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Wednesday, April 4, 2018

D is for the Diamond Prince in a Rubber Suit (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 came across this one while browsing through the Hungarian Folktale Catalog. It is the kind of title that makes you go "wait... what?", and of course I had to go look up the actual story.

The folktale comes from Chibed in Transylvania; it was collected from a Hungarian-speaking Roma storyteller lady named Ötvös Sára in the middle of the last century (see the book here). It starts out pretty conventionally, as per folktale tropes: An old woman finds a red flower that turns into a beautiful girl, whom she adopts as her own daughter.

And then, one day, the Rubber Man shows up to claim her as his wife.

Of course Marvel has a
diamond superhero (duh)
At first, the old woman's husband chases the Rubber Man away. However, he returns later, when only the girl is at home, and reveals himself to be a Diamond Prince, who only wears the rubber suit to protect himself from all the assassination attempts he had been dealing with since his childhood. This way, all knives, swords, and other weapons simply bounce off him.

The girl, of course, gladly marries the Diamond Prince. The rest of the story tells about how the Prince has to go to battle against his long-time enemies, and how he wins the fight by wearing his rubber suit that bounces off all swords, spears, and arrows. He becomes a hero and a king, and lives happily ever after.

I have two thoughts on this story:
1. What a beautiful metaphor for mental self-defense ("I am rubber, you are glue", anyone?)
2. This tale must have been born at a time when rubber was something new, exciting, and possibly half-magical.

Come on, we were all thinking it.

17 comments:

  1. I like your rubber and glue metaphor:)
    And you're right about 'wait...what?' response too. That's what I said when I read the title of tour D post.
    Cheers for another tale.
    https://artismoments.blogspot.qa/2018/04/d-is-for-darshan-atozchallenge.html

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  2. Rubber as half magica. Now that is an interesting idea and certainly one that urges us not to take anythign for granted.

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  3. Rubber and glue...great metaphors. And it is magical, isn't it? I mean, still?

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  4. I was thinking as I was reading, like you, that this story had to have come about because rubber was new and exciting and could fix all evils :) Rubber and Diamond - interesting combination!
    Sophie
    Ghostly Inspirations - Sophies A to Z

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  5. I'm really loving reading your posts. Everything is so interesting!

    Down Goes Another One by McFly

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  6. Thank you so much for the image of the michelin man - now I can never see anything else in my head for this tale ;) Rubber is one thing I never expected from a folk tale :D
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings - Movie Monsters

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  7. These Hungarian tales are getting weirder, but more entertaining too!
    https://iainkellywriting.com/2018/04/04/d-is-for-dresden-germany/

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  9. I'll bounce back like a rubber ball to read some more of your stories, having been glued to this one.
    http://bobscotney.blogspot.com/

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  10. When did rubber really become "big" in the world? That is an interesting theory.

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  11. What an interesting story! Loved reading it.

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  12. This one reminds me of Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild because Link has a rubber suit he can get. It only repels electricity though.

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  13. Interesting. Looking in for the Challengge.

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  14. The mind boggles.

    http://findingeliza.com/

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  15. This one totally cracks me up. Here you are only at letter D and I'm ready to claim a favorite. I'll never look at anything rubber again without wondering if there are diamonds inside.

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  16. Obviously, the moral of the story is everyone needs a rubber suit, right? ;)

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  17. Yeah unfortunately my mind went right to the fetish rubber suit place... O.o; Great story tho! ;)
    Jamie Lyn Weigt | Theme: Odds and Ends Dragons | Writing Dragons

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