I is for Ilona the Forgetful and Occasionally Murderous (WTF Hungary - Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales)

Welcome to this year's A to Z Challenge titled WTF Hungary - Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales! You can find all other participating blogs on the A to Z Challenge main blog.

I have blogged about Tündér Ilona, Queen of the Fairies before. I am circling back to her because I want to talk about how different her portrayals can be, depending on what folktale you read, and who is telling that tale. So, I have two stories for you today.

Exhibit A: Palkó Lily-of-the-Valley
This story has been told and re-told as a Hungarian folktale, but in fact folklorists can find no proof that it existed anywhere before collector and author Benedek Elek put it in his book sometime in the 19th century. It does not fit any known tale type, so many suspect that Benedek made it up. Whatever the case, it is a very pretty story. I wrote about it in detail here.
This tale portrays Ilona the Fairy Queen as a jealous, evil woman who wants to destroy a Dwarf princess just because she is prettier. She is more witch that fairy, and she pursues the fleeing lovers on a seven-legged horse, until the Sun breaks her power. She is not a very likable character at all.

Exhibit B: The Dream of the Fairy Queen
This tale, included in my new book, was collected from a female storyteller named Pályuk Anna. In fact, this was the first folktale I read that was collected from her, and this was also the story that made me fall in love with her tales. Ten years later, many of them are a part of my repertoire... but this one is still my favorite.

In this story, a young man runs away from home because his parents gave him a horribly embarrassing name (Anna does say what the name is, but I'm not gonna tell you). He flees into the woods, where he encounters Ilona and her court, out to pick some lilies-of-the-valley (sensing a pattern here). The young man accompanies them, but when he enters the clearing of flowers, he is cursed along with a bunch of the fairy maidens, and turns into an old man, trapped. Ilona wows to rescue him, runs home to ask for help, and... kinda sorta accidentally forgets about the whole thing. For years. (Ever had that feeling when you walk into a room and you suddenly forget why you came in? Apparently fairies have that too.) Eventually she sees the young man in a dream, and remembers she meant to rescue him. She then goes on to fight the Spirit of the Forest, break the curse, give a new name to the poor guy, and eventually marry him.
I love this story because this Ilona is so weird in it - she is the Fairy Queen, with great power, but she is also easily distracted, and a little forgetful. She likes the guy, but doesn't like the name; and when he takes her home, she goes exploring in a church, and accidentally turns herself human. Oops.
Pályuk Anna's take on her is much more likable than any other I have ever heard.

How do you like your Fairy Queens? Good? Evil? Powerful? Forgetful? A little bit of all?