Son of the White Mare

Fehérlófia (Hungarian folk tale)

Fehérlófia (lit. The Son of the White Horse or The Son of the White Mare) is a Hungarian folk tale published by László Arany in Eredei Népmesék (1862)

Its main character is a youth named Fehérlófia, a "Hungarian folk hero".

Summary:

It was, it was not, a white mare that nurses its own human child for fourteen years, until he is strong enough to uproot a tree. The mare dies and the boy departs to see the world. He wrestles with three other equally strong individuals: Fanyüvő, Kőmorzsoló and Vasgyúró. The three strike a friendship and move to a hut in the forest. They set an arrangement: one should stay in the hut and cook the food while the others hunt.

One day, a little man or dwarf named Hétszűnyű Kapanyányimonyók. He invades the hut and beats Fehérlófia's companions to steal the food (a cauldron of porridge). Fehérlófia meets the dwarf and traps his beard in a tree trunk. The hero leads his friends to the dwarf's location but he seems to have escaped to somewhere. Fehérlófia and the other heroes follow after and find a pit or a hole that leads deep underground.

After his companion feel too frightened to descend, Fehérlófia himself climbs down a rope (a basket) to the underground. Down there, he finds the dwarf, who points him to three castles in this vast underworld: one of copper, the second of silver and the third of gold. Inside every castle, there is a lovely princess, a captive of a serpentine or draconic enemy. Féherlofia rescues the princess of the copper castle by killing her three-headed dragon captor and goes to rescue her sistes, the princess in the silver castle and the maiden of the golden castle.

He kills the six-headed dragon in the silver palace and the twelve-headed dragon of the golden palace. Then, all four return to the basket in order for the princesses to return to the upper world. Féherlófia lets the princess go first, since the four of them would impair the ascent of the basket. Some time later, the basket does not return to retrieve Fehérlófia, so he wanders about in the underworld and sees a nest of griffins chicks. He uses a bush to create a protection from the rain and the griffin bird arrives to thank him. The human hero says he could use some help to return to the upper world. The griffin is happy to oblige, but he needs to be fed on the way up.

Near the end of the ascent, Fehérlófia discovers the food supplies are gone, so, out of desperation, slices his own hand and leg to feed the bird. When they land, the griffin is atonished at the human's sacrifice, so it gives him a vial of magical liquid to restore his strength. A restored Fehérlófia, then, searches for his traitorous companions to teach them a lesson. The trio is shocked to see his fallen companion back from the underworld and die of fright. Fehérlófia takes the princesses to their father and marries the youngest.