Myths
From ThreadsOfTime
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The Creation Myth
Excerpt of the legend of creation from the Hungarian saga
The seeds of the Holy Sea break out of your shell. The eternal sea's waves are waving, and rolling. Their waves are rocking and their foam is hissing. There is no earth yet anywhere, but in the immeasurable heights, above in his golden house, sits the great heavenly father on his golden throne.
He is the old, white haired and white bearded god of eternity. On his black robes there are thousands of sparkling stars. Besides him sits his wife, the Great Heavenly mother. On her white robes (palast) there are thousands of sparkling stars. She is the ancient material of which everything is made. They have existed from eternity in the past and will exist for all eternity to come.
In front of them stands their beautiful golden sunbeam haired son, the sun god Magyar. The boy asks from his father: "when shall we create the world of the humans my dear father?".
The Eternal Sea just waves and rolls. It's waves are rocking and it's foam is hissing. The old gray haired heavenly father lowers his head . He ponders the question a while and a little longer, then he lifts his white haired head and talks to his son.
-- My dear sweet golden haired son, let us create then for the humans their own world, so that they, who will be your sons shall have a place to live in.
-- How shall we create such a world, my dear father?
-- This is the manner in which we can create it: In the depths of the waving, blue Sea of Eternity are the sleeping eyes (seeds), sleeping seeds sem=eye/small seed the sleeping Magya's Mag=seed, Magyar=man.
Descend therefore to the depths of the Great Sea and bring up the sleeping seeds and dreaming eyes, so that we can create a world out of them.
The son follows the direction of his father, he shakes and turns himself into his image of a golden bird, into a golden diving duck. Then he flies down to the expanses of the Endless Sea.
He swims for a while on top of the water, and he is rocked by the waves of the sea for a while. He then dives down into the depths of the blue, searching for the bottom, but was unable to reach it. Out of breath he was forced to resurface.
He swam on top again, rocked by the waves, he gathered his strength, for a long time. After taking deep breaths he submerged again into the blue depths, diving deeper, into the darkness, slowly releasing his air, which like vibrating pearls rose to the top and popped on the surface of the rolling sea.
However now his beak hit the bottom of the sea, into its sand. He took some of it into his beak and like an arrow, he shot up to the top of the water with it From the surface of the sea bed, he brought up the sleeping eyes/seeds, silver white "ügyücske" small eyes?. The sleeping eyes awoke, the sleepy eyes opened and grew up and became living beings.
The Legend of the Turul Hawk
The "Turul" is a giant mythical falcon, a messenger of god in Hungarian mythology, who sits on top of the tree of life along with the other spirits of unborn children in the form birds. She is often replaced by the sun in illustrations of the tree of life. (The word "Turul" is common with the Turkic "Togrul". In the Altaic languages it is a vulture, and in Sumerian it is called the im- "Dugud" eagle, which is a lion headed giant bird.) In Asian legends the Turul brings the priesthood first to the woman Emeshe (EMESH means priestess in Sumerian, Anton Diemel, "Sumerich-Akkadisches Glossar, pg 92) and her son by causing her to be fertile. They and their descendants are the first priests (KHAM), who can read the will of god from the heavens and stars. The Turul is also the symbol of the house of Atilla as well as the Hungarian Árpád dynasty kings of Hungary. The following mythical story explains the origin of this dynasty and its symbolism. (The Árpád name can be found from ancient Egypt, as the name of early dynasty kings "Erpat" to northern Mesopotamia, in the Mede rulers Arpaxad and cities of Arpad, from ancient times. It can also be simply from Árpa meaning barley?)
According to the legend of origin of the Árpád clan, it was the divine intervention of god, through his messenger the Turul, which founded the royal family. The following is a recounting of the legend by the chronicler "Anonymous", the royal scribe of King Béla III (1172-1196).(Béla=Bay-la)
"In the year of our lord 819, Ügyek, the descendant of King Magog (The Scythian King Magog of the Bible lived in Northern Mesopotamia during the reign of the Assyrian king, Ashur-banipal, according to surviving Assyrian records.) and a royal leader of the land of Scythia, married the daughter of Ened-Belia, whose name was Emeshe. From her was born their first son Álmos.(In modern Hungarian the name Álmos means sleepy/dreamer, the ancient Ugrian form of the word dream however was ADOM, ADAM. The Kiev Chronicles called him Olma.)
