Harap Alb

"Harap Alb" or "Harap-Alb" (Romanian pronunciation: [haˈrap ˈalb]), known in full as Povestea lui Harap Alb ("The Story of Harap Alb"), is a Romanian-language fairy tale. Based on traditional themes found in Romanian folklore, it was recorded and reworked in 1877 by writer Ion Creangă, becoming one of his main contributions to fantasy and Romanian literature. The narrative centers on an eponymous prince traveling into a faraway land whose throne he has inherited, showing him being made into a slave by the treacherous Bald Man and eventually redeeming himself through acts of bravery. The plot introduces intricate symbolism, notably illustrated by the secondary characters. Among these are the helpful and sage old woman Holy Sunday, the tyrannical Red Emperor, and a band of five monstrous characters who provide the prince with serendipitous assistance.

An influential work, "Harap Alb" received much attention from Creangă's critical posterity, and became the inspiration for contributions in several fields. These include Ion Popescu-Gopo's film De-aş fi Harap Alb, a Postmodernist novel by Stelian Ţurlea and a comic book by Sandu Florea, alongside one of Gabriel Liiceanu's theses in the field of political philosophy.

The title of the work and name of the protagonist originate with the antiquated Romanian word harap, which, like its more common version arap, originates with the "Arab" and covers the sense of "Black person" (or "Moor"), and alb, meaning "white". The notion of Harap Alb has therefore often been translated as "White Moor" or "White Arab". Both arap and harap are akin to a narrative theme present throughout the Balkans, from Turkey in the south to modern Romania in the north. Similar words exist in Albanian (arap in the Tosk, harap in Gheg), and define a character in Albanian folklore: a Black man often, but not always, portrayed in a negative light. The character, also bearing negative connotations, can be found in Bulgarian folklore as well; the Bulgarian-language name is арап (arap) or арапин (arapin).

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