Hungarian Folk Tales: The Pelican Bird (S04E13)

The Hungarian Folk Tales stem from original folktale collections, every episode has its special authentic ornamentation. The trio of folk art, folk music and folk tales are masterfully combined in the episodes.

Subscribe:

An old king loses his nicely singing bird. His beautiful daughter announced that she will marry only that man who brings the bird back. Many princes tried it but in vain. In the end the kind-hearted servant-boy stands the tests, brings back the bird and he marries the princess.

Made by the Kecskemét Film Studio.
Directed by: Mária Horváth, Annamária Toró
Storyteller: Gyula Szabó
Music: Kaláka band

The makers used the decorative art of a certain countryside region at each episode. The trio of folk art, folk music and folk tales are masterfully combined in the episodes, which have unique imagery, sometimes spicy folk humor in the dialogues. Thanks to the natural presentation of the storytellers, and the music of the Kaláka band, the viewer can experience something unique and special.

Facebook:

In Hungarian:

[glowworm]

This one's sweet. I love how the tailor does it out of the love for his king and not simply to win the hand of the princess.

[RikkuTakanashi]

I actually really liked that one. Marrying the princess was a afterthought for him. He just wanted to help the king and did so through kindness. I also like how the princess was willing to give up something that was so important to people back then. Marriage and having children were the most important part of adult life for ancient peoples and to swear she would not marry till the bird was brought back was a huge sacrifice for her.

[VaryaEQ]

I appreciate that he found the bird not out of selfish desire, but because he was genuinely saddened by his king's sadness.

[barelypedestrian]

I love the part where the old man says "adfhyafiaaguayisauifaa"

[withracheltv]

I loved that part when the old people became young again and started dancing with joy.

[elodmarton]

Fun fact: in Christian symbolism the Pelican represents Christ as the pelican gives its blood to its chicks if there is no food. My hometown in Hungary has a coat of arms depicting this very image of a pelican dripping its blood to its chicks. Notice how everyone becomes young and the land begets fertile in the tale. Jesus Christ is often synonymous with "the water of life" in many European tales, as well as the singing bird relates back to the holy spirit. It probably also involves some Christian-Pagan syncretism, as the singing bird on a tall tree can be found in ancient Hungarian legends, as well. Often times tales tell more than what catches the modern eye. Lot of the code language is lost that used to be an organic part of folklore. People were able to deeply engage with symbolism without the need to directly translate things to everyday language. I feel it is quality that is vastly missing in today's society.

[aceyohns]

I'm so addicted to these little stories. I love them so much!

[NessLover]

I like how the old people felt young again once they heard the bird singing.

[EmilianoRockacrack]

First story where the heroe is not blonde XD

[alb]

I love the princess’s dress. It’s the most beautiful one I’ve seen in these stories

[cheezemonkeyeater]

A pelican. Such a majestic-
*squawk squawk!
Majest-
*squaaawk!
A maj-
*squaawk squawk!
That is a big bird.

[nourah]

This is so sweet and the animation is something from a dream, it’s beautiful.

[WobblesandBean]

I think this is the closest we'll ever get to seeing a hero without a mustache in this series. And I also love how the bird made the dog young too 😂

[pangaeus]

The animation and sound in this story was beautiful!

[wei-rungtseng]

I particularly find this sentence inspiring: One good question is worth a hundred bad guesses.

[cameronclan]

Man the music in this one was amazing! Very underrated part of the series in my opinion.

[NovaRuner]

um.. is it just me, or is the bird shown here not the kind you think of when hearing the word Pelican. like i think of the white sea bird with the pouch under its beak. the bird in this story was more like some kind of mythic phoenix or something.
aside from that one issue this is an awesome story. and i love these folk tails. good job making them keep up the good work.

[chloehaley]

I absolutely love that the old dog became young again.

[informedconsumer]

Absolutely wonderful. Thank you so much for this. Life is beautiful

[KKristof]

What was not told in this version, only in the original: "The pelican used to be in a church but as the priests were cleaning, it flew away". That means, the pelican, representing Jesus Christ and self sacrifice since the bird actually feeds the babies with its own blood and is a symbol of true fraternity used to be found in Christianity, but since the Church started to "clean"(=killing non-Christians), the true love of Jesus has disappeared from there. However it's still clear even in this version that the "tree" is the Milky Way and the pelican could be found "between its two branches" which represents the brotherhood of Gemini. They put it into pictures brilliantly.