Episode 6 - "History of the Sun and the Moon" (A Nap és a Hold története)
Gypsy Tales (Cigánymesék) is a 2014 Hungarian animated series produced by Kecskemétfilm Ltd. about Romani folk tales. It is animated using CGI in a visual style resembling paintings.
The staff includes Romani people: Magda Szécsi provided the source material for the first three episodes, Ágnes Daróczi provided the source material for the fourth episode, Károly Bari provided the source material for the fifth and sixth episodes, Teréz Orsós made the artwork, József Oláh and Parno Graszt provided the music, and Erika Varga of Romani Design designed the clothing of the characters.
You can watch the first three episodes here
on YouTube with English subtitles. You can also find the summaries of all episodes here.
Gypsy Tales provides examples of:
- And I Must Scream: Near the end of "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", Vunida is transformed into a fully conscious, immobile tree. When her children pass by her in tree form, all she can do is to silently cry.
- Animorphism: Near the end of "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil transforms into a black jackdaw when Vunida escapes his palace.
- Arranged Marriage: In "Káló, the Gypsy Lad", the council of elders arranges for Káló and Gilze to marry. At first, Káló is unwilling but has a change of heart when Dimkárta reveals that Zurdána, the woman he falls in love with, "only toys with the lads of the dry land, making fools of them."
- Be Careful What You Wish For: In "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", Vunida wants to feed her thirteen starving children. She gets her wish when the devil turns her into a cherry tree; while her fruit helps them survive into adulthood, they never realize the tree is their cursed mother, not even when they hear the wise old man tell the story of her encounter with the devil.
- Bittersweet Ending: "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil" ends with the devil cursing Vunida to turn into a cherry tree, never being able to talk to her children again, and the children never realizing what happened to their mother. On the sweet side, she gets to feed her starving children with her fruit, who all grow up to adulthood; and as a bonus the children cook and eat the devil in bird form too.
- Child Marriage Veto: The titular character of "Káló, the Gypsy Lad" is arranged to marry Gilze but refuses because he falls in love with Zurdána. He has a change of heart when Dimkárta reveals that Zurdána "only toys with the lads of the dry land, making fools of them."
- Deal with the Devil: In "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil offers to save Vunida from poverty in exchange for Vunida marrying him. She refuses but he lures her into captivity in his disguise as a rich young man.
- Dramatic Irony: "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil" ends with Vunida's children searching for their mother, not knowing as the audience and the wise old man do that the devil has turned her into a cherry tree near their house.
- Forced Transformation: Near the end of "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil turns Vunida into a cherry tree so "[her] children will eat of [her] flesh and drink of [her] blood." It's described as agonizing to her.
- Implied Rape: In "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil, shapeshifted into a handsome man, kisses the gypsy woman Vudina and removes some of her clothes against her will, and it's implied, but not explicitly stated that he rapes her since the show is partly aimed for children. She clearly doesn't enjoy what the devil does to her and she thinks of her own starving children while she's enduring it.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished : Vunida wished to feed her starving children. All it gets her is a horrible And I Must Scream Fate as a mute sentient tree.
- Rape Discretion Shot: In "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil in his human disguise removes Vunida's dress and starts kissing her. As he does so, she endures it thinking of her starving children. The episode only shows an image of Vunida's children instead of what the devil is doing to her.
- Transflormation: Near the end of "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil turns Vunida into a cherry tree for her starving children to eat.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: In "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil transforms into a rich young man to entrap Vunida. He transforms into a black jackdaw when he curses her to turn into a cherry tree.
- Yandere: In "The Gypsy Woman and the Devil", the devil grows possessive of Vunida once she refuses to marry him. He refuses to let her go to see her starving children and, when she escapes his palace, turns her into a cherry tree so "[they] will eat of [her] flesh and drink of [her] blood."
