The Tenth Child in Folk Tradition
Monika Kropej
The tenth male (desetnik) or female child (desetnica), but also the ninth, the twelfth or the thirteenth child, have been preserved in the folk heritage of the Slavic, the Irish and the Baltic nations. The folk tradition of other nations contains several similarities in the stories abouth the seventh child of the same sex. Such a child is supposed to be a deity, a demonic creature, or a wizard. Researchers of folk epic and narrative tradition have discovered that Zeleni Jurij and Marjetica were marked as the tenth children as well. Zeleni Jurij is a deity which, according to folklore, brings renewal and fertility in spring, while his sister Marjetica is dedicated to the female counterpart of this deity. In folk songs the tenth son and the tenth daughter are either the tithe destined to the deities Perun and Mokoš, or else represent the two deities themselves.
With the exception of Ireland, the motif of the tenth child remained fairly unnoticed elsewhere in Europe. In our territory, however, it evoked interest already in the 19th century. Josip Pajek1 wrote the following: If a mother bears ten sons in a row, with no daughter in between, the tenth brother is of no sane mind, and runs away from home. Even if he had been served hand on foot elsewhere, he would have been compelled to continue roaming. Should a person fail to give alms to a tenth brother this would be considered a mortal sin. I remember well that such a tenth brother used to visit our house, bending his fingers in a funny manner. The index fingers of both hands would bend the middle finger on each hand backwards, on both hands at the same time. He never walked slowly, always ran. Such a tenth brother, called "Juzek," that is Jožek, still roams in Slovenske Gorice and Mursko polje. If addressed as a swine shepherd, he promptly answers: "How could I tend swine? Don't you see that I am a priest?
The tenth son is thus compelled to roam the world, refusing to settle down even if he were waited on by everybody. He thinks of himself as a priest or an ordained person. Pajek also published a folk song about Margetica, the tenth daughter2:
Oj leži leži njivica,	There is a field
Z drobno pšenico obsejana.	Sown with tiny wheat.
Na njivi žanje deset ženjic,	There were ten reapers in the field.
Deset ženjic, deset sestric.	Ten reapers, ten sisters,
Črtice iz duševnega žitka štaj. Slovencev, Ljubljana 1884, 17-18.
Ibidem: J. Caf, 1844; see also: K. Štrekelj, Slovenske narodne pesmi I, Ljubljana 1895, no. 310-315.
Ednajsta je mati poleg b'la,	The eleventh was their mother.
Da je Marija mimo šla,	Maria passed by,
Ino jim je Boga dajala:	Greeting them in God's name:
"Hvaljen bodi Jezus Kristus!	"Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ
No njegovo ime!"	And his name!"
Nijedna joj ni odlonala,	Not even one responded
Ko naj mlajša čer Margetica.	But Margetica, the youngest.
"Amen, amen do vekoma!"	"Amen, amen for ever and ever!"
Marija je segla v svoj svileni žep,	Maria put her hand in her silken pocket,
Vzela je svoj perstanj zlat.	Taking out her golden ring.
"Tu imaš, tu imaš, Marjetica!	"Here you are, Margetica!
Ti boš z meno rajžala."	You shall roam with me."
Mati pravi, govori:	The mother speaks:
"Naj gre, naj gre, na'starša či;	"Let the oldest daughter go
Ona je že bolj pri pameti."	For she is wiser yet."
Marija pravi govori:	But Maria speaks:
"Kaj je le desetega,	"Everything that is the tenth
Vse mora v desetino iti."	to the tithe must go."
Potli je šla mati kruha peč.	The mother baked some bread,
Noter je dejala prstanj zlat.	Putting the golden ring inside.
Okol na okol ga je oblamala,	She broke off pieces on all sides,
Na sredi Margetici hranila.	Saving the middle one for Margetica.
"Tu 'maš, tu 'maš, Margetica,	"Here you are, Margetica,
Ko boš od mene rajžala."	For when you leave from me."
"Jaz ne bom jedla, pila več,	"I shall not eat or drink no more,
Pod našo streho spala več;	Or sleep beneath our roof;
Tudi ne bote vedeli moje smrti,	You will not hear about by death,
Jaz pa pri vaši stala bom!" (3)	But I'll be there for yours!"
