F is for Friends to Lovers (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.

THE TROPE

Following up on yesterday's trope, here is another all-time favorite: long time friendship turning into love. Also a slow burn, very often, given that the participants either don't recognize their love, or they are too afraid to ruin their friendship.

THE FOLKLORE

This one is less common in folktales, but by no means nonexistent. And I have to admit, I love finding stories where there is a relationship between a couple before they are married - it goes against the common stereotype that in folktales, wives are just handed out as prizes.

THE STORIES

The wooing of Pumei (Oroqen folktale)

I have mentioned this one before, but I'm gonna do it again, because it's awesome. A young hunter tries to impress a girl by showing off his archery skills, but she challenges him instead to go on a quest and woo the most beautiful maiden in the world. She accompanies him "as his sister", and they fight demons and defeat dragons together. Obviously at the end it turns out she is the maiden herself - and by that time, they have already fallen in love.

Is it a girl? Is it a boy? (Greek folktale)

Two kings are neighbors, and one has nine daughters and the other nine sons. The king with the sons mocks his friend, claiming girls are useless, and his sons could bring him the Water of Life. The youngest princess, hearing this, dresses as a man, and sets out to fecth the Water of Life, competing with one of the princes. She meets a cursed prince named Sir Northwind, who guards the Water of Life, and befriends him. Northwind suspects that she is a girl, and devises various tests, but she passes all of them. He eventually gives her the Water of Life and she leaves, leaving a note behind to let him know the truth. He finds a way to reach out to her and call her back, and eventually they marry, her love breaking the curse.

Lame and One-hand (Hungarian Roma folktale)

Two princes are crippled by a witch, and they have to live as beggars in the woods. A kind-hearted princess befriends them and comes to take care of them. Eventually, when the witch tries to hurt her, the princes defend her, and manage to break their own curse in the process. After that, one of them marries the girl.

Snow Bella (Cajun folktale)

This one is a Cajun Snow White variant, where the Dwarves the princess moves in with have an adopted brother. They care for the girl and defend her from the wicked witch's assassination attempts; they even hunt the queen down after the poison apple incident. In the end, Snow Bella marries the youngest brother, because they had fallen in love during her time in the Dwarves' house.

Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?

Do you like the folktale versions?

Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!

E is for Enemies to Lovers (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.

THE TROPE

If there is one trope that pops up every time someone mentions romance, it's Enemies to Lovers. Everyone is crazy about this one. Passion, tension, banter, rivalry, gloomy bad guy (or girl) redeemed, etc. So I knew I couldn't skip this one.

THE FOLKLORE

This one is actually quite common in folklore - it just rarely ends well. Usually, in these situations, the woman has to be subdued/conquered/bested, before she gives in to the man. Which... also could be a kink, I guess, but it lacks the banter-filled slow burn that the trope above implies. So, I went beyond such things as Cú Chulainn and Aoife.

THE STORIES

The Basil Maiden (Puerto Rican folktale)

This entire tale type (ATU 879) involves a banter and prank war between a haughty prince and a clever princess, during which they eventually fall in love. In the case of this Puerto Rican version, a king challenges the girl to a game of riddles, and she embarrasses him with her quick replies and clever pranks. In the end, they fall in love and get married.

Violet (Italian folktale)

This story is another version of the type above. In this one, the girl initiates the feud, calling out "Good day, prince! I know more than you!" A prank war then ensues where they mutually manage to trick and embarrass each other. In the end, the prince yields, they conclude they are a good match, and get married. 

The story of Halaf (Bedouin folktale)

A chief leads a raid on a neighboring tribe, but when he tries to loot the guests' tent, the daughter of the attacked chief confronts him and shames him for his behavior. The attacker stops the raid, and is impressed with the girl (and she is too, with him), so he returns later in disguise to court her. She recognizes him, and the encounter almost ends in trouble - but then a third tribe attacks, and the suitor helps beat them back. Thus, he wins the girl's hand and the tribes reconcile.

The king's seven sons (Jewish folktale from Spain)

This is once again a tale that belongs to a larger type (ATU 884B). A princess, disguised as a man, goes to war on her father's behalf (hello, Mulan), and the enemy prince falls in love with her. He tries his best to acertain whether she is a man or a woman. His tests fail repeatedly, but in the end she reveals her identity, boasting that she was more clever than the prince. In love, the prince follows her home, and manages to win her hand.

