Мотивът змия (хала, ламя) в кладенец” в сравнителен балкански план
The Motif „Dragon (Monster, Lamia) in a Well” Used as a Base for Comparison in the Context of Balkan Folk Cultures

Summary/Abstract: The universal folk motif „dragon in a well” is popular in Bulgarian folklore – it functions as an independent motif in epics and in ballads, and its is a common form of dragon fighting in fairy tales. The article studies the epic and the ballad versions of the motif, the first of them being more ancient and primary. The basic plots of the epic version which are analysed, are in themselves a poetic interpretation of archaic semantic complexes within a mythological context. These are: the search of the end of the world or the heroic matchmaking, the draught as a cause of dragon fighting, the archetypal conception of the well as an image of the oneway entrance to the magical kingdom, the presence of mythical characters as dragons (monsters, lamias), woodnymphs etc. The songs, regarded as belonging to the ballad version, are based on the same plot and have been probably created as a genre transformation of the epic plot. In Greek and Romanian folklore, the motif of the match with the monster living in a well is popular in ballad songs based on the same archetypes. The comparison reveals the differences in the art achievements produced as a result of diverse interpretations of the universal folk motifs. There is a compositional similarity between some Bulgarian and some Greek variants of the motifs. But in another group of Greek texts the descent of the hero in the well is motivated by the appearance of the monster disguised as а beauty which by dupery forces the hero to find his death in the well, and not by the theme of draught. The Romanian variants (South Romania) include both the motif of the temptation and the motif of the wood nymph intervention – а female character personifying death, well known in Bulgarian folk songs. The interpretation of micromotifs in the frames of the motif „dragon in а well” could be explained as а result of а substrate phenomenon (Late Antiquity – Early Middle Ages – concerning the similarities in Greek and Romanian versions), as well as а result of the influence of Slavic ethnical elements on the territory of nowadays South Romania during Middle Age. All the same, the decisive factor is the common historical destiny and the intense cultural exchange between Balkan peoples.

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