Filek-Zelebi ()Angelopoulou, Anna; Brouskou, Aígle. "ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΩΝ". Vol. 3: ΕΠΕΞΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΑΛΛΑΓΩΝ AT 300-499. Athens: ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ Ε.Ι.Ε, 1999. p. 753 (entry nr. 436). . is a modern Greek folktale from Crete, collected by Austrian consul Johann Georg von Hahn and published in the 19th century,Hahn, Johann Georg von. Griechische und Albanesische Märchen 1-2. München/Berlin: Georg Müller, 1918 . p. 483. in that a maiden marries a mysterious youth who has a padlock on his body; the maiden opens it and finds people inside it, which causes her husband to banish her; she later takes shelter with her sisters-in-law and gives birth to a son with a padlock on his body.
The tale is related to the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband, in that a human girl marries a supernatural or enchanted husband, loses him and must search for him. Similar stories have been collected from oral tradition across the Mediterranean, in Greece and Asia Minor, and in North Africa.
Summary
An old woman lives in poverty with her three daughters and earns her living by gathering and selling herbs. One day, when she is tired, she utters a sigh ("Oh"! or "Ah!"), and, suddenly, a Moor appears to her and asks why she summoned him. The old woman denies summoning him, but tells him about her three daughters. The Moor asks for the woman to bring her eldest to him; the elder goes to live with the Moor and is given a human head on a plate as her dinner. She throws the head away, and the Moor takes her back to her mother. The second daughter fares similarly, but with a human leg. When it the youngest's turn, she hides the cannibalistic delight (a human hand) under her clothes to trick the Moor.
The Moor accepts her as his mate and they live like husband and wife, but every night, the girl is given a sleeping potion, so that she cannot see who is really standing at her bedside. Some time later, her family pays her a visit, and she tells them about the mysterious person that comes in the night. Her sisters then convince her to pretend to drink the potion and to spy on her husband. That same night, she follows her sisters' suggestion; beside her, she notices a handsome youth with a golden padlock and a golden key on his chest. She opens the lock on his chest and sees a lush landscape, with a woman washing clothes in a river and a pig nearby. The girl raises her voice to warn the woman about the pig, and it wakes up her husband. The man tells his wife she is pregnant, and, when she gave birth, his curse would have been lifted, for his true form is Filek-Zelebi, not the Moor. He then tells her to wear three pairs of iron shoes, find three golden apples, climb a mountain and toss one of the apples down the mountain; she must follow the apple to his eldest sister's house.
She follows his instructions and pays a visit to her three sisters-in-law: in each house, they are weaving and preparing for the birth of their nephew. At the last house, the youngest sister-in-law welcomes the girl, who is now in labour, and she gives birth that same night to a boy with a golden lock on his chest. The sister-in-law recognizes that the boy is truly her nephew, the son of her brother, and Filek-Zelebi appears to them.Hahn, Johann Georg von. Griechische und Albanesische Märchen 1-2. München/Berlin: Georg Müller, 1918 . pp. 80-84.Ralston, William. "Beauty and the Beast". In: The Nineteenth Century. Vol. 4. (July–December, 1878). London: Henry S. King & Co. p. 997.
Analysis Tale type
According to the Greek Folktale Catalogue, the tale is classified as subtype 425L.Angelopoulou, Anna; Brouskou, Aígle. "ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΩΝ". Vol. 3: ΕΠΕΞΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΑΛΛΑΓΩΝ AT 300-499. Athens: ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ Ε.Ι.Ε, 1999. pp. 752, 753 (entry nr. 436). . In this type, the heroine gives birth to a child that looks like her husband (e.g., with a padlock on his body), and they reconcile.Angelopoulou, Anna; Brouskou, Aígle. "ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΩΝ". Vol. 3: ΕΠΕΞΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΑΛΛΑΓΩΝ AT 300-499. Athens: ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ Ε.Ι.Ε, 1999. p. 707. . In addition, Greek subtype 425L may begin with a father asking his three daughters what presents he can bring them from a trip and, not finding it, utters a sigh; the sigh summons an Arab or dark-skinned person, who is the enchanted husband's servant.Angelopoulou, Anna; Brouskou, Aígle. "ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΩΝ". Vol. 3: ΕΠΕΞΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΑΛΛΑΓΩΝ AT 300-499. Athens: ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ Ε.Ι.Ε, 1999. pp. 779-780. .
However, German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther, in his 2004 revision of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, subsumed type AaTh 425L under new type ATU 425E.Uther, Hans-Jörg. The types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography, based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Volume 1: Animal tales, tales of magic, religious tales, and realistic tales, with an introduction. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia-Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004. pp. 254, 255. . In type ATU 425E, the heroine's husband has a padlock on his body; after she betrays his trust and opens the padlock, she is expelled and takes shelter in a castle where she gives birth to their child.Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. p. 143.Uther, Hans-Jörg. The types of International Folktales. A Classification and Bibliography, based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Volume 1: Animal tales, tales of magic, religious tales, and realistic tales, with an introduction. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia-Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004. p. 254. .
