12-13-2023, 11:16 PM
(12-13-2023, 10:58 PM)JonikW Wrote:(12-13-2023, 09:47 PM)ph2ter Wrote:(12-13-2023, 09:25 PM)Orentil Wrote: In Germany it is the other way round. A princess is kissing a frog who turns into a prince (Froschkönig). But not sure if this is based on Slavic or Germanic mythology or simply fairy tale.
A snake can symbolise phallus and the depicted frog in Slavic case is certainly a female .
They do say unequivocally though that this is an Avar find in a Slavic context: "It was a very interesting discovery for us because we came across this Avar belt while excavating a settlement of early Slavs."
I'm interested in the frog idea you mentioned ph2ter (although as I said I'm sceptical in the case of this buckle). But if you find any Slavic frog-like images at any point please feel free to post them on the Germanic artefacts thread. There was so much cross-influence in these cultures that it will still be relevant. It's obviously a massively interesting subject.
In Eastern Europe the frog is always a female.
Like in this Russian tale (it is known also among other western and eastern Slavs):
"In the Russian versions of the story, Prince Ivan and his two older brothers shoot arrows in different directions to find brides... Ivan's arrow lands in the mouth of a frog in a swamp, who turns into a princess at night. The Frog Princess, named Vasilisa the Wise, is a beautiful, intelligent, friendly, skilled young woman, who was forced to spend three years in a frog's skin for disobeying Koschei."
The arrows symbolise a male principle.
There is a story known in my area in which a frog is replaced by a snake:
"The story says that a soldier was going to Zagreb through this forest and a snake came to him on his knee. She had a crown and raised her head for a kiss. She was cursed because her father (the king of the snakes) was evil. When someone kisses her, her skin falls off and she becomes a princess".
I don't know for any Slavic frog images, but maybe I will find something in literature.