couldn’t resist drinking from the hoof print of a deer. She turned into a little fawn and she and Cerceruska found shelter in a big hollow tree.

One day the young king was hunting in the forest when he spotted Cerceruska. She ran back into the tree with her little fawn sister, but she was so beautiful that the prince wouldn’t leave without her (I know, this sounds a bit weird but the prince is a great guy, trust me). He promised not to hurt the little fawn so Cerceruska stepped out from the tree. She was so extremely beautiful that the prince proposed to her right on the spot. She agreed so they got married and were happy in the palace together (of course she brought her sister too).

The king was hunting again when Cerceruska had their son prince Andrikó (Andrikó is a diminutive of András, the Hungarian version of Andrew).

Their was also an evil witch in the court (she was a cook) who wanted her daughter to be the queen. She hated Cerceruska. She told her to look at herself in the water of the lake in the garden of the palace and tossed her in. The witch dressed up her own daughter in Cerceruska’s clothes and then made her impersonate the queen.

The witch’s daughter was hideous so when the king asked how can she be Cerceruska the witch told him giving birth changed her. The king was suprised but accepted it because he loved his wife no matter how she looked. There was only one more problem. The witch’s daughter couldn’t nurse the newborn prince.

Cerceruska didn’t die, she was eaten by a gigantic fish and could only come to the surface at night. She would appeare in the little fawn’s room who would bring her prince Andrikó. Essentially with the help of her little sister Cerceruska could still care for her son.

One night the witch’s daughter saw Cerceruska and decided to get the fawn killed somehow. She told the king she had fallen ill and can only be cured by eating the heart and liver of the fawn. The king agreed to kill Cerceruska’s sister to save his wife (who he thought was Cerceruska by the way). When the little fawn saw the knife she begged Cerceruska to come out of the lake and save her before it’s too late. She did and was even more beautiful than before. Luckily the king followed the fawn to the lake and saw Cerceruska step out of the fish’s mouth. He hugged and kissed his wife and she told him everything the old witch did.

The king was furious. He went straight to the kitchens to confront the old witch. He asked her how would she punish someone who tried to harm the queen. She said she would tie them to a horse’s tail and let the horse run loose (this is an esspecially cruel form of executing someone because they’re tied to the horse alive). The king punished the witch and her daughter in this exact way, and lived happily ever after with Cerceruska, little prince Andrikó and the little fawn (who somehow turned back into a girl).

Version II. (collected by Elek Benedek)

This version highlights early on that both Cerceruska and her sister were so beautiful they could be mistaken for princesses. The same thing happens with the widow and their father except she doesn’t want them killed the girls decide to run away (she frequently abuses beats them in this version too). The younger sister turns into a fawn because of the curse (she was so thirsty she felt like she was going to die so she really had no choice) and they almost immidiately meet the young king. In this version the king’s hunting dog brings the sisters (who are hiding in a hay bale) bread that’s how he finds them. He takes them with him but not because of Cerceruska’s beauty but because he is so moved by their story about the evil stepmother.

 The witch in the court was the king’s old nanny who still wanted her own daughter to become queen. She suspected that the king was falling in love with Cerceruska so she tried to kill her the same way as she did in the other version. The witch also cursed the fawn to be unable to speak (this part is not clear in the first version but I guess she couldn’t speak since her transformation). When the king couldn’t find Cerceruska he became extremely sad and offered a fortune to those who can bring her back.

The young king spent day after day petting the crying fawn and missing Cerceruska. The witch thought that one day he might grow suspicious of the murder so she waited for the king to go away from the palace. Once he was gone she tried to kill the little fawn too.

The fawn somehow gained back the ability to speak and called for Cerceruska (she knew she was alive in the fish and asked her to come out of its mouth). The king came home just in time and heard her. He caught the fish and cut it open and there was Cerceruska a hundred times more beautiful than before. The fawn did a sommersault and turned back into a little girl. The king tossed the witch in the lake and married Cerceruska. And they lived happily ever after.

I hope you enjoyed the story! Feel free to ask anything or send some topics you’re interested in that I could cover on this blog.

[thehungarianwitchling]

The csodaszarvas (the miracledeer)

I wanted to make a post about one of Hungary’s national animals, the csodaszarvas. It’s name (literally) means miracledeer, csoda meaning miracle, wonder and szarvas meaning deer. This magical deer has a long history, it predates the christianization of Hungary by lot and it is believed to be a big part of acient Hungarian mythology.

Okay, so the csodaszarvas is a kind of spirit or divine entity who leads or guides people. It’s most famous myth is about two brothers (Hunor and Magor) who find a new home for their tribes all thanks to the csodaszarvas. It managed to keep the role of a spirit guide even after christianization. There are a couple myths that talk about a divine deer (sent by God of course) who shows where to build a church or chapel.

Sometimes the csodaszarvas is connected to fertility too. For example it leads Hunor and Magor to the place where they find their future wives (more on that myth later). It’s also referenced in tradititonal poems that wish wealth and good health for the new year (these are told during regölés, I might make a post about that too).

Some historians (for example Gyula László) believe the csodaszarvas was whole deity or an aspect or form of an acinet Hungarian godess (or maybe god). But, the thing is that Hungary was christianized mostly by force in the 11. century, and we can’t really know for sure. Actually, the acient myths and traditions became so strictly forbidden, that we’re lucky the information we have today survived.

The csodaszarvas is female in the myth of Hunor and Magor, but male in the traditional poems told during regölés. In these it’s called csodafiúszarvas, because fiú means boy/young male. The csodaszarvas is alwyas portrayed having antlers (even when it’s said to be female). Most of the time it’s a white deer, if not, then it’s golden. It’s said to have the Sun between it’s antlers, the morning star (Venus) on it’s forehead, and the Moon on it’s breast. According to historians (for example Marcell Jankovics or Tekla Dömötör) the csodaszarvas could symbolize a part of night sky (or just the night sky in general). It’s quite possible that back in the old times people literally saw the csodaszarvas in the stars as a constellation.  In some cases the csodaszrvas even has stars on it’s antlers (like it’s carrying the sky).

Evidence suggets that deer had a special role in mythology/spirituality across Eurasia since the paleolithic, so the csodaszarvas is not the only divine deer in European and Asian culture. However, looking at Hungarian folklore and mythology it’s clear to see that it was very important up until the traditions like regölés or the myths like Hunor and Magor’s faded from our everyday lives.

Here are some sculptures portraying the csodaszarvas.