Such was the case in the second half of the fifteenth century when Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490) was the king of Hungary.  Known to the people as Matthias the Just, Corvinus was one of the most beloved rulers of the Magyars.  Within a century or so after his death, many events connected with his life were distilled and romanticized into simple folktales and as such became indistinguishable from many earlier Hungarian oral traditions.  Some of the tales actually predate King Matthias.  Yet they were attached to him because he represented to the common folk of Hungary the only source of righteousness in a society having little justice to offer them.  “King Matthias and the Truthful Shepherd" and "King Matthias and the Old Man” are typical of tales that grew out of traditions connected with him.

In addition to demonstrating the close relationship between King Matthias and his people, the story about the truthful shepherd contains the most important element of this literary genre, namely, that in the world of folktales nothing is impossible.  Even the most absurd and unlikely events are treated as if they were commonplace.  While this phenomenon is not nearly as evident in “King Matthias and the Old Man,” this tale explores the limits of improbability.

Folktales connected with King Matthias are expressions of the peasants’ wishful thinking, not their actual life.

Yet through the wit and shrewdness expressed in these tales, the peasants alleviated the harshness of their existence—be it human oppression or danger from other natural or unnatural sources.  This wit is also evident in “The Fox, the Bear, and the Poor Man,” although the source of danger is not the oppressive lord but the “humanized animal”—an oft-recurring component of folktales.

Once there was a woman who had a son named Matthew, a ne’er-do-well who refused to do a day’s work.  He grew up to be a big, strong lad, yet he just sat around in their hut all day doing nothing.

“I will not work for others,” he told his mother whenever she nudged him to do some work.  He was only willing to tend his nineteen geese in the pasture—two mother geese, one gander, and sixteen goslings.

One day a big fair was in Dobrog.  The geese were old enough to be sold, so Matthew said to his mother: