Summary

Peculiarities of narrative folklore collected by Matas Slančiauskas in Gruzdžiai Valsčius

Jūratė Šlekonytė

The article describes a variety of narrative folklore genres and its popularity in the area of Gruzdžiai as well as comparison of the data to the repertoires of narrative folklore in other areas of Lithuania.

Mostly mythological sagas had been recorded in the Gruzdžiai Valsčius, thus enriching the folklore stocks not only with stories very popular in Lithuania (e.g. about money or witches), but also rather rare sagas about mythical creatures (werewolves, pixies). Miracle fairy-tales had been very popular, while daily-life tales notable for local colour were less hot. Quite a few of etiological and animals stories had also been fixed. The narrations about the Gruzdžiai area historical past and daily life described in detail distinguish themselves by peculiarity.

The comparison of the material collected with the common repertoire of narrative folklore in Lithuania exposes fixation of a tradition; i.e., most fairy-tales recorded by M. Slančiauskas are typical of the Central Lithuania (especially miracle and animal stories), although there are quite a few of original tales popular in all regions of Lithuania.