''Mattie the Goose-boy'', or ''Lúdas Matyi'', is a Hungarian epic poem written by

Mihály Fazekas Mihály Fazekas (6 January 1766 – 23 February 1828) was a Hungarian writer from Debrecen. He was an army private for seven years before being commissioned as a Hussar officer. As a hobby, Fazekas studied the natural sciences (botany) and w ...

(1766–1828) in 1804 and first released in 1817. It is based on a folk-tale of unknown origins. Most film adaptations place the story to the beginning of the 19th century, however based on hints in the poem, as well as the word "ludas" also being used to depict someone suspected of a crime already in the Tripartitum, the original story can be placed at least to the early 16th century.

Plot

Prologue

In the beginning, Matyi, who is a young peasant boy, is trying to sell his geese at the market. Trouble ensues when the local lord, Dániel Döbröghy, proclaims the geese belong to him. Lord Döbröghy orders his servants to punish Matyi with 50

lashes Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on ...

to his back. Matyi makes a vow to get

vengeance Vengeance may refer to: *Vengeance (concept) or revenge, a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance Film * ''Vengeance'' (1930 film), action adventure film directed by Archie Mayo * ''Vengeance'' (1937 film) or ''W ...

, that he will repay the punishment three times to the lord.

The first repayment

Three years after Matyi's punishment, Döbröghy begins building a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

for himself. The construction goes on very slowly, because of the lack of carpenters. Matyi identifies this and dresses as an Italian architect-maestro, then he visits the construction site. Matyi lures the lord and his servants to the nearby forest to gather wood for the structure. He orders all the servants and guards to harvest the forest, he then lures Döbröghy away, ties him to a tree with a rope, and beats him the first time.

The second repayment

After being thrashed, Dániel Döbröghy is being cured in his fancy new castle. He orders his soldiers to get him a real doctor, because his wound isn't getting better. The servant go to seek a doctor. Matyi knows about the plan and he dresses as a German battlefield medic. He is brought to the lord and ordered to cure him. He sends the whole folk of the castle out to the nearby field to collect some special herbs. Certainly, he needs fictional plants, but he uses the silliness of the soldiers. While everybody is out harvesting, Matyi gives Döbröghy the second revenge. After that he frees the geese of the village, which formerly were imprisoned by the lord.

The third repayment

It's now winter and the date of the yearly market. Döbröghy knows that Matyi will surely repay the punishment, so he orders his servants to search to whole market for suspicious people. They don't find anything because Matyi now doesn't wear any disguise. He makes an alliance with a local horse rider boy. The boy lures the whole army away, because they think that they're chasing the real Ludas Matyi. But they make a mistake, because the real one stays at the place and finds Döbröghy. The lord now publicly gets his last third of punishment.

Edification

The poem was an ironic advice to the lords of Hungary, not to penalize the peasants needlessly. It also emphasizes the intelligence of the poor.

Importance

Lúdas Matyi was the first folk hero in Hungarian literature who is victorious over his lord. The poem represented the relationship between nobility and the folk as well, and it emphasized the problems of the Hungarian agro-society in the late 18th century. Much later the

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

government created movies of the story and emphasized the superiority of the workers and the poor. The tale is a bent mirror to the Hungarian society.

Lúdas Matyi in the media

* ''1867-1872'' - A paper with the title: Ludas Matyi - The entertaining pictured newspaper of the Hungarian folk. The author, Károly Mészáros, was imprisoned for 10 years for showing Franz Joseph as the Crucified Jesus. * ''1922'' - The first Lúdas Matyi film, directed by Alfréd Deésy. * ''1949'' - '' Lúdas Matyi'' film, directed by Kálmán Nádasdy and

László Ranódy László Ranódy (14 September 1919 – 14 October 1983) was a Hungarian film director. He directed 18 films between 1950 and 1980. His film '' Drama of the Lark'' was entered into the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. Selected filmography * ''Lo ...

. Starring: Imre Soós. Music for the film was composed by Ferenc Szabó and arranged as a suite for orchestra. * ''1945-1992'' - The weekly paper Ludas Matyi was the only authorized Hungarian satiric paper during the communist era. Lúdas Matyi used irony and satire to portray the dictatorship and Hungarian society with all of its participants. The paper was extremely popular, and sold a record number of about 650,000 papers. It was allowed to publish surprisingly frank caricatures of politicians, military leaders and society, but was suspended between 25 October 1956 and 21 February 1957 during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and its aftermath. :Lúdas Matyi notably included a "Down with Bureaucracy" feature with unusually sharp criticism of the system. Its outlook on foreign affairs was biased towards the Soviet view but was aimed towards humor rather than shrill propaganda. It included an ongoing weekly dialog between two opposing soldiers, the wise and humane "Ivan" and the hapless "Joe". :The magazine also commented on the emerging sexual revolution with a mixture of sexist satire (the "Jucika" cartoon series being the notable example) and more balanced gender-equality advocacy. * ''1977'' - '' Mattie the Goose-boy'', an animated film by

Attila Dargay Attila Dargay (June 20, 1927 – October 20, 2009) was a Hungarian comics artist and animator. He was born in Nyékládháza, Mezőnyék. Life He began working as a scenery painter for the Hungarian National Theatre in the late 1940s. He dire ...

* ''1978-1979'' – Over two years (and 24 issues) Ludas Matyi was one of the main characters in the monthly East German comic book magazine

Mosaik ''Mosaik'' is a German comic book magazine. First published in December 1955, it is the longest-running German (and European) monthly comic book and the only one originating in East Germany that still exists. ''Mosaik'' also appeared in other coun ...

. His first entrance was in issue 1/1978, last in 12/1979. Setting is the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

in the beginning 18th century. Ludas Matyi is turned out to be a straying Kuruc characterised by shrewdness and masquerading as someone else to attain a goal.

References

{{reflist

External links

* ''Ludas Matyi newspaper''
''Ferenc László: The history of Lúdas Matyi''''Ferenc László: The history of Lúdas Matyi Part 2''
Hungarian fairy tales Hungarian poems European folklore characters Fictional Hungarian people