court asked her to explain the role of táltos. She replied: the táltos cures, sees buried treasures with the naked eye, and "the táltos are fighting for Hungary in heaven". There is a common belief that St. Stephen has persecuted the táltos during Christianisation of Hungary, but this is not linked to any fact. When pagan revolts started in 1046 and 1061 there were enough táltos for the leaders to choose for their court. The "táltos horse" The táltos horse or steed ("táltos paripa") is the mount of the táltos, and also a stock character in Hungarian folk tales. (Here, "táltos" typically refers to the power of the horse and not necessarily its association with a shaman, though some folk heroes are identified as táltos themselves.) The táltos steed would typically appear at first to the protagonist (usually a peasant's son, adventuring prince, or a youngest son) disguised as an old and ugly jade. If it is treated well, it would ask the hero to feed it hot cinders, whereupon its transform into a steed with golden coat, golden saddles and five or six legs. In this form it could fly with the protagonist on its back; its speed is mandatorily described as "faster than a bird", "faster than wind", and finally "faster than thought". (As with Hungarian dragons and their heads, the number of legs may appear as other mythical numbers and the coat as other noble metals (in the usual order copper, silver and gold); a higher number/nobler metal implying greater power.) According to some experts, the táltos horse is a symbol of the drum of the táltos. They heated it over fire (see hot cinders) to make it suitable to play and used the drum to meditate (fly away). See also Hungarian mythology Hungarian shamanism Hungarian neopaganism References Bibliography Further reading Demény, István Pál. "Duel in the Form of a Wheel or Flame in Legends of Belief and Tales". In: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 48, 3-4 (2003): 353-365. accessed May 9, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1556/AEthn.48.2003.3-4.4 Ildikó Kríza. "Táltos as a Supernatural Being in Hungarian Tales and legends". In: Ethnographica et folkloristica Carpathica Tom. 5-6. (1988). pp. 257-264. Pócs, Éva. "The Hungarian táltos and the shamanism of pagan Hungarians. Questions and hypotheses". In: Acta Ethnographica Hungarica 63, 1 (2018): 149-196. accessed May 9, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1556/022.2018.63.1.9 External links A Nagy- és Kis Göncöl és a Sarkcsillag (html and pdf) by Várhegyi Péter,