Attila soon began the conquests that brought together into a single great empire the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as those of the Caucasus and Central Asia.  But like all empires, his empire also fell after his death.  The remnants of the Huns were either amalgamated into the various peoples of Europe, or they retreated to the East.

One of the Hunnic remnants was led by Attila’s youngest and favored son, Csaba, who is the hero of another Hungarian legend.  Entitled Hadak utja (Warpath), this legend is particularly popular among the Szekely Hungarians of Transylvania, who claim direct descent from Attila’s Huns.  According to this legend, should the Magyars or the Szekelys ever engage in a battle against overwhelming odds, Prince Csaba and his host of Huns would appear in the sky to aid their faltering forces.  But as of now the much awaited Prince Csaba has never appeared, either because—very wrongly—he never deemed the odds against his people overwhelming or because he is busy building his own empire in the world beyond.

Emese’s dream

While the Empire of the Huns rose and fell, the Magyars remained in Scythia.  But the memory of the departed sister nation and its great conquests in the West never faded from their collective memory.  And once Scythia became overcrowded, they too decided to follow suit and to conquer the Carpathian Basin that once formed the heart of Attila’s huge empire.

As related by the late twelfth-century Gesta Hungarorum (Deeds of the Hungarians) written by Anonymous, the leader of the Magyars in those days was Ugyek, a direct descendant of King Magog.