As the plots and themes of most ballads are based on events, situations or conflicts brought about by the most common human emotions, love and hate, their origins can rarely be traced to any particular folk-culture. Thus the Magyar ballad owes its peculiar charm to its characterisation, ornamentation, dramatic structure and poetic technique, not to the originality of its subject. Whilst these characteristics draw a clear dividing line between Hungarian and neighbouring Slav and Rumanian folklores, there are some surprising similarities of structure and technique between the Szekely ballads, (the majority of the Magyar ballads), and those of the Scots. As no historic or racial ties exist between these two nations, the similarity must be the result of parallel historic circumstances and environment effects of similar nature.

The well-known ballad "Ilona Gorog" tells of a not very original ruse employed by the mother of a lad in order to gain his girls love. On (his mother's advice, the lad pretends to "die" and then miraculously "comes to life" when the girl appears among the mourners. The rapid colourful dialogue maintains the suspense to the very end.

"Clement Mason" treats a legend popular among the Balkan story-tellers. Twelve masons are commissioned to build the castle of Deva (Southern Transylvania) but they can make no progress. They decide to perform a ritual sacrifice by killing the first wife who arrives. Her blood mixed with the mortar would then assure success. It is Clement's wife who arrives first and is killed.

The tune is of the old Magyar pentatonic type, but the subject is not of Hungarian origin. Genuine Magyar tales do not favour black magic. Special Magyar ornamentation is the repetition of the wife's premonitions, her folk-tale like misinterpretation of the dream which eventually leads her to her doom and her child's pilgrimage to the walls in search of his mother.

"Kate Kadar" is based on a real historic episode: the ballad is the re-creation, in peasant setting, of the story of Agnes Bernauer, the beautiful commoner who married the Prince of Bavaria and was, subsequently killed by her jealous in-laws. In the Magyar ballad, the husband is a nobleman and the wife a poor peasant girl. The girl is killed by her snobbish mother-in-law. On learning this, the young husband commits suicide. The two lovers are united in death and the flowers growing on their graves put a curse on their murderer.

The "Wicked Wife" is a short ballad with a measure .of macabre humour The wife is gaily dancing while her husband is dying. Her daughter calls several times but the wife goes on dancing. When finally the poor husband dies, the wife suddenly begins to grieve – for having lost her breadwinner

This is a Szekely ballad. As we said before, the Szekelys have a devastating humour.

The "Fair Maid Julia" is one of the few ballads in world folklore to use a Christian mystic theme. It is also that rare exception: unique to one folk culture, the Szekely. Its deep religious emotion, subtle symbolism and rustic simplicity rank this poem among the greatest ballads of the world. The theme is inspired by the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Virgins mystic elevation and heavenly union with God. Christian and pagan elements blend in a strange harmony: the reference to a "white, curly lamb" ("Jesus, Lamb of God") is followed by the pagan image: "carrying the sun and the moon between its horns..." (a typical "regos" song imagery). The miraculous picture of the gates that "open and shut by themselves" reminds us of the candles in the "regos" song that "light themselves" (cf. Chapter 6). The heavenly "wedding" invitation resembles the traditional ritual of the Szekely wedding ceremony.

"The Clever Pnnce" is a charming, gay poetic fantasy, a transition between ballads and folk tales, known in many variants in the Great Plain region. This "Cinderella in reverse" story tells of the search of a disguised Prince for his true love. He eventually marries the modest daughter of the poor basket-maker and teaches the haughty judge's daughter a lesson. The easy-flowing, short metres and musical rhymes carry the song-tale to its natural happy conclusion. The gay ballad is suited to romantic, pantomime-accompanied presentation to singing or to reciting.

The tales, myths, legends, religious parables, anecdotes, animal fables and other prose creations of the people are too numerous to he adequately treated here. We can only look at some selected features.

Folk-tales are characterised by certain recurring patterns an4 ornamental motifs. The beginning usually places the event somewhere "beyond the beyond. . .", "beyond the Glass mountain" or "beyond the Operencian Sea" . . . This last name is a mispronunciation of the name of the Austrian district "Ober Enns" – the westernmost frontier of King Matthias Hungary. The ending – usually a happy one – describes a wedding, often followed by the wry statement: "And if they are not dead they are still alive today…"Some story-tellers add a touch of personal involvement: "I was there myself…"

A specially Magyar character of the tale is the "Taltos", a person (or a horse) possessing magic powers. He reminds us of the "shaman", the medicine-man priest of the ancient Asian religions. The "Taltos" may have been born with his special talents, in which case he is a "Garaboncias", but more often he acquires these gifts by performing certain difficult tasks. The (good) hero may also receive help from a "Taltos horse" which gives him sound advice or practical help, when needed. The "Tunder" (Fairy) appears in many shapes, pleasant or unpleasant. One of the latter is the "Liderc", a haunting, ghost-like creature. The extracts from a very popular and specially Hungarian tale in the Appendix illustrate some of these features.

Needless to say that the gothic horror tales of "Dracula", vampires, were-wolves and zombies are but the figments of Holly-wood’s fertile imagination and have nothing to do with the earthly folklore of the Magyar people (in Transylvania or elsewhere).

Legends and myths are probably the most ancient type of folklore. Historic legends claim to retell some important event in the nations past. Nebulous as they may be, these popular sagas are usually based on historic facts remembered for generations. Many historic events concerning the ancestors of the Magyars were recorded by the pagan priests in runic writing. During the XIth century, these "pagan" writings were destroyed by the Christian priests. Only in the remote areas (Szekely region) do we find some ancient runic writing today. After the destruction of the runic records, the ancient legend lived by word of mouth among the people. The legend of the "Blood Treaty", for instance, as told by the peasants of the Great Plain, is based on a historic fact (Cf. Chapter 4).

Among the historic anecdotes the ones connected with King Matthias are frequent. His wise judgments protected the poor and restrained the overbearing rich.

The religious legends are, of course, anthropomorphic: Jesus and Saint Peter visit the Hungarian "puszta" and give lessons in common-sense Christianity to the shepherds.¹⁰