The tenth daughter, who is the only one among the harvesters who greeted Maria, is therefore the only one who notices and recognizes her. Maria therefore presents her with a golden ring which symbolizes the allegiance to the giver of the ring. It is obvious that the tenth sister is destined to be with Maria, or at least closely connected with her. Who is the mythological creature that has been replaced by Maria doubtlessly remains a question without an answer. So far; the answer can only be a matter of conjecture.
In his material Pajek thus listed all the key factors in the phenomenon of the tenth
child:
1.	Regardless of the sex, each tenth child represents the tithe and has to leave home.
2.	The tenth child is connected with the sacred.
3.	The tenth child is clairvoyant.
4.	The tenth child is compelled to roam the world.
5.	One must present such a person with a donation and give him or her a warm welcome, otherwise one commits mortal sin and is punished by thunder, lightening, or death.
Songs about the tenth daughter often contain a continuation, such as in the variant by Jožef Rudež from Dolenjsko, written before 1819 (Slovenske ljudske pesmi I, Ljubljana 1970, 51/2):
Maksim Gaspari, desetnica (the tenth sister), from: Fran Milčinski, Pravljica, Ljubljana 1970.
V enim borštu jo (desetnico) noč zatne.
Pod ta prvo dervo je peršla:
"Nocoj bom le-t na irpergah."
Dervo ji tako govori:
"Pejdi spod mene, desetnica!
Nocoj bo tako trejskalo,
kader bo prvič trejščilo.
bo precej v me trejščilo."
Pod ta drugo dervo peršla:
"Nocoj bom le-t na irpergah."
Dervo ji tako govori:
In the woods she (the tenth daughter) is
surprised by night. She comes to the first tree: "I will be your guest tonight." But the tree answers: "Leave my crown, tenth daughter! There will be a storm tonight And the first lightning to strike will strike my trunk!" She comes to the second tree: "I will be your guest tonight." But the tree answers:
"Pojdi spod mene, desetnica! Nocoj bo tako trejskalo, kader bo drugič trejščilo, bo precej u me trejščilo." Pod tretje dervo peršla: "Nocoj bom le-t na irpergah." Dervo ji tako govori "Le zaspi, desetnica, saj se nič hudga ne boj!" Čez sedem let nazaj peršla v le-ta velki, bejli grad: "Kaj vas prosim, žlahtna gospa! Imejte me na irpergah!" "Jaz te ne morem irpergovat, jaz bom gostila svojih devet hčeri. Le pejdi v božje ime, jaz te ne morem irpergovat." "Imejte me, imejte me, mati moja, de bom gledala, kako je gostili boste." "Le pejdi v božje ime, jez te ne morem irpergovat." "Bog vas obvari, mati moja! Bog vas obvari, devet sestri! Bog te obvari, bejli grad! "Saj sim jez srota vejdila, raztrgana, zavržena!" "Nazaj, nazaj, Marjetica!" "Jaz ne grem nikdar več nazaj!" Mati dol pade, omedli, per ti priči dušo pusti.
"Leave my crown, tenth daughter!
There will be a storm tonight
And the second lightning
to strike will strike my trunk!"
She comes to the third tree:
"I will be your guest tonight."
And the tree answers:
Go to sleep, tenth daughter,
And fear no evil tonight!"
After seven years
She returns to
The large, white castle:
"I ask of you, milady,
to be your guest tonight!"
"I cannot let you stay,
I shall dine my nine daughters.
Off you go in God's name,
I cannot let you stay!"
"Oh please, please have me, mother dear,
So I can see them dine."
"Off you go in God's name,
I cannot let you stay!"
"May God protect you, mother dear,
May God protect you, my nine sisters!
May God protect you, oh castle white!
Outcast am I,
an orphan poor in tattered clothes!" "Return, return, Marjetica!" "I shall never return again!" The mother falls down in a deadly faint, Drawing her last breath at once.
The tenth son - desetnik and the tenth daughter - desetnica are even contained in the dictionary by Maks Pleteršnik which was published a year later, in 1864. In the entry brat (brother) the dictionary mentions the tenth brother, listing a citation from the book Deseti brat3 (The Tenth Brother) by Josip Jurčič. Jurčič aptly managed to capture the very essence of this figure: We have not been hearing about the tenth brother for a long while! Yet in the olden times it could happen that a tenth son was born to a mother, endowed with wondrous properties and abilities, ousted by the will of God, roaming the wide world from door to door, predicting good fortune, disclosing treasures, singing songs and telling tales like none before him.
