A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal 2025: Women's Epics A to Z!

Honestly, I already revealed this theme last year, but I am doing it again for good measure (for someone who has changed their theme multiple times every year, this is an accomplishment anyway). 

Also, I have a theme that aligns really well with International Women's Day, so I am announcing a day early :)

This is my 13th year participating! In the past 12 years I've always had a theme:

Weird Princesses (2013)
Tales with Colors (2014)
Epics A to Z (2015)
Diversity A to Z (2016)
WTF - Weird Things in Folktales (2017)
WTF Hungary - Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales (2018)
Fruit Folktales (2019)
Folktales of Endangered Species (2020)
Tarot Tales (2021)
Gemstone Folklore (2022)
Body Folktales (2023)
Romance Tropes in Folklore (2024)

This year's theme came to me last April, just as I was finishing up the challenge. I have always loved epics, and I love reading new ones whenever I can get my hands on them. I started thinking about the epics I have read so far, and stories with women as heroes in general. And so, the theme was born:

WOMEN'S EPICS!

The goal was to read 26 epics with women heroes, and blog about each one for A to Z. It took a full year to schedule the entire series!

A couple of things in advance:

1. By 'epic' I mean traditional epics. Think The Iliad, The Odyssey, Gilgamesh, etc. Stories that have been passed down through centuries and generations, orally told, performed, belonging to a culture's intangible heritage. Not literary works or film. So no, no Hunger Games or Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. Sorry.

2. Sometimes it is hard to define if a story is an epic, a myth, a legend, or something else. Most of the stories I included in the 26 were labeled epics by researchers, collectors, and tradition bearers. Some belong to genres that are the equivalent of what we call "epic" in the Western world (for example, Japanese monogatari). Some I included because they are long narrative poems or prose stories that are based on a larger oral tradition, even if they are not technically epics (see: medieval chivalric romances).

3. All of the stories I included have women heroes. I use "hero" in the sense of traditional stories, as the main protagonist or central figure of the narrative. So no, I did not pick male-led stories and try to prove that "yeah, actually, Penelope is the real hero of the Odyssey!" Nope! I picked stories with women as lead characters. And yes, I found 26. Actually, I found a lot more! But I picked 26 that I could actually read, and fit into the alphabet for A to Z.

4. With that said, epics are a complex genre, with complex characters, and none of them can really be studied divorced from the time and culture it came from. On a practical level this means that you won't equally like all of these women heroes. Some of them do things that are very much questionable to our modern sensibilities, or have character traits we don't like. And that's okay. Odysseus, Gilgamesh, Achilles and the lot are also not exactly Lawful Good.

5. The good news is, the lineup I ended up with is really colorful in terms of origins. The 26 epics represent 4 continents and 21 different cultures!

In the next weeks before April I am going to have a few more posts coming up!

1. A post on epics that did not make the cut. I thought they deserve a shout out even if I did not end up reading them.

2. A post on an online survey I made about how well people generally know epics, and which ones are the most well-known ones. I thought it was a fascinating question to run by the people of the Internet.

I HOPE TO SEE ALL OF YOU HERE IN APRIL! If you are participating in A to Z, make sure to leave a link to your blog in the comments so I can visit back.

I dedicate this series to my epic-telling mentor, Cathryn Fairlee, the creator of Epic Day, an all-around amazing mentor, and a true lover of epics. 

I miss you, Cathryn.

Folktales about women who save themselves (International Women's Day)

It's International Women's Day again, and it has become tradition for me to post a list of folktales on this day. In previous years I have done lists of women who slay monsters, women in war, woman healers, women helping women, and badass grandmas.

Strange Craft by Josephine Wall

This year, today also marks the premiere of the much-anticipated Damsel movie. The whole media hype about "this is not a fairy tale" and "this princess saves herself" just rubs me the wrong way - once again, major outlets are making the sweeping assumption that in folktales, these things don't happen. Since I have already posted last year about women who slay dragons, this year I wanted to make a list of folktales where women save themselves. With or without a sword.

