Thursday, April 13, 2023 <p>I've now translated seven of the eight extant Pontic versions of ATU 450 (the eighth folktale, in manuscript at the Academy of Athens, might be the original of the Santa version of the tale published in the Arheion Pontou in 1928). They were collected from 1914 (Imera) to sometime between 1978 and 1986 and were told and collected by both women and men. The main subtype opens with cannibalism (a woman has to substitute her breast in place of a wild game bird for her husband's dinner, and they decide to butcher their children). The brother turns into a deer after he drinks from a hoofprint, and then uses his antlers to stash his sister in a tall tree for safety. She is discovered when her shadow on water scares the king's horses from drinking. The tree is too large to be chopped down (and the deer repairs it every night) so they turn to an old woman (often a witch) to lure the girl low enough to seize her by her hair. The guys involved don't usually think to try to persuade her down--they treat her like a feral animal who has to be captured, not reasoned with. The king's son falls in love with her immediately and marries her in an elaborate ceremony.</p> <p>What I think I'm seeing, but need to look more closely, is that the tales told by women include "persecuted bride" stories ("The Innocent Slandered Maiden" and "The Black and White Brides") that take place after the marriage ceremony, while the men's versions end with marriage and bringing the deer-brother safely to the palace.</p>