Myth and folktales

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mentions that the fish from Californian tales, which appears in initiation rites, has 
been superseded by the moose or deer (Grafenauer 1942: 35–36). In this case, the 
role of the snake, the fish, the whale, and the turtle has thus been assumed by an 
animal that is also found in the cosmogeneses of Indo-European nations, gener-
ally the horse, the bull, and the cow. These were the animals that were crucial for 
economic existence and survival. Cattle had a significant role also in the economy 
of some Slavic peoples.
This is an interesting parallel to the tradition of the bull in which he transforms 
himself the Kresnik, as well as his opponent, the false Kresnik, who is a magician 
from a neighbouring village. The enemies fight, transformed in a black and a red bull. 
Naturally, the bulls represent two polar opposites, good and evil, or the populations 
of two opposing villages or tribes. (For more on this see the chapters “Kresnik” and 
“Witches and Wizards”).
kurent
In cosmogonic myths, the Flood often destroys a civilization, and although 
waters flood the world one human being remains on the surface and subsequently 
becomes the ancestor of a new human race, which elevates him to the level of the gods.
The tradition of the sinking of the world is widespread among many peoples, 
not only in Europe but also in Asia and America. The Flood was depicted in the 
Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh from approximately 2400 B.C. In it, Utnapishtim saves 
humans and animals against rising waters, thus obtaining immortality. In the Bible, 
Noah saves his family and a pair of each animal species by bringing them on his 
Ark. After the waters recede, the boat lands on Mount Ararat, where Noah begets a 
new human race. 
The concept of the Flood, which is described in many mythologies and religions 
throughout the world, naturally produces relevant civilizatory heroes; among the 
most famous, in addition to Noah and Utnapishtim, are the Mesopotamian king 
Ziusudra and the Indian Manu (Šmitek 1998: 24–25; Šmitek 2004: 25). Greek myths 
tell how Zeus punished corrupted humankind, and kept alive only an old couple, 
Philemon and Baucis. In the narrative tradition, the Flood is frequently used as pun-
ishment for the unscrupulous ways of the world’s population, and it is not unusual 
that etiological tales often explain the origin of lakes by the Flood.
10
10 
This is how the lake Rabeljsko jezero/Lago del Predil (Kelemina 1930, no. 209) and the lake Vrbsko 
jezero/Wörthersee by Klagenfurt (Šašel 1951: 4; Kropej, Šmitek, Dapit 2010: 38–41) originated. 

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In Slovenia, the tale about the Flood was published by Janez Trdina (Trdina 1858, 
153–156: Povijest o Kurentu). He recounted the tale to his pupils at the high school 
in Rijeka, and two of them, Janez Bilc and Vinko Stubelj (Trdina 1952: 376 –7) also 
transcribed it. Milko Matičetov questioned the claim that these stories were a part of 
popular tradition. However, while the sequels about Kurent, published in Neven after 
the fourth story, truly seem a product of the author’s imagination and are, according 
to Jakob Kelemina, highly instructive in nature (Kelemina 1930, 397, ref. 208), the 
first four stories nevertheless contain elements of folk tradition that had inspired 
the author to write them. After all, it is highly unlikely that Trdina simply invented 
that the stories had been recounted to him in Dolenjsko or in Mengeš, while in the 
following stories such references had been omitted.
THE FORMATION OF FERTILE SOIL
Indo-European myths often interpret the fertility of soil in two ways. Fertility 
is either the result of the disintegration of the body of God or a giant, or fertility is 
determined by the egg from which rivers start to flow. 
The first interpretation of the “creation of fertile soil from the body of God” 
was published by Janez Trdina in Ljubljanski Zvon in 1881 as a “religious fable from 
Dolenjsko” (described in the chapter on the creation of the world). According to the 
story, the world was initially rocky. Fertile soil was then formed from the body of 
God, which God had left on the Earth when his soul had soared to heavenly heights.
A similar tradition can be found, for example, in a Germanic myth in which giant 
Yimir is sacrificed in order to induce fertility of the soil; in the Iranian tradition, it is 
the enormous deity Gayomarta; and in the Indian, Purusha. The flesh of the victim’s 
body produces fertile soil, the blood the sea and lakes, the blood vessels rivers, the 
hair trees, the bones mountains, and the brain clouds. All of this is reminiscent of the 
Vedic ritual of sacrificing a horse, which repeats the sacrificial cosmogenic event. A 
similar motif is found in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, in which Atlas, a giant from Greek 
mythology, supports the world. 
Even before he published the tale about the creation of fertile land, Janez Trdina 
published in Neven a tale titled “The Tale of God’s Rooster”, which he had allegedly 
heard in Mengeš. Judging by this tale, the memory of the Flood has been preserved 
also in Slovenia. 
Regardless of whether Trdina’s record of the tale of the Flood is based on tradition 
or not, the motif of the cosmic egg and the sinking of the world is an echo of the old 
archetypal notions of many peoples. The egg is frequently associated with the genesis 
of the world and its gradual formation. The archetypal cosmic egg is allegedly hatched 

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on the surface of the primordial waters. According to Hindu texts, “Brahmanda, the 
world egg, is rolling on the surface of the waters.” The cosmic egg has been preserved 
in Chinese mythology, where the giant Panku, which lay dormant in the egg, cut it 
in half, thus creating the Sky and the Earth. In the ancient Orphic cosmogony, the 
night gives birth to an egg that produces love. The other part of the shell transforms 
into the Earth and the Sky. The people of Tahiti believed that Ta’arora, creator of the 
world, was initially asleep in the cosmic egg.
Trdina’s tale contains all the essential elements of myths about the cosmic egg, 
the rivers flowing from it and irrigating the land, and the Flood that destroys the 
unworthy people of the world, with the exception of the civilizatory primordial 
father – the primogenitor who manages to escape the Flood:
The tale of God’s rooster from Mengeš
The Earth was barren, nothing but rocks. Feeling sorry for it, God sent 
forth his rooster to impregnate, any way it could, the Earth. The rooster 
descended to a cliff and laid an egg with a curious might and aim. The egg 
cracked, and seven rivers flew from it. They watered the landscape, and 
soon everything turned green. Flowers and fruit were everywhere. Without 
human toil, the fields filled with wheat, and the trees grew not only apples 
and figs but also the whitest and the tastiest of bread. People lived in this 
Paradise with no worry, doing everything not because they had to but just 
to amuse themselves and be merry. This Paradise was surrounded by high 
mountains, so there was no fear of violence or storm. Even more, in order 
to prevent the people from coming to harm due to their ignorance, God’s 
rooster floated high in the sky, crowing to people when to rise, when to eat, 
when to do something, and what to do. The folks were happy, and the only 
thing that irritated them was the rooster with its incessant crowing. They 
started to murmur and pray to God to deliver them from this annoying 
animal. “We are perfectly capable”, they said, “of figuring out when to eat, 
when to work, and when to rise.” God heard their prayers. He removed the 
rooster from the sky, but just before he vanished the rooster crowed one more 
time: “Woe is me, beware of the lake!” 
The people were overjoyed, even more than before, for their freedom was no 
longer marred. Just like before, they ate, worked, and rose, just as the rooster 
had taught them. But little by little they began to feel that it was not right 
for free folks to follow the rooster’s instructions so faithfully. They started to 
live their lives in their own way, abandoning any order. This brought forth 
sickness and all sorts of afflictions. Once again the people started to look at 
the sky eagerly, but in vain, for God’s rooster had vanished for ever. So they 

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