Links in the titles, as usual.

Old Rinkrank (Grimm)

A princess tries to help her beloved prince complete an imposisble task, and she ends up being swallowed up by the Glass Mountain, trapped by a gnome named Old Rinkrank. She grows old waiting for the prince to rescue her - when nothing happens, she comes up with a plan to break free and save herself.

The ring (Spain)

A female "Odysseus and the Cyclops" story. A girl is captured by a one-eyed giant, and escapes the same way Odysseus did. When the giant's ring gets stuck on her finger and keeps calling out to the giant, the girl cuts off her own finger and tosses it into a river, successfully getting away. The blind giant, following the ring's call, drowns.

The old woman who lost her dumplings (Japan)

A funny old woman drops a rice dumpling, and it rolls into a hole in the ground. She follows, and plummets into the underworld. She encounters a group of fearsome oni monsters who capture her and make her cook for them. Eventually she runs away. When the oni pursue her, she deters them by flashing them and making them laugh.

The three sisters (Georgia)

This is a classic "golden haired children" folktale, but I enjoy the beginning: three sisters fall into a pit, and are abandoned by their father. The two oldest want to eat the youngest girl, but she prays so fervently that her hands turn into a shovel and a pickaxe, and she literally digs her way out of the hole into freedom.

The legend of the Rosstrappe (Harz Mountains)

The beautiful princess Brünhilda is promised to a giant by her father. She comes up with a plan of escape: she secretly learns to ride one of the giant's terrible horses, and escapes on horseback the night before the wedding. The giant pursues her, but when she jumps the horse across a wide valley, the giant can't follow her, and he crashes to his death.

Mr. Fox and Molly Cottontail (African-American)

Molly Cottontail is a trickster rabbit, the female equivalent of Br'er Rabbit. When Mr. Fox pretends to be dead, and organizes his own funeral, to lure Molly out of hiding, Molly appears at the funeral and steals the show. She manages to uncover the deception, and gets away scot free.

Rübezahl (Giant Mountains)

Rübezahl, the gnome king of the mountains, kidnaps a princess and keeps her captive in his underground realm. She first figures out a way to stall the wedding, and then to send messages to her beloved prince above. Finally, she tricks the gnome into counting turnips in a field, long enough for her to saddle a horse and ride away to safety.

The tortoise husband (Italy)

A mysterious man courts three sisters, but the two older girls reject him because he is only ever seen at night. The youngest agrees to the marriage, and finds out her husband is under a spell: he is a tortoise during the day, and a man at night. He has to travel around the world to break the spell. She stays home to wait for him. In the meantime, three men keep trying to seduce her. She uses her wits, and a bit of magic, to give them their comeuppance.

Sister Lace (Miao people)

I mentioned it recently, but it's worth repeating. A girl is famous for making lace that she can even bring to life. When an evil emperor kidnaps her and forces her to create fantastic creatures, she eventually makes a dragon out of lace, and uses it to break out of captivity. 

The pirate princess (Jewish)

A princess is separated from her beloved and kidnapped by a merchant. She manages to save herself... and then does it two more times, once by getting a bunch of pirates drunk and sailing away with an all-female crew. Finally she becomes a king (disguised as a man) and finds her true love again.

Eternal friendship (Taiwan)

This story mostly revolves around the friendship of two men, but at one point we encounter a girl who climbs out of a window to run away with her lover. The lover, however, doesn't show. She decides to leave her home anyway, and go see the world in the company of one of the protagonists.

The ghouleh of Trans-Jordan (Palestine)

A ghoul tricks a man into thinking she is his aunt. Even when his wife and daughter warn him, the man refuses to see the truth, and is eventually devoured by the monster. When the ghoul comes for the women, mother and daughter find a way to kill it.

The three little eggs (Eswatini)

A woman leaves her abusive husband, taking her two childen with her. She even defeats some monsters along the way, and finally becomes a queen.

