Studia Ethnologica Pragensia (Dec 2020)
Některé shodné motivy městských legend v Bulharsku a v České republice
Abstract
The presented article identifies and compares several shared motifs of urban legends in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. The legends are classified into following thematic groups: 1) mysterious narratives and encounters with preternatural creatures, which are neither helpful nor harmful; 2) mysterious signs and encounters with preternatural creatures which cause death or other harm to the participants of the story; 3) mysterious signs and encounters with preternatural creatures which help people; 4) summoning and invoking of ghosts; 5) criminal stories — murders and assaults causing bodily harm with or without motive; 6) scary stories — parodies. Analyzed parallels between particular narratives documented in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic confirm shared folkloric substratum which points out to both their universality and international distribution.
