On the image of long-bearded dwarves in English and Kazakh folklore

The article is dedicated to explaining the correlation between the image of a long-bearded dwarf and its vile representation in English and Kazakh folktales. The article explores the tales “Karatay” of Kazakh origin and “The old bluebeard” of English origin, along with other examples from world folklore. The aim of the paper is to examine the role of the motive of a long-bearded dwarf in folklore. The methods of contrastive analysis, motive analysis and induction were utilized. The following conclusion is made: the image of a long-bearded dwarf figure usually demonstrates evil forces as opposed to the image of the main hero.

Keywords: motive, folklore, dwarves, satyrs, mythology, archetypes, folkloric discourse, magical discourse.

Introduction. World folklore features a variety of humanoid creatures which do not exactly fall under the category of humans. These creatures might be either evil or neutral: they sometimes help the main character by giving advice or escorting the hero to the place of the quest. In other cases, however, such characters have villainous intentions, and the hero usually wins them over at the end of his journey. Among such creatures, long-bearded dwarves have been a matter of interest in folkloristics.

A dwarf, as defined by a variety of dictionaries, is a creature which is significantly lower than a normal-looking human. While the word “dwarf” is considered politically incorrect nowadays, the name remains the same in folklore, where the nature of dwarves was mysterious, and their images usually vile. According to the classification of Vladimir Propp, dwarves (especially long-bearded ones) fall under the category of antagonists [1]. The main intention of such an antagonist is to enslave the princess which is later saved by the main character.

This article will primarily focus on this role of long-bearded dwarves, as it appears to be the most important and the most widespread one. In a variety of tales, however, long-bearded dwarves act as helpers: they show the road, grant the main character with magical powers, and aid to save the princess. Such roles, at the same time, do not help explore the roots of marking long-bearded dwarves as kidnappers and villains. This vile representation might come from Greek mythology, where low, bearded, goat-legged creatures (satyrs) were considered villainous as opposed to tall, neat, sophisticated gods. Satyrs were closer to nature, and their appearance was the direct opposite of the appearance of, say, Hermes. On the other hand, as Mark Griffith states, satyrs, being the helpers of a god, could have had a special sort of wisdom [2]. That wisdom, quite far from the thoughtfulness of gods, was in fact the alteration of religious and supernatural beliefs of that time. In other words, satyrs could have been the “opposition” of Greek mythology.

With such a controversial prototype, long-bearded dwarves were not able to gain a fully positive image in folklore. Despite their presumed closeness to satyrs, they might have appeared from another source. The humanity’s prejudice against any kind of disability is clearly shown in folkloric works about fairies, deaf and blind people, women without hands etc. For instance, the tales about changelings often feature dwarves mistaken for children. While some disabilities (artificial or magical) were viewed as positive, dwarfism has long been considered a mysterious trait that turns its owner into, say, a magician.

Methods and materials. In this article, the methods of contrastive analysis, motive analysis, and induction were utilized. The method of contrastive analysis, for instance, helps compare folkloric works belonging to different cultures, and motive analysis allows to scrutinize the motives present in folktales from various viewpoints. The article explores two fairy-tales from English and Kazakh folklore: “Karatay” and “The old bluebeard”.

Results and discussion. As it has been mentioned before, long-bearded dwarves are usually villains in a variety of folktales around the world. Here are a few examples. In “Rose Red and Show White”, a German folktale from the collection of Brothers Grimm, a long-bearded evil dwarf transforms a prince into a bear. Later, two sisters help the prince and cut off the dwarf’s beard where he presumably hides his power. After that, the dwarf disappears. In “Sary-at”, a Kazakh folktale, a woman’s baby is kidnapped by a long-bearded dwarf, and later she gives birth to a boy who grows up and liberates his sister. A well-known and classical example would be “Ruslan and Lyudmila”, an epic tale where the hero’s bride is kidnapped by the mentioned figure. In pretty much all the tales of this kind, the dwarf’s beard is the main source of his power. Once it is cut, the dwarf loses its magical and mysterious nature. In some cases, the dwarf transforms into a much more powerful creature (for instance, a dragon) for the final combat with the main character. In other cases, the loss of a beard might turn the dwarf into a positive figure, and he might become the princess who was supposed to have been kidnapped (“Mikesh the Unfearful”).

