Nemtők

Nemtők are a supernatural people appearing in the play’s fourth act, where they are summoned as guardians of a tree and enter the scene through aerial song. Their brief appearances establish both a collective presence and a distinct ruler, giving the enchanted natural world an active, organized life beyond the human characters’ immediate concerns.

Identity and Setting

Nemtők are named among the play’s supernatural beings in its opening cast list, which places them within the work’s fairy-tale world. The excerpts identify them collectively and also introduce a Nemtők king, indicating that the group has a differentiated social identity rather than appearing only as an undivided chorus.

Guardians of the Tree

When Tünde tells Ilma to step aside and wait to see what fortune brings, she summons the “weak Nemtők” to become guardians of her tree. Their role is practical as well as magical: they are called to watch over a particular tree while events unfold. The command links their supernatural service to the tree’s protection, making them participants in the scene rather than distant decoration.

Song and the Nemtők King

The Nemtők also appear through a song heard in the air. Its opening identifies the singers as playing, presenting the group as a collective voice carried beyond the visible stage. The scene then gives way to the Nemtők king, who arrives and calls for a light sprinkling of dew. He describes the beating of a maiden’s heart as his cradle and asks who seeks to borrow happiness from him. The king’s words connect this supernatural court to human feeling and desire: happiness is figured as something that may be requested from him, while the maiden’s heartbeat is the intimate image that defines his own origin or sustaining world.

Narrative Significance

The Nemtők join guardianship, natural imagery, song, and the language of happiness in a compact sequence. Their movement from a summoned group protecting a tree to an aerial chorus and finally to a speaking king expands the scene’s supernatural register: the tree has appointed watchers, the air carries their play, and a ruler offers happiness as something sought by others. The evidence leaves the Nemtők’s broader history and powers unspecified, but these appearances establish them as a collective presence with a named leader and a role in the play’s enchanted order.