Sokorópátka: How to Eat a Pig (Small Town Legends A to Z)

This year my A to Z theme is Small Town Legends. I am exploring folklore from villages and small towns around Hungary, bringing you the most entertaining bits. You can plan your next visit around them!

This story comes from the actual oral tradition: growing up, I heard many tales from my grandfather that all featured a semi-mythical character named Sokorópátkai Szabó István. Only later on did I find out that he was a real historical person.

Sokorópátkai Szabó István was a politician at the beginning of the 20th century. He represented Sokorópátka is the parlament, and was a minister responsible for agrarian and smallholder issues. Sokorópátka is a municipality in Győr-Moson-Sopron county, northwestern Hungary, with about 1100 inhabitants.

My grandfather's tales about Sokorópátkai Szabó István, inherited through local folklore, were a source of endless merriment for my family. He usually came across in them as a bumbling, provincial, self-important man who made all kinds of funny breaches of etiquette. In the story we loved the most about him, however, he ends up being a trickster.

Here it goes:

Sokorópátkai Szabó István considered himself a very important man. He used to take the train to Budapest to attend parlament meetings. He had himself driven by carriage to the train station in Győr, and on the way home the carriage waited for him in the same place. Now, SSzI was a large man, almost 200 kilograms, and he always came home hungry. On the way back home he used to stop in the village of Ménfő, at the tavern of Józsa Mihály (my grandmother's uncle) to have dinner. His usual dinner consisted of five liters of pejsli (pork lung).

It happened one winter, on the night before the day of St. Barbara (Borbála) that the Budapest train was late. The coach driver was half frozen by the time SSzI arrived. The lord was extremely hungry, and gave the order to drive to the tavern despite the late hour. Soon, he was banging on the door, demanding dinner.

The tavern keeper, half asleep, opened up. He told the lord that there was no food prepared this late at night, and he should move on. However, SSzI did not take no for an answer. He demanded food loudly, until Józsa Mihály admitted that there was a roast pig in the oven, kept warm for St. Borbála's feast the next day - given that Borbála was his daughter's name, so they were going to celebrate her name day.

SSzI demanded the pig to be put on the table. The tavern keeper did not dare say no. However, he was furious. So he set the table, put a plate, a fork and a knife in front of the guest - and took another fork and knife for himself. Between them, there was the pig.

The tavern keeper gave a menacing look:

"My lord. Wherever you start on the pig, I shall start on you."

Sokorópátkai Szabó István looked at the pig. He was famished. He looked at Józsa Mihály. The man was not joking. He looked at the pig again. Where should he cut it? He did not want to suffer the same fate. He considered his options, salivating, struggling. Finally, he had an idea.

He put the knife down. He put the fork down. He turned the pig around. He stuck his finger into the pig's butt, scooped out a generous dollop of filling, and licked his finger clean.

"Alright, Mr. Józsa. You can start on me now!"

(According to my grandfather, Uncle Mihály was delighted to tell this story to people. Apparently, it made up for the loss of a pig.)

(Collected from my grandfather, Zalka Ottó, in 2019. May he rest in peace.)