"The boy obtained his name because of the unusual circumstances of his birth, when his mother in a vision saw the great Turul descend from heaven on her and made her fertile. A great spring welled forth from her womb and began flowing westward. It grew and grew until it became a torrent which swept over the snow covered mountains into the beautiful lowlands on the other side. There the waters stopped and from the water grew a wondrous tree with golden branches. She imagined famed kings were to be born from her descendants, who shall rule not here in their present lands but over that distant land in her dreams, surrounded with tall mountains."
Álmos, the new son, was born to Emeshe and he grew up to be a dark complexioned, handsome black-eyed young man, who was slender and very tall. He became a good-natured, generous and wise leader and a brave warrior. When he reached maturity he became the greatest and most powerful and the wisest of the leaders of Scythia, and for that reason, everyone in the country sought his advice on matters of importance. When he became an adult, he married the daughter of a prominent family and from their union was born their son Árpád, whom he brought to Pannonia the ancient name of Hungary and who became the military commander-in-chief of the invasion and the elected king of the united nations of Megyer, Kari, Kasi, Jenö, Kürt-Gyarmat, Nyék, Tarján.(The tribal-national names survived in various place names in Hungary) Álmos was a great diplomat who later made alliances with the Greeks, the Kazar tribes to which the Hungarians were once allied, with and the Kabars tribes who also quit the Kazars and joined the Hungarians. The Kazars tried to keep the Hungarians from leaving their alliance and turned the eastern Petchegen Turks.
"Since the land of Scythia became too crowded with the many other local nations, and the land could no longer support them all nor accept them after their death, they decided to leave." There were also growing pressures from the expanding Mohamedan empires toward the south, pushing refugees from these areas, including Magyar clans, from the Caucasus Mtns. (The battles of Al Laks 739-740 AD, and their leader "Upas Ibn Madjar" are refered to by the Arab historians Baladhuri and Bal'ami. Discussed in Victor Padányi's book, Dentü-magyaria) Religious rivalry among the Kazars, who had large Muslim, Christian, and Jewish as well as the ancient Magian, and Shamanic faiths represented also caused the disunity of the empire, which exhibited freedom of religion unheard of anywhere else in this age.
"The seven chiefs of the seven nations who to this day are called the Hetumoger (7 Magyars) could no longer bear to live in their crowded and troubled lands and decided to leave their ancestral homeland and go where there was bountiful land. They selected the land of Pannonia, because it was a good rich land and was once the land of Atilla the ancestor of Álmos, the father of Árpád."
"The seven rulers fully realized that the only way to succeed in the difficult venture was to unite under a common ruler and commander. Therefore with common will and free choice they elected Álmos as their leader and guaranteed the leadership to him and his descendants. They told him, "From this day forward we select you as our leader and lord and whichever way your fortune leads, we shall follow you." After their custom each of the rulers cut themselves on their arm and let a small amount of their blood mix in an urn, representing the unification of their nations, and they made a solemn oath of loyalty and devotion to their new unity. They believed that all such oaths shall be observed until their death, saying: "As long as we shall live, as well as the lives of our descendants, we and our descendants shall be led by Almos and his descendants." The second part of the oath was as follows: "All the property we shall obtain in common, we shall share equally." The third part of the oath was: "If any of the descendants should be disloyal to the ruler and cause discord among the ruler and his relatives, then shall their blood pour out as ours does now as we make the bond of blood with you." The fifth part of the oath was as follows: "If anyone of the descendants breaks this oath should he be forever cursed."
They organized and prepared for their long journey with great care and moved from the land of Scythia, which many early Hungarians called Hetumagyar, in memory of the original ancient Scythia on the borderlands of Persia. (In the ancient legends of Persia, the Zend Avesta, the ancient Scythian nation of "Haetumat" was located in Sakastan "scythia" east of Persia.) and moved to the "land between the rivers", which in the old language was known as "Atil-köz". Atil or Etel meant great river or water.)
"This was their temporary homeland for several years until they thoroughly scouted the surrounding lands and made alliances with their new neighbors." The Russian Kiev Chronicles recount this period well since this city was part of their country for a long time and, for a period before the occupation of Hungary, it was the residence of Álmos. The chronicle continues: "Their next step was to prepare for the occupation of the future homeland and the unification with their western Hungarian relatives the "White Hungarians", who settled in Hungary with the Avars. Some say the late Avars were in fact Hungarians who settled in 670AD, and that is why some of the Hungarian Chronicles give this year as the year of settlement rather than the date of the Magyar confederations date of arrival in 896 AD. (László Gyula, Kettös Honfoglalás, Budapest 1978, pg 83)
Legend of the Wonderous Hind
The Hungarian Legend of the Wondrous Stag is one of the oldest legends of the nation. It is so old that it is found in various forms among those nations who were the distant relatives or neighbors of the Hungarians, long before their settlement in Hungary. The meaning and the wording of the legends may have changed slightly but they all have much in common. Today the remaining legend is relatively short, whereas in the past it was probably much more extensive. However the Hungarian legend despite it's brevity includes in it many important points some of which can be found in most of the related legends found in other cultures. It is these points which show that once, in the remote antiquity, these people were neighbors or some were even related.
