Tünde

Tünde is a fairy maiden and the beloved of Csongor, at once the object of Mirígy’s revenge and the figure whose final reunion with Csongor gives their love its transcendent resolution. Her hair, the intimacy of her concealed meeting, and the closing image of immortal kisses trace a movement from vulnerability to shared fulfillment.

Identity and Introduction

Tünde is identified as a fairy maiden. The evidence presents her in relation to Ilma, who serves her, and to Csongor, with whom she shares a hidden resting place within a tree. These connections place her among the fairy world while making her love for Csongor central to her role.

Her brief exchange with Ilma also gives her a distinct conversational presence: when Ilma remarks on another speaker’s ability to chatter, Tünde responds with amused exasperation. The moment is small, but it sets intimate companionship and verbal play alongside the larger, more perilous action surrounding her.

The Hidden Meeting and Mirígy’s Attack

Tünde and Csongor appear together on a grassy bed inside a tree, partly concealed by its foliage. Their shelter makes the meeting private, but not secure. Mirígy approaches stealthily, driven by revenge and malice, and cuts a lock from Tünde’s hair. The staged action turns an intimate refuge into the site of an intrusion: Tünde is concealed from view, yet Mirígy finds her and carries out the injury.

The lock of hair gives Mirígy’s hostility a specific target. Rather than confronting the lovers openly, she acts on Tünde’s beauty while the pair lie hidden together. The scene therefore binds Tünde’s vulnerability to the danger surrounding her relationship with Csongor, and makes the tree’s protective foliage an incomplete barrier rather than a guarantee of safety.

Love and Resolution

At the close, Tünde addresses Csongor as the exchange reaches beyond ordinary speech and reason. Csongor speaks of drawing immortal kisses from her; Tünde answers that speech grows weary and understanding is insufficient. Their ending presents intimacy not as an argument to be explained, but as an experience that words and intellect cannot fully contain.

The final image answers the earlier scene of violation with a mutual embrace of love: the hair that Mirígy attacks marks Tünde’s exposure to malice, while the immortal kisses belong to a reunion shared with Csongor. Tünde’s narrative significance lies in that contrast. She is not only the beloved pursued through danger, but also the presence through whom the play’s resolution gives love a lasting, almost inexpressible form.