ATU 300A The Fight on the Bridge
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The tale in brief
A young hero keeps watch by a bridge at night and kills there, one after another, dragons with three, six and nine heads; in many versions the dragons' wives and mother then try to destroy him and his brothers on the way home.
Summary written for RunoVerse and checked against the Finnic texts linked on this page.
Runosong types
The SKVR or ERAB type index cites this tale type in its description of these song types:
- Hiidestä kosinta Wooing a bride from Hiisi's realm · SKVR · 133 poems · cited for comparison
RunoVerse’s note: The songs tell of wooing a bride from Hiisi’s realm; none of them has a fight on a bridge.
Finnic sources cited in the catalogue
The entries of the catalogue’s list of literature and variants that concern Finnic tradition.
Finnish Rausmaa 1982ff. I, Nos. 2, 76
Estonian Kallas 1900, No. 5
Livonian Loorits 1926, No. 300B
Wepsian, Karelian Kecskeméti/Paunonen 1974
Full references:
- Rausmaa 1982ff.: Rausmaa, Pirkko-Liisa (ed.): Suomalaiset kansansadut 1–6. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1982–2000.
- Loorits 1926: Loorits, Oskar: Livische Märchen- und Sagenvarianten. FF Communications 66. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1926.
- Kecskeméti/Paunonen 1974: Kecskeméti, István; Paunonen, Heikki: Die Märchentypen in den Publikationen der Finnisch-ugrischen Gesellschaft. Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 73 (1974), 205–265.
Motifs and related tale types
Motifs: Dragon Devours Children B11.10.3·Fight with Dragon B11.11·Many-Headed Dragon B11.2.3·Three-Headed Dragon B11.2.3.2·Six-Headed Dragon B11.2.3.3·Twelve-Headed Dragon B11.2.3.5·Helpful Horse B401·Human Offspring from Marriage to Animal B631·Transformation: Man to Cat D142·Transformation: Man to Gnat D185.3·Extraordinary Companions F601·Secrets Overheard from Animal (Demon) Conversation N451·Conception from Eating Fish T511.5.1
Combines with: ATU 1006 Casting Eyes·ATU 300 The Dragon-Slayer·ATU 301 The Three Stolen Princesses·ATU 302 The Ogre's (Devil's) Heart in the Egg·ATU 303 The Twins or Blood-Brothers·ATU 314 Goldener (previously The Youth Transformed to a Horse)·ATU 321 Eyes Recovered from Witch·ATU 328A* Three Brothers Steal Back the Sun, Moon, and Star·ATU 408 The Three Oranges·ATU 513A Six Go through the Whole World·ATU 519 The Strong Woman as Bride (Brunhilde)·ATU 531 The Clever Horse (previously Ferdinand the True and Ferdinand the False)·ATU 550 Bird, Horse and Princess (previously Search for the Golden Bird)·ATU 554 The Grateful Animals·ATU 571 'All Stick Together'·ATU 650A Strong John·ATU 705A Born from Fruit (Fish)
Sources
Tale-type number, title, classification, related types and the Finnic sources: Hans-Jörg Uther, The Types of International Folktales (FF Communications 284–286, Helsinki 2004). · Uther 2004, part I (FF Communications 284), free online ↗
Runosong types cited in the type indexes: the song-type indexes of SKVR and ERAB.
Motifs and combinations with other tale types: the Trilogy dataset, from Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature and the ATU catalogue.
The plot summary, the notes and the arrangement of this page are RunoVerse’s own.