Kallo and the Goblins is a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
fairy tale
A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...
. Fani Papalouka, Nikolaos Politis, and Haris Sakellariou collected variants of the story.
[Soula Mitakidou and Anthony L. Manna, with Melpomeni Kanatsouli, ''Folktales from Greece: A Treasury of Delights'', p 61 ]
Synopsis
A fat woman had an ugly beast older daughter, Marbo, and a beautiful
younger daughter, Kallo. People admired Kallo and pitied Marbo; Marbo resented it and made Kallo do all the work. One day, the mother asked for one of them to go to the mill to grind flour; Marbo insisted on sending Kallo. Kallo got there, many people were grinding, and her grain was poured in just before the miller went to bed; she had to wait. At midnight, goblins came out and threatened to eat her. Kallo said they could not eat her in her old dress; she needed a new dress. When they stole a fine dress for her, she said she needed other things, a coat, an umbrella, a comb, face powder, and anything she could think of. Then dawn came, and the goblins had to leave. The miller ground her grain, and Kallo went back with what the goblins had given her and the flour.
Marbo envied her and wasted the flour. On New Year's Day, more was needed, and Marbo went for it. When the goblins came, they scratched her face, and she screamed for help; the miller saved her, but she gained nothing. Kallo used the goblins' face powder on her and healed her face.
Commentary
The goblins of the title, the
Kallikantzaros
The ''kallikantzaros'' ( el, καλικάντζαρος; bg, караконджул; sr-Cyrl-Latn, караконџула, separator=" / ", karakondžula; tr, karakoncolos), or ''kallikantzaroi'' in plural is a malevolent goblin in Southea ...
, live beneath the ground, trying to chop up the tree that holds up the earth. When it is nearly down, they know it is Christmas and come up to make mischief; they are driven back down at
Epiphany, when the
Greek Orthodox priests bless the waters.
See also
*
Diamonds and Toads
Diamonds and Toads or Toads and Diamonds is a French fairy tale by Charles Perrault, and titled by him "Les Fées" or "The Fairies". Andrew Lang included it in ''The Blue Fairy Book''. It was illustrated by Laura Valentine in ''Aunt Louisa's nurs ...
*
Father Frost (fairy tale)
Father Frost (russian: Морозко, Morozko) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in '' Narodnye russkie skazki'' (1855-63). Andrew Lang included it, as "The Story of King Frost", in '' The Yellow Fairy Book'' (1894).
It is ...
*
Mother Hulda
"Frau Holle" ( ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 480.
Frau Holle (als ...
*
The Old Witch
The Old Witch is an English fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 book, ''More English Fairy Tales''. It is also included within '' A Book of Witches'' by Ruth Manning-Sanders and ''A Book of British Fairy Tales'' by Alan Garner.
It is ...
*
The Three Heads in the Well
The Three Heads in the Well is a fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in ''English Fairy Tales''.
It is Aarne–Thompson tale 480, the kind and the unkind girls. Others of this type include ''Shita-kiri Suzume'', ''Diamonds and Toads'', '' Mo ...
References
{{Reflist
Greek fairy tales
Fictional goblins
Female characters in fairy tales
Kallikantzaros