Myth and folktales

19
faronika the fish
In cosmogonic myths, as well as in the Bible, water symbolizes the original matter 
from which a new world was created. Hindu texts, for instance, state: Everything was 
water, ample waters had no banks. The Bible says: The spirit of God blew over the waters.
The notion of primeval waters at the 
onset of the world is almost universal. 
The earth thus floated on the surface 
of the cosmic ocean. Folktales from 
Prekmurje in the north-eastern part 
of Slovenia recount that two fish circle 
around the floating earth:
The earth floats on water, and two 
big fish swim around it. When one of 
them snubs the earth or hits it with 
its tail, this causes an earthquake
6
According to some folktales, the 
earth did not just remain floating on 
water, but was stuck on a fish or a water 
snake. Slovenes still have a tradition that 
says that a huge fish carries the earth on its back. When the fish moves, an earthquake 
occurs. When it dives into the water, this will cause the end of the world. The same 
happens in the folk song about Faronika the fish in which Jesus asks the fish not to 
swing its tail or turn onto its back lest the world be sunk or doomed: 
A fish swims in the sea,
A fish named Faronika.
Jesus swims after it
From the great sea depths.
“Wait for me,
Faronika the fish!
We want to ask you
What goes on around the world.”
If I wag my tail
The whole world will be sunk. 
If I turn onto my back
The whole world will be doomed.
“Oh do not do this,
Faronika the fish.
For the sake of innocent babes
And women in labour” 
7
 
6 
Kühar 1911: 59, no 52.
7 
Š I: 500, no. 493; SNP I: 123, no. 20/2
Faronika the Fish, relief from Čedad/Cividale 
(Museum), Italy, 8
th
 century

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20
An unruly snake – or a fish – lives in the sea, dozing and resting. According to 
proto-Indo-European religion, it rides on the back of Varuna, the Vedic god who 
created the world from original chaos. According to Phoenician mythology and the 
Bible, the sea lion Leviathan, when irritated, could cause the end of the world. The 
same is true of the German mythological Midgard snake, of the Greek Hydra, the 
Babylonian Tiamat, the Swabian Zelebrant, etc. Slavs also had similar explanations.
8
Faronika the fish from Slovene folk traditions is a parallel to these mythical 
creatures. Her name originates from the folk belief that when they were devoured 
by the Red Sea, the pharaoh’s warriors turned into fish and in certain situations may 
assume human form. 
The tradition about Faronika the fish became interwoven with the folktale 
about Veronika from Mali Grad by Kamnik, and the tale about mermaid Melusina. 
The tale states that because of her avarice Veronika had been turned into a half 
girl-half snake, a woman with the lower body of a snake, and is so depicted on a 
twelfth-century relief in Mali Grad. The oldest one among the still-preserved tales 
about Veronika from Kamnik is from the year 1684. Somewhat shortened, it was 
preserved by Valvasor (1689, XI: 543) and later conveyed in oral or in literary form 
in numerous variants. Emilijan Cevc alone noted ten variants of this motif. Cevc 
was of the opinion that the tale had originated from the Kamnik coat-of-arms that, 
according to him, depicted St. Margaret and the dragon or the snake. The picture was 
mistakenly interpreted as Veronika – who was a half woman-half snake according to 
the legend. He suggested that the snake became part of the tale because people thus 
explained the long necks or tails of dragons or snakes in this coat-of-arms; these 
tails visually merged with the image of St. Margaret. The depiction of Veronika, 
half snake or half fish, therefore originated because of the contamination of the tale 
about the mermaid Melusina with the tale of Faronika the fish, and hence the name 
“Veronika” was born. In Slovenian art history, “Faronika” became the technical 
term for a mermaid. 
THE WORLD IS SUPPORTED BY A BULL
In addition to concepts about the world supported by the fish, the Slovene 
tradition preserved a record about the world standing on the bull. It was first writ-
ten down and then published in Slovenski Glasnik in 1860 by Davorin Trstenjak, 
a recorder of folk tradition and a representative of the mythological school of the 
19
th
 century.
8 
For more on this see: Šmitek 1998a: 118–119.

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21
The World stands on the Bull
There is a Slovenian folk saying that the world stands on the bull. This notion 
contains residuals of Old Slavic cosmogony. Since I cannot in this place talk 
about different cosmogonies of Indo-European nations, I will just mention 
that ancient Persians also believed that the bull was involved in the creation 
of the world. 
The beginning of all living creatures is in the Zoroastrian system that can be 
found in Bundehešt, in the myth about the bull (Urstier) “Goshorun”, who 
was killed by the Ahriman.
9
 From the right side of the bull came the first 
man – Kajomoris, from its tail trees and plants, from its blood the cane, and 
from its semen various animals (see Zend-Avesta I. P. II. pg. 164). The Serbs 
have also preserved this vestige of Old Slavic cosmogony. On page 22 of Vuk 
Karadžić’s “Dictionary”, I read the following: Some people say in joke that the 
world stands on the bull, and when the bull twitches its ear the entire world 
shakes” (Trstenjak: 1860: 89; Kelemina 1930: 397, no. 206/III).
It is unclear where Trstenjak found the terms Gošorun – the primordial
 
bull from 
the Persian genesis narrative Bundehishn, and the name Kajomoris that denoted the 
first human being. Such slight alterations, together with small errors and incom-
plete citations, are typical for his Mythologične Drobtine (Mythological Crumbs). 
Nevertheless, they do provide fragments of folk traditions that are frequently con-
firmed by other sources and may thus be considered as stories recounted by people. 
In his Serbian Dictionary from 1852, Vuk Stefanović Karadžić published along-
side the term zmajegorčev oganj (the fire of the fire-dragon) a short tale about the 
world that is supported by the bull:
The World stands on dragon fire or on the Bull
Some folks say that the world stands on water, the water stands on fire, and 
the fire stands on the fire of the fire-dragon But others jokingly say that the 
world stands on the bull, and when the bull twitches its ear the world shakes” 
(Karadžić 1852: 212).
Having a parallel in the Slovene tradition about the world standing on the bull, 
this Serbian tradition confirms the assumption that such beliefs were practiced 
among the South Slavs.
Although the beliefs of people in other parts of the world include snakes, sea 
animals, and amphibians as the cosmogonic bearers of the world, Grafenauer 
9 
Ahura Mazda has – according to the Zaroastrian system – an enemy in the primordial evil named 
Ahriman.

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