Păcală

Borrowings and specificity

Păcală, Eulenspiegel, Bertoldo

The Păcală stories are not traditionally connected to all regions covered by Romanian-speakers, with his presence being the least attested in eastern areas. As noted in 1936 by Bratu, in Western Moldavia (and, by extension, Bessarabia) he is less popular than another stock character, known as "Pepelea". In a 1988 overview, folklorist Cristea Sandu Timoc included Pepelea as a stand-in for Păcală, concluding: "There are today over 100 known variants of the Păcală cycle, spread out all over the historical provinces, and more frequently encountered in Transylvania." He himself authenticated five Păcală anecdotes from Serbian Romanian communities on the Timok Valley (a sample which includes Vlach villages). Writer Ion Agârbiceanu, who lived at Yelisavetgrad in 1917, reported being the person to have introduced Ukrainian Romanians (or "Moldavians") to Păcală's narrative cycle; by contrast, the non-Romanian Gagauz people have adopted Păcală as a stock character, alongside Nasreddin. Păcală's archetypal nature, however, connects him to the areal covered by European folklore—prompting comparisons from as early as the 1880s, when Simeon Mangiuca noted links with Kullervo and Giufà. Ethnologist Ion Taloș describes the Kullervo theory as baseless, while noting that Păcală's origin in Italian folklore is entirely plausible. Scholar Ovidiu Bârlea similarly noted analogies between Păcală, Giufà, and Djoha, the latter of whom is widely present in Arab culture.

The stories' mention of Vaideei as Păcală's village ties Păcală closely to an ethnographic area bridging Transylvania and northern Oltenia, though some authors prefer the similarly named Vaideeni, Vâlcea County—also in Oltenia. The first reconstructed variant of the name is Vaideești, appearing a 1498 writ. The modern Vaideeni is generally approximated as vai de ei, "woe to them", but linguists have criticized that reading as folk etymology, or as an intentional pun: Iorgu Iordan recalled an informant from Vaideeni that "it's as a jest that we call it Vaideei" (ne rîdem noi de-i zicem Vaideei). A local tradition recorded by novelist Ioana Postelnicu contrarily reports that Vaideeni was originally known as Vaideei, identifying its settlers by their striking poverty. In this version, the Oltenian village was founded by shepherds fleeing Habsburg Transylvania. A field report by ethnographer Ioana Armășescu dates the name to the 16th century, noting that it referred to the original inhabitants being pushed into serfdom by Bistrița Monastery; she recounts that the Transylvanian arrivals were in fact a privileged population, attracted on the estate with fiscal privileges and kept distinct from the surrounding Oltenians. All readings as vai de ei are rejected by philologist Diomid Strungaru, who proposes that "Vaideeni" and "Vaideei" are actually genitives of Vayda.

Wickedness versus heroism

Local input resulted in the creation of some 85 Păcală types, all of them inventoried by Dulfu in his 1890s investigation of folk literature. In a 1927 piece, columnist Pamfil Șeicaru spoke of the definitive Păcală as embodying "the Romanian people's satirical intelligence, a devilish exploitation of all forms of human weakness only for the pleasure of laughing out loud"; "underneath his rather silly facade, a parody of naivete, [he] is the first Romanian satirical poet, one who, instead of writing, turned satire into deeds." According to Eftimiu: "Another popular figure [in Romanian folklore] is that lad Păcală, who has all sorts of adventures, who makes a mockery of brigands, of publicans, of priests, of the devil himself. He embodies a Romanian type, filled with revolt and yet cheerful, resourceful and yet improvident." Film critic and psychiatrist Ion Filotti Cantacuzino likewise notes: "Păcală [stands for] all the humorous and common-sense qualities, all the glittering wit and biting irony one sees in the Romanian peasant." Păcală and Pepelea's negative traits, including their "wickedness", were recognized by Bratu, and before him by Moses Gaster and Lazăr Șăineanu, as differentiating them from Bertoldo and Eulenspiegel (though, Bratu notes, the episodes in which Păcală instigates or carries out murder are exceptionally crass, and therefore must be seen as tongue-in-cheek). Eftimiu entertained the belief that Păcală was ultimately a "Nibelung, a demonic character", whose name was ultimately derived from a Slavic term for fog (producing the Romanian pâclă). However, he objected to Șăineanu and Ion Aurel Candrea's description of Păcală as an "imbecile".

