ABSTRACT
The so-called Obstacle Flight or ‘Girl as Helper in the Hero’s Flight’ presents a rather different profile from those tales discussed so far: it is not the modern analogues in fairytale repertoire that tend to be well known, but the ancient tale itself, which corresponds with what we might crudely label ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ and ‘Jason and Medea’. In fact there is an abundance of modern oral materials as well belonging to the same tale-complex. We might paraphrase in terms of an outline that will fit a blend of modern versions:
A hero sets out on a quest with the help of a range of specialised companions with separate human skills, and/or a marvellous ship; or is tricked into the power of a mysterious other-worldly figure whose domain he must reach, sometimes with the help of aged informants and/or after viewing a battle of birds. He acquires a king’s/ogre’s daughter after the performance of three tasks with her help. On the return voyage the girl eludes her father’s pursuit by creating a series of magic obstacles to the pursuers. But on return to her new husband’s kingdom he forgets her, and she leaves him for a sequence of suitors whom she ingeniously prevents from spending the night with her; she finally returns to her husband.
