Are Folklorists Studying the Tales of the Folk?
Sensationalist Scholarship: A Putative “New” History of Fairy Tales
The Teacher and the Taught: Structures and Meaning in the "Arabian Nights" and the "Panchatantra"
Folklore's Nature and the Sun's Myth
Some Unpublished Correspondence Between William Forsell Kirby and William Alexander Clouston
At first, Kathleen Ragan’s anthology seems like a triumph of folktale scholarship. She not only compiled 100 individual tales, but rescued some from obscurity. And she did so while adhering to folkloristic standards by not altering the content or wording of the texts. She also provided cultural context in the endnotes. However, the anthology displays a multitude of editorial oversights that hinder its full potential.
Ragan herself lamented the "dearth of South American Indian stories," citing the limited availability of English language materials as the cause. However, the sole SAI tale she included - "The Magic Eagle" - came from Genevieve Barlow's Latin American Tales, which featured another female-centered story: "The Search for the Magic Lake." Moreover, Johannes Wilbert and Karin Simoneau published a twenty-four volume series called Folk Literature of South American Indians, which was completed six years before Ragan's debut anthology.
Another shortcