Blancaflor and the Magic Flight (ATU 313) — Fairy Tales I
Vicens Nubiola, illustration for El castell d’Iràs i no en Tornaràs, 1924.
A Catalan variant related to tale type ATU 313. Biblioteca de Catalunya. Public domain.
This is the first post in which I publish a Catalan folktale in full, as part of a series that will also feature tales from elsewhere in the world. Each tale will be accompanied by a short analysis and a comparison with another tale of the same type. Blancaflor (Whiteflower) was published by Francesc Maspons i Labrós in the first volume of Lo rondallayre in 1871 (Maspons i Labrós 2010, pp. 123–127). Maspons was the first Catalan folklorist to bring together a substantial collection of folktales and some local legends in a single work. Earlier efforts included smaller publications by writers and scholars such as Milà i Fontanals, as well as unfinished collections by the Mallorcan Marià Aguiló and the poet Jacint Verdaguer. Blancaflor offers a clear, relatively simple example of tale type ATU 313, making it an ideal introduction to The Magic Flight, known in Catalonia as El castell d’iràs i no tornaràs (The Castle of No Return). The type is widespread in Europe and beyond, with many variants and subgroups.
Ramon Casas, Portrait of Francesc Maspons i Labrós.
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya. Public domain.
Blancaflor
Once upon a time, there were some very rich and powerful giants with three daughters. The youngest, named Blancaflor, was as beautiful as the sun.
One day a prince from a neighbouring land passed by. He fell so deeply in love with Blancaflor that, with her consent, he went to ask her parents for her hand. But they refused, for they had taken against her. Her sisters were jealous and were forever turning their parents against her. Still, the prince would not give up. When the giants saw how determined he was, they said he could marry whichever daughter he wished, provided he first turned a dense forest into farmland. And that was only the beginning. Wheat would have to grow and ripen there, and he would have to reap, thresh and winnow it, then bring the grain to the loft by the following morning.
The prince was frightened and disheartened, but he went to Blancaflor, who told him
“Don’t be afraid. Take this tube of needles to the forest and scatter them far and wide. A man will spring from each one. Some will fell the trees, others will sow the wheat, and still others will reap it. They will thresh it afterwards, and by morning all the grain will be in my parents’ loft.”
And so it was. It seemed as though the whole earth had come alive to help the prince. Men bustled to and fro everywhere. The giants had no idea what was happening, but they were furious and told him
“You shall have none of our daughters unless you bring us the ring our grandmother lost at the bottom of the sea by tomorrow morning.”
The prince was struck dumb with sorrow. He went to tell his beloved, and she said
“Don’t be afraid.” She took hold of an eagle and asked, “Dear eagle, would you carry us to fetch Grandmother’s ring?”
And the eagle answered
“I will, but you must give me meat whenever I ask for it. If you run out, we shall all fall into the sea and drown.”
The princess took a lamb, and they climbed onto the eagle’s back. They flew and flew over the sea until they caught sight of an island. But the eagle had demanded so much meat that they had scarcely any left, and weariness was slowing the beat of its huge wings.
“Give me more meat!” The lovers did not know what to do.
“Dear eagle, keep going just a little longer. We’re almost at the island!”
On the island they found a shepherd and bought a lamb from him to restore the eagle’s strength. Then Blancaflor told the prince
“Take two basins and cut me into pieces. Don’t be afraid, for I shall come back to life. Put my blood in one basin and my flesh in the other. But take care that not a drop or scrap falls to the ground, or I shall be missing it afterwards. When you’ve finished, put the blood in one bottle and the flesh in another, then throw both bottles into the deepest part of the sea.”
The prince did everything she told him. The bottles sank to the bottom of the sea, which suddenly began to churn. After a while the princess rose from the waves, as lovely as ever, holding her grandmother’s ring, studded with rubies and precious stones. Only the tip of the little finger on her right hand was missing. A drop of blood had fallen to the ground while the prince was cutting her apart.
