The ballad of the walled up woman in Albanian studies

Abstract

In the Albanian folklore, the ballad of the walled up woman is one of the oldest and best known ballads. It’s motive is to sacrifice a young woman in the foundations of a castle, a bridge, or another object that is important for ethnicity. The spread of this motive crosses the Balkan borders. Albanian neighbors, because of the most favorable circumstances like historical, geopolitical and other, have collected and published their songs half a century ago, and with them the options of the ballad for the walled up woman. Collections and Albanian version publications have been always at a disadvantage because of being fewer and not exhibited in a good way in the European literature of that time. In studies conducted in recent decades by philologists and Albanian scholars of folklore this ballad is estimated especially for the variants about the fortress of Shkodra. In this review the aim is to note how this ballad has been studied since the time of its collection until today, how has documentation evolved and what progress was made in collection of variants and in their interpretation. We refer also to researchers and schools which influenced me more.