Thabaton (India)

A girl is left home alone by her seven brothers. An old woman gives her up to a demon, and the demon kidnaps her, keeping her captive for years. Her brothers eventually return and find her, but they can't seem to rescue her. Instead, Thabaton comes up with a plan to save herself, and take revenge on the monster and the old woman.

The canary prince (Italy)

A girl is locked in a tower, but falls in love with a prince who can visit her in the form of a canary. The princess' evil stepmother wounds the canary, and it never returns. The princess makes rope out of her bedding and escpaes from the tower to go cure the prince.

The girl and the wolves (Hungary)

This is a variant of Little Red Riding Hood, with a different ending. A girl first scalds the wolf with water, and then finds a way to outwit a whole pack of them in a very painful way. After that, they leave her alone.

The clever maiden and the robbers 

This is an entire folktale type, ATU 956B. A girl is alone at home when 12 (or 13) robbers try to sneak into her house. She quickly and mercilessly kills all of them, except their leader, whom she wounds. He later returns in disguise and asks for her hand in marriage. Eventually the girl recognizes who her suitor is, and finds a way to escape, and have the robber (and his new companions) arrested and executed.

Honestly, I could keep going, but I used up a lot of stories about women saving themselves in the previous years' posts (especially where they also slay monsters), and I don't want to repeat myself. Look them up through the links at the top if you are curious!

Folktales about women who slay monsters (International Women's Day)

It has become tradition on the blog to post a collection of folktales for International Women's Day. I've had a different theme every year: Women in war, Woman healers, Women helping women, and Badass Grandmas.

This year, I decided to collect stories about women slaying monsters. Many people cling to the belief in traditional stories monster-killing is a man's job, while women wait around helpless to be rescued. Often, this is raised as the main critique of telling folktales in "modern times" - "outdated values" and whatnot. And yet, people who complain the loudest tend to have no idea how many monster-slaying women exist in traditions around the world.

So, on this International Women's Day, let's hear it for them!

(You know the drill. Links in the titles. Image from here.)

Margaret the Giant-slayer (Ireland)

A prince sets out on his ship to seek adventure, and a girl named Margaret asks to join him. As they sail, a sea monster threatens the ship, and Margaret sacrifices herself for the crew. She manages to get away from the serpent, however, and reaches a land threatened by giants. Margaret accompanies her (returned) prince to the giants' castle, and while the prince is asleep at night, she battles the giants and kills them.

Rebeka (Transylvanian Roma tale)

There are several variants of the "Treasures of the Giant" folktale type (a.k.a. Jack and the Beanstalk) with women as protagonists. One of my favorites is the story of Rebeka, which I published on this blog in full English translation (see link). It's about a girl who rescues her sisters from a dragon, and then keeps returning to trick the monster out of various treasures. In the end, she even captures the dragon, although she doesn't kill it. (See also: Molly Whuppie)

The Ginkgo Fairy (China)

In this beautiful story a young man falls in love with a mysterious woman who turns out to be a ginkgo fairy (an old tree whose spirit took on human form). When her husband is kidnapped by evil serpents, the fairy takes up her father's sword, battles the serpents, and rescues her beloved.

The giant caterpillar (Ivory Coast)

A caterpillar as large as an elephant blocks a village road and swallows a little boy. The men of the village set out to fight the monster, but they get scared and run away. Then the women take up various household instruments and attack the caterpillar together, beating it until it's dead, and rescue the boy from its stomach.

The girl made of mud (Transylvanian Roma tale)

An old, childless couple fashions a girl from mud, and their devotion brings her to life. She soon turns out to have magic powers. First, she battles a cursed knight, then a dragon; she even follows the monster into the Underworld, fighting devils and serpents with an ax, and eventually manages to slay the dragon in a shamanistic duel of shapeshifting. (The book linked is in Hungarian).

Li Ji slays the serpent (China)

When a giant serpent threatens Fujian Province and demands maidens to devour, a brave girl named Li Ji volunteers to be sacrificed to it. She asks for a sword and a snake-hunting dog. She lures the serpent out of its cave with sweets, and kills it with the help of the dog. Then she buries the remains of the previous victims. (I blogged about this tale here.)

Durdana Chelmard (Pakistan)

Durdana is a famously clever girl; after a game of riddles, a king decides to marry her. His other wives, however, are jealous of the newcomer, and they convince their husband to abandon Durdana in the wilderness. Alone, she puts on her husband's clothes, and begins a new life as a warrior. She fights and defeats various monsters, goes on a quest, and even saves a princess. Eventually her husband shows up again, but she refuses to go back to him, returning to her parents with all he treasures instead.

Nana Miriam (Songhai, Mali/Niger)

When a monstrous hippo attacks a community, the best warriors and hunters try and fail to defeat it. It is not only ravenous, but it also melts any weapon thrown its way. Finally the chief's daughter, Nana Miriam, goes out to face the beast, and gets into an epic duel of strength and magic. When the hippo, as a last ditch effort, tries to attack her father, Nana Miriam simply grabs its hind legs, and yeets it away so hard that it is never seen again.

Aicha the Demon-hunter (Algeria)

Aicha, the clever youngest daughter of a merchant, traps and kills a man-eating ghoul. However, the ghoul curses her with its last breath, so she can never rest or stay in one place. Turning the curse into a blessing, Aicha sets out on a journey and has several adventures where she defeats sea serpents, ghouls, and werewolves with her expert skills in magic and swordsmanship. Eventually, she manages to get rid of the curse, and becomes a queen.

Hiiaka's battle with demons (Hawaii)

Hiiaka, younger sister of the Hawaiian volcano goddess Pele, has her own epic story in which she sets out on a quest and faces many obstacles. Among them, she fights Pana-ewa, a reptile-man and his army of creatures. Hiiaka has a magic skirt that summons lightning, and a knife to wield, and she puts up an epic battle against all kinds of monsters and creatures, eventually defeating them all.

Never let anyone tell you that girls can't fight monsters.

Happy International Women's Day!

10 folktales about women in war

 It is International Women's Day. The sun is shining, flowers are blooming, and thousands of women and girls (as well as men) are crossing the borders of Ukraine, fleeing from war. They fear for their fathers, sons, husbands, friends; they are carrying their children, seeking shelter and hope as the unimaginable happens around them. On the other side of the border, women (and men) are waiting with supplies, cars, open doors, open hearts. And then there are the women who don't flee - because they can't, or because they have decided to take up arms and defend their homes. And yes, there are women on the other side too: women fearing for their loved ones, and protesting the war.

I have been struggling to put stories to this whole situation. I have looked at folktales and legends about peace, but they alt felt hollow and insensitive. But I always post folktale selections for International Women's Day, and this time, the topic felt like a given. I want to share old stories about women who live through war. They fight, they heal, they make peace, they survive, they sacrifice, they do heroic things.

Folktales hold memories, hope, and values; they have important messages for the future. 

Let's listen to them. And let's help, any way we can, so the current stories in the making can have better endings.

The king who trusted his kingdom to his daughters (Jewish folktale)

I have blogged about this one before. A princess who is kind and caring receives a magic box that turns her teardrops into diamonds. Using the diamonds, she travels her cruel father's kingdom, helping people any way she can. When the neighboring ruler attacks the country, no one is willing to fight for the cruel king - but when the princess sets out to meet the army, people are willing to follow her. The enemy is surprised by their numbers. Instead of fighting, she starts negotiations. War is avoided, and she falls in love with the neighboring prince.

The wall of pastries (Indian folktale)

A greedy king is very fond of pastries, but refuses to share any of his wealth with anyone. His clever cook, however, keeps stealing small amounts of pastry, and feeding them to the poor. When an enemy attacks the kingdom, suddenly an impenetrable wall of pastries appears, blocking their soldiers. The cook tells the king about her secret activities, and how small kindnesses saved the kingdom. The king learns generosity, repents for his greediness, and rules wiser than before.

The women of Weinsberg (German legend)

King Conrad III besieges the city of Weinsberg. The women trapped inside the walls negotiate for their freedom; eventually, the king agrees to let them walk away from the city, with as much as they can carry on their shoulders. With this promise, the women all pick up their husbands or sons, and they walk out of Weinsberg. The king keeps his word, and lets them go.

Airmed, the healer (Irish legend)

Airmed is one of the Tuatha De Danann, the daughter of Dian Cecht the famous healer. She takes part in the Second Battle of Mag Turied against the Fomorians, caring for the wounded and the dying. When her jealous father kills her brother, she cries so much that 365 kinds of healing herbs grow on his grave, watered by her tears. She collects and catalogs them, but Dian Cecht grows angry and scatters them again. Airmed's knowledge is lost, but the herbs remain to help people.

The nine daughters of Khan Afrat (Uyghur legend)

Khan Afrat goes to war with his sons and they all perish. His nine daughters take over the kingdom, dividing the duties of ruling, keeping the peace, and caring for their people. When an enemy attacks them, thinking them weak, they resist the attack, and - with the help of the Queen of Deserts - manage to defend their kingdom.

Teapots over the door (Hui legend)

In times of a rebellion a poor woman, defending an orphan girl, earns the respect of the enemy general. He promises not to hurt her, and tells her to mark her door by hanging a turnip above it. She runs home, and tells everyone in the village to hang turnips above their doors. When the enemy arrives, however, she realizes that her neighbor has no turnip. She lends them her own, and replaces it with a teapot. This way, she gives her life for her people - and in her memory, Hui people have been hanging teapots, or teapot pictures, above their doors.

Mulan (Chinese ballad)

The story well known from the Disney movie goes all the way back to a 6th century Chinese ballad. Mulan goes to war instead of her father, and serves in the army for ten years, dressed as a man. No one figures out her secret. When she returns, she puts on a woman's dress, and reveals her identity to her stunned fellow soldiers.

Puskás Klári (Hungarian legend)

The men of Gyergyószárhegy (Transylvania) are sent to war, leaving their home village behind. The Turkish sultan sends the Tatars, thinking the village to be easy pickings. Puskás Klári, however, organizes the defense of her home with the women, children, and old men left behind. They dig pots into the ground, throw beehives at the attackers, and Klári herself kills seven soldiers with various household objects. And then she walks home, lays down, and gives birth to triplets. By the way.

(Women fighting the Tatar invasion is a very common theme in Hungarian folklore. I blogged about them in Hungarian here.)

Flower Mountain (Hungarian legend)

There is a place called Virághegy (Flower Mountain) near Nagybánya. It was named after a legend: in the time of a Tatar invasion, people fled to a wise woman who lived on the mountain. She led the refugees to a valley, and transformed them all into flowers, to hide them from the enemy.

Lady Béla (Hungarian legend)

A very famous Hungarian historical legend. A girl inherits her father's castle and lands, and she lives a double life, pretending to be two sisters: one brave and strong, and one kind and friendly. When the Tatars come, she organizes the defense of her castle, and resists the siege, until - with the help of a neighboring knight - she breaks the attack and defeats the enemy.

International Women's Day: Woman healers

It has become a tradition on the blog to post lists of folktales centered on women for International Women's Day. I did Badass Grandmas and Women Helping Women, and this year I thought it would be fitting to give a shout out to some of the many spectacular woman healers of myth and lore. Here we go!

(Links in the titles, as usual)

The daughters of Asklepios (Greece)

More personifications than active characters in mythology, the daughters of the God of Medicine represented various parts of the healing process. Their mother was Epione, the Goddess of the Soothing of Pain. Myths tell of five sisters: Hygieia (Health), Panakeia (Panacea - Medicine, Cure), Iaso (Remedy), Aigle (Radiance), and Akeso (Healing process). They also had brothers, making up a large, divine extended medical family. 

Eileithyia (Greece)

Greek goddess of childbirth (sometimes there is more than one of her). In mythology, she travels from the Far North to the island of Delos to help Leto deliver her twins, Apollo and Artemis. There is also a fun story about how she was tricked by a handmaid at Herakles' birth.