They climbed onto the eagle again, and it flew and flew across the sea until it brought them home. The giants could scarcely believe their eyes. Even so, they told the prince
“You shall have none of our daughters unless you tame the wild horse in the stable.”
Once again the prince thought all hope was lost, but Blancaflor told him
“The horse is my father, the saddle is my mother, the spurs are my sisters, and I am the bridle. Hold me tightly and ride him as you please. Beat him if you must, until he is tame, but be very careful never to strike the bridle.”
The prince mounted, and the horse reared and bucked wildly from side to side. The prince had no choice but to beat it until he had tamed it. Then he brought it to the father, who was bruised all over and seething with rage.
“There’s someone here who knows more than we do, and I mean to kill him. I promised you one of my daughters, but you won’t know which one you choose. All three will put a hand through the opening in the charcoal shed. Whichever one you touch shall be your wife.”
The prince was miserable, certain he would never recognise Blancaflor’s hand. But she told him
“Feel each of the three hands through its glove. When you find the one with the shortened finger, pull her out. That one will be mine.”
The prince did as she said, and Blancaflor was the one he chose.
When the giant saw this, he flew into a rage and decided to kill both the prince and his hated daughter. They found out and resolved to flee. They took two wineskins, filled them with wine and sugar, and laid one in each of their beds. Then Blancaflor told the prince
“Go to the stable. There are three very thin horses there. Choose the scrawniest, sorriest one. Don’t make a mistake, or we’re lost.”
The prince went to the stable, but the thinnest horse was in such poor condition that it could barely stand. He could not imagine escaping on its back, so he chose one that was a little less thin. As soon as Blancaflor saw it, she was distressed, for she knew they were in danger.
“Oh, what have you done? Of the three thin horses, the one you brought runs as fast as the wind. The next runs as fast as lightning, and the thinnest and sorriest of all runs as fast as thought. As soon as my father discovers we’ve gone, he’ll take that last horse and catch us.”
Nevertheless, they mounted. Blancaflor spat on the ground three times, and they galloped away.
That night, the giants and their two other daughters took up daggers to kill Blancaflor and the prince.
“Blancaflor!” they called. And the drops of spittle answered
“What do you want?”
“She’s still awake…”
A little later, they called again.
“Blancaflor!” And the drops of spittle answered
“What do you want?”
But as they dried, their voices grew fainter and fainter, until at last they stopped answering.
“They’re asleep now.” They entered the young woman’s room and plunged a dagger into what lay on the beds. When the liquid splashed everywhere, they exclaimed, “How sweet their blood was!”
The next morning they went to see the bodies. How furious and astonished they were when they discovered the trick!
“Eldest daughter, go and see which horse they’ve taken from the stable.”
“Father, the one that runs as fast as the wind.”
“Then we can still catch them. Mount up and go after them.”
The eldest daughter mounted the horse that ran as fast as thought and soon caught up with the fugitives.
“Oh, Blancaflor, your eldest sister is coming. She’s nearly upon us!”
“Don’t be afraid. Take this gold ring and throw it on the ground just as she’s about to catch us. A chapel will appear. I shall be the Virgin Mary and you the sacristan, ringing the bell for mass. Whatever she asks, say, ‘The priest is coming, mass is about to begin.’”
“Good hermit, have you seen a young man and a young woman fleeing along this road?”
“The priest is coming, mass is about to begin.”
“That’s not what I’m asking. Have you seen a young man and a young woman fleeing along this road?”
“The priest is coming, mass is about to begin.”
Angry that she could get no sense out of him, the young woman returned to her father’s castle.
“You go now, middle daughter. Let’s see whether they get away from you too.”
“Oh, Blancaflor, your other sister is catching up with us!”
“Throw my shawl on the ground. I shall turn into a basket of pears, and you shall sell them. Whatever anyone asks, say, ‘These cost four, those cost five.’”
Then the middle sister arrived.
“Good sir, could you tell me whether you’ve seen a young man and a young woman fleeing this way?”
“These cost four, those cost five.”
“No, good sir, that’s not what I asked. Have you seen a young man and a young woman on the run?”
