The 5 romanian fairytales

Greuceanu (1882)

Published by Petre Ispirescu

Once upon a time there was a king, the Red King, very angry because some monsters stole the Sun and the Moon from the sky. He promised her daughter as a wife and half of his kingdom to the one who will take back the Sun and the Moon, and that if they shall not succeed he’ll cut their head off.
In that time, there was a mighty warrior which had a sword such big that nobody except him could lift it. His name was Greuceanu. He went to the King to ask him not to decapitate the men that cannot fulfill his command. The King said he cannot change the law and Greuceanu started his journey together with his younger brother. Firstly he went to his oath brother, Earth’s Blacksmith, who had supernatural powers. They put their heads together for ten days. The Blacksmith made an iron statue which perfectly resembled Greuceanu. He kept it continuously in the fire.
The brothers walked until they came to a crossroad. There they split up – one would walk half world, the other would travel the remaining half. They gave each other a handkerchief which would announce the brother’s death if it would break in the middle. Greuceanu found the monsters house and transformed himself into a pigeon with human eyes by jumping three times over his head. The monsters wives recognized him and got in the house to make defense plans. He turned into a fly and heard about the monsters return from hunting.
Greuceanu waited under a bridge, fought and killed the two monster sons and their father, who was extremely strong. The warrior could have been killed if a raven wouldn’t have brought him water. Then Greuceanu found the Sun and the Moon in a cellar and unlocked them with the monster’s little finger.
He found his brother at the crossroads and they went to the Red King’s palace. In their way, the two younger monster-ladies turned into a pear tree with golden fruits and a flowery garden with a spring. They wanted to poison Greuceanu and his brother, but he figured out that it's a trap and destroyed them with his sword.
The older monster-lady chased them to the Earth’s Blacksmith forge where they hid. The monster-lady asked for a hole in the wall to see the warrior’s face, wishing in fact to swallow him. The Blacksmith brought the fiery iron statue at the hole and she died, transforming herself into an iron mountain. The Blacksmith made out of this a carriage with iron horses and gave it to Greuceanu.
The two brothers left for the King Red’s land. On the road a devil pulled out the nail from one of the carriage’s wheels. When Greuceanu gets back for the nail, the devil turned into a rock covering the sword forgotten by the warrior on the road side.
Meantime the devil helped one of the king’s councilors making him a copy of the sword and shapeshifting him into Greuceanu. The liar councilor went to the King and asked him to prepare the wedding immediately.
The brother of the real Greuceanu showed up at the court to bring the news of the warrior’s arrival. The King imprisoned the messenger and Greuceanu found about the loss of his sword. He went back, turned into a spiked mace and smashed the cursed rock retrieving his weapon.
The King recognized Greuceanu. The warrior forgave the untruthful councilor who was banished forever and he married the princess. They lived happily ever after.

Atena - prima intalnire din proiect(the first meeting)

Description of the project

The project titled “THALASSA OF MYTHS” is a project that intends to promote the national cultural heritage of each and
every project partners’ country. Even further, it wants to reach and locate the common cultural elements that exist in the
traditions of the European countries, by examining a sector both quite unknown and despised as the sector of the oral
narration (exposed thus to the danger of disappearance.) In other words, by examining the sector of the fairy tale.
The fairy tale is a short popular story that includes in a concentrated form all these elements that constitute the cultural
perception of a whole nation. It synthesizes the people’s mythology, constituting an imaginary narration that embodies the
wisdom of a people, its experiences and its history. In this respect, Europe at large is an aggregation of peoples, that,
independently of their differences, they have common characteristics because of their neighborhood relations, expressed
through their oral traditions that can be easily propagated.
The popular traditional fairy tale is an ark which keeps all the cultural treasures of a nation (ideologies, attitudes, morals,
customs, religion rituals and ceremonies, beliefs, principles and ideals, costumery habits, and more elements of every day
life) that are kept hidden in the tales and wait for their decryption in order to provide their lessons. This fact can be achieved
up to certain degree through the printed tales, but many things are kept hidden behind the lines.
In this framework, the proposed project aims at working exactly on this oral character of the fairy tales and release all the
hidden meanings and values built through the passing of centuries. The project partners are coming from countries that hold
a deep tradition on the oral narration and posses a wealth of such records. In addition, the partners have been engaged in
the past with their countries’ oral tales tradition and they hold a wide experience on this subject. Moreover, the fairy tale is a
basic element of their art work not only in the area of theatrical performance, but in other forms of artistic expressions that
have used in the past (e.g. dance, music, puppet shows, road theater, etc)

SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT

Living in the era of globalization, everything moves in accordance with the rhythm of technological developments. We can be
everywhere in seconds and have access to information coming from any region of the world. On the other hand, the question
of our cultural origin still remains vivid as much as ever. The special characteristics and the cultural differences of nations are
lost day by day. Important cultural activities and achievements of nations are lost. For instance, the colorfulness of different
languages, the most distinct characteristic of man, is faded.
In the same token, tradition is lost and history is forgotten. Not to mention the folkloric elements of different cultures like fests,
poetry, dances and music which have been neglected and finally expelled from every day life.
In this respect, the proposed project titled “THALASSA OF MYTHS” is aiming at arousing and inspiring cultural institutions to
enhance their folkloric agenda, by especially targeting the oral tradition like fairy tales. The fairy tale is an ark that perishes
the particular elements of each culture. These elements include the ethics and customs of people, the working habits, the
happiness and sorrow, the struggle with weather, the man’s ingenuity and sensitivity and the love that a nation expresses for
life.
In accordance with the requirements of the “Culture” program, the project partners will explore and create cultural events
and theatrical performances to promote the power of fairy tales and folkloric tradition of every nation. More specifically,
each participating organization will work on its country’s fairy tales and prepare and deliver its own performance. In this
respect, the partners will present the play, demonstrating thus the common cultural characteristics of countries and nations.
The performances will be staged and programs will be planned and issued for the different plays and the partner’s final
performance. All performances will be recorded. Furthermore lectures and workshops will be organized and leaflets
with the partner’s fairy tales and their origins will be published. The partners will be responsible, each one for its own
country, for the dissemination of the results of the project, using all mass media.