Fehérlófia (Hungarian folk tale)
Some time later, the basket does not return to retrieve Fehérlófia, so he wanders about in the underworld and sees a nest of griffins chicks.
Near the end of the ascent, Fehérlófia discovers the food supplies are gone, so, out of desperation, slices his own hand and leg to feed the bird.
In a tale collected in the Vend Romani dialect, the youth is the son of a "white horse", but the narration says the boy's father lifts the giant tree with a finger.
However, in the Underworld, Mare's Son puts the escaped dwarf in the basket and helps an elderly couple against an evil fairy that stole their eyes.
[5] Its collector and publisher, scholar Francis Hindes Groome, noted that the tale was "clearly defective", lacking the usual elements, despite the parallels with several other stories.
Paul is betrayed by his companions, protects a nest of griffins with his cloak and their father takes him to the surface after a three-day journey.
Feeling dejected, the mare flies away to the open steppes and gives birth to a human boy named Ivan, who grows by the hour.
The human boy fixes some food and water for his equine mother and goes on a journey to rescue the tsar's daughter, kidnapped by an evil twelve-headed serpent.
He meets two companions on the road, Mount-Bogatyr and Oak-Bogatyr, and they set for the entrance to the serpent's underground lair (this version lacks the episode of the little man and the hut).
Very soon (and suddenly), twelve doves appear and offer to take Ivan back to the surface (acting as the eagle of the other variants).
Vültak descends to the underground with a rope, rescues the girls and defeats the villain (whose soul was hidden outside his body).
[12] A similar tale, Neohrožený Mikeš [cz] was recorded in today's Czech Republic by Božena Němcová.
While some of the elements are missing, it follows the same general plot - Mikeš the main hero, a blacksmith's son, was nursed by his mother for 18 years, and as such developed enormous strength.
The princesses are rescued, but the companions betray Mikeš by attempting to drop him to his death; he is warned and attaches his club instead.
[23][24] For instance, Gabriella Kiss stated that the tale "Son of the White Horse" belonged to the "archaic material of Hungarian folk-tales".
[26] In another tale of the same folktype, AaTh 301B ("The Strong Man and his Companions"), named Jean de l'Ours, the hero is born from a human woman and a bear.
Professor Michael Meraklis cited that the episode of a lion or bear stealing a human woman and the hero born of this "living arrangement" must preserve "the original form of the tale", since it harks back to the ancient and primitive notion that humans and animals could freely interact in a mythical shared past.
[33] Professor Mihály Hoppál's [de] study, titled Feherlófia, found "Eastern parallels" to the tale across the Eurasian steppes, in Mongols and Turkic peoples of Inner Asia and in Kyrgyz folklore (namely, the Er Töstük epic).
[34] Also, according to him, the story of Fehérlófia does not have parallels in Europe, but belongs to a select group of tale types shared by Hungary and other Asian peoples.
[35] In another article, he states that the type "can be traced all the way to the Far East (including the Yugur, Daur, Mongol and Turkic peoples of Central Asia)".