The issue of Păcală's occasional foolishness was explored by critic Dumitru Evolceanu, within his larger essay about the sources of folklore. As Evolceanu puts it: "Folk poetry [...] travels around by word of mouth, and in its travels gets picked up by more or less clever people, endlessly transforming itself in accordance with the heads it comes into contact with." As a result, "one of the better known Păcală stories has him displaying all the signs of a perfect imbecile on one page, and then on the next he is a skilled diplomat." An intermediary position was advanced by Bârlea, who writes that Păcală, Pepelea, Eulenspiegel and Djoha all personify "unrelenting aspiration of the popular masses toward social justice and equity". He adds: In our national repertoire, the figure of Păcală (Pepelea) is a more complex one, resulting from juxtaposition and contamination. He appears in certain anecdotes as the embodiment of inveterate stupidity—according to unanimous opinion, this belongs to the most archaic stratum, already present among the primitive peoples, where a culture hero is also the buffoon [...]. In our own folklore, Păcală sometimes simulates stupidity, in that his accomplished deeds presuppose a submerged deftness, as revealed in circumstances where he exploits the literal sense of figurative expressions, or even figurative words, only for the purpose of drawing out the most irrepressible chuckles".

Adaptations

Early retellings

Păcală entered high literature in the age of Neoclassicism and Romanticism. An early mention in Moldavia, which closely predates Schott's collection, is Constantin Negruzzi's sketch story—called Păcală și Tândală, and first appearing in Albina Românească of 1842. It is largely a soliloquy putting together Romanian proverbs—and is posthumously hailed as an early standard of Romanian humor. The story was more substantially used in comedic verse by Wallachia's Ion Heliade Rădulescu. His Tandalida, issued in 1854, mocked national stereotypes, showing Păcală as a Romanian and Tândală, in the leading and anti-heroic role, as a Pole; it saw print in the French Empire, where Heliade was living at the time. That year, Alexandru Pelimon, also a Wallachian citizen, printed his musical comedy, Păcală și Tândală sau Și-a găsit tingirea capac ("Păcală and Tândală, or Here's a Lid for Your Pot"); Pelimon's retouched characters are partly based on Truffaldino and Pantalone, from The Servant of Two Masters.

Moldavia's Vasile Alecsandri similarly penned a "political dialogue", Păcală și Tândală, first printed by Stéoa Dunărei, in 1856. The stock characters were transformed to make a point about Romanian nationalism—Alecsandri canvassed support for the Danubian Principalities' union, with Păcală as the wise and debonair unionist, and Tândală as a retrograde boyar. Early performances in Moldavian theaters doubled as explicitly nationalist manifestations, with performances of Hora Unirii. This cultural elevation was continued by Romanian writers in the 19th-century Kingdom of Hungary (which included Transylvania after 1867). The first folklorist to collect the accounts into a book of fairy-tales was Mircea Vasile Stănescu Arădanul in 1860. Some three years later, Iosif Vulcan, a leader of the Romanian community in Budapest, began publishing there the satirical journal Umoristul, with a permanent column of "Păcală's letters to Tândală". Ion Hintz-Hințescu put out the first Păcală-only volume in 1876, at Brașov, effectively translating from Schott, though the following year saw anecdotes, collected on-site by peasant Ioan Panea, being published in Budapest by Vulcan's Șezătoarea. In the Banat subregion, Mangiuca produced a more extensive version in 1882, adding two more stories and specifying regional variations.

In the Romanian Principality, which resulted from the success of unionist campaigning, the Păcală narratives continued to be sampled for their general value—Petre Ispirescu included them in his 1860s corpus of Romanian fairy tales (Legende sau basmele românilor), and they were condensed into a didactic story by Ion Creangă (1874). Păcală legends served to inspire other creations, including the eponymous satirical magazine put out by Pantazi Ghica in June–November 1860. Alecsandri was also revisiting the theme, with the highly influential fairy-tale comedy, Sânziana și Pepelea, where Păcală and Tândală are depicted as cowardly lackeys to an emperor (a motif probably borrowed from Carlo Gozzi), and then with a manuscript play, Turnul Balamucului ("Bedlam Tower"), which has "Old Man Păcală" as one of the lead characters.

Dulfu and Slavici

The successor Kingdom of Romania produced a complete edition, Năzdrăvăniile lui Păcală ("Păcală's Mischief"), authored by Iosif Nădejde—originally a series in Contemporanul magazine. Its two distinctive features were the retelling of the story as a picaresque novel, with a unifying thread, and the removal of most references to miraculous phenomena. An illustrated version, appearing in 1896, had drawings by I. K. Hlavsa. This version was highly popular, serving as a template for Dulfu's even more popular verse novel and stage adaptation of it, both of which were produced in Transylvania. The former volume, Isprăvile lui Păcală, is seen by Manolescu as "classical" in format, preserving a standard of Romanian fairy-tales that authors such as Mihai Eminescu had already modified into a "romantic and poetic" form. Its 1894 edition, which received an award from the Romanian Academy, was illustrated by two artists, Hlavsa and Constantin Jiquidi; a 1920 reprint additionally included a cover drawing by Ary Murnu.