3 Ljubljana 1864.
It is interesting that Pletersnik mentions that desetnica, the tenth sister, can also denote one of the Fates. In Gorenjsko the desetnica was actually called rojenica (one of the Fates) and the desetnik rojenjak. Despite her gift of prophecy and clairvoyance it is somewhat questionable to identify the tenth daughter with the mythological Fate (Rojenica); howewer, the connection between them - not an identification with Fate -cannot be ruled out completely.
In 1930 Jakob Kelemina summarized his quotations taking in regard Pajek and the collection of folk songs which were published by Karel Strekelj4. In a note, Kelemina even cites Pletersnik's desetnica - rojenica, saying: The Tenth Brother or Sister are the characters offairy-tales; our story is a truncated fairy-tale. According to this fairy-tale style, in the second part of the story the girl should reach a place where she would find redemption and happiness!5
If we include in our analysis the Irish narrative tradition, it can be said that Kelemina was right; Irish fairy-tales of this kind usually end in marriage: There was a king who saw a wild duck with 12 ducklings. He approaches the lake. The duck chases one of the ducklings away. The druid says that the 12th should be given to Deachme. The king gets scared because he himself has 12 sons, and chases the 12th away. At the same time, the Greek king sends away his 12th daughter. The young ones meet and get married6 In one of the Slovene fairy-tales a young musician meets the twelfth daughter and marries her'. But this happy end - at least in this Slovene, artificially concluded story - is an addition, or a fairy-tale derivation of a legend.
France Marolt, who published the song about the tenth daughter in the journal Kocevski zbornik, was of the opinion that this character was formed in the late Middle ages
o
in the vicinity of the castles in Gorenjsko.0
In his study "Germanische Mythen in der epischen Volksdichtung der Slowenen"9 Leopold Kretzenbacher concludes that the tenth child represents kind of a "ver sacrum" who must leave the native village and look for his or her niche in life elsewhere.
Ivan Grafenauer tried to explain the phenomenon of the tenth daughter by noting the characteristics of the patriarchal family which did not grant its female descendants the same status as it did its male children. He limited his treatise to the phenomenon of the tenth female child, eliminating the tenth brother as a much later occurrence. It is because of this that Grafenauer's explanation is partial and questionable. In Narodopisje Slovencev 210 he
says: The greatest misfortune for a patriarchal family is to have no children; it is almost
4	K. Štrekelj, Slovenske narodne pesmi I, Ljubljana 1898, No. 310-315; Slovenske ljudske pesmi (SLP) I, Ljubljana 1970, No 51.
5	J. Kelemina, Bajke in pripovedke slovenskega ljudstva, Celje 1930, No. 239, in the note.
6	William Larminiene, West Irish Folk-Tales and Romances, London 1893; the new edition: 1972, p. 196-210.
7	Ivan Albreht, Vilinske gosli pa še druge koroške pravljice, Ljubljana 1931, p. 3-19.
8	F. Marolt, Kočevski zbornik 1939.
9	Leopold Kretzenbacher, Germanische mythen in der epischen Volksdichtung der Slowenen, Graz 1941, p. 99101.
10	Ljubljana 1952, p. 34. I. Grafenauer mentions the tenth child also in the collection "Peli so jih mati moja" (ed. by S. Šali), Ljubljana 1943, p. 152.
equally disastrous to have only daughters. The tenth daughter, the first one after the sacred number of nine, has to leave home to appease the gods. If there is no-one else, the ninth daughter goes to war in order to replace her ageing father (Deklica vojak maščuje bratovo smrt / Girl Soldier revenges her Brother's Death - SLP I, No. 7; Deklica vojak na preskušnji / Girl Soldier Put toTrial (SLP I, No. 8).11
When the German translation of Irish fairy-tales was published in 1956 (Diarmuid
mit dem roten Bart, Eisenach & Kassel 1956), Niko Kuret was the first to draw attention
to the Irish heritage about the tenth child. Kuret concludes that these similarities can be
explained only by oral or literary connection. He explains the name Deachma(dh) as an
ordinal number: the tenth; as a noun it denotes a tithe. Kuret continues: If we talk about
Daechma, however, to whom should be sacrificed a tithe, this denotes a person, probably a 12
(female) deity.
