The book presents an unconventional approach to the Bulgarian folk epic about heroes. It draws on a number of texts that have been little studied to date, in which the actions of the epic heroes diverge from popular notions of heroic behavior and military valor. Who, then, are the true heroes of the Bulgarian epic, and what constitutes their heroic deeds? These and many other questions about the nature of the epic as a folk tale and an expression of ethnic identity are answered in the monographic study "The Unknown Hero."