Femininul mitologic în balada populară română
Mythological Images of the Feminine in Ballads

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present the hypostasis of mythological female characters in folk-ballads. Images of monstrous Sila Samodiva or Scorpia come from the legends and from the epic ritual folklore in order to become heroines of their own stories bringing new aspects and meanings to their nature. Thus, their stories, already carrying beautiful symbols and legendary actions, gain more originality. As characters, they are not as strong and feared because they sometimes lose their archetypal functions. However, this does not mean that they lose all their forces, but they are likely to change their true nature. The myth works at the level of reinventing the literary plan. The mythological wild girl, The Amazon, follows her destiny becoming a lovely wife, Fata Pădurii, being like an earthly mermaid, finds her end and switches the role with her victims. Scorpia loses the battle being kneeled by her maternal qualities, while Sila, although being defeated at first, wins the final battle and remains the legendary evil fairy. Located at the foundation of the ballad, the myth works as a semantic "DNA" republishing and emphasizing the uniqueness of the Romanian folk-ballads.

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