“I said these cost four, and those cost five!”
Unable to get anything more out of him, the young woman turned back. When the giant saw her return alone, he mounted at once and caught the fugitives in no time.
“Oh, Blancaflor, now we’re truly lost. It’s your father who’s catching up with us!”
“Throw this gold comb on the ground and a great fire will spring up.”
As the giant was about to seize them, they threw down the comb. A great fire blazed up, but the horse that ran as fast as thought crossed it and soon closed in on them again.
“Blancaflor, we’re lost! Your father’s right behind us again!”
She took off a slipper and told him
“When he’s about to catch us, throw this slipper on the ground and a vast sea will appear.”
The sea appeared, leaving them safely on the far shore. Although the horse that ran as fast as thought crossed it too, Blancaflor and the prince had already reached the prince’s kingdom, and the giant could do nothing more. The lovers married, were very happy, and lived for many years.
A brief introduction to ATU 313
The overall structure of ATU 313 varies considerably. In many versions, a young man who is fated to die, or who has somehow lost or sold his soul [S211, S221, S240], often because his parents promised him to the Devil, must journey to another world or to a dangerous, wild, dreamlike or infernal place to recover his soul or save his life. The ruler of that place —the Devil, Death, a cannibal ogre or ogress, a giant, a sorcerer or another malevolent figure— sets him a series of physically impossible tasks [G465, H1010]. If he fails, the ruler will kill him or keep his soul forever. If he succeeds, he may leave and marry one of the ruler’s three daughters. The youngest daughter, who has great magical powers and has fallen in love with him [F301, N813, N815], helps him complete the tasks. This account captures the most common core of the tale type, although individual variants do not necessarily include every episode (Thompson 1977, pp. 88–90; Uther 2004, pp. 194–197).
In a widespread group of variants, the young woman is associated with water. She is shown bathing in pools, wells or springs, and commands the elements, especially water. She is a powerful supernatural being who controls matter and transformation. We see this, for instance, when she uses a magical object resembling, in its function, the tube or little box that contains the menairons, from which a host of tiny spirits emerges to perform the impossible tasks. The object has long been linked to earth spirits or demons and to folk witchcraft.
In Blancaflor, this nature is especially evident in what is usually the final impossible task. The prince must retrieve a ring lost at the bottom of the sea, in one of the tale’s most striking and widely attested scenes, alongside the flight through transformations. The young woman asks her lover to cut her apart and cast the pieces into the water. He hesitates but eventually obeys, and she rises again from the depths with the ring. Only part of a finger is missing, because a drop of her blood fell to the ground. Read metaphorically, the episode again links her to water as primordial chaos or potentiality (Eliade 1959, pp. 130–131). She must enter its depths, be taken apart and made whole again before joining the young man. It seems significant that this is the last task and that it involves a ring, which seals their bond like a kind of sacred marriage.
Another detail points in the same direction. As the tale unfolds, its initial premise —that the young man has lost his soul, or hopes to escape death and damnation— seems to fade from view. It is seldom mentioned again in versions of The Magic Flight. Yet by joining the fairy or magical maiden, the hero is recovering his soul, or part of it. The premise disappears from the telling because the action itself brings about that recovery.
The young man, then, succeeds because the magical maiden performs the tasks for him (Ellis Davidson 2002, pp. 99–100). If the protagonist is the character who decisively drives the action, she is the tale’s true protagonist. His character, by contrast, is defined against her abilities. Where she is strong, brave and steadfast, he is often tearful and even cowardly. He is, quite literally, childlike and clumsy. She acts as his ‘conscience’, his anima, restoring his hope and helping him back to his feet. On one possible initiatory reading, he is still ‘incomplete’. He must endure the trials of the other world, join with her and finally enter adult life through marriage (Holbek 1987). Other readings of the tale can coexist with this one.
John D. Batten, The Master-Maid with the Glass Axe, 1916.
Illustration of another international variant of ATU 313. Public domain.