The symbol of the cosmos and the mother of the sun was symbolized as a large horned female doe. The great horned doe often was shown carrying the sun in her horns, in some cases the sun itself was symbolized as a stag the son of the doe of the legend. The following Christmas song told by the Hungarian regos (bards) illustrate the stag as the carrier of the sun.
Csángo Hungarian "Rege"
1. Csoda fia szarvas, ezer ága boga
2. Ezer ága boga, ezer fénylö gyertya
3. Szarva közöt hozza áldot napnak fényét
4. Homlokán a csillag, mellén a hold,
5. S elindul az égi Duna fenyes partjátol,
6. Hogy égi küldötként hírt adjon
7. A teremtö és gondviselö istenünkröl.
1. Wondrous headed doe, with horns of a thousand branches and knobs
2. Thousand branches and knobs and of a thousand bright candles
3. Amongst its horns it carries the light of the blessed sun
4. On it's forehead there is a star, on it's chest the moon
5. And it starts along the banks of the shining heavenly Danube
6. That it may be the messenger of heaven and bringer of news
7. About our creator and caring god
The hind represents not the sun, but it's mother, the heavenly firmament, the cosmos, which carries the stars, the sun and the moon in it's "horns". For these reasons the Scythian stags often represented the horns of the stag like flames.
Hungarian version of the Legend of the Hind
A long time ago, thousands of years ago, in a distant land in Asia there was once a great and powerful kingdom. It was bordered by tall mountains in the north and a great southern sea in the south. From the mountains, two mighty rivers flowed southwards to the sea watering the flat lowlands. The people who lived there were famous for their arts, sciences and wisdom. They lived in abundance and plenty.
It was following the great flood that the people from the northern mountains settled here and founded a new land. The king of the land was the giant hunter Nimrod, the descendant of the great king Etana. (Tana in Hungarian, Kus-Tana in Kushan-Scythian, or Etana in Sumerian, the king who lived in the 3 rd millenium B.C. and according to the legend of Gilgamesh he established the city of Kish and the first Messopotamian empire, following the flood) Nimrod founded great buildings and cities and founded the great pyramid of the city of Babilon 201 years after the flood as a haven against future flooding (Simon Kezai, Gesta Hungarorum, ca 1282) and as a temple to god.
Nimrod was a mighty warrior king who also expanded his empire to include much of the northern and eastern territories and he and his people moved there, to the land of Evilath, following the confusion of languages. (Simon Kezai, Gesta Hungarorum, ca 1282) (according to Berrosus the Babilonian historian, Belas Bel Nimrud ruled for 56 years 130 years following the flood, and built the tower of Babel in the land of Sinear to the height of a mountain.) This land was latter called east Persia, and lay next to Northern India.
Here he married his first wife Eneth and she later bore him two twin sons called Hunor and Magor. He later had other wives and from them were born other sons and daughters who became the ancestors of the Parthians/?/Persians. (In the medieval version it was the Persians, the inheritors of the land of Iran, that are mentioned instead of the aboriginal Scythic Parthians. In other medieval references though it is the Parthians which are mentioned as being related.) The language of these people was similar to the Hungarians but not quite the same.