In 1958, when P. Schlosser published a tale about the tenth daughter titled "Das zehnte Kind" Milko Matičetov mentioned the tenth daughter from Pohorje: In an over half-a-century-old note from Fram made by Caf (Štrekelj I, 314), the previously mysterious end can now be easily explained. In it the tenth daughter predicts to her mother: "You shall not see my death, but I will be standing by you when you die!" In the new variant from Radvanje, from 1910, this is possible since "they say that the youngest of the ten sisters is death." In other words: the tenth sister is no ordinary victim of death, but in the hereafter even helps "the white lady." It is this mysterious creature (and not "Maia" as in Caf s two notes from Fram, Štrekelj I, 314 and 315) who, during her travelling around this world, hands a ring to the tenth daughter as a
13
recognizable sign for when she comes to take her.
Dušan Ludvik, who like Kuret connects the phenomenon of the tenth child in our heritage with the Irish narrative tradition, explains the Irish notion of daechma, daechmadh as an ordinal number deriving from the Old Irish deich- (Old Cymric dec), meaning "ten"; as a feminine noun it corresponds to the Slovene word "desetina" (tithe). The explanation of the notion "daechma", "daechmadh" as wandering around the world, in fact being in exile, already seems to be the final phase in the development of this notion's meaning. Dušan Ludvik strongly emphasizes the moment of offering the tithe, stressing the fact that a long time ago the tithe consisted of humans. This is further corraborated by the fact that Leinster, a county in Ireland, gave one third of its children to St. Patrick; there is even a hill named Daechmadhe, which is explained by D. Ludvik as "the tithe hill." He interprets the connection between the Irish and the Slovene traditions about the tithe as the influence of Irish missionaries in the territory of present-day Slovenia. In Irish folk tradition the human tithe was linked with St. Patrick and the Leinster county. This county was the home of Columban, an Irish missionary who towards the end of the 6th century preached the Christian doctrine in Burgundy, and after 610 among the Alemanni living around Lake
11 Nine sons also appear in the song "Krvno maščevanje" (Blood Feud, SLP I, No. 9) in which the ninth son
takes revenge for the death of his brothers and his father.
12Glasnik ISN 1, Ljubljana 1956, No. 2, p. 14.
13M. Matičetov & M. Boškovic-Stulli, Dobra zbirka slovenskih pripovedk iz leta 1910 slabo izdana 1956: Bachern-Sagen, in: Slovenski etnogtraf 11, Ljubljana 1958, 187-196, p. 189.
Constance in present-day Germany. Gal (Gallus), one of his disciples, who stayed on among the Alemanns after Columban's departure, was likewise Irish.
In his study Erich Seemann drew attention to ballads from the Kocevje region which sang about the tenth daughter. He tried to place these songs within a given historic and cultural context, concluding that the phenomenon of the tenth child could have a counterpart in European tradition about the seventh child of the same sex who, according to folk beliefs, was a demonic creature, an incubus, a werewolf, a soothsayer or a healer.14
Comparing folk songs about the tenth daughter (Deseta hci, SLPI, 298) and St. Matthew (Rojenice in svetnik, SLP I, 288, 289), both of whom go into the world because of the destiny which had been foretold, Vlado Nartnik emphasizes the connection between the tenth daughter and the epic tradition on hunters. He concludes that St. Matthew's destiny was predicted by the three Fates which were successors of the tenth daughter, the white lady, and the grandmother.15 Nartnik also compares a ballad about the tenth brother, based on a folk tale from Dobrepolje in Dolenjsko, written by Anton Hribar16, with a folk song about
17
St. Bartholomew. Both heroes roam the world and at the end punish inhospitality by fire. In the song, for example, the tenth brother saves his nephew from the flames.
18
In my book, Pravljica in stvarnost (Folktale and Reality)18 the phenomenon of the tenth child was placed in the chapter titled "Prerokbe Rojenic in Desetnikov" (Prophecies of the Fates and Tenth Brothers); prophecy or fatal destiny is namely one of the essential characteristics of this character in Slovene folk tradition.
Irish researchers, who saw the etymological development of the name of the deity to which the tenth brother was fated in the word fate, had a similar explanation. As early as 1890 Jeremiah Curtin writes: Diachbha, "divinity", or the working of a power outside of us in shaping the careers of men, fate. Diachbha; "divinity", "fate"19 Later on they emphasized the etymological origin of the word in the expression of "tithe". William Larminie, for instance, writes in his note to the story "The King who had twelve sons" the following: The Djachwi, I am not sure that this word is anything more than daechmhadh, a tithe, which has been turned into a person, the meaning being forgotten. After the briefly told Andromeda episode, the story takes a quite novel turn. Its resemblance in structure as is the case with some of the other stories, to many a modern novel is very apparent. (W. Larminie, West Irish Folk Tales and Romances, 1893, 196-201, reprint: 1972).