(I blogged about another, Spanish Roma version of this tale type earlier.)

Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?

Do you like the folktale versions?

Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!

D is for Dreamers (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.

THE TROPE

(Beautiful) Dreamer in this case refers to the trope where one person in a romantic couple falls asleep, and the other lovingly admires them. You know, in a totally romantic, non-creepy way.

THE FOLKLORE

This one had an immediate inspiration: Beauty and the Beast. But not the version most people are familiar with - rather, other variants of tale type ATU 425. In many stories of this type, the enchanted husband visits his wife at night in secret, and she never gets to see him in his true form (think Amor and Psyche). Eventually, she stays awake and lights a candle while her husband is asleep, so she can gaze at him and see how beautiful he really is. Usually, this ends badly, and the husband disappears; the heroine then has to go on a long quest to find him again. When she does, he is in an enchanted sleep, and she has to call (or sing) to him three nights in a row to wake him up.

THE STORIES

Wolf of the Greenwood (American folktale)

This tale was collected in 1914 in upstate New York. It starts with a woman who has a "witch chair", which she uses to catch suitors for her three daughters. The youngest marries a handsome stranger, and they live happily for a while. However, a young woman, jealous of their marriage, curses the husband to roam the Rocky Mountains as a wolf during the day, and only return home at night. Even so, the couple eventually has three children. This makes the witch even more jealous, and she sends a dog to abduct the babies and hide them.

The wife sets out to undo the curse on her husband and save her children. She makes her way to the witch's mountain, and exchanges various gifts for spending three nights in her husband's room. The witch makes the man drink a sleeping potion, so no matter how the wife calls to him, he doesn't wake up. On the third day, however, she sneaks out into the woods and gives her wolf-husband a sponge, which he uses to soak up the potion so he can stay awake. The enchantment is thus broken, and they can reunite their family.

The bull prince (Folktale from the Dominican Republic)

I love this version of the tale because, once again, the lovers know each other before the marriage. Here, a prince is cursed into a half-bull, half-man monster for not marrying a witch. A princess he loved volunteers to marry him anyway, and follows him into the wilderness. She lights a candle to look at him at night, wondering how to break his curse - but a drop of wax falls on him and burns him, and he disappears, crying out that she won't find him until she wears out a pair of iron shoes. She does, going on a long journey, and finally finds him in the Land of Gold. She trades three gifts for three nights in his room, but (just as in the story above) on the first two, she can't wake her husband up. She succeeds on the last night, breaking his enchantment, and they can live happily ever after.

Dalim Kumar (Folktale from Bengal)

Due to a curse, the prince Dalim Kumar is dead during the day, and alive at night. No one knows te secret except for his best friend, and a girl who wanders into his mausoleum and falls in love with him. For years, Dalim Kumar lives and dies every day, and his wife watches over him until the sun sets. Finally his wife decides to break the curse. She comes up with a genius plan to visit the evil queen who's dursed Dalim Kumar, and steals the necklace that can bring him back to life for good.

Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?

Do you like the folktale versions?

Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!

C is for Chic and Awe (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.

THE TROPE

"Chic and Awe" is the name for this motif used on the TV Tropes website, and it was too fun to pass up. It is the kind of trope where someone assumes that someone else is horrible / unattractive, and then the person walks in and turns out to be amazing. And obviously it results in a love story.

(Image is a reference to this scene)

THE FOLKLORE

Folklore is often criticized for emphasizing physical beauty. Whether or not a character is beautiful or not is a cardinal point in a lot of stories. And there are some, indeed, where someone is assumed to be unattractive, and turns out to be... not that.

THE STORIES

The farmer and the barber (Folktale from India)

Two friends, a farmer and a barber, are about to be married. The barber visits his own bride who turns out to be unattractive, and only offers him spinach for lunch. He then visits his friend's bride out of curiosity, and finds that she is pretty, and also offers great food. Out of jealousy, the barber runs to his friend and tells him "your bride is awful and only cooks spinach". Out of disappointment, the farmer then decides to blindfold himself for the wedding, and refuses to take a look at his wife or eat her food.

