Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa

Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa or Anthousa the Fair with Golden Hair is a Greek fairy tale collected by Georgios A. Megas in Folktales of Greece.[1] Other variants were collected by Michalis Meraklis and Anna Angelopoulou.[2]

It is Aarne-Thompson type 310, the Maiden in the Tower. Other fairy tales of this type include The Canary Prince, Petrosinella, Prunella, and Rapunzel.[3] The Greek variant was first recorded in 1890 in eastern Thrace.[4] Unlike most such tales, it does not open with the scene in the garden where the baby is traded to the ogress.[5] The ogress' chase particularly resembles that of Petrosinella.[2] This chase, in fact, is another folktale type, Aarne-Thompson type 313, The Girl Helps the Hero Flee;[6] others of this type include The Water Nixie, Foundling-Bird, Nix Nought Nothing, and The Master Maid. In these tales, the girl is the daughter of the evil from which the hero flees, and some folklorists have interpreted it to mean that in the Rapunzel tale, the heroine's being the adopted daughter of the ogress or witch is an adaption of an original where she is the daughter.[6]

Synopsis

An old woman tried for many years to make lentil soup, but every time she was out of one ingredient or another. Finally, she was able to make the soup, but when she put it in the stream to cool, Prince Phivos brought his horse to drink; the pot startled the horse and it would not drink, so the prince kicked the pot over. She cursed him to crave Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa as much as she had the soup.

He, consumed with longing, hunted for Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa for three months until he came to the tower with no entrance, where she lived. He saw an ogress (drakaina) approach and call Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa to throw down her hair; the ogress climbed it, ate and drank with Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa, and climbed back down again. The prince called to her, and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa threw down her hair to him. They fell in love. Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa hid him from the ogress, who would have eaten him, and as soon as the ogress left the tower the next morning, they sealed up the mouths of everything in the tower, because all the objects there could speak, and fled. The ogress returned, her daughter did not answer, and the mortar, which the prince and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa had forgotten, told her that they had fled. The ogress chased after them on a bear, but Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa threw down a comb, which became a swamp, and after the ogress passed through that, another comb, which became thorns, and finally a scarf, which became a sea. The ogress could not pass the sea, but she warned Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa that the prince would leave her in a tree while he went to fetch his mother to bring her to the castle, and when he kissed his mother, he would forget her and decide to marry another. When that happened, she should get two pieces of bread dough being prepared for the wedding, and make them into birds.

It happened as she said, and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa did as the ogress said. The birds flew to the castle and one questioned the other about what had happened between Prince Phivos and Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa. He remembered her, went to the tree where he had left her, and brought her to the castle, where they married.

Commentary

The heroine's three names mean "Blossoming", "Fair-haired", and "Golden-haired".[7]

See also

References
  1. Georgios A. Megas, Folktales of Greece, p 42, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1970
  2. Soula Mitakidou and Anthony L. Manna, with Melpomeni Kanatsouli, Folktales from Greece: A Treasury of Delights, p 9 ISBN 1-56308-908-4
  3. Heidi Anne Heiner, "Tales Similar to Rapunzel"
  4. Christodoula Mitakidou; Anthony L. Manna; Melpomeni Kanatsouli (2002). "Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisomalousa". Folktales from Greece: a treasury of delights. Greenwood Press. Retrieved 24 March 2010. A version of the story is given in this book.
  5. Laura J. Getty, "Maidens and their guardians: interpreting the "Rapunzel" tale"
  6. Georgios A. Megas, Folktales of Greece, p 223, University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1970
  7. Soula Mitakidou and Anthony L. Manna, with Melpomeni Kanatsouli, Folktales form Greece: A Treasury of Delights, p 9 ISBN 1-56308-908-4
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