{{Short description|Character in Bulgarian folklore}} [[File:Spomenik i češma na Itar Pejo - Prilep 02.JPG|200px|right|thumb|Monument of Itar Pejo that was set up in the old town of Prilep, North Macedonia, in 2008.]] [[File:Humor house Gabrovo3.JPG|right|thumb|200px|Monument of Hitar Petar in front of the House of Humour and Satire in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, which was built in 1981.]] '''Hitar Petar''' or '''Itar Pejo (Itar Petar)''' ({{langx|bg|Хитър Петър}}, {{langx|mk|Итар Пејо or Итар Петар}}),<ref>Сборник от български народни умотворения, Том 2: Приказки и предания, Съставител: Кузман Шапкарев, [https://liternet.bg/folklor/sbornici/shapkarev_2/148.htm 148. Приказки и предания. Итар Петар.] Под редакцията на Тодор Моллов. Варна: LiterNet, 2008.</ref><ref>Александар Спасов, Георги Сталев, Tradition in Macedonian Literature, Macedonian Pen, 1974, p. 16.</ref><ref>Tomé Sazdov, Macedonian Folk Literature, Macedonian Heritage Collection, translated by Synthia Keesan, Macedonian Review Editions, 1987, p. 167.</ref> meaning "''Sly Peter''"<ref>Marcel Cornis-Pope, John Neubauer as ed., History of the Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and disjunctures in the 19th and 20th centuries, Volume 2, John Benjamins Publishing, 2006, {{ISBN|9027293406}}, p. 238.</ref> or "''Clever Peter''", is a character of Bulgarian and Macedonian folklore.<ref>Evguenia Davidova as ed., Wealth in the Ottoman and Post-Ottoman Balkans: A Socio-Economic History, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016, {{ISBN|0857726056}}, p. 237.</ref>

He is a poor village farmhand, but possesses remarkable slyness, wit and wile. He is often presented as the "typical Bulgarian" in Bulgaria and the "typical Macedonian" in North Macedonia. He is the perpetual antagonist of either the rich nobles, clerics and money lenders or the "typical Ottoman"&nbsp;— Nasreddin, whom he always manages to outwit. He is therefore regarded as a strictly positive figure and a hero of the common folk. According to different folklore narratives, he is either from Rousse, Haskovo, Gabrovo or Prilep, but in general, he is simply an imagined folk hero.<ref>Величко Вълчев, „Хитър Петър и Настрадин Ходжа. Из историята на българския народен анекдот“, Българска академия на науките. София, 1975, стр. 350.</ref>

As a character, Hitar Petar first appeared in the 16th–17th century, when most of the Balkans were still under Ottoman rule. Tales on his deeds are present in the folklore of many regions. His name appeared for the first time in written records in the late 1850s. Petko Slaveikov wrote in 1858 about Hitar Petar. In 1862 Kuzman Shapkarev recorded from Metodi Kusev a long tale about Itar Petar.<ref>Стефанов, Петър (2015) Дом, основан върху камък, Хитър Петър и българската смехова култура; стр. 157; сп. Любословие, 2015, кн. 15, ШУ „Епископ Константин Преславски; [http://lyuboslovie.shu.bg/pdf/liuboslovie-15.pdf с. 154-161.]</ref> In 1869 Dobri Voynikov used his name as own nickname, and between 1870 and 1874 Dimitar Panichkov published the newspaper "Hitar Petar". Marko Cepenkov sent in 1870 to Petko Slaveykov a lot of proverbs about Itar Pejo. In 1873 Iliya Blaskov published in Ruse a small booklet with the anecdotes about Hitar Petar. Slaveykov, Vasil Cholakov and Dimitar Manchov also recorded folk tales about Hitar Peter at that time.<ref>Татяна Цанкова, [https://www.etar.org/izdania/nb2010-8-pdf/NB2010-224-230.pdf Хитър Петър – македонец или българин? Анекдоти за Хитър Петър в репертоара на съвременни разказвачи на фолклорен хумор] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410055738/http://www.etar.org/izdania/nb2010-8-pdf/NB2010-224-230.pdf |date=2011-04-10 }}, в Народна култура на балканджиите, том 8, Ангел Гоев - съставител, Фабер, 2010 {{ISBN|9789544002947}}, стр. 224-230.</ref> Veselin Stoyanov's opera ''Clever Petar'' premiered in Sofia in 1958.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Nasreddin Hodja’s foolish wisdom: Slavic literary adaptations of a Turkish folk hero |date=2016 |issue=4 |journal=World Literature Studies |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=477254 |author=Charles Sabatos |page=41}}</ref> He has been also featured in two comedy films, ''Nastradin Hodzha i Hitar Petar'' of 1939 and ''Hitar Petar'' of 1960.

In 1977, Macedonian Radio Television recorded a TV series, according to the script by Mile Nedelkovski. A collection of short stories titled "Itar Pejo" was published by the writer Stale Popov. In 1966, Slavko Janevski published the poetry collection "The Gospel of Itar Pejo".<ref>{{cite book |title=Makedonska enciklopedija |trans-title=Macedonian Encyclopedia |date=2009 |publisher=MANU |editor=Blaže Ristovski |language=mk |page=625}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Стале Попов |url=https://mke.iml.edu.mk/Home/Avtor/266?cookieS=2 |website=Енциклопедија на македонска книжевност |language=mk |access-date=28 April 2026}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Каинавелија |url=https://mke.iml.edu.mk/Home/Delo/31 |website=Енциклопедија на македонска книжевност |language=mk |access-date=28 April 2026}}</ref>

Hitar Petar is similar to other characters of European and Oriental folklore, most notably Nasreddin of Islamic folklore, the German Till Eulenspiegel,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/FolktalesEurope.htm|title=Seven Folktales From Central Europe|publisher=University of Calgary|access-date=2008-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915100413/http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca./~volk/sylvia/FolktalesEurope.htm|archive-date=2013-09-15|url-status=dead}}</ref> the Flemish Thyl Ulenspiegel, the Hungarian Csalóka Péter and the Jewish Hershele Ostropoler.

In North Macedonia, it is thought that Itar Pejo is a native of the region of Mariovo, and a monument to the character was built in Prilep.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dnevnik.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=F4E65D711A749640947A49917255BBD2|title=Прилеп ќе гради споменик на Итар Пејо|publisher=Дневник|language=Macedonian|access-date=2008-09-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323014930/http://www.dnevnik.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=F4E65D711A749640947A49917255BBD2|archive-date=2012-03-23|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Hitar Petar Nunatak on Trinity Peninsula in Antarctica is named after the folklore character.<ref>[http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/ SCAR Composite Gazetteer of Antarctica]</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{cite web|url=http://www.ucis.pitt.edu/opera/BULGOP/hitar/hitar.htm|title=Bulgarian Operas: Hitar Petar|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Center for International Studies|access-date=2008-09-29}} * {{cite web|url=http://btourism.com/versus.php?id=2|title=Хитър Петър vs. Бай Ганьо|publisher=bTourism|language=Bulgarian|access-date=2008-09-29}}

{{Humor and wit characters}}

Category:Bulgarian humour Category:Folklore characters Category:Bulgarian folklore Category:Humor and wit characters Category:Fictional Bulgarian people Itar_Petar (Itar Pejo)