Anna Angelopoulos Abstract Tales from the oral tradition sometimes feature rhymes that describe the hero’s journey in a brief and enigmatic manner. These rhymes appear when the protagonist acts and reveal his or her hidden identity in cases of transvestism or metamorphosis. In this way the hero or heroine is recognized by every person in the scene and by the audience. I will take two examples to illustrate the points I wish to make. The first is the tale of magic “Born from the leg of his father” (ATU 705) and the realistic tale “The enigma of the lazy man” (ATU 851). In these tales, the use of short children’s songs serves to untangle the dramatic intrigue that hides the secret journey of the hero towards the amorous reencounter. Keywords folktale, metamorphosis, identity, ATU 705, ATU 851
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Studies in Oral Folk Literature, no. 2, 2013