Magical animals in Bulgarian folk tales: bears, deer and horses

Bears, deer, horses – these animals have fascinated me since I was a child, and I have followed their tracks throughout my life, mostly in dreams and in the journeying of my imagination as well as through research. They are beautiful animals in themselves, but for me they are also a way of connecting with our remote ancestral past and our wilder nature. It is as if in following them, I am brought closer to the times when people still walked in “the way of animal powers,” as if by association I can somehow come closer to the primal knowledge that our early ancestors had, which we have lost through our increasing separation from nature.

I want to know what our ancestors knew, to see through their eyes – I want to ‘become part of it’ (to use words from the brilliant show by the Company of Storytellers), to understand what we humans were, are and could become.

Following these animal tracks has been a wonderful and exciting journey that has informed my work with Bulgarian myth and folklore as an oral storyteller and author, as well as my world as a human being. It provided the starting point for my book, ‘Beyond Nine Forests: Tales of Hidden Bulgaria,’ which includes a chapter on magical animals, featuring deer and bears as well as snakes. The traditional tales about these creatures are beautifully poignant: a man transforms into a stag, a girl becomes a bear, and a character who is neither bear nor human has to find his way in the world. They are rooted in Bulgaria's rich folklore and echo with imagery that can be found in ancient Thracian mythology.

Horses feature in a separate chapter called ‘Epic Heroes and Their Horses.’ The horses in these epic tales can talk and are often wiser than their masters.

The journey continues…. Image: Cover of my book, Beyond Nine Forests: Tales of Hidden Bulgaria. The book has had excellent reviews.