The Witch of the Forgotten Island (Scottish Travelers)

I read the tale of The Snake Shirt in this new collection, and fell in love with it. A prince gets a cursed shirt from his stepmother that turns into a snake and tries to crush him. He travels far and has many adventures until he finds the Witch of the Forgotten Island, the only one who can save him. He falls in love with her daughter, and the two women together find a way to rid him of the snake.

Bebind (Ireland)

Bebind is a fae woman, one of the Tuatha de Danann, who heals the hero Caoilte Mac Ronan after he receives a serious chest wound. In the book I linked above there is the full story of how the cures him while also demanding he fight for her people in exchange. It even has some love-hate romance woven in. Cool story.

Airmed (Ireland)

Another woman of the Tuatha de Danann, Airmed is the daughter of Dian Cécht, the God of Healing. Together with her brothers she helps her father treat the wounded during the war between the Tuatha and the Fomorians. When her father kills her brother, she mourns for him, and from her tears spring 365 different kinds of healing plants and herbs. She organizes them all, but her angry father mixes them up, so no one knows which can be used for what, except Airmed.  

He Xiangu (China)

Chinese immortal known for her association with health and healing; the only female member of the famous Eight Immortals. In one tale she disguises herself as a mortal girl and helps young Lan Caihe (a gender-fluid singer who later joins her as a member of the Eight) figure out how to cure a wounded man. Her symbol is the lotus flower that promotes good health.

The fairy midwives 

This is not a single story, but rather an international folktale type. It usually features a midwife who is spirited away by fairies or other supernatural creatures to help with a difficult birth. When she does, the supernatural family usually rewards her handsomely in some way (but if she goes to far, they can punish her too). 

Yirang Pamo (Bhutan)

This powerful female shaman features in a very interesting Bhutanese legend. On her way home across the mountains one day she meets a young woman who begs her to come help her sick son. The woman turns out to be a spirit, and her son has wounds caused by mustard seeds: he made a human to fall ill, and when he was exorcised by a healer the exorcism left him sick. Not sure how to heal a spirit of illness, Yirang Pamo prays to the guardian spirits of humans for forgiveness. The boy gets better, and the mother hands a cow to the shamaness in return. The cow, however, later on transforms into a giant rat. Rude.

Hiiaka (Hawaii)

In Hawaiian mythology Hiiaka is a powerful goddess of dancing, magic, and medicine, and the younger sister of the volcano goddess Pele. She fights demons and defeats monsters in many amazing stories. In one of them she meets some girls mourning their drowned father, and she takes it upon herself to find his ghost, and slap it back into his body in an elaborate ritual.

Saint Elizabeth of Hungary 

A princess born in 1207, Elizabeth was married off to a son of the Landgrave of Thuringia very young. Her most famous miracle is the Miracle of the Roses: she was sneaking bread to poor people in secret, and when she was caught, the stolen food turned into flowers in her apron. After her husband's death she founded a hospital and worked as a nurse, caring for many patients herself. She is the Catholic patron saint of hospitals, nurses, mothers, wives, and loving care.

Crescentia (Germany)

This medieval romance gave its name to an entire folktale type (ATU 712). The story revolves around a noblewoman who is repeatedly (innocently) accused of adultery and murder, and goes through a whole lot of trials and hardships. Eventually she gains great healing powers, and her enemies come to her to be cured from various illnesses. At the end of her life she attains peace by retiring to a convent. 

Pari Gongju (Korea)

Also known as Princess Bari/Pari, she is the ancestor of shamans in Korean tradition. As a seventh daughter, she is abandoned by her father, but later on when the king gets sick she is summoned back to court to heal him. She sets out on a long and adventurous journey to the Otherworld for magic healing water; she saves her sick parents, and becomes a goddess of shamans and the companion of souls on their journey to the other side. 

Anne Jefferies (Cornwall)

Anne was a famous healer in the 17th century, who allegedly got her magic healing powers from the fairies, who abducted her into their own realm for a while when she was nineteen years old. She was almost accused of witchcraft for her powers, but she survived and lived to a ripe old age. According to the stories, she never accepted any payment for her healing services. 