Soon after, the farmer and the barber are playing a gambling game in their garden, when the farmer's spurned wife decides to pay a visit. She pretends to be a guest, and immediately enchants her unwitting husband. He keeps inviting her back to play gambling games, and she keeps winning. After the games, he always goes home and puts on the blindfold again, none the wiser. The wife eventually hides all the things she had won from her husband inside pastries. When he opens them, he realizes that the mysterious beauty had been his own wife all along, and runs home to her. Thus discovering the barber's deception, they can now live happily.

Quamar Al-Zamaan and Shams Al-Dunya (Lebanese folktale)

Two kings engage their children when they are born. The boy and the girl are raised together until age then, when they are spearated according to custom. Even though the girl grows up to be perfect, her thirteen jealous cousins plot to destroy her impending marriage to the handsome prince. When the prince is on his way to the wedding, they orchestrate a situation where he can "overhear" them chatting, lamenting how the bride grew up to be disgusting and awful. The prince, shocked, flees from his wedding, and hides in the gardens of the summer palace.

The bride, suspecting what happends, decides to get her groom back. She visits the garden disguised as a guest, and manages to enchant the reclusive prince. He falls in love with her, and wants to marry her instead of is "ugly bride". Eventually his mother arranges a meeting with said bride - and the prince realizes the two are the same person.

(Sadly, there is no happy ending for this story; after years of happy marriage, the prince loses his wife, and goes through a long story of grief.)

Soqak Boqak! (Palestinian folktale)

A very smiliar story to the two above: a prince is to marry a peasant girl, and his spurned royal brides conspire to give him a false account of her looks. The groom hides in an orchard, and the bride decides (with the in-laws' help) to get him back. She digs a tunnel to the orchard and appears there, enchants the gardener, and tears up plants. The prince wants to know who the mysterious visitor is, and obviously they fall in love. Eventually, she reveals that she has been his bride all along.

Kinan Kinan (Haitian folktale)

A bit of a twist on the story: a prince doesn't want to marry, but his father orders him to. He rejects every girl that shows up to visit him, solely based on his servant calling out how pretty they are. When a dirty peasant girl wanders that way, he servant calls out how disgusting she is - and the prince decides to marry her. Once she is cleaned up, she surprises everyone by actually being very pretty, and the prince happily marries her. (This is also a Makeover, obviously, which is a whole other related trope.)

The marriage of Kudim-Os (Permyak legend)

The young chief Kudim-Os wants to build a fortress on top of a sacred hill. The shaman of the hill tries to distract him from his plan, and spreads a rumor that a Votyak chief has the most beautiful daughter in the world. In fact, the daughter is said to be so horrendous that her father keeps her locked away, killing all suitors - but the rumor mill works, and Kudim-Os sets out to win her as a wife. When he arrives, his companion visits the girl's tent first, but her horrible monster face scares him. Next, Kudim-Os enters... and despite the face, he sees something in her eyes. When she sees that he is not retreating, the girl reveals that the monster face is only a mask - her mother's idea to discover which suitor would see past appearances.

Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?

Do you like the folktale versions?

Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!

B is for Best Friend's Girlfriend (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.

THE TROPE

Best friend's girlfriend (boyfriend) is pretty self-explanatory: it's about a protagonist who falls for the love interest of their best friend. The excitement, as far as I can tell, comes from the tension between love and loyalty. Or finding out that the person you thought was right for you is actually not the one you are with.

THE FOLKLORE

Technically, I guess, a lot of famous stories would fall under this trope: Tristan and Isolde, Lancelot and Guinevere, Sigurd and Brünhilde, Herburt and Hild - since the younger knight that seduces the princess is usually a close friend / loyal companion of the king. But I wanted to go in a different direction with today's post.

THE STORIES

Kelea, the surf-rider (Legend from Hawaii)

This story features a princess from Maui named Kelea who loves to surf. To her royal brother's exasperation, she doesn't show any interest in marriage, claiming that she prefers her surf-board as her husband. Lolale, a chief from Oahu, is looking for a bride - her previous bried drowned, so he abhors the sea. (Obviously this is not a great match at first look). Lolale sends out his cousin and confidant Kalamakua to find a suitable wife for him. Kalamakua makes a daring promise that if the bride he finds won't suit Lolale, then he will marry her himself. Eventually he ends up in Maui and selects Kelea as a bride - impressing her with his maritime skills. Kelea and Lolale marry, but their marriage flounders, given that she loves to spend time on the beach surfing, and he hates the water. Eventually, everyone recognizes that Kelea is a much better match to Kalamakua, and the two fall in love. Lolale lets Kelea go, and she marries Kalamakua, living (and surfing) happily ever after.

