The other half is divided into such categories as legendary tales (legendamesek), 12.5 percent; humorous tales (trefas mesek), 12 percent; novella tales (novellamesek), 8.5 percent; silly or absurd tales (bolondmesek), 6.5 percent; village taunting tales (falucsufolo mesek or ratotiak), 4.5 percent; animal tales (allatmesek), 3.5 percent; stupid devil’s tales (ostoba ordogmesek), 1.5 percent; and a small group of unclassifiable tales, 1 percent.  A sizable percentage, including many of the fairy tales, have roots reaching back to pre-Christian and preconquest times before A.D. 896.  A number also reflect the Magyar shamanistic traditions.  The most important of these is the long tale about “The Tree that Reached up to the Sky” (Az egigero fa), undoubtedly inspired by the shamanistic “world tree” (vilagfa), reflecting the anointment ceremony of the new shamans.

Among other categories, the humorous tales, the silly tales, and the village taunting tales are the most popular.  While preserving some elements of the pagan past, these tales are usually products of Hungarian life since the Magyar conquest.  At times these stories are brutal in their treatment of the object of their humor or taunting.  Because they originated from the ranks of the peasantry, they represent the trials and tribulations of the simple peasant serfs of Eastern Europe.

The life of these peasants was unusually harsh and did not improve until the emancipation measures of the nineteenth century—half a millennium after the same process took place in Western Europe. Peasants had to be clever and inventive in order to survive. 

At times they meted out their vengeance on their oppressors through all sorts of devious means.  Only through such measures could they muster enough psychological strength to preserve their sanity amid the human misery they were compelled to tolerate.

“Getting back” at the oppressors is reflected well in the tale of Matthew Goose, the simple peasant boy who successfully repaid his “debt” to the exploitative local lord.  Matthew Goose, the inventive and witty representative of Hungarian peasanthood, ultimately won his battle, but since his means were cruel and harsh, toward the end of the story one even feels some empathy for the thrice-lashed lord of the manor.

But not all folktales about witty and able peasants result in such harsh justice.  In most instances, the peasants were in no position to avenge the widespread injustice and physical mistreatment.  But if they could, they tried to outsmart their lordly masters—especially if they could do so with the approval of someone even higher up.