Biddy Early (Ireland)

A legendary woman from the 19th century who made her way into the folklore of Co. Clare as an herbalist and a clairvoyant. She was an expert of healing plants and folk remedies, worked spells, and knew a lot about fairy lore. There are entire books written about her. (See this one too.)

You have more stories that are not included in the list? Add them in the comments!

After this list of legendary ladies, let's give a shout out to all women working in healthcare and medicine! Happy International Women's Day!

International Women's Day: Folktales about women helping women

So I asked Twitter what I should blog about for International Women's Day this year (after last year's Badass Grandmas), and several people suggested "women helping women." This topic is near and dear to my heart, so here are some of my top favorites. Links in the titles!

Happy International Women's Day! 

The Proud King (India)

I blogged about this one in Feminist Folktales. An abused queen is helped by a gardener woman who feels sorry for her, and they come up with a plan together to teach the king a lesson about power.

The pig (Denmark)

Also from Feminist Folktales, in this folktale type a girl rescues her sisters and various other women from a monster (occasionally also their husband, as this tale type is related to Bluebeard).

Swan Sisters (various)

This was a StorySpotting blog post I wrote about stories where women gang up on abusers. In one of them, a hunter shoots a swan maiden and drags her home as his wife, but when she is healed she turns back into an angry swan, and she and her sisters drown the dude in a pond.

Wild Goose Lake (Bai)

In this tale a girl sets out to save her village from drought. With her singing she gains an unexpected friend: the daughter of a dragon king. The two girls together make a plan to steal the dragon king's key to open the flood gates of Wild Goose Lake. In the end, they even move in together.

Riina and her amazons (Solomon Islands)

When two women are kidnapped by spirits men try to rescue them, but they all fail. Eventually a blond woman named Riina appears with her amazon entourage, and volunteers to rescue the women. The amazons fight and kill the spirits, and free the kidnapped women, all in a good day's work.

Bujeba legends (Equatorial Guinea)

The book of Bujeba stories I read recently contained multiple stories where women helped women. In one, a man wanted to kill his child because it was a girl, but the mother spirited the baby away, and another woman raised her. In another, a girl saved her best friend from her own cannibal father. In a third, a girl was rescued from her abusive brother by an aunt.

Diirawic and the lion (Dinka)

Diirawic's brother wants to marry her, so she decides to run away into the wilderness. All the other girls in the village decide to go with her. They build a new home for themselves in the forest, they tame a lion, and Diirawic's little sister keeps watch over her when she sleeps. Eventually the girls return home as powerful women. With their own lion brother.

Ngomba's balloon (Congo)

A girl is kidnapped by a monster, and he makes her mistress of his household. In secret, Ngomba teaches the other prisoners how to make a hot air balloon. The monster almost figures out the trick, but luckily one of the prisoner girls comes up with a clever way of saving Ngomba's life. All the prisoners escape in the hot air balloon.

The princess' kerchief (Greece)

A princess and a prince are set to be married, but the groom disappears before the wedding. The princess waits for him for years, but he never returns. In the same town there is a girl who everyone thinks is crazy because she wanders around the town and is curious about things. In the end, with her curiosity and wandering she helps the princess find her lost love.

The Dwarf (Spain)

A girl accidentally runs away with the wrong man. She finds a new home, however, and rescues a princess from the spell of an evil Dwarf through bravery and perseverance. Even the lost lover turns up in the end. 