If to be more exact, a long-bearded old man is the main antagonist in the category “Three kidnapped princesses” from Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index of folktale motives [3]. This category is further divided into three types:

1. 301A. Quest for a lost princess. In the tales of this type, a hero is usually the third son in a family. He and his brothers cook dinner in turns — only to watch it being devoured by a tiny old man with an extremely long beard. When it is the third brother’s turn, he tricks the old man and manages to make him run away. Following the old man, the hero and his brothers find an underground chamber where a princess (or three princesses) is kept hostage. The brothers deceive the hero and take the princess away, leaving him in the chamber. The hero is able to get out. He then marries the princess, and the brothers are punished.
2. 301B. The strong man and his companions. In this category, the story is almost the same with a slight difference: the main character is deliberately described as possessing extreme force. He leaves his homeland to discover the world, and then he meets two (or three) companions of the same strength. He is able to combat them, and the companions join the hero. Then the story with cooking dinner and tricking the villain repeats. It is necessary to note that this motive can be met in the folktales with a different type of plot. For instance, an epic tale “Ivan and Chige-Hursukhal” from Chuvash folklore features this set of motives while its main story is entirely different.
3. 301D. The ring of the princess. The only difference between this subcategory and the rest of the tales is the fact that the princess presents the main character with a ring. This ring later helps him get out of the chamber (cage, well, cave) and reunite with the female character. In a variety of tales, the ring possesses a magical power of transportation.

Now let us turn to the folktales which are the primary objects of the current analysis. The first folktale is of Kazakh origin. It was published several times in the collections “Kazakh fairy-tales” (1989) and “Kazakh folktales” (2000). The story in itself is quite simple and short as opposed to epic narrations which are a characteristic of Kazakh folklore. According to the plot, a young man named Karatay is the third son in the family [4]. He lives with his brothers in a faraway land, and they cook dinner in turns (quite a widespread motive). His brothers are unable to beat the villain who is described as follows:

This old man is first encountered by Torytay, the oldest brother. The old man beats Torytay and devours the dinner. The same repeats with the second brother. When it is Karatay’s turn to stay and cook, he beats the old man and ties him to a high tree by his beard. The old man cuts his beard off and escapes. Karatay and his brothers follow the villain to his underground yurt where they meet the three kidnapped princesses (in this case, the daughters of a wealthy man). After a series of battles, the old man asks the women for water, and they give him disabling water. When Karatay asks for a drink, the women give him empowering water. As a result, Karatay wins, and his brothers start pulling the princesses out of the underground cave. The princesses ascend, and Karatay is left behind as the brothers decide to abandon him. Karatay then finds another old man, also with a long beard yet with good intentions, and the man helps him by turning into a swan and taking Karatay out of the cave. Karatay marries the third princess and forgives his brothers.

The tale “Old bluebeard” is not to be confused with “The bluebeard” of French origin. This folktale narrating about three brothers named Bill, Tom, and Jack was first published in the beginning of XX century in the collection of Amable Williams-Ellis [5]. According to the plot, Jack is the youngest and the most courageous brother. After his brothers fail to save the dinner, he is left to cook, and suddenly the villain refuses to steal the meal. The old man is described as follows:

with a blue beard and with teeth as sharp as a fork

The old man runs away, and Jack follows him to the underground cave where the villain resides. In the cave, Jack finds a young woman who claims that the old bluebeard will kill the hero, to which Jack replies:

Do not worry, we are friends with him.

The most interesting part of the tale is the fact that the villain never appears again, and the story develops without him. The brothers take the woman away, leaving Jack in the cave. The hero then uses the ring to reunite with the young woman, and the tale ends in marriage.

If compared to the Kazakh tale, “Old Bluebeard” is shorter and does not feature any apparent conflicts with the villain. The old man with the blue beard strangely favors the main character, refusing to eat his dinner and never engaging in a battle with him. On the other hand, the plots are very similar, and the fact that the Kazakh tale is only centered around this motive makes these folkloric works even closer.

