The Fairy Godmother

Photo 283186031 | Ajdovska Deklica © Erazem Dolžan | Dreamstime.com

The Fairy Godmother is a reclusive figure that lives alone on the side of Sunny Mountain. Anabell and her companion will need her help if they are to traverse the nigh insurmountable northern wall of Sunny Mountain, which is always in a shadow. Can you find her on the cliff face?

The Fairy Godmother draws inspiration from the real-life Ajdovska Deklica (“Giant Girl”)¹, a rock formation that resembles a human face on the northern wall of Mount Prisojnik in the Julian Alps of northwestern Slovenia. Legend has it that Ajdovska Deklica was a kind-hearted Fate who helped people traverse the Sava and Soča Valleys, an ancient trading route, during snowstorms. On their return journey, these travellers would leave food and wine for her under Prisojnik so that she would never go hungry or thirsty. In her official capacity as a Fate, she would visit young mothers and predict the fate of their newborns. One particular night, she visited a mother in Trenta and prophesied that her newborn son would become a legendary hunter, shooting the sacred white ibex with golden horns called Zlatorog².  In the eyes of the other Fates, this was the ultimate sin, so she was petrified upon her return to Prisojnik, where she remains still to this day.

The Fairy Godmother is a well-known example of the donor, one of seven roles in fairy tales, as identified by Vladimir Propp. The donor offers counsel or provides some form of magical assistance to the hero after they have completed a task or passed a test of character.  The origins of the Fairy Godmother can be traced back to the Fates, divinities who presided over human life in Greek mythology. The Fates were present during childbirth and would predict the fate of the newborn. Despite their regal ancestry, the Fairy Godmother is rather rare in fairy tales. She has only entered the popular imagination in the last several hundred years, given the literary success of fairy tales by Madame d'Aulnoy and Charles Perrault.

https://www.dezelaznamk.si/en/europa-giantess-ajdovska-deklica

  1. Ajdovska Deklica can be translated as “Giant Girl” or “Heathen Girl”. It is the latter translation which tourists typically see. In a mythological context however, “ajd” should be translated as “giant”. In Slovene mythology, the oldest inhabitants of Earth were giants with extraordinary abilities. As Christianity began to take hold in Slovenia, the term “ajd” begun to be applied to those non-Christian people who believed in the existence of giants as such. As Dušica Kunaver writes: “The era of free Karantania is short. On the bloody battlefields, old and new religions meet, for the members of the new religion, the natives are no longer ajd - giants, but ajd - pagans. Some of the pagans were good-hearted. Giant girls in particular liked to help people.” Dušica Kunaver, Slovenska dežela v pripovedki in podobi (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1991).

  2. Zlatorog is typically viewed as being a chamois (“gams” in Slovene) in literature but I would argue it was an ibex (“kozorog” in Slovene) for historical reasons. Moreover, in a small sample of people I questioned, all but one thought it was an ibex.