The Twins (Albanian tale)

rdf:langString The Twins (Albanian tale)

rdf:langString *ATU 303, "The Twins or Blood Brothers" *ATU 300, "The Dragon Slayer"

rdf:langString Albania, Italy, Greece

rdf:langString The Twins

rdf:langString

rdf:langString Canti tradizionali ed altri saggi delle colonie albanesi di Sicilia

rdf:langString Southern Europe

rdf:langString "The Two Brothers"

rdf:langString "The Twins" (Albanian: Binoshët; Italian: I Gemelli) is an Albanian folk tale which Arbëreshë folklorist Giuseppe Schirò recorded in Piana degli Albanesi and published in his 1923 book, Canti tradizionali ed altri saggi delle colonie albanesi di Sicilia, in Albanian and Italian. American journalist George Post Wheeler translated an English variant of the tale in his 1936 book, Albanian Wonder Tales, entitling his version "The Boy who was Brother to the Drague". The tale is Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index type 303, "The Twins or Blood Brothers," and includes ATU type 300 ("The Dragon Slayer"). In The Folktale (1946), Stith Thompson indicated four Albanian reported versions of "The Twins or Blood Brothers". Gerlando Bennici recorded and published a shorter variant in Albanian and Italian, I due gemelli fatati, by Giuseppe Pitrè in his 1875 Fiabe, novelle e racconti popolari siciliani. This version does not include the ATU 300 "dragon slayer" type. "The Twins" includes common Albanian mythological figures such as the ora, zana, kulshedra, shtriga, and e Bukura e Dheut ("the Earthly Beauty"). The story also features the traditional Albanian motif of the "pair of heroic brothers", one of the main themes in the Albanian epic cycle of the Kângë Kreshnikësh (Songs of Heroes). The protagonists are twins Zjerma and Handa; one is born with the Sun in his head, and the other is born with the Moon on their forehead. After their father dies, they decide to travel the world with their two horses and two dogs in search of glory and riches.