Sean O' Suille^bhain summarizes the contents of these stories.- A king, seeing a duck drive away the twelfth of her young ones, banishes his twelfth son for the "deachu". The youth
14	Erich Seemann, "Die zehnte Tochter". Eine studie zu einer Gottscheer Ballade, in: Humanioria. Essays on Literature, Folklore, Bibliography, New York 1960, p. 102-114.
15	V. Nartnik, Od desete hčere do Kralja Matjaža, in: Slava 2, Ljubljana 1990/1991, p. 123-128.
16	Slovenske balade in romance, Celovec 1912, p. 92.
17	V. Nartnik, Od lika desetega brata do lika hlapca Jerneja, in: Zbornik Slavističnega društva Slovenije, Vrhnika 1996, p. 86-93.
18	Ljubljana 1995.
19J. Curtin, Myths and Folk-Lore of Ireland, Boston 1890, p. 243.
sets off in quest of a girl (An Eala Bhán, An Lacha Dhearg, Bas Bharra Ghealetc.) about whom he has heard or dreamed, is aided by his three uncles whom he visits in turn, andfinally reaches her dwelling only to find that she has mysteriously disappeared. After many adventures he finally marries her, having proved superior in a contest. (Mac Rían Daechaoin).
With regard to this name Dr. Angela Bourke from University College in Dublin
made the following comment: Storytellers are often unable to explain the meaning of
Deachaoin, other than to say it is something to which sacrifice must be made. It seems, however,
2 1
to be a form of the word "daechú ", tithe.
According to Irish sources the tenth, the twelfth or the thirteenth child of the same sex belonged to the deity named Deachaoin, perhaps the deity of birth and death, the goddess of fate. The fact that in Gorenjsko the tenth brother is called rojenjak and the tenth daughter rojenica (one of the Fates) seems to stress this connection as well.
The notions in European tradition that the seventh child of the same sex could heal certain sicknesses were especially alive during certain periods, for instance during Ember Days, on Good Friday, on Thursdays. In France such miraculous healers were called "marcou," after St. Marcolf who was able to cure scrofula, and were said to wear a sign of the lily on one part of their bodies. In Sweden such a person was called "tordagsdoktor",
escpecially if born on a Thursday. Danes believed that the seventh brother, if born on July
22
7 at seven o'clock, was wiser than Solomon.22
The question which arises in connection with the above is this: did the traditions about the tenth child succeed the myth? and does it represent an allegorically described offering of a child who is destined to be ordained? a human sacrifice, a refugee which a society has banished into exile, which usually denoted death?
According to the material mentioned above, people believed that the ninth, tenth, twelfth, thirteenth, but also the seventh child of the same sex was either a deity, a demonic creature, a clairvoyant or a wizard, yet simultaneously also a victim - a tithe destined for a certain deity. As an ordained person the tenth child is the one who sacrifices everything to attain the wisdom of a model initiate. In Slavic, especially Slovene, folksongs, the tenth
23
daughter (the tenth brother appears only in one recent song23) has to roam the world. In certain variants she is fetched by the white lady, Maria or a fairy, or, in the case of a Serbian song, a fairy on horseback (Vuk Karadzic, Srpske narodne pjesme I, Beograd 932, No. 732) - in short, a mythological creature who decides upon birth and death. Slovene narratives contain the tenth sister who denotes death.
20	Seán O Súilleabháin. Handbook of Irish Folklore, Detroit: Singing Tree Press 1942, reprint 1970.
21	In a letter dated April 9, 1999. I would like to thank Dr. A. Bourke for the material in Irish tradition.
22	See also: Erich Seemann, "Die Zehnte Tochter". Eine Studie zu einer Gottscheer Ballade, in: Humanioria. Essays in Literature, Folklore, Bibliography, New York 1960, p. 102-114; Leopold Kretzenbacher, Germanische mythen in der epischen Volksdichtung der Slowenen, Graz 1941, p. 99-101.
