Many minds associate Tales and stories to mere anecdotes or even worse to little more that “chatter”. One needs to counter this misconception. The best story-tellers among Roma are capable – as the best playwrights – to create a many hour story on the spur of the moment, with many characters, an action and a plot. In this, these tales and stories are more akin to epics. Perhaps the best comparison would be the Middle-Ages troubadour who composed songs and epics such as  – to name but the best known ones, the “Roman de la Rose” or the “Nibelungen Lied”. Even the antique Homer was a story-teller, his stories later written down and handed down to us.

Paramisja

Paramisja, the Romanes term for tales and stories, generally come in two kinds. Either they are pure fantasy such as in novels or they are life stories, which are more personal or generally known historical episodes although often embellished.

The subject of these tales is often the life and travails of families and groups. Typical examples are tales about the reasons why Lovara migrated out of Hungary or the Balkan stories of the bridge [1], or even the mythical pharaonic themes which are mostly found among Western and Northern European Roma.

The line between fantasy and real life is often blurry. Certain beliefs such as the one of the Mule and Čoxane are part fantasy and part reality in such tales.

Humour

This is not to say that these stories are all long and serious. On the contrary, many of them are not devoid of a subtle sense of humour and even frivolity and can even be downright lewd, in spite of certain traditional barriers in those matters. One can easily compare any of these “light” tales to the stories told in Boccacio’s Decameron.

A good example is the story of how the Rom got the duck. This tells the story of a poor Rom, employed by a stingy priest. He has to serve him a perfectly roasted duck. The priest realises that the Rom is hungry, and he offers him a piece of the meal warning him that anything he’ll do to the duck will be done to him. If he break a wing, his arm will be broken, if he breaks a leg, his leg will be broken and so on. The Rom outsmarts the priest with a trick, which if not of the very best taste is both smart and funny.

The Devil and the Ghosts

Many stories feature the Devil. These stories are typical of what one can call the “smart Rom” category, namely, tales about Roma who outwit Gadže (often priests), the Devil himself or even God. The tale mentioned above such as the one about the ducks one typical example of this type of stories.

Another example comes from the Crimean Roma tale of the blacksmith who had the Devil as an apprentice.

In this tale, a Romano Blacksmith has the habit of saying that he’ll blind the Devil whenever his work did not turn out to his expectations. The Devil then appears to the Rom under the disguise of an apprentice and manages to put the Rom into a difficult situation – he’ll cut his neighbour’s husband into pieces – out of which he’ll need all his wits to emerge unscathed from.

Many tales also have to do with death and mule – the ghosts. A number of tales tell about this important belief among Roma. For example, the tale of two women who go palm reading in a house and in fact read the palms of ghosts, or the tale of the husband who comes back from the dead to take his wife with him.

Traditions

Other themes of tales and stories also include the tradition based tales, the ones effectively handing down laws, rules and traditions.

A typical example is the tale where an old Rom shames others who did not invite him to sit and eat with them. He eventually shames them into sharing their food with him. In another story, a passing train kills a horse. Its owner claims a compensation, as losses were shared by the entire community. The story tells about the subsequent judgement.

Where and When?

Where and when does one hear those tales and stories? Elder people often tell these stories to children and adults alike during long evenings. But there are other settings which are typical and more related to a given situation. One tells such stories to make one’s point or to convince someone of one’s rights. In the latter case, the stories are often shorter and adapted to present days. Prevalent and the best example of improvisations and creation are simply spontaneous spurs of story telling be it when seated at a table or working. Even simple toast can evolve into intricate poetic stories and many a Rom will be judged by his ability in these occasions.

[1] See E. Marushiakova & V. Popov Eds. Studii Romani vol III & IV.