His first born sons were his pride and they spent much time with their father, growing up in the palace and later they accompanied him on his many hunts. Nimrod was a famous and great hunter who loved the sport.@foot(Bible, "like Nimrod, mighty hunter before the lord") During one of his hunting expeditions he took his sons with him. During the hunt he spotted some game and separated from his sons to pursue it. The two young men continued their own search and came across a wonderous beast, a great horned doe, which shone in multicolor lights and it's antlers glittering from light. (Mahmud Terdjuman, Tarihi Ungurus "The history of the Hungarians", 1456 translated by Joseph Blaskovich, Prage, 1982)
Enchanted by the heavenly beast they gave chase to it. The animal lead them across glades and meadows onward toward the west. At dusk the beast vanished so the two princes and their men camped for the night. At dawn the hind reappeared and the chase continued afresh. It lead them through foreign lands and across the mountains of Adjem (western Iran), through wild and dangerous swamps of Meotis (The Sea of Azov, an inlet of the Black Sea, was associated with Meotis because of the common ancient name of this sea and because the Magyars and Huns lived there before their settling in Hungary. It is unlikely however that this was the original sea of the ancient legend) until they entered a beautiful bountiful country. Here the hind lead them to a lake and jumped into it and disappeared. This swampy land, called Meotis, is surrounded by the sea on all sides except one where a shallow swampy land connects it to the mainland making it difficult to enter. It is rich in birds, fish and game and is situated on the borders of Persia.
The two young men were filled with sadness and remorse because of the loss of the hind. They returned to their father and asked him to build for them a temple at the sight where they could retreat and contemplate and prepare themselves. They then lived in the temple for 5 years, and on the 6th year they were longing to return to the world when a great teacher came to them and thought them the ways of being a great king. (Terdjuman Mahmud, Tarihi Ungurus, 1456)
They and their men then left the temple and scouted the nearby territories. In the evening they camped and in the morning they awoke to the sound of music. They followed the source of the music to a clearing in the forest where they spied the dancing and singing of young maidens who were celebrating the festival of the horn. The name of a hind is "horned" in Hungarian and this celebration was of the hind. The maidens in the clearing were the daughters of the Bulars and amongst them were the two beautiful daughters of the king, Dula. (Simon Kezai, Gesta Hungarorum, ca1282) (The persian version only has one prince, who similarly marries the queen of the women, who calles her self a doe with the name "sar-istani" Sraw=horned in Avesta.)
The two young men were so enchanted by the two princesses that they resolved to marry them, so they and their men kidnapped all the women and married them according to their custom. They settled on a great island in the lake, which was well protected. Their descendants multiplied and populated the nearby lands, founding the 108 clans of the Scythian nation. (108 was a "holy number" related to the astronomical rate of precession of the equinoxes. Its also a holy number among Buddhists and the Buddha himself was of the Scythian Sakia tribe.) The descendants of Hunor and one of the princesses became the nation of the Huns, while the descendants of Magor and the other princess became the nation of the Magyars.
The land of the Scythians stretched from north of the Black Sea to Central Asia as far as the city of Samarkand. Their country bordered the country of their father on the north and east. However a long time after the death of their father the kingdom of Nimrod fell to a foreign ruler from the west. This nation in later ages became Persia. (around 500BC) (See the Iranian legends of the struggles between Iran and Turan)
This is but the tip of the iceberg, because there is a lot more corroborating information about this legend from ancient Messopotamia. also from Assyrian and Babilonian records. The legend amongst our language relatives including FinnUgor, Huns, and others varies but is generally a star myth where the "great hunter" hunts the heavenly stagg (Ursa Major) and kills it around Christmas time. The sun which is held in its horns now escapes and becomes stronger, ushering in spring. However the calve of the stagg repeats the event every year. In Hun art all the way from Mongolia and DungHuan caves of western China show the magical hunt of the stagg by two twins. Even our "western?" constellations Nimrod(Orion), Twins (Gemini) and the horned animal. {Taurus) show the hunt. The myth is Asian and Scythian but even Babilonians and others had the twin hunters part of their star lore.
The Haunted Woods
"Sit down, and let me tell you the tale of the haunted woods.
In the dawn of time, monsters walked upon the earth. A fact any sage or wise woman can tell tale after tale about. Then chivalry came, and the time of dragons and monsters slowly faded, as the power of the church swept over nation after nation. Gnomes, elves and Trolls became a thing of legend and myth.
Or so the scholars would think.
In the woods outside of Buda before the bridges were built over the river, and before Buda and Pest began to merge, darkness walked in the woods. Witches and Monsters wandered in the shadows of the trees, watching and waiting. Hunters and woodsmen vanished without anything more then a painful scream in the night, and night was something the villagers outside of the protective city walls feared. Live stock were found half eaten, children playing by the stream up north vanished.
And just about as fear was about to take hold and villagers were about to move away... The monster vanished, without a trace. A city needs lumber to grow, and in the woods were animals to hunt for food. So after years of calm, the people of the lands once again started to venture into the woods. And that is when the horror struck once more, beasts from hell rose from the shadows. Fangs glistening in the moonlight, crimson by the blood of infants, and the wrath they brought were enough for even the invading Ottoman's to stay clear of the woods."