23	Recorded by V. Vodusek in Jastroblje, Tuhinjska dolina, March 25, 1957, GNI; No. 20675, tape 15-1, 50. The song, originally a ballad - written by A. Hribar and published in: Slovenske balade in romance, Celovec 1912, no. 92 - became a folk song.
The tenth brother or sister were called rojenjak or rojenica in Gorenjsko, the tenth or the twelfth brother was named kresnik in Primorsko24. The twelfth student of the black magic school, who at the end of schooling remains without his copy of the book - the teacher throws only eleven books among his students - leaves to roam the world and to
25
"chase the dragons".25 His destiny is thus similar to the destiny of Kresnik or Jurij. Of later origin are probably the tales in which the tenth child appears only in the role of a clairvoyant or a soothsayer, a human with supernatural powers who can also advise people in distress, which was usually expected of a priest. It is therefore understandable that the tenth brother in Pajek's note calls himself "mesnik" (a priest). Since the tenth children were roaming the world, people compared them to travelling bards with a great talent for storytelling and singing.
26	27
Radoslav Katicic , and afterwards also Vitomir Belaj , included the character of
the tenth child as well as the ninth brother in the Slavic and Baltic heritage in his research
on Slavic fertility rituals, or the pre-Slavic myth about the duel between the thunder god
and the dragon. Both have ascertained that this motif appeared in the Slavic as well as the
Baltic tradition. A Russian ballad, for instance, speaks about the incestuous relation
between a sister and her ninth brother. The brother leaves home to roam around, meets a
girl and invites her to join him on horseback. After their union they find out that they are 28
brother and sister. A similar fate awaits Jagoda in a Croatian song: Jagoda has nine brothers and Radojica, the tenth, the unborn brother. She marries him, and on their
2Q
wedding day rain starts to pour and thunder sounds. In another Croatian song, Mare - a girl with nine brothers who are hunters and goldsmiths - meets Ivo on horseback. Ivo is the
30
tenth brother who has returned home, and Mare is his sister.
There are interesting similarities between these songs and the Irish poem about
31
Owen Burke, also called Eoghan Burcach. In one of its variants, Owen Burke is a shepheard who finds a wild girl living in the woods. He manages to civilize her, and with her family's permission marries her. It turns out that the girl is the daughter of his employer who had been banished from her home, in order to comply with the custom of sacrificing a child from a large family to Deoch Bhui (deachu, deachaoin). After a time her family regret their permission for this wedding, and the girl's brothers kill Owen Burke. The contents of this Irish poem seems to be repeated, in a slightly different form, in a Latvian daina. This Latvian short song mentions brothers who after the wedding ascertain that the
24 Stepan Kocijančič, Arkiv III, Zagreb 1854, p. 281, published by: I. Navratil, Slovenske narodne vraže in prazne vere, in: Letopis Matice slovenske, Ljubljana 1887, p. 106. Ivo Grahovec - Riječanin, Slovan 9 / 1911, p. 300301.
25J. Kelemina, Bajke in pripovedke slovenskega ljudstva, Celje 1930 (after M. Valjavec).
26Weiteres zur Rekonstruktion der Texte eines urslawischen Fruchtbarkeitsritus, in: Wiener Slavistisches Jahrbuch, Bd. 35, Wien 1989, p. 57-97.
27Hod kroz godinu, Zagreb 1998.
28P. V. Šejn, Velikoruss v svoih pesnjah, obrjadah, običajih, verovanjah, skazkah, legendah i.t.p., I, Sankt-Peterburg 1898, p. 551, no. 1824.
29Hrvatske narodne pjesme 6, Zagreb 1914, p. 45-46, no 20.
30Olinko Delorko, Narodne lirske pjesme, Pet stolječa hrvatske književnosti 23, Zagreb 1963, p. 188, no. 211.
31 Lorcan O Muireadhaigh, Amhrain Chuige Uladh (The songs of Ulster), Dublin 1927 (reprint 1977).
groom is not suitable for their sister and kill him. Baltic songs also speak about the nine sons of Perkun:
Perkons, sivi očka, devetero sinov ima.
Vsak njegov sinček svojo obrt dobro zna:
Eden bije, drugi grmi,
tretji bele bliske meče,
četrti pa iz goste megle
spušča dež.
Gray daddy Perkons Has nine sons.
