Meșterul Manole

Written in the style of a folk ballad, the poem is often seen as an example of an "aesthetic myth" in folkloric literature, having at its core the belief that nothing durable and unique can be built without the creator's self-sacrifice.

George Călinescu considered Meșterul Manole, along with Miorița, Zburătorul and Dochia and Trajan, as being part of the four fundamental myths of Romanian folk literature.

[3] Desperate about the way construction went, one night Manole had a dream in which he was told that, for the monastery to be built, he had to incorporate into its walls some person very loved by him or his masons.

He told his masons about his dream, and they agreed that the first wife who would come there with lunch for her husband the following day should be the one to be built into the walls of the monastery so that their art would last.

[5] The role of Ana, in particular was widely discussed by scholars, often as an example of a model wife, who never wavers from commitment and duty to Manole even in the face of supernatural efforts to stop her, but also as a feminist critique of marriage, which requires women to sacrifice themselves and become confined within the walls of the house for the sake of their husbands' work.

[2][3][4] The attempt by Manole and the other masons to flee the roof by building wooden wings only appears in the Romanian version and is a variation of the Icarus myth.

[2] Similar stories exist in Inner Mongolia (related to the Hunnic city of Tongwancheng) and in the Southern Balkans, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Greece (the Bridge of Arta).

In Bulgaria there is also a legend about a master-builder by the name of Manol who flew from the minaret of the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne using eagle wings he crafted.