The magic flight and related motifs
Once the trials are over, the lovers flee the antagonist’s domain and make for their own world. In many versions, they first have to choose among three magical horses. The young man chooses badly because he ignores the maiden’s instructions. It is the one time he fails to trust her. What follows is the tale’s most distinctive and exciting episode, the one that gives the type its name. To escape pursuit by her father —or, in some interesting variants, by her mother, who is said to be even more powerful— and make up for the young man’s mistake, the magical maiden turns herself and her lover into a succession of objects, animals or people to deceive their pursuer [D670, D671]. Alternatively, she scatters seeds, fruit or objects associated with benevolent witches or fairies —a mirror, a comb, a veil…— which become formidable obstacles [D672]. In oral storytelling, such a sequence invites gestures, shifts in pace and changes of tone, as each performance gives the tale its particular shape for an audience (Bauman 1984; Thompson 1955–1958; Underberg 2005).
The motif of the magic flight with transformations, D671, occurs in folktales, ballads and legends from many traditions. Its wide distribution and its appearance in early sources suggest a long history. Geographical distribution alone cannot date a motif without phylogenetic research, but it does point to an enduring tradition (Puchner 1999; Underberg 2005). Early parallels include the flight of Jason and Medea after they obtain the Golden Fleece. There, too, the daughter of a powerful adversary helps the hero and flees with him across the water (Apollonius of Rhodes 1997, Book IV). D671 can also be compared with the pursuit in the Welsh tale of Taliesin, in which the bard flees the enchantress Ceridwen after tasting three drops of awen —inspiration or creative power— from her cauldron (Ford 1977). By contrast, the Romance del conde Olinos does not depict a magic flight while the lovers are alive. Their transformations follow their deaths and allow them to elude the wicked queen, making this a more distant parallel (Díaz-Mas 1994). D671 is probably a very old motif.
Some versions of ATU 313 also feature a magical eagle that carries the hero and, when their provisions run out, may demand to be fed part of his body [B322.1, B455.3]. Flight on the back of a great eagle is an ancient theme. It already appears in the Mesopotamian story of King Etana, who feeds the eagle meat (Dalley 2000, pp. 189–202). This combination recurs in a number of versions and forms the basis of its own tale type, ATU 537, The Flight on the Eagle. In Catalan tradition, motif B322.1 occurs across several tale types, but Oriol and Pujol’s index does not list ATU 537 as a separate type (Oriol and Pujol 2003).
The magical maiden and the trial of the abyss
The tale’s most compelling figure is its heroine, the resourceful and capable magical maiden, often called simply ‘Fairy’. She may be read as a counterpart to the protective fairy of courtly romance. In the medieval Lay of Lanval, for instance, a supernatural beloved protects the hero and shapes his fate (Lecouteux 1999, pp. 93–94). The twelfth-century lais of Marie de France also have close ties to stories that circulated orally (Burgess and Busby 1986). On another level, the magical maiden can be understood as a more familiar echo of the women who govern fate and often appear in threes, like the three sisters in this tale. She may be a guardian spirit of the family line, a part of the hero’s soul, his double, his genius or tutelary spirit. At the same time, like the fairies of courtly romance, she is his beloved and, quite literally, his destiny. Love and fate have been inseparable in many traditional narratives since antiquity.
On this reading, the young man loses his soul and ‘dies’ when he descends into the underworld, only to recover it and return changed, initiated and ready for adult life. When he cuts the maiden apart so that she can die and be reborn, he is in a sense —though not in this sense alone— doing the same to himself, to a part of his soul that must die and return renewed from the abyss. In this interpretation, the ‘trial of the abyss’ is the last task imposed on him. He must relinquish the maiden and leave his childish self behind in order to become someone new. Only then can he join with his ‘holy guardian angel’. In many societies, marriage has marked the ritual passage into a new adult status. It also brings ATU 313, and other tales concerned with this theme, to a close (van Gennep 1960; Holbek 1987).
© Arnau Folch / Llegendàrium. This article may be shared by linking to the original publication. Reproduction, translation, adaptation or distribution in full is not permitted without prior authorisation.