Each of them knows his trade well: One strikes, another thunders, The third casts white lightning, The fourth draws rain From thick fog.32
Their tenth brother is given as a tithe, so he leaves to roam the world. Upon his return
an incestous relation takes place. Another daina sings that Mesec (the moon) leads
Sončica (female sun) into the first spring. The next daina reveals that the moon walks by
himself, and falls in love with Zarjica (dawn). Because of his infidelity to Sončica, Perkun
33
becomes angry and chops the moon with his sword.33 Perkun's children therefore appear as celestial bodies in this song.
According to this material Perun, the highest Slavic and Baltic deity, appears to have ten or nine sons and a daughter. An incestual relationship, considered divine and sacred, ensues between the daughter and the tenth or the ninth son. R. Katičic and V. Belaj have established that the character of the tenth brother has not been imported from Ireland; Slavic traditions, Baltic and Irish parallells, as well as the broader European tradition, all testify to the Indo-European origin, and great age of the myth about the tenth brother who leaves home to roam the world, returns to his father's (Perun's) home, and marries his sister. The motif of the tenth brother who leaves to roam the world and the motif of sacred marriage (hierogamy) are thus closely connected in the myth, that is between divine protagonists. The tenth brother, Jurij, is a son of Perun, he marries his sister, and this hierogamy enables another cycle of renewal. In Perun's (Jurij's) myth the same story - as later in a shortened and profanized folk heritage - takes place in the realm of the gods.
The tenth daughter is destined to belong to the deity which is connected to destiny, and takes care of birth and death, thus Hecate, Diana and Artemis in Antiquity, or the Slavic gods Mokoš and Pehtra.34 Their character is ambivalent: on the one hand they
32Letviešu tautasdziesmas I-III, Riga 1955-1957.
33Z. Biezais, Die himmlische Gotterfamilie der alten Letten, Upsala 1972
34See: Niko Kuret, Sredozimka pri Slovencih, in: Opuscula selecta. Poglavja iz ljudske kulture, in: Dela SAZU 43, Ljubljana 1997, p. 66-79.
represent terrible chaotic forces, ragings accompanied by wild beasts and monsters, energies which have to be brought to order; on the other hand, they look after fertility, and the renewal of nature. The tradition of the tenth daughter partly reminds us of the Greek myth about Iphigenia who was destined for the goddess Artemis. In order to take revenge upon Agamemnon for his insults, Artemis demanded Iphigenia's death, but replaced her with a hind when Iphigenia was already placed on the altar, and took her to Tauris as her priestess.
Let us mention certain digressions between the male and the female characters of the tenth child. R. Katicic and V. Belaj see in the mythical creature of Zeleni Jurij the tenth brother who, as the tenth child, had to roam the world. One of essential characteristics of kresnik as well as Zeleni Jurij is the fact that he travels around the world.
In my research on the horse as an attribute of a deity - who is born at Christmas, travels around the world as Zeleni Jurij, gets married as kresnik, and concludes his life as a white horse or the goldenhorn - I came to the conclusion that all these characters are personifications of the same deity - of Perun, or of his incarnation on Earth.35 This deity, the so-called son of god, was marked by the image of the horse and was - according to R. Katicic and V. Belaj who tried to prove this on the basis of folk song heritage - the tenth brother. Like the horse, the tenth brother personified a sacrifice or an offering. Since this sacrifice is also incorporated into the fertility or the cosmological cult, the tenth brother -Jurij - left home to roam the world; Marjetica, who was abducted by the dragon, was equally destined to live in exclusion. And yet the songs which mention the sacred marriage do not mention a fight with the monster; this fight is mentioned only in Irish fairy-tales (see above) in which this heritage is connected with the myth of Andromeda and Perseus in certain variants. The tenth brother in reality personifies the tithe, an offering; in a symbolical manner also in the cosmological myth or in the fertility ritual. According to these folk songs about the tenth brother, Zeleni Jurij, a child of Perun, who roams the world and in a field meets his sister - who, in some variants, is also the tenth child - are a fragment of a cosmological myth or song sung at a certain time of the year in order to invoke fertility in nature. There is therefore a close connection between both couples, between Perun and Mokos, and Jurij and Marjetica. The tenth brother and the tenth sister in folk songs are the tithe sacrificed to both deities, or else they themselves personify the deities.
35M. Kropej, The Horse as a Cosmological Creature in Slovene Mythopoeic Heritage, in: Studia mythologica Slavica 1, Ljubljana & Pisa 1998, p. 153-167.