Юнакът и изтръгнатата от корен златна ябълка
The Hero and the Pilling of the Golden Apple Tree from Its Roots

Summary/Abstract: The object of analysis in this work are epic songs, wherein the hero, in order to win his bride, has to acquire the golden apple. In the Bulgarian epic tradition these types of songs usually contain certain persistent motifs: formulating the task, the hero preparing himself, the crossing of the boundary between the two worlds, triumphing over a supernatural opponent, pulling the golden apple tree from its roots, returning to the land of man and finally planting the miraculous apple tree in the yard of the one who gave the task. In this paper the similarity between these songs and the Narts‘ sagas, as well as similarity with the legends and fairy tales is pointed out. Basing herself on this comparison, the author makes an attempt to prove that the hero of the analyzed types of epic songs is notably different from the characteristics of the cultural hero and comes closer to the characteristics of the legendary first priest-king.

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