Subjects of folk tales in Croato-serbian epics

The author analyzes a typical feature o£ Croato-serbian folk literature, namely classical subjects of folk tales found in the form of, ten-syllable epic poems, The changes of the inner structure of the tale after its transformation into epic form are followed up on a few chosen examples (tale types AhTh 590, AaTh 725 + 530, AaTh 516, AaTh 433B, AaTh 432* etc.) Discussed are only such examples in which the original basis of the prosaic narratory tradition is quite obvious. The author tries to explain the factors which have influenced the transition of certain determined narratory subjects and not others into the epic form. The analyses of the given examples show that the changes formed in the transition of the subject from one kind into the other are essential, and that the contents of the tales when accepting the ten syllable vestige, receive at the same time all the characteristic features of expression of the epic folk poetry. The writer concludes by saying that the subjects themselves, although usually belonging originally to one particular kind, still remain an abstract pattern until they are realized in a concrete living form as a tale, a poem or some other kind. (The present essay is to be published in German in a Hungarian collection of studies on folk tales of South-Eastern Europe.