Stan Bolovan
Encyclopedia
Stan Bolovan is a Romanian fairy tale
collected in Rumanische Märchen. Andrew Lang
included it in The Violet Fairy Book.
A version of the tale also appears in A Book of Dragons
and A Choice of Magic
, by Ruth Manning-Sanders
.
He found a flock of sheep and hoped to steal some, but a dragon
stole animals and milk from the flock. He asked, and the shepherds promised him a third of the flock if he rid them of the dragon. He met up with the dragon and said he ate rocks by night and flowers by day and would fight. He set a contest: he squeezed buttermilk from cheese, and the dragon tried to squeeze it from a rock, and had to own he was better. The dragon offered him service with his mother, who would pay him sacks of ducat
s.
The mother set them two trials: her son threw a staff as far as he could, and then it was Stan's turn. First, he told the dragon he was afraid that he would kill him with the force; then he claimed to be waiting until the moon got out of the way, at which the dragon, who prized the staff as his grandfather's, threw it back instead. The mother then sent them to fetch water, and Stan could not have carried the skins she sent, but when he said it was too much bother and threatened to carry the stream instead, the dragon carried them for him. The mother then sent them to gather wood, and Stan started to tie trees together, declaring he would carry back the entire wood, and the dragon brought back wood for him, before he uprooted the forest.
The mother told her son to crack open his head in the night. Stan hid under the pig's trough and was not harmed. They gave him gold to go away, which he could not carry, but he said he wanted to stay in her service, because his friends would be ashamed of him, to carry so little; they urged him to go, and he went on the condition that the dragon carry back the gold for him.
He did not want to go all the way home with the dragon, so that it would not know where he lived, but his hungry children came running, and were so hungry they shouted for the dragon's flesh. It dropped the gold and ran away.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
collected in Rumanische Märchen. Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...
included it in The Violet Fairy Book.
A version of the tale also appears in A Book of Dragons
A Book of Dragons
A Book of Dragons is a 1965 anthology of 14 fairy tales from around the world that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is one in a long series of such anthologies by Manning-Sanders....
and A Choice of Magic
A Choice of Magic
A Choice of Magic is a 1971 anthology of 32 fairy tales from around the world that have been collected and retold by Ruth Manning-Sanders. In fact, the book is mostly a collection of tales published in previous Manning-Sanders anthologies...
, by Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders
Ruth Manning-Sanders was a prolific British poet and author who was perhaps best known for her series of children's books in which she collected and retold fairy tales from all over the world. All told, she published more than 90 books during her lifetime. The dust jacket for A Book of Giants...
.
Synopsis
Stan Bolovan's wife was sad, though they were prosperous. Finally, she confessed that she was grieved that they had no children. Stan visited a wise man and begged him for children, and ignored his warnings about feeding them all. He returned to find his wife delighted: they had a hundred children. Soon, they found they could not feed them all, and Stan set out to find food.He found a flock of sheep and hoped to steal some, but a dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
stole animals and milk from the flock. He asked, and the shepherds promised him a third of the flock if he rid them of the dragon. He met up with the dragon and said he ate rocks by night and flowers by day and would fight. He set a contest: he squeezed buttermilk from cheese, and the dragon tried to squeeze it from a rock, and had to own he was better. The dragon offered him service with his mother, who would pay him sacks of ducat
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s.
The mother set them two trials: her son threw a staff as far as he could, and then it was Stan's turn. First, he told the dragon he was afraid that he would kill him with the force; then he claimed to be waiting until the moon got out of the way, at which the dragon, who prized the staff as his grandfather's, threw it back instead. The mother then sent them to fetch water, and Stan could not have carried the skins she sent, but when he said it was too much bother and threatened to carry the stream instead, the dragon carried them for him. The mother then sent them to gather wood, and Stan started to tie trees together, declaring he would carry back the entire wood, and the dragon brought back wood for him, before he uprooted the forest.
The mother told her son to crack open his head in the night. Stan hid under the pig's trough and was not harmed. They gave him gold to go away, which he could not carry, but he said he wanted to stay in her service, because his friends would be ashamed of him, to carry so little; they urged him to go, and he went on the condition that the dragon carry back the gold for him.
He did not want to go all the way home with the dragon, so that it would not know where he lived, but his hungry children came running, and were so hungry they shouted for the dragon's flesh. It dropped the gold and ran away.