Erzählungen von Toten, die nicht wirklich tot sind, die sogenannten Untoten/Wiedergänger, beschäftigen Menschen in allen Kulturen mit besonderer Intensität. Weitverbreitet ist die Vorstellung, dass der Tote eine Hand aus dem Grab streckt. Die Untersuchung zeichnet die Überlieferungswege des Motivs von der Hand aus dem Grab in historischen Quellen und wechselnden literarischen Genres nach und macht Leitfassungen sowie Paradigmenwechsel erkennbar.
Are female figures in fairy tales full of courage, intelligence, resourcefulness, and perseverance or are they lacking autonomy and are incapable of taking control of their own lives? In the context of a research-project on the Italian popular traditional fairy tales (Thompson 1946), a substantial difference was revealed with respect to the entirely passive protagonist. The two tale types analysed ( Cinderella ATU 510A and The Clever Farmgirl ATU 875) show two intelligent girls who make a choice and take responsibility for their own desires using their resources in an active way.
In this article I examine some Greek versions of Tall Tales (ATU 1875–1999), not represented correctly either in the Greek or the international Index of Folktales. Consequently, the impression is created that many of the Tall Tales described in the international catalogue are unknown in Greece. For these Greek versions Georgios Megas (the compiler of the Greek catalogue of Folktales) created a new type: AT 1920 D*. However, a thorough study of them shows that they include many more episodes, motifs, and images from the strange world of Tall Τales included in the ATU 2004 edition and proves that many themes prevalent in other European countries were eventually known in Greece as well. I hope that this article will contribute to the comparative research of Tall Tales and to the very interesting topic of the upside-down world in oral folk literature.