Huryo and Kabacalaf (Somali folktale)

A girl called Huryo ("Ugly") elopes with a young man, because her parents don't approve of the marriage. They are accompanied by the groom's best friend, Kabacalaf, who is helping them on the way. Huryo decides to test the intelligence of her groom. She keeps making curious comments that he doesn't get, and Kabacalaf keeps explaining to his friend what the bride means. When they arrive to the priest, Huryo refuses to marry the groom, and chooses the clever best friend instead. Even after they are married, they play good-natured tricks on each other.

Hiiaka and Lohiau (Legend from Hawaii)

More of a "sister's boyfriend" situation. One of the most well known Hawaiian legends, an entire epic in itself. The volcano goddess Pele falls in love with a mortal man named Lohiau while she visits him in spirit. Once she wakes up from the spirit journey she sends her sister Hiiaka to fetch him (in other versions she gets bored of him, but then wants him back). Hiiaka goes on an epic adventure, defeating monsters and saving people, and brings Lohiau back. However, Pele in her impatience decides Hiiaka must have cheated her, and burns her gardens and her lover in her absence. There are different versions of the story, but in some, Hiiaka and Lohiau fall in love on the way back, or fall in love after Pele's rage. Either way, Hiiaka brings the man back to life, and they end up living together. 

Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?

What do you think of the folktale versions?

Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!

A is for Arranged Marriage (Romance Tropes in Folklore)

This year, my A to Z Blogging Challenge theme is Romance Tropes in Folklore! For each letter, I will pick a popular trope from romcom movies and romance novels, and see if I can find the same trope in folktales and legends. Because it's fun. Here we go.

THE TROPE

Arranged Marriage in romance means a story where the protagonists are married before they fall in love (or even meet). They usually do end up falling in love, in a "slow burn" way, as they get to know each other. Forced marriage (where one party is forced into the marriage, rather than being an even match) is a subset of this trope.

(Yes, I am learning these as I go along.)

THE FOLKLORE

This one might seem like a low hanging fruit for folklore, since for centuries arranged marriage was the norm, rather than the exception. Traditional tales are teeming with princesses being doled out by their parents willy-nilly. But I was trying to aim higher, looking for stories where love and romance are an important component within the arranged marriage story.

THE STORIES

The pasha's daughter (Arab folktale)

This story begins with a pasha who has a clever and brave daughter, Uns-ul-Juloos. She refuses to marry anyone she does not love. When she rejects a very high profile suitor, her father grows furious, and decides to teach her a lesson by marrying her to the most wretched person in the city. His servants dig up a drunk, dirty and poor man, and Uns-ul-Juloos is married to him immediately. However, even when she is moved from palace to dingy hovel, she doesn't despair. She soon learns that her husband is actually a kind person, and he grows to love her so much that he puts in the effort to give her a good life. They slowly grow to love each other and build a life together. Then one day he takes a job traveling with a caravan, and encounters a jinn who grants him some magic pomegranates. With the use of the fruit, Uns-ul-Juloos and her husband become wealthy, and manage to prove to the pasha that a good relationship with a good person is much better than a rich suitor would have been.

Sultan Hasan (Egyptian folktale)

A sultan has to go into exile and live in disguise to avoid a family curse. On his travels, he encounters a man who keeps abusing his wife, divorcing and re-marrying her again and again. Eventually, by law, she has to be married to someone else before he can have her again. So they arrange for her to marry some random beggar for one day only. The beggar happens to be the sultan in disguise - and the woman decides that he is a much better husband. They refuse to divorce after the one day is up.