In all, there were 21 other editions of Isprăvile published before 1972—the success is attributed by folklorist Iordan Datcu to Dulfu's "tonic" vision, as well as to his respect for the character, whom Dulfu refused to depict as "an idiot". The staff critic at Gazeta Transilvaniei similarly commented that: "Păcală in [Dulfu's] work is superior to his type in many a folk anecdote." The novel had its critics, including Șeicaru, who rated it as "simplistic". Dulfu was also exposed for subtly changing the content of some editions, to make Păcală an exponent of antisemitic ideas, and to include racial stereotypes of Romanian Jews (including in a new set of illustrations). Also in Transylvania, Ioan Slavici, seen by Crăciun as Păcală's "true literary father", reworked the story into a modern narrative, probably using oral reports from in and around Arad as his basis. It first saw print in Tribuna of September 1886, and was also issued as a booklet. According to Marcea, Slavici also exploited the "Păcală motif" in one of his own comedic stories, Petrea prostul ("Petrea the Dunce"), whose protagonist manages to miss out on a long series of material opportunities, but is rewarded by God with a "magical bagpipe". The original myth was by then becoming known to peasants from the Duchy of Bukovina, where woodcarver Ion Pâșlea crafted a critically acclaimed group-statue of a musical band, which was in fact Păcală playing various instruments.

In 1911, Eftimiu experienced success with his fairy-tale play Înșir'te mărgărite, which has a Păcală-themed subplot. Three years later, Colonel Petrescu announced that he had obtained financing for a Romanian feature film called Din viața lui Păcală ("Scenes of Păcală's Life"), though it was never produced—and neither was a similar project announced the following decade by Jean Mihail (the latter survived as a screenplay, authored by Scarlat Froda). Another stage adaptation based on Dulfu was done in 1927 by Horia Furtună—receiving poor reviews from Șeicaru, who saw it as a "systematic mockery" of Romanian folklore, and, retrospectively, from literary historian George Călinescu, who found it "chatty". Cartoonist Aurel Petrescu had meanwhile released, in April 1921, the film Păcală în lună ("Păcală on the Moon"), considered as the first work in Romanian animation. Petrescu also managed to release a live-action Păcală și Tândală la București ("Păcală și Tândală in Bucharest") in 1926, but all prints are lost. Also then, both characters were being used as the inspiration for a highly successful revue act, performed by Constantin Tănase, with Păcală also appearing in the debut performance of a puppeteer troupe at Tinerimea Română.

Communist and post-communist revivals

Interest in the stories was renewed during the Romanian communist regime (1948–1989). In 1949, Siminel Gheorghiu rewrote some accounts of the Păcală corpus as a short novel, depicting its titular character as the embodiment of "toiling peasants", who always managed to outsmart his boyar employer. A rearrangement of the stories was done in 1950 by Marin D. Marin, as Minunatele isprăvi ale lui Păcală ("Păcală's Wondrous Achievements"). Focusing on the hero's status as a "rebel against the feudal regime" (revoltat împotriva orînduirii feudale) and a friend of the serfs, it adopted the stylistic canons of socialist realism, through direct borrowings from Leonid Solovyov. Writing at the time, Ion Burada suggested that Dulfu's account, which also depicted Păcală's pranks on the more destitute villagers, had required an ideological correction; the updated version also excluded all the remaining fragments which saw Păcală engaging with Christian mythology, such as his visit to Heaven. As reported by Eftimiu, Dulfu himself was again revising his Isprăvile, before his age at age 97, this time striving for a "more correct, contemporary versification".

Early communism saw a number of new publications and performances based on the folkloric tales—including, in 1952, Ion Atanasiu-Atlas' puppet play, Năzdrăvăniile lui Păcală; in 1959, Sabin Drăgoi finished a comedic opera based on the stories. Echoes of the folk myth appear in scattered poems by Tudor Arghezi and Mihai Beniuc; in 1957, the former published a satirical volume, Stihuri pestrițe ("Motley Verses"). One work in this cycle shows Păcală engaged in a polemic with the Romanian diaspora, assuring it that he prefers communism to the "old regime". Also included therein is Balada maeștrilor ("Ballad of the Maestros"), in which Păcală, visiting town to find a cure for his aging donkey, is impressed with the titles that members of the urban elite bestow on each other. The hero himself utters the punchline:

The updated and posthumous Dulfu edition came out in 1966, at Editura Tineretului—with an unusually high circulation of 80,000 copies. Children-oriented sequels of the Nădejde–Dulfu account were also being created at that stage. They include Nicolae Labiș's Păcălici și Tîndăleț of 1962, which imagines that Păcală and his sidekick both had children of their own; the same author had published a "strange poem", Slutul ("Ugly Mug"), which references the anecdotes with an added "note of tragedy". The children's-story angle was taken by Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor's Tivisoc și Tivismoc, which is sometimes read as an "ambitious attempt to complete a folk novel". It specifies Păcală's Oltenian origin and profession (as a salt merchant), but switches focus on his two "unborn children", which give the book its name. In 1973, Corneliu Buzinschi published another Păcală și Tândală, which combines the old anecdotes with a layer of illustrated Romanian proverbs—and is thus Romania's "first paremiological novel".