Oedipus: A Folklore Casebook

An Oedipus Myth in Gypsy Tradition

An Oedipus Myth in Gypsy Tradition Mirella Karpati Not only is the tale of Oedipus demonstrably an oral one, but it continues to be passed on, as a Gypsy version collected in 1971 attests. The commentary offered on the tale takes Propp's essay on Oedipus as a point of departure with special reference to Propp's assumption that the tale reflects an evolutionary changeover from matriarchy to patriarchy. For additional writings on Gypsy culture by the same author, see Mirella Karpati, Romano Them (Mondo Zingaro), (Rome, 1963), and Mirella Karpati and Renza Sasso, Adolescenti zingari e non zingari: Un approcio sociologico con il test del villaggio, (Rome, 1976). There once was and was not a woman who was, to speak frankly, pregnant. She dreamt that she had married her son. So when her son was born, what did she do? She put him in a wooden box and wrote a note: "Whoever finds this baby, let him keep him as his own and rear him." She put in also a hundred florins and then threw the box into the river. Well, it went downstream on the water for four days and four nights. There was a fisherman near the water and he heard someone cry. He saw the box and the baby inside and read the letter. So he took Reprinted from Locio Drom, 12(1976), 5-9. We are grateful to Professor Ruth Scodel of the Department ofClassics at Harvard for translating this essay from Italian. (We did not translate the initial part of the essay, which consisted of the text in Romany.) 23 24 Mirella Karpati the baby home and gave him the name Janos. Janos became big and strong and one day, when he was eighteen, he found under a cabinet that letter which said, "Whoever finds this baby, let him keep him as his son and rear him." Then he understood why the boys at school used to say to him: "That man is not your real father; you came from the water." He decided to go upriver to find his own family. He walked and walked days and months along the river, until he saw ahead of him a bridge which was blocked. He went up onto the bank to wash his feet, because he was tired. And behold, a hostess from the nearby inn saw that he was a fine young man and asked him: "Are you looking for work?" "Yes" said the young man and he went to live with the woman. So they fell in love, and were always together. One day that landlady looked through the young man's things and found that letter and realized that he was her son. What could she do? Well, she went to him and said, "Listen, I cannot be your wife any more, because I am your mother, your true mamma." She wanted to embrace him, but he with great horror repulsed her, climbed on the bridge, and threw himself down into the water. But he did not sink. He walked on the water, until he came to an old castle on an island. He closed himself inside and threw the key into the river. And he lived there many years. Someone heard how he cried and told others. Then many priests came and with benedictions prayed that the door open, but to no avail. Then they said to a fisherman: "May God give you luck, we must make ajourney offour or five days home and we are famished. Give us something to eat." Immediately the fisherman went to fish and he caught a fish eight meters long. And what was in its belly? The key. So they opened the door and had Janos come out and they went with him to his mother, because he forgave her. Then those priests made him Pope and he-Janos, that is John-was the first Pope after St. Peter. All this is written in the Bible and they tell it in Hungary. This story was told to me the 26 of July, 1971, by Milan Petrov, a Lovari gypsy of the Pluxaeesti tribe. We find ourselves faced with a gypsy version of the Oedipus myth, in which two basic types are mixed, that of Andreas of Crete An Oedipus Myth in Gypsy Tradition 25 and that of Gregorius, as they have been catalogued by Propp. Andreas too, in fact, is thrown into the water and reared by fishermen . When he learns that he is a...