Lithuanian Fairy Tales - Egl? the Queen of Serpents, J?rat? and Kastytis, the Three Princes and Their Beasts (Paperback)

Chapters: Egl? the Queen of Serpents, J?rat? and Kastytis, the Three Princes and Their Beasts. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 20. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Egl the Queen of Serpents, alternatively Egl the Queen of Grass Snakes (Lithuanian: ), is a Lithuanian folk tale. Egl the Queen of Serpents is considered one of the most archaic and best-known Lithuanian fairy tales and the richest in references of Baltic mythology. Over a hundred slightly diverging versions of the plot have been collected. Its multi-layered mythological background has been an interest of Lithuanian and foreign researchers of Indo-European mythology; Gintaras Beresneviius considered it being a Lithuanian theogonic myth. Interestingly, the tale features not only humanreptile shapeshifting, but an irreversible humantree shapeshifting as well. Egl is both a popular female name in Lithuania and also a noun meaning spruce (Picea). The serpents (altys) of the tale are grass snakes in Lithuanian, but because they inhabit the sea, the word may mean a mythical water snake. The story can be subdivided into a number of sections each having parallels with motifs of other folk tales, yet a combination of them is unique. At the beginning a young girl Egl after bathing with her two sisters discovers a serpent in her clothes. Speaking in a human voice, the serpent agrees to go away only after Egl pledges herself to him in exchange for his leaving the clothes, not realising the possible consequences. Three days passed, thousands of serpents come for the bride, but are tricked by her relatives three times in a row. A goose, a sheep and a cow are given instead but the cuckoo warns about the deceit every time. Enraged serpents return the final time and take Egl with them to the bottom of the sea to their master. Instead o...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=695684