Mare's Head
A Ukrainian folk tale of a magical horse skull.
"Mare's Head" (Ukrainian: «Кобиляча голова», romanized: Kobyliacha holova) is a Ukrainian folk tale featuring a creature of the same name. The tale is classified as Aarne-Thompson-Uther type ATU 480, "The Kind and the Unkind Girls," and is known for its motif of a magical horse skull that rewards hospitality and punishes rudeness.
- Type
- Folk tale
- Classification
- ATU 480 (The Kind and the Unkind Girls)
- Culture
- Ukrainian
- Notable variant
- The Old Man's Daughter and the Old Woman's Daughter
- Key character
- Mare's Head (Kobyliacha holova)
Lore & Background
In the tale, a man and his wife have a daughter. After the wife dies, the man marries a widow with a daughter. The wicked stepmother orders the girl's father to take her to the forest to be killed. The father leaves her at a cabin, promising to stay but returning home after hanging a log to simulate chopping. The girl, finding only ashes in her sack, takes food from the pantry. She calls three times for her father, and instead a mare's head appears.
Reader's Guide
The mare's head asks the girl for hospitality: to be let in, to light the stove, and to be fed. The girl complies, and the mare's head thanks her by telling her to climb into one ear and out the other, which transforms her with beauty and riches. The stepmother then sends her own daughter to the same hut, but the daughter refuses hospitality. The mare's head eats her, placing her bones in a bag. The stepmother's dog foretells the death, and the stepmother kills the dog, then accuses her husband of murder.
Did You Know?
- A variation called "The Old Man's Daughter and the Old Woman's Daughter" has a similar plot but no mare's head.
- Horse skulls were displayed to ward off evil and were considered to have protective properties in Ukrainian tradition.
More in Ukrainian folklore 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced