CREATURI TERESTRE ȘI AERIENE ALE BASMULUI FANTASTIC ROMÂNESC: CALUL, BOUL ȘI PASĂREA
TERRESTRIAL AND AERIAL CREATURES IN ROMANIAN FANTASTIC FOLKTALES: THE HORSE, THE BULL AND THE BIRD

Summary/Abstract: The paper aims to shed some light on the morphology of terrestrial and aerial life in Romanian folktales, by offering a list of creatures populating one realm or another, their description in accordance with a specific type of imaginary, the relationships established with humans. It will offer a comprehensive picture of the anthropomorphic elements that constitute the Romanian mythical fauna and express the fact that human mind has developed in relation with nature and magic. Therefore, I propose an insight into the folktale representation of the bulls (better known in Romanian folklore as aurochs), the horses and the birds which are found and depicted not only as mere animals or birds in the rich tradition of folktale, but as characters endowed with human speech, cognitive functions, their primary role in the folktale narrative being to aid the hero in his initiatory journey. Visual and symbolic features of the animals mentioned, as part of the Romanian mythical fauna, will be presented, with some aspects of their naming. Folktale names and the naming itself serve as a creative act helping us to understand the symbolic value imprinted by the community on these animal representations. Even though they have a zoomorphic appearance, they are not ruled only by the primary instincts of their species, they also have the ability to think and speak articulately. Moreover, all these types of animals belonging to the mythical fauna are relicts of the solar cult that developed in the area from which the folktales were collected. Thus, reference will be made to them as ‟fantastic animals”, in order to differentiate them from other types of characters, which only have the appearance of animals or can shape shift in animal bodies.

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