COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF APULEIUS' METAMORPHOSES AND POLISH FAIRY TALES – A CASE STUDY OF CUPID AND PSYCHE

Purpose of the paper is a comparative literary analysis of the fairy-tale type of animal groom/bride, which in the international fairy-tale index of H. J. Üther. Fairytale type is widespread types with subtypes. It is ATU number from 400 -459. The fairy tale type is known from ancient literature, from Apuleius's Fairy Tale of Amor and Psyche (2nd c. AD). The purpose of the article is to make the public aware of the intertextual connection of selected Polish fairytales with European fairy tales. The results of the comparative analysis show that the Polish variants of fairy tales, at the level of motifs, blind motives and structure, are similar to Apuleius's Fairy Tale of Amor and Psyche and at the same time different. Paper analysis the four Polish fairytales in the two-hundred-year-old tradition, from ancient literature to the present, have evolved and changed, e.g., Polish names (Jashek and Marusya).