Some of eleventh-century Hungary's pagan heroes were just as honorable and upright as the best representatives of Christianity. Their fate reflects both the merciless character of the Christianization of central and eastern Europe and the heroism of those who-albeit representing backward-looking social and cultural views-may have demonstrated more honesty and dedication than did the overzealous spokespersons of the new faith.
Of these anti-Christian heroes, none can claim more sympathy than the above-mentioned Thonuzóba, prince of the Pechenegs, who settled in the country in the middle of the tenth century. His life story, alluded to briefly in medieval chronicles, has been romanticized by a number of modern poets and novelists who viewed King Stephen's extermination of their nation's ancient cultural heritage with considerable misgivings. Prince Thonuzóba's legend is reproduced on the basis of these romanticized portrayals.
Following his victory over the pagan Pechenegs, King Stephen had the young prince of his defeated enemies brought to him. "Why don't you let yourself be baptized?" asked the king. "If you do, no harm will come to you and to your people. If you will only accept the new faith and swear allegiance to me, you will be able to live and rule freely over your own people."
"I will swear allegiance to you, sire, but I cannot relinquish the faith of my fathers!" replied Thonuzoba. Then, pointing to some of the German and Italian priests, he said: "I and my people will never accept the God of these foreigners." "You are childishly stubborn," replied the old king. "Don't you realize that there is only one God? Don't you realize that the new God is identical with the old one? After all, we have even retained the name by which he had been known to our forefathers: Isten. We still pray to him, although now under a new guise."
"You have only done this," said Thonuzoba scoffingly, "to prevent your people from realizing that you have exchanged the ways of our forefathers for the ways of our enemies. In the name of this new god, you are really enslaving our people. You are making them puppets of foreign priests. And those who oppose you in the name of the old god are massacred to the alleged glory of this new religion."
King Stephen became angry at Thonuzoba's obstinacy. "You fool," said he to the prince of the Pechenegs. "Don't you see that we are surrounded by many Christian nations? Don't you realize that they will ultimately triumph over us if we fail to accept their ways? Do convert, Thonuzoba! If you do, your life will be spared!" But Prince Thonozoba refused. "I would rather die than reject the god of my fathers! I will never leave the faith of my ancestors!"
Upon this King Stephen left and asked the priests to take charge of Thonuzoba. The priests spoke to the young man for days, but to no avail: Therefore, after the third day, King Stephen gave his order: "Thonuzoba must be buried alive."
He ordered Thonuzoba's captured warriors to dig his grave. It had to be large enough to hold both him and his horse, for no noble Pecheneg would ever be sent to the world beyond without his weapons and his stallion. King Stephen was still close enough to the old ways that he would not have violated these sacred traditions.
When the grave was finished, Thonuzoba was tied into the saddle and his horse was led into the grave. At these final moments the priests were still trying to persuade him to change his mind. But all Thonuzoba did was to ask that his horse be killed before burial. "No noble animal deserves such a fate," he said. When the arrow pierced the noble stallion's heart, Thonuzoba broke into the Hymn of the Dead
At this point Thonuzoba's young wife appeared with their little son in her arms. She extended the little boy to her husband for a farewell kiss. Then, instead of leaving, she too kissed her son good-bye and placed him in King Stephen's arms. "Rear him as if he were your own son. When he grows up, tell him about his father. Tell him that Prince Thonuzoba died an honorable death and that his only sin was his loyalty to the god of his forefathers." Upon this Thonuzoba's young wife stepped into the grave and clung to her husband: "I have sworn to be faithful to my husband unto death, and to follow him to the grave. And upon the words of my ancestors, I cannot break my vow."
Hearing this, the priests of the new God went to work. But as the grave of Prince Thonuzoba and his loyal wife was being filled to the brim, the sky turned angry with rain. The old god was crying, mourning the fate of his children. But amidst all the thunder and lightning, one could still hear the reverberating sound of the Hymn of the Dead-until that too died out.
Thonuzoba's son, Orkond, grew up be a valiant prince. He became the founder of the powerful Tomaj clan. King Stephen reared him as a Christian, but Orkond was never able to wipe out the memory of his parents. Once every summer, on the night of a full moon, he visited their unmarked grave near the place where Magyar tradition had placed the burial ground of the mighty King Attila. There, Orkond prayed for their souls. And although a true Christian, he often found himself praying to the old god. It was said that he could sense the presence of his long-departed forefathers and feel their breath upon him.
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