Mongan and Dubh-Lacha (Irish legend)

Mongan is an Irish hero born to Manannan Mac Lir, lord of the Land of Promise, and a mortal woman. The woman's husband, Fiachna the Fair, offers his wife to Manannan in exchange for the deity saving him in a battle against venomous sheep (yes, really). When the child of this one-night stand is born, Manannan takes the baby away to be raised in his world. But before that, baby Mongan is engaged to the daughter of Fiachna the Fair's co-king, Fiachna the Black. While Mongan is away, Fiachna the Balck kills Fiachna the Fair, and takes over the kingdom. When sixteen-year-old Prince Mongan returns by popular demand, he makes peace with his (foster) father's killer, and marries his daughter Dubh-Lacha (Black Duck). So, this is not only an arranged marriage, but also a political union between enemies. Mongan eventually does kill Fiachna the Black, and becomes sole king.

Despite this fact, Mongan and Dubh-Lacha prove to be a fitting couple. Later on, Mongan makes a mistake, promising his friend the King of Leinster "whatever he wishes for" in his kingdom. The king demands Dubh-Lacha, and to preserve his honor, Mongan has to give her up. However, he soon decides to use his magic powers (earned in the Land of Promise) to get her back. With his foster brother Mac An Daimh at his side (who is married to Dubh-Lacha's foster sister), he sets out, and goes through a series of tricks and adventures until he rescues his wife. And to prove that she is very happy with this development, and one point he disguises himself as a priest just to take her confession - which promptly turns into sex.

Do you have favorite romance stories that feature this trope?

Can you see these folktale versions as blurbs for novels?

Don't forget to leave a link in the comments so I can visit you back!

Happy A to Z!

The 2024 A to Z Blogging Challenge Theme Reveal

 

Oh crap, the A to Z Blogging Challenge is approaching again! I almost ran out of time for this theme reveal.

This is my 12th year participating. Even when I am scrambling for time and attention span, I really love being part of the A to Z community. And I enjoy the challenge itself. In the past 11 years I've always had a theme:

Weird Princesses (2013)
Tales with Colors (2014)
Epics A to Z (2015)
Diversity A to Z (2016)
WTF - Weird Things in Folktales (2017)
WTF Hungary - Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales (2018)
Fruit Folktales (2019)
Folktales of Endangered Species (2020)
Tarot Tales (2021)
Gemstone Folklore (2022)
Body Folktales (2023)

I think this year (maybe due to being a new mom) it was especially, wildly difficult for me to settle on a theme. I made lists. Lots of lists. I always do "Mythology and Folklore" topics, as you see above, but I just didn't feel inspired by any of the ideas. 

I considered folktales about

- Emotions (I actually wrote 3 posts for this one and then got bored)

- Constellations (I am slowly assembling this one but it's not ready yet)

- Trees (Takes more research than I have time for)

- Natural disasters (Felt too depressing)

- Queer identities (Couldn't quite fill all the letters AND find tales for them)

- StorySpotting (Didn't want this to make watching TV feel like a chore)

- Music (Didn't wanna argue about interpreting songs)

I was about ready to give up trying to get inspired. I polled people on Mastodon and Facebook. I talked to blogger friends. Everyone had opinions on which ones would be fun to read... but nothing sat quite right. And then, finally, I remembered last year's big takeaway:

WHEN IN DOUBT, GO WITH THE IDEA THAT IS JUST DUMB FUN.

I don't need this blog series to be useful. Or neat. Or meaningful.

I just want it to be fun to research, and fun to share.

And then, finally, inspiration struck.

So, without further ado, let me present to you my theme for the 2024 April A to Z Blogging Challenge:

ROMANCE TROPES IN FOLKLORE!

A bit of context:

I don't read a lot of romance. It's not really my genre. I do appreciate romantic plots, but usually incorporated into other, larger stories. And romance tropes often feature into role-paying games, which I play and also extensively researched.

Also, I love discussing romance tropes with fellow writers and gamers. And spotting them in movies and TV shows. And I recently had a discussion with a folklorist friend about how romance clichés are not all that different from folktale motifs: they pop up again and again because people just enjoy them. We can argue till the cows come home about whether a romance trope is hurtful or elegant or overdone or cringe. But in the end, folktales are highly formulaic too, and no one accuses them of being unoriginal.

So, here is my own challenge this year: I am going to look up popular romance (novel, movie, game, etc.) tropes, and find folktales that match them. That's it.

Are you participating this year? 

Are you doing a theme reveal? 

Leave a link in your comments so I can visit back!