Argyroupolis/Haldia

Argyroupolis/Haldia Thursday, May 4, 2023 It was a productive day--I managed to translate around seven folktales from Arheion Pontou 15 (mostly short mythoi), and partially translate another from Pontiaka Fylla 25 which has become an unusual take on xenitia (working abroad), that leads into the story about a devil who helps a villager become a renowned doctor. In fact, I also partially translated what they're calling a folktale called The Emigrant, collected by a Metropolitan (bishop), but since much of the beginning consists of a contentious dialogue between a woman and her daughter-in-law, I put it aside until I can read it through and determine its genre. More on that next week, I hope. In the meantime, after much consideration, I finally merged two provenances, Argyroupolis and Haldia. I've been hearing for a while now that those two places are often conflated, but it seemed wiser to keep them separate. Argyroupolis was the major mining center up in the mountains, and Haldia was the wider area that included Trebizond, Santa, Kromni, etc. But I just keep finding variants that in one source are identified with Argyroupolis and in another are identified with Haldia. Each provenance on its own had a reasonable number of tales: Argyroupolis 18 and Haldia more than 40. So together they make a substantial collection which should make for some rich analysis: ATU 1920 (The Great Bee and the Small Beehive), two variants from 1928 and 1996. ATU 279* (The Snake Trying to Surround the Crab Refuses to Straighten Himself Out): two variants from 1935 and 1950 ATU 332 (Godfather Death): two variants from 1928 and 1948 (and there may be at least one other, but I wasn't identifying tale types today as I was translating). ATU 465 (The Man Persecuted Because of His Beautiful Wife): two variants from 1880 and 1948 ATU 510A (Cinderella), two variants, one locked away in the Center for Asia Minor Studies and the other in the Academy of Athens ATU 567A "The Magic Bird Heart and the Separated Brothers" + ATU 566 The Three Magic Objects and the Wonderful Fruits: four variants from 1880, 1937, 1948, and unknown date (locked away in the Center for Asia Minor Studies) Looking forward to visiting those archives in the fall and getting a look at those missing tales!