Abstract
Abstract Scholarly publication of folk riddles in Hungary started in the mid-19th century. Among the early sources was the first classic collection of Hungarian folktales, Eredeti népmesék [Authentic Folktales], compiled by László Arany, which includes a separate chapter comprising 54 riddle tales. Manuscripts related to this publication were found in the Hungarian Academy of Sciences among other collections from the 19th century and identified in the 1960s as having been recorded by members of the Arany family. The manuscripts contain all the riddles published by László Arany, along with 25 riddle texts that remained unpublished. Comparison of the two sources reveals the editing process: the selection and arrangement of the material, along with the text modifications applied by László Arany. The first part of this article consists of a few terminological notes on tales and riddle tales in 19th-century Hungary, followed by the description of the riddle material in the manuscripts associated with the Arany family. In the second part the author presents in more detail the editing process which shows a far higher degree of conscious editorial attention than other publications of folk riddles in the period.
Highlights
Acta Ethnographica Hungarica synoptic critical edition published in 2018 (DOMOKOS – GULYÁS 2018)1 demonstrates
The first part of this article consists of a few terminological notes on tales and riddle tales in 19th-century Hungary, followed by the description of the riddle material in the manuscripts associated with the Arany family
After selecting and arranging from the Arany family’s manuscript collection of tales and riddles, where riddles had mostly been recorded by Juliska Arany, and after making certain modifications to the texts, László Arany eventually managed to assemble a chapter in Eredeti népmesék which is unified in style and which, in comparison to later collections, represents folklore riddles accurately
Summary
It is necessary to consider, at least tangentially, what the term találós mese [riddle tale] meant in Hungary in the mid-19th century and how the genre it denoted was connected to tales. “But here we are not using the term Mese in any of the senses described so far, but mean by it what our forebears had meant under the term Enigma – a saying, pronouncement, or question with a hidden meaning whose sense, definition, or solution needs to be prized out or guessed; and in order to render such a solution all the more difficult, the matter is laid before us through its causes, traits, and conclusions, or is being likened to other, similar things in order to trick the mind, and the contradiction among these things is being placed in the foreground to allow the guesser to come upon the true likeness between them To this end, words of a common meaning are mixed with words of a foreign meaning and the entire Tale is comprised into verses of some kind.” Találós mese [riddle tale] both appear in reference to folk riddles, but from 1862 all the way until the 1920s, találós mese [riddle tale] is clearly the accepted term for naming the genre.
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