The Creation of the Violin

"The Creation of the Violin" (German: Die Erschaffung der Geige) is a Transylvanian/South Hungarian Roma (gypsy) fairy tale.

In the tale mainly discussed here, a boy is born to a mother, who dies in childbirth, having conceived the baby by consuming the hag-witch's prescription of milk inside a pumpkin.

Although the wife follows her advice and gives birth to a beautiful baby boy, she falls ill and dies shortly afterward.

Matuyá appears in Transylvanian, Hungarian, Polish, Russian and Serbian Roma mythology as queen of the Ursitory.

These fairies, typically beautiful women who live in mountainside palaces, enjoy singing and dancing and symbolise music.

[6] A telling close to this version of folktale by Polish writer Jerzy Ficowski entitled Zaczarowana skrzynka (English: "The Magic Box") occurs in his collection Gałązka z drzewa słońca (1961).

[8] Another Transylvanian Roma tale with the same title (also published by Wlislocki in 1886; later translated by Groome)[9][10] is less-known, probably because it is confusing and lacks a happy ending.

[citation needed] In this version, a young women contacts the devil because she admires a rich hunter who ignores her.

She sacrifices her family for the devil's violin to attract the hunter; her father becomes its body, her four brothers become the strings and her mother becomes the bow.

In the end, the young woman is carried off by the devil when she refuses to worship him; the violin remains in the forest until it is found and taken by a travelling gypsy.

In addition to requesting reflections on the full story, Tüpker sought comments on specific topics: poverty and childlessness, a rich king with a beautiful daughter and the achievement of the unprecedented.