The following motives (in chronological order) can be found in the tale “Karatay”:

Three brothers

Cooking dinner in turns

An old man with a long beard

Cutting one’s own beard to escape

Underground cave (palace, yurt, house)

Hero descending underground in a basket

Three kidnapped girls (princesses, daughters of a wealthy man)

A battle with the old bearded man

Helpers giving water to the hero

False heroes leaving the hero underground

The helper transforming into a swan

Forgiving the false heroes

Three brothers

Cooking dinner in turns

The youngest brother is the bravest

An old man with a long beard

The villain refuses to fight the hero

The villain escapes to an underground house

The hero descends underground in a basket

A kidnapped princess

False heroes pulling the rope

The ring of the princess

Reunion

As it can be noticed, some of the motives are similar, while others differ. For instance, the motive “cooking dinner in turns” can be met in both these tales (and also in pretty much all the tales of the given category), while the motive “the ring that grants wishes” is quite unique and can only be found in “Old Bluebeard”. When it comes to “Karatay”, it also presents a variety of distinguished motives such as “transforming into a swan”. This motive may be compared with the motive of a large bird which helps the hero by carrying him on her wings on their way out of an underground kingdom. Such an element can be found in “Karakuskhan”, “Er-Tostik”, “Altyn Aidar” and a number of other folktales of Kazakh origin [6].

Let us turn to the images of long-bearded old dwarves in these folktales. These images, indeed, have a variety of common characteristics. In both tales, the villains have extremely long beards (the first beard is presumably white, while the second is blue). Both villains have enormous appetite and devour the dinners cooked by false heroes. Also, both villains are keeping women hostage (three girls in the first tale and one in the second tale). Their differences, however, are also interesting to study. The first old man is apparently more villainous than the second: he both attempts to eat the dinner cooked by Karatay and tries to beat him underground. Karatay has to use force against him, and the villain escapes by cutting his own beard. The second old man, at the same time, does not seem to have any evil intensions when it comes to Jack, the third brother. The old man’s vile character is only shown twice, when he opposes the first and the second brother. After that, he completely disappears from the story, thus only acting as an element of exposition. The tale, in this case, centers around the malice of Jack’s brothers and their egoistical behaviour. While the first folktale features a variety of magical elements, the only wizardry presented in “Old Bluebeard” is the ring that grants a wish.

Conclusion. To summarize, the following elements of the images of old, long-bearded dwarves deserve attention.

The height. Descriptions: extremely low, three inches high, an inch high, as tall as a thumb etc. The height of the character does not apparently play a big role in the story, only acting as a descriptive element. It contributes to the behavior of the character, making him greedy, villainous, and untrustworthy.

The beard. Descriptions: extremely long, forty meters long, forty inches long, blue etc. When removed, cut, or damaged, the beard makes the character lose the power and transform into something or someone else. In some cases, the character cuts his own beard to escape, which leads to his transformation into a dragon later in the story.

As it can be assumed, a variety of tales present the image of a long-bearded dwarf as a negative one. After the removal of the beard, the dwarf might either become a positive figure (in some Czech tales) or stay the villain and attempt to beat the hero. Long-bearded dwarves are either seen with gold which they are trying to hide or with the women whom they have kidnapped. In both cases, they lose the battle and the hero is granted with wishes, the princesses, and the gold. The tales which were analyzed in the current article also follow the given rules. The only difference found is the image of the old bearded man in “Old Bluebeard” from the collection of Amable Williams-Ellis, where the dwarf does not intentionally engage in a battle with the hero. It may be also noticed that the motives of three kidnapped princesses, cooking dinner in turns, and the emergence of a long-bearded dwarf often go together.

Villainous or not, dwarves with long beards have been always considered as bearers of mysterious wisdom which they do not necessarily share with humans. Their image, although often negative, still possesses a variety of magical elements which are of great interest for folkloristics.

References:

1. Propp V. Fairy tale transformations // Modern Genre Theory. — Routledge, 2014. — pp. 50–67.
2. Griffith, Mark. Greek Satyr Play: Five Studies. — Lulu. com, 2015. — №. 3.
3. Bode A. The Types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography: Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson //Bookbird. — 2006. — V. 44. — №. 1. — p. 47.
4. Akzholova G. Kazakh folktales. — Astana, 2017. — 192 p.
5. Williams-Ellis, Amabel. Fairy tales from the British Isles. — Warne, 1966. — 344 p.
6. Kaskabasov S. A. From the observations of the poetics of a Turkic-language folktale // Turkic world Bulletin. — 2010. — №. 1. — pp. 18–24.