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7 UM DEBAT : LES MENTALJTES COLLDCTIVES 637

orał language. (The examples have to be increased and their yariations. in the course of time will be discussed in the futurę).

The Romanian chronieles (recordings in Slavonic and then in the language of the country, of a certain category of historical eyents) were written at princely courts or boyar mansions, or late into the night by some scholarly monk (whose isolation deepened his sensitiyity to the sufferings of the world).

In their early forms (directly preserved or as later processings), characterized by laconic conciseness ,⁶ we do not find again the orał tales which, we know — from other sources, or from an allusion of the chroni-cler — were cireulating at that time.

The legend of Drago?’ hunt⁷ (which seems to have originated from a real fact, later part of a traditional type of literaturę) like Negru Voda’s figurę¹, belonged at first to the orał culture and then — observing the ruleswe discussed before²—passed into the written culture whose diffe-rent domains accepted them in different ways and at different times. In spite of the reticence due to the vast bibliography on Negru Yoda, we would like to stress that the startiug point of the legend must be detected rather in a popular source than in a chancellery-legend (created later, at the point of interference between local beliefs and suggestions offered by examples of other princely courts).

Within a clearly delineated geographic zonę that oyerlaps the land in which the first voivods of Wallaehia lived (the upper basin of the Arge?, Dimbovita and Ialomi(a riyers) an entire cycle of narratives has been preseryed, the central character of which Negru Yoda, appears in a yariety of contexts not originating from the written testimonies we know of^{3 4}.

We also consider conclusiye the result of the inyestigation of the per-petuation of Vlad Tepes’ image to this day ^u. In this case, too, one recog-nizes that in the piaces historically associated with the remai kable deeds ot the voivod, the legends about him are still very much alive. Some of them have common points with old writingi, while others are kept exclu-sivelv by the ancient orał tradition. Thus the conviction becomes strooger that the tales about Wad fepes recorded by the Russians and the Germans

1

I. C. Chitimia, op. cif., p. 13—27. The three chronieles of Moldavla written by Maca-rie, Eftimie and Azarie under the close influence of Byzantine chronographs, constitute a sepamte unit; there were no direct followers in the original historiography.

⁷ Mircea Eliade. De Zalmozis d Gengls-khan. Śtudes comparadne sur les rhiglons et le folklore de la Dacie et de TFurone Orl*ntale, Parts, 1970 (Romanian translation, Bucitreętl, 1980). As regards the litcrary model: Dan lonescu. Images du prlnce Drago? au XVIII² silcie. RESEE, 1976, No. 4, 623.

2

⁸ Pavel Chihaia, De la "Negru Vodó” la Neagoe Basarab, Bucure$ti, 1976 (with discussed carlier bibliography); idem, Lćgende lltllraire et blstolre: Negru -Vodd. ⁴Tahier» roum. ćt. lit.", 1977, No. 3. p. 20-27.

⁸ Details about this selectlon and others, reported by us in “Revista de lstorie teorie literarS" (RITL), 1976, No. 1, p. 51-63; 1978, nr. 3. p. 23-33: “Synthesis”, V, 1978, p. 132-134.

3

   Ovidiu Blrlea, Mica enclclopedle a poDeęlllor romdneętl, Bucureętl. 1976. p. 265 267.

4

   Georgeta Enc, Romaman Folklore about Vlad    RESEE, 1976, No. 4. p. 581 —

590: Radu Florescu. The Dracula Image in the Works of Isptrescu an* Ródulescu-Codin, ^4lCahiers roum. et. lit.", 4, 1977, No. 3, p. 28 — 34.