I learned recently that, just as English fairy tales often begin with "Once upon a time" and end with "And they lived happily ever after," Hungarian fairy tales often begin with, "Once where there was and wasn't" and end with "And they are still alive if they haven't died yet."
Which do you suppose makes less sense?
Also, right after "Once where there was and wasn't," many tales include a completely irrelevant bit of information. The one I read started with "Once where there was or wasn't, the Lord of Dobrogi loved red apples"--and then he wasn't even the main character: he was the bad guy and didn't show up until a few paragraphs later.
Interesting stuff, these folk tales.
Personally, I think "And they are still alive if they haven't died yet" is much more sensible than "And they all lived happily ever after."
ReplyDeleteThen again, one of my favorite musicals is Into the Woods and its ending is very Hungarianesque.
Into the Woods = AWESOME. And that's great to know about Hungarian fairy tales.
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