Göncöl táltos

The meaning of "táltos" is something like mage/shaman in Hungarian mythology
according to my sources, the person - Göncöl - only appears in Csallóköz (Hungarian part of Slovakia, huge island of Danube), however I find it possible, that he was known Through the whole country.

Few fragments remained about him, I am trying my best to collect all I find here.

Göncöl was a táltos(shaman/mage), who had incredible skills, including:

Seeing the future
Speaking with birds and other animals
Understanding the whisper of the trees and the forests
Transport in the sky with his chariot
Controlling natural powers
Healing
Resurrecting the dead
Mind tricks (?)

Appearance

According to the elder of Csallóköz, Göncöl táltos had long white hair, and long, dense silver beard. In his eyes Sun and Moon shines, inside him the stars.

Despite his age, he was a healthy, strong and fast paced man.
Always wore a robe that hanged to the floor, however some say, that sometimes he disguised as a shepherd or beggar, Other times he walked without disguise among the people, when healed or punished them.

His home was on a tall mountain, to stay close to the sky.

So all in all his looks remind me a little bit of Gandalf from Lord of the rings, that's why I used illustration images about him and Saruman :D

source: Alexey Panferov/Alamy

The chariot of Göncöl

(both a constellation and object)

Some people say, that Göncöl táltos was the one, who invented the "coach" type of chariot itself, since he was such a "smart" person, having skills in all kinds of science.

Proving this, it turned out that indeed "Kocsi"(Chariot, car, coach in Hun.) originates from the village "Kocs" in Komárom county, and that's where it got spread to other languages (coach, kocz...)

,,Before the ill-soul Thomases would have a sarcastic smile, I tell it immediately, that here I do not mean the invention of "chariot" as a whole, rather this uniquely Hungarian "coach" type of chariot!"

Three important things about the chariot:

It was enormously massive
Animals didn't thrust it, yet it still moved
It could fly

In folklore - knowledge about these attributes of the chariot have been well known:

,,Massive, just like the chariot of Göncöl''
,,Only the chariot of Göncöl works without horses''

For the following paragraph I didn't find the source, but I will write it anyway:
The wheel axis of the chariot got broken, Göncöl got in trouble, but the people let him down.

Disappearance

Nobody has seen Göncöl die. He disappeared into the skies with his flying chariot, this is what we (Hungarians) call nowadays the ,,Göncöl szekere" or the "Göncölszekér" constellation.

Many people own the family name - Göncöl - however it is important to know, that Göncöl táltos didn't have offspring. - said a villager to the collector, probably to emphasize, Göncöl wasn't just a simple mortal, and he didn't want his name mixed with average mortal people. (However in tales we can often meet people who are "grandchildren of Göncöl...")

That being said, as Göncöl flew in the air with his chariot, flies the same way up there too, and escorts the dead to the heavens.

(At this point he feels almost like a demigod, thus some people identified him as God of all Hungarians, but I think most people rather think of him as a powerful mage.)

Göncöl Táltos in folk tales

Unfortunately I have only found few of these tales, however my sources mention several such tales even with titles and quotes.

So I will write here anything I find about him, be it just a fragment of a tale, or a greater scaled story. If anyone finds a story about Göncöl, please contact me.

,,Another tale"

If at night we turn our faces towards where the sun never appears, we'll see a not too small, not too big, but bright star. This star never moves from its place, because this is not a star, rather a stone statue(pillar) digged to the ground.

Not too far from it, there are two stars Indeed, but only the uninitiated may consider them stars. these are not stars, but grazing táltos-horses, which have been tied here by the great grandfather of Göncöl. Then he said this to his grandchildren:

— I may sleep some... When I will already have been woken up, some of you shall already have the two táltos(horses) freed, and tie to that chariot which I have hid not too far from here in the tall grass. The one who succeeds in this will inherit all my knowledge, all my power!

At this moment the elderly old shaman immediately fell asleep, just like in every 7000 years once. Out of the 7 beautiful grandchildren, the oldest one tried, then the second, the third, fourth, fifth, sixth also. But — as I said — only tried! Because any smart and brave they had been, any well they understood horses, the eye-illuminating two táltos(horses) kicked, bit, they didn't even let close them to themeselves. Years, decades, hundreds, thousands of years elapsed... 6000 years elapsed, since the elderly old shaman turned his gray head towards his dreams...

And voila, the youngest of the grandchildren, Göncöl has found the golden-axis silver-axis chariot, that had been hidden in tall, sky-grass. Assembled it in a smart way and tied 4 night-dark horses, started turning around the white táltos(horses), until they got too tired of their endless guard duty, and got dizzy. And then — before the 7000th year would have arrived, Göncöl threw the night-black horses to the sky, and tied the two foam-white táltos(horses)! And it was just about time! The 7000th year has come, his great-grandfather has just waken up, wiping his eyes said: — Finally I could rest myself a little!

And as soon as he said this, all the stars disappeared from the sky. Because the star-flowers of sky are not anything else, but warriors died in battles, who now, in this moment got resurrected, and with the resurrected warriors the shaman can do whatever he wishes! as the soldiers are visible and invisible, as the old man wants. And no kind of weapon may damage them. Collected by: Khín Antal

Star-walk of Göncöl táltos

[...] Göncöl is still a "pendelyes" kid. his great grandfather, a shaman king, is illuminated by some special spiced wine. In this illuminated state he crashes to an Oak tree with the chariot, since this is when the rod of the Göncöl chariot bent. [...]

[...] The horses which are pulling the star-chariot, got weak, it is a torture for them now, to pull the chariot. Göncöl pierces the golden and silver flour bags, this way making the destiny of the horses lighter, and this way giving gold to the gold-collectors of Csallóköz.

Göncöl táltos and the rabbit

[...] Göncöl while fighting in his illumination against hell forces for the Earth and its inhabitants, everything gets dark in front of him and he cannot find the way home.

[...] However a rabbit helps him. As giving thanks, the táltos(Göncöl) puts the rabbit on the Moon, this way it doesn't have to fear predators.

,,This can be a really interesting coincidence from before history! since except them - The elder of Csallóköz - the south- and north American indians, the mongols, hindus and ceylonians also think that there is a rabbit on the Moon." Göncöl táltos [...]

The fisherman and the green man

Short summary for English speaking people:

The fisherman is fishing on the Danube, finds the Green man.
They sign a pact - give whatever is home, but you don't yet know about it, and you will get lots of fish! The fisherman accepts the proposal, at home he finds a newborn child. They cry a lot, until they meet the grandchild of Göncöl, who advises them to make a necklace from the umblical cord of the kid. He shall wear it on the sacrifice day, and it will protect them. And so this happens, the green man - now called as water ghost - appears in the Danube again. A huge "sky war happens", where on the sky ,,night-black silver-hair horses appear, destroying the herd of hell. The táltos also advises them, to never sail after midnight on the Danube again, as it is dangerous, the "midnight fisherman" hunts for victims that time.

Göncöl táltos Dóró gazdáéknál

források:
Jankó Zoltán (szerk.): Csallóközi Muzeum (Bratislava. s.n., 1928) 45. oldaltól az 50. oldalig
N. László Endre - Göncöl Táltos csak a Csallóközé!
Ipolyi Arnold - Magyar Mythologia, 1854
(268. oldal a könyvben / 474. oldal a dokumentumban)
Irodalmi Szemle 1986/1 / ÉLŐ MÚLT / Gágyor József: Falucsúfolók a galántai járásban
(Csallóközi Tündérmesék - Bágyi Anna Erzsébet összeállításában)

mese illusztációs képek:
https://freesvg.org/