Editing Balaur (section)

== General description ==

In the [[Romanian language]], balauri are "monstrous serpents" or dragons. Alternatively, the word balaur can be used to describe any monster like creature.<ref name=nandris/> They are [[Polycephaly|many-headed]] like the Greek hell-hound [[Cerberus]] or the [[Hydra (mythology)|hydra]]<ref name=nandris/><ref name=sainean/> and are winged and golden, according to [[Lazăr Șăineanu]].<ref name=sainean/>

As reported by journalist [[Eustace Clare Grenville Murray]], in Romanian folklore the ''balaur'' or ''balaurul'' is a serpentine being who guards treasures and princesses, coming to blows against heroic Fêt-Frumos.<ref>Murray, Eustace Clare Grenville. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=yrsQAAAAIAAJ Doĭne: Or, the National Songs and Legends of Roumania]''. Smith, Elder. 1854. p. 137.</ref>

The balaur recurs in Romanian folktales as a ravenous dragon that preys upon maidens only to be defeated by the hero [[Făt-Frumos]] ("Handsome Lad").<ref name=sainean/> The balaur may also be the abductor of the princess [[Ileana Cosânzeana]],<ref name=feraru/> although according to [[Lazăr Șăineanu|Șăineanu]] the kidnapper of this princess is a ''[[zmeu]]'' in the form of giant with pebbly tails<ref name=sainean/> (or scaly tails).<ref name=prut/> It is noted that the balaur and the zmeu are often confounded with each other.<ref name=sainean/><ref name=prut/>

According to folklorist [[Tudor Pamfile]], there are three types of balauri in folk tradition: water-, land-, and air-dwelling.<ref name=pamfile/> A type of balaur of the first type is a seven-headed monster that dwells in the [[well]] of a village, demanding maidens as sacrifice until defeated by either the hero named Busuioc or by [[Saint George]].<ref name=pamfile/>

The second type of balaur, according to Pamfile, is said to dwell in the "Armenian land" ({{langx|ro|{{linktext|ţara |armenească}}}}) where they produce precious stones.<ref name=pamfile/> In [[Wallachia]], it is also believed that the saliva of a balaur can form precious stones, according to American writer [[Cora Linn Daniels]].<ref morrrison&stevens>{{cite book|last1=Daniels |first1=Cora Linn Morrison |author-link=Cora Linn Daniels |last2=Stevens |first2=Charles McClellan |author-link2=<!--Charles McClellan Stevens--> |title=Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World: A Comprehensive Library of Human Belief and Practice in the Mysteries of Life |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ns0gK0efOvYC&pg=PA1419 |year=1903 |publisher=J. H. Yewdale & sons Company |pages=1419–1420}}</ref> Romanian scholar [[Mircea Eliade]] noted that the notion a precious stones are formed from a snake's spittle is widespread, from England to China.{{Efn|Eliade refers to his paper on the snake stone ([[adder stone]]) "Piatra Sarpelui", ''Mesterului Manole, ''Bucharest, 1939, pp. 1–12.}}<ref name=eliade/>

The balaur is often associated with the weather and is alternatively called [[ala (demon)|''hala'']] or ''ala'',<ref name=pamfile/> which is usually a Slavic term for a weather demon. This is the type Pamfile calls the "third type" that is air-dwelling.<ref name=pamfile/> When two balauri meet and fight in the air, there ensues various [[meteorology|meteorological]] damages such as uprooting of trees, or objects being tossed about.<ref name=pamfile/> Another  tradition is that the balaur uses the rainbow as its path and sucks moisture from any spot in order to cause rain.<ref name=pamfile/> There is also lore about the balaur which is said to be quite similar to the [[Banat Bulgarians|Bulgarian Banat]] lore about the [[slavic dragon|''lamia'']] (locally called ''lam'a''), which states that the ''lam'a'' draw water from the sea to fill the cloud.<ref name=plotnikova/>{{Efn|The scholar, Anna Plotnikova, concludes that this lamia lore has been "contaminated" with aspects of the lore about the water and air demon (i.e., the [[ala (demon)|''hala'']]).}}

Although the dragons ridden by the [[Solomonari]] are often said to be ''zmei'' ([[Grammatical number|sing.]] ''zmeu''),<ref name=florescu/> they were ''balauri'' according to some sources. A balaur was controlled by these weather-controlling sorcerers using "a golden rein"<!--this is Ljiljana's rendering --> (or golden bridle; {{langx|ro|{{linktext|un |frâu |de |aur}}}}).{{Efn|{{langx|de|ein goldene Zaum}}.}} The dragons were usually kept hidden in the depths of a lake, until summoned by their riders.<ref name=marian-balauri/><ref name=marian-balauri-germ/><ref name=ljiljana/>