Motifs Scholar , in his monograph about Cupid and Psyche, remarked that the heroine's pregnancy was an "essential" trait of subtype AaTh 425L.Swahn, Jan Öjvind. The Tale of Cupid and Psyche. Lund, C.W.K. Gleerup. 1955. p. 244. On the other hand, scholars Anna Angelopoulou and Aigle Broskou, editors of the Greek Folktale Catalogue, indicated that the "characteristic motif" of subtype 425L is that the heroine, against her husband's prohibition, illuminates his face and discovers a lock on his body that leads to a whole other world.Angelopoulou, Anna; Brouskou, Aígle. "ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΩΝ". Vol. 3: ΕΠΕΞΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΑΛΛΑΓΩΝ AT 300-499. Tome B. Athens: ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ Ε.Ι.Ε, 1999. p. 779. . In this regard, according to Richard McGillivray Dawkins, in Turkish and Greek variants, the husband's padlock leads the heroine to a place where clothes are being washed and linen is being woven in connection with her marriage to the supernatural husband.
The mysterious servant According to Richard MacGillivray Dawkins, in Greek variants, the mysterious servant may be a "blackamoor" or pasha, summoned by uttering an interjection ("Alas" or "Woe is me"). The mysterious servant may also subject the heroine and her sisters to a dish of rotten human flesh they must eat.Dawkins, Richard McGillivray. Modern Greek folktales. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1953. pp. 89-91.
According to Luisa Rubini, the motif of the character uttering an interjection and accidentally summoning a mysterious servant with the same name is "typical" of Mediterranean tales (from Italy, the Balkans and Turkey).Gonzenbach, Laura; Consolo, Vincenzo; Rubini, Luisa (eds). Fiabe siciliane. Donzelli Editore, 1999. p. 492. .
The husband's name In a study about the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Danish folklorist Inger Margrethe Boberg argues that the word "Zelebi" () is Turkish çelebi, a honorific.Boberg, I.M. "The Tale of Cupid and Psyche". In: Classica et Medievalia 1 (1938): 209. In the same vein, Richard M. Dawkins suggested that the name Filek could be derived from the "Turco-Arabic" felek; thus, the husband's name may mean "Lord Sky".Dawkins, Richard McGillivray. Modern Greek folktales. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1953. p. 90.
Variants Greece According to the Greek Folktale Catalogue, type 425E is "popular" in Turkey and Greece, while type 425L is known across the Greek Agean Islands and in Asia Minor.Angelopoulou, Anna; Brouskou, Aígle. "ΚΑΤΑΛΟΓΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΠΑΡΑΜΥΘΙΩΝ". Vol. 3: ΕΠΕΞΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΤΥΠΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΠΑΡΑΛΛΑΓΩΝ AT 300-499. Athens: ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΝΕΟΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΕΡΕΥΝΩΝ Ε.Ι.Ε, 1999. pp. 775, 779. .
The Lord of the Underearth French Hellenist Émile Legrand translated into French a Greek tale with the title Le Seigneur du Monde Souterrain, which was also translated by author Lucy Mary Jane Garnett as The Lord of the Underearth. In this tale, an old man is gathering firewood, when he stops to rest on a stump and sighs aloud ("allímono", in the original). A Black man appears and asks why the man summoned him, but the latter denies it. The Black man then asks the man if he has any daughters, and asks to bring him the eldest girl. The girl is brought to the Black man, who takes her to a lush garden. They sit for lunch and he serves her a rotten human foot, which she is to eat if she if to become the wife of the Lord of the Underearth. The girl refuses the "food" and tosses it in the ashpit. The Black man delivers her back to the old man and takes the second daughter, to whom he offers a rotten human hand. The second girl also refuses it. Lastly, he takes the youngest with him and serves her a human stomach. The girl, cunningly, asks the man to get some seasoning for her delicacy. While the Black man is away, she wraps the food in her stomach with a girdle and fools the Black man. Soon after, she lives with the Black man as her servant: he gives her some coffee laced with a sleeping potion, and she never sees her husband, the Lord of the Underearth. Some time later, her sisters realize she never returned, and ask her father to summon the Black man. It happens so: the old man tells the Black man his daughters miss their sister, and the Black man bids he brings them with him the next time. The elder sisters pay her a visit and convince her that the Black man is not her husband, but there must be someone else with her at night; she just has to pretend to drink the potion, feign sleep, and turn the key on her husband's navel, then she can see "Constantinople, Smyrna, the whole world". The girl follows her sisters' advice and feigns sleep; while the Lord of the Underearth is asleep, she turns the key on his navel and sees the whole world. Inside, she notices a woman washing her wool in the river, and shouts at her the water is carrying it off. The Lord of the Underearth wakes up and insults his wife, then orders his Black servant to pluck two of the hairs on her head, place it in basin, give bread to his wife and send her away. The Black servant follows his master orders, and banishes the girl into the wide world. The tale then continues with the girl's adventures in male disguise.Legrand, Emile. Recueil de contes populaires grecs. E. Leroux, 1881. pp. 1-10.Garnett, Lucy Mary Jane. Greek folk poesy, annotated translations from the whole cycle of Romaic folk-verse and folk-prose. London: Nutt. 1896. pp. 277-282. Richard M. Dawkins also translated the tale as Human Flesh to Eat, and named the supernatural husband "The Lord of the World Below".Dawkins, Richard McGillivray. Modern Greek folktales. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1953. pp. 91-95.
The Sun and His Wife