МИТСКИ ЗМАЈ И ЗМАЈЕБОРАЧКИ ОБРАЗАЦ СРПСКЕ И СТАРОЕНГЛЕСКЕ ЕПИКЕ
MYTHIC DRAGON AND THE DRAGON SLAYER STORY-PATTERN OF SERBIAN AND OLD ENGLISH EPIC POETRY

Summary/Abstract: The dragon of Old English tradition is a Germanic treasure keeper, covetous dweller of caves and spaces under stones; they must be conquered in order for the treasure to be obtained. Sometimes, like in the Old English epic Be­o­wulf, there exists an indication that the dragon is yet another metamorphic form which a hero can take if he becomes greedy and keeps all the treasure to himself–those characteristics are highly negative according to Germanic heroic code. Conversely, the dragon of Serbian epic poetry has two variants – “ala/aždaja,” and a good, domestic dragon who fights “ala.” Paying special attention to the dragon’s residing place which is un­der har­ne stan (“under the grey stone”), which in the shape of a formula exists in Serbian epic poetry, too, the paper sheds light on the similarities between a dragon and a snake as the possible anthropomorphic forms of the great heroes of Serbian (e.g., Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk, Sekula) and Old English epic poetry (Beowulf). The mythical foundation of the duel between a dragon and a dragonly hero radiates from the deeper fundus of these two distant traditions. Comparative method is seen as a fruitful approach which will pinpoint both the similarities and the differences of these two traditions, contributing all the while to the wider context of the understanding of the dragon as a mythical oral epic being.

• Details
• Contents