Mattie the Goose-boy, or Lúdas Matyi, is a Hungarianepic poem written by Mihály Fazekas in 1804 and first released in 1817. It is based on a folk-tale of unknown origins. Most film adaptations place the story to the beginning of the 19th century, however based on hints in the poem, as well as the word "ludas" also being used to depict someone suspected of a crime already in the Tripartitum, the original story can be placed at least to the early 16th century.
Plot
Prologue
In the beginning, Matyi, who is a young peasant boy, is trying to sell his geese at the market. Trouble ensues when the local lord, Dániel Döbröghy, proclaims the geese belong to him. Lord Döbröghy orders his servants to punish Matyi with 50 lashes to his back. Matyi makes a vow to get vengeance, that he will repay the punishment three times to the lord.
The first repayment
Three years after Matyi's punishment, Döbröghy begins building a castle for himself. The construction goes on very slowly, because of the lack of carpenters. Matyi identifies this and dresses as an Italian architect-maestro, then he visits the construction site. Matyi lures the lord and his servants to the nearby forest to gather wood for the structure. He orders all the servants and guards to harvest the forest, he then lures Döbröghy away, ties him to a tree with a rope, and beats him the first time.
The second repayment
After being thrashed, Dániel Döbröghy is being cured in his fancy new castle. He orders his soldiers to get him a real doctor, because his wound isn't getting better. The servantgo to seek a doctor. Matyi knows about the plan and he dresses as a German battlefield medic. He is brought to the lord and ordered to cure him. He sends the whole folk of the castle out to the nearby field to collect some special herbs. Certainly, he needs fictional plants, but he uses the silliness of the soldiers. While everybody is out harvesting, Matyi gives Döbröghy the second revenge. After that he frees the geese of the village, which formerly were imprisoned by the lord.
The third repayment
It's now winter and the date of the yearly market. Döbröghy knows that Matyi will surely repay the punishment, so he orders his servants to search to whole market for suspicious people. They don't find anything because Matyi now doesn't wear any disguise. He makes an alliance with a local horse rider boy. The boy lures the whole army away, because they think that they're chasing the real Ludas Matyi. But they make a mistake, because the real one stays at the place and finds Döbröghy. The lord now publicly gets his last third of punishment.
Edification
The poem was an ironic advice to the lords of Hungary, not to penalize the peasants needlessly. It also emphasizes the intelligence of the poor.
Importance
Lúdas Matyi was the first folk hero in Hungarian literature who is victorious over his lord. The poem represented the relationship between nobility and the folk as well, and it emphasized the problems of the Hungarian agro-society in the late 18th century. Much later the communist government created movies of the story and emphasized the superiority of the workers and the poor. The tale is a bent mirror to the Hungarian society.
Lúdas Matyi in the media
1867-1872 - A paper with the title: Ludas Matyi - The entertaining pictured newspaper of the Hungarian folk. The author, Károly Mészáros, was imprisoned for 10 years for showing Franz Joseph as the Crucified Jesus.
1922 - The first Lúdas Matyi film, directed by Alfréd Deésy.
1945-1992 - The weekly paper Ludas Matyi was the only authorized Hungarian satiric paper during the communist era. Lúdas Matyi used irony and satire to portray the dictatorship and Hungarian society with all of its participants. The paper was extremely popular, and sold a record number of about 650,000 papers. It was allowed to publish surprisingly frank caricatures of politicians, military leaders and society, but was suspended between 25 October 1956 and 21 February 1957 during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and its aftermath.
1977 - Mattie the Goose-boy, an animated film by Attila Dargay
1978-1979 – Over two years Ludas Matyi was one the main characters in the monthly East German comic book magazine Mosaik. His first entrance was in issue 1/1978, last in 12/1979. Setting is the Habsburg Monarchyin the beginning18th century. Ludas Matyi is turned out to be a straying Kuruc characterised by shrewdness and masquerading as someone else to attain a goal.
