Thursday, August 23, 2007

The land I came from...

How should I describe the land I came from? I used to think that there was not too much to describe at all, but right now, collecting and arranging all the Hungarian tales and legends to bring them with me to the US, the possibilities seem totally endless. If it would be a real storytelling moment, I'd tell you the tale from the very beginning to the very time we live in, but that would definitely take more than a moment... several moments, in fact. I could go into J .R. R. Tolkien mode and describe the woods, the hills and the "stars uncounted" in long sentences all ringing like church bells. Don't get scared, I won't. Right now, I'm more into checklists (guess why!:)

Let's see what storytellers and story-lovers would probably be glad to know.

The land I came from...

... is the land of dragon riders. Yep. It sounds totally cool, and we invented it a waaaay before Eragon was even thought of. Come back later for garabonciás stories.
... used to be the Kingdom of Fairies. Not the teeny-weeny butterfly-winged ones.The real ones (I have no objections for butterfly wings at all! I could use a pair myself). From rivers and woods and caves and marshes they built themselves a kingdom in Szigetköz and Csallóköz. Yay, I love those legends. They are quite sad at the end, though.
... has a castle or a fort on every mountain, every hill, every rock, every mole-hill and most of the anthills too. And every single one of them has their own legend (except for the anthills, I guess, but never underestimate a storyteller. I already have the name for THE ant!). I can't get enough of them.
... has a unique monster called rézfaszú bagoly, but I'd rather not translate the name. Trust me, it's serious.
... has it's own sleeping king just like Finn Mac Cool, King Arthur, Holger Danske. Well hidden somewhere, saved for worse times, ready to be reloaded.
... has dragons who look like humans. Some of them have vast amounts of heads, though. But they are rather effective when pissed.
... has magic horses in any size, any age, any kind, all coming in copper, silver, gold and diamond, and the deluxe version includes shape-shifting and free advice.
... has rather nice and friendly devils. Really. And the less nice ones are still funny. And the dangerous are manageable.
... has legendary princes who can consume incredible amounts of alcohol. Just for the sake of politeness, of course.

There are still some more facts coming up to this list. Not now.

You don't get a word? Start Googling;)

2 comments:

  1. I just Google "rézfaszú bagoly" and can't stop laughing at the name. Of course, I'm sure I wouldn't want to encounter one in the dark!

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  2. dragons who look like humans!!! yay.. i knew that even before I read it here! guess how? well.. u told it to me today! :D

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