The Badass Grandmas of Hungarian Folktales (a #FolkloreThursday special)

Tomorrow is International Women's Day. I have been working on a Feminist Hungarian Folktales collection, and the deeper I dug into out folklore archives, the more often I encountered old women who were smart, active, and all-around badass. I decided that I would like to highlight them in this year's post. So, without further ado:

BADASS GRANDMAS (AND AUNTIES) OF HUNGARIAN FOLKTALES

The ex-princess

In a folktale by a traditional teller from Rozsály, a young Scythian king makes a name for himself by rescuing a cursed princess. Her father had punished her because she fell in love with the wrong person; when the Scythian prince sets her free, she promises to repay his kindness one day. Time flies, the king has sons, the sons grow up, and set out to seek their fortune. On the way, an old woman joins them, not-so-subtly helping them along. She rescues them from bandits, and packs the bandit chief's head away in her purse. Later on, when a king promises his daughter to whoever can rid the woods of bandits, Granny pulls out the severed head, and demands the princess for one of the lads. The king is not too enthusiastic about the match, and orders his servants to toss the prince out of the highest tower at night... but luckily, the prince falls right into the arms of the old woman, who has been waiting around below the tower, with her back to the wall. To catch him. As the story progresses, she blinds an entire army, secures the match for one brother, and finds another princess for the other, until all is well in the end. Once a double wedding is celebrated, the cursed-princess-turned-badass-grandma turns into a dove, and flies away.

The salty witch

You know that story, right? "I love you like people love salt"? Well, in a Hungarian Roma variant the princess, exiled by her narcissistic father, ends up in the woods, and is found by an old woman everyone in the area is scared of. Granny states that the king is a real piece of work, and adopts the princess. Eventually, a young man joins them as a servant. One day, Granny decides it is time to teach the king a lesson, and takes the princess home to the palace, where they cook an unsalted feast together. The king, of course, learns his lesson about the importance of seasoning - and to drive the point home, Granny starts shaking salt out of a magic bag, filling up the room, yelling "Is that enough salt yet? Is that enough?" When the king begs for forgiveness, the old lady nods: "Good. And don't ever make me save your daughter from you again."
Word.

The dragon slayer

In another Roma folktale, an old man is imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit, and his wife is left alone. The old woman sets out to rescue her husband, walking through a forest everyone warns her not to enter - it belongs to a dragon. On the way, the old woman meets the dragon (it has 28 heads!). She offers it some milk, and manages to lull and hum and pet it to sleep. While the dragon is sleeping, she cuts off her long hair, and ties the beast up so thoroughly that when it wakes and struggles, it strangles itself. Once people in town hear what she's done, they let her husband go free.

The smart mother-in-law

This Transcarpathian story (included in my book) is a variant of Rumpelstiltskin that is much kinder, and all-around nicer, than the Grimm version. More importantly, it features a dowager queen, the king's mother, who is on her daughter-in-law's side from the first moment. To cover up the lie about spinning gold, day after day she stands in the door of the girl's room, spinning stories about why the gold is not ready. No one dares question her word, so she keeps winning time until the whole situation is resolved.

The demon hunter

Hungarian folklore features a type of demonic being known as a lidérc. Most often it appears as an ugly chicken with magical properties: It can bring you whatever you want, in great quantities, and it will make you rich - but the moment it gets bored, it takes your soul to hell. Owners of lidérc chicken have to continuously keep them busy, because their soul is on the line. In one story, a widow finds such a creature, but soon discovers that it is impossible to coexist with - when it is not piling things into the house, it keeps chirping "What? What? WHAT?" until it is given another task. Eventually, the wise old neighbor woman comes up with a solution for how to get rid of the demon (you have to give it an impossible task). Following the sage advice, the widow frees herself, and splits the spoils with her neighbor.

Bonus: The Virgin Mary

There is a Transylvanian folktale that is very similar to Bluebeard, but has a better ending. In this one, the heroine helps her sisters escape from the murderer's castle, and finds a new life for herself as well. However, her evil ex-husband eventually catches up to her, kidnaps her, and drags her back home by the hair. On the way, the scene is noticed by the Virgin Mary, who stops the man, and demands to know what is going on. When the man claims that he has the right to punish his runaway wife, the Virgin says "No, you don't. You are a devil, and you have no claim on any woman." And with that, she turns the man into stone, and escorts the woman back home.

Happy International Women's Day to all real life badass grandmas, aunties, godmothers, and other legendary elders!