Legends of Pirate Treasure
Pirates of any ocean or sea all have something in common: they are in a position to acquire untold fortunes and wealth. At some point in time all of the world’s most precious and prized possessions have been stored on sea-going vessels and with this comes the risk of those valued possessions falling into the hands of pirates. It is very seldom that a pirate actually creates something himself, in most occurrences the item or treasure belonged to someone else and in the pirates hands, stories and legends take birth.
Skull's Eye: This eye patch appears to be old, worn and frayed on some of the edges. It has a half inch leather band that secures a hardened leather disc that covers over a single eye; it can be worn over either eye. The leather is black with worn spots of a brown color, though it is not known if this is from neglect or the original color pattern. At first glance, it would appear to be worthless. If a daring person puts on the eye patch, the wearer realizes instantly it wasn't meant to come off easily as he feels it attaching itself to skin and eye it covers. Only a miracle is enough to pull it free without harm, anything short will cause 5 dice of damage as the skin and eye is removed. The eye patch loves the sound of a good scream and to hear and see people cowering in fear and so at anytime the wearer can shift his facial appearance to that of a skull wearing the eye patch. Those who see the skull and are within 30 feet feel the effects of fear and need to make a Willpower rolls diff 8. Failure stuns the victims for 1 full turn while a botch causes more adverse reactions per the ST. While the wearer's head is that of a skull. The patch demands one scream a week in order to confer the following enchantment; the wearer gains a +2 dice for all Perception checks the wearer makes.
Saber of the Sea: Though has been referred to as a saber in stories and legends, in fact it is actually a cutlass and this inaccuracy has been the leading cause for it to slip in and out of history and lore more then a dozen times in the past century. It was last known to be in the hands of Maliro, a notorious pirate who is responsible for many missing ships and blood spilled at sea. Maliro's favorite tactic was the very fabric of legend for it has been said he jumped off his own ship as they close with an opposing ship, then runs across the ocean and leaps on board, this tactic though seemingly foolhardy had landed him and his crew many wealthy cargoes and spoils. Though no one is sure how, there have been enough accounts of this pirate's tactic to hold it with some truth. What is known, the cutlass does grant the wielder the ability to walk on water and it craves the chaotic nature of the sea and at least once a month it will strive to walk on the water and feel the spray of ocean waves. At present the saber's whereabouts remain unknown.
Twin blades of Delaskus: A pair of short swords crafted in a strange black metal with blood red streaks along the blade. The pummels appear to be longer then needed for the size of a hand and wrapped in black leather of what is thought to be of fiendish origin. Not much else is know of these blades, except the carnage left behind when they are used together. When separated from each other, they seem to be magical short swords giving a 1+ dice of damage and when placed in water, it remains on the surface floating. It can hold up to 200 lbs. before sinking. What is unknown is if the sword is left untouched for a full minute, it will turn and point towards its twin blade if it is on the same plane. A pirate by the name Rolkinge luckily didn't have knowledge of this, for fate placed both blades in his hand and blood has spilled into the seas for years afterward. This pirate has been a force of evil unlike anyone else who sails the sea. If the two blades are wielded at the same time and he is proficient with two weapon fighting, they are heightened to +4 dice of damage short swords. This weapon is fueled with bloodlust, and thus each twin demands to be fed blood at least once a turn of the full moon or it loses all it's powers.
Salibar's Razor: This fanged-tipped dagger shines as bright as a torch extending twice the normal distance at the command of the wielder. Along the spine of the blade one can note four runes on each side. The guard of the dagger is in the form of two serpents extending outward and the pummel is wrapped in snake skin with the design of a black diamond spiraling as if a snake had coiled along the grip. Though lost in history, the original name of this blade was Vril's Bite, perhaps it has had more names in the past, however how many and the nature of them are unknown. What is known, it is in the hands of the very capable first mate Salibar on the pirate ship Mariner's Tear. This dagger can poison anyone successfully struck by it up. This power can be used once each day. The poison attack can even be used when the dagger is thrown, afterward it returns to the owner. The poison does one health level of aggravated a turn
Robe of the Pirate Mage: The robe is an almost eerie color of deep green and rumored to be made from the soft leather hide of a green dragon. The 10 buttons are evenly spaced and, along the front, they are seemingly crafted from dragon teeth. When the wearer speaks the command word, dragon wings extend from the back of the robe that empower the caster to fly with a speed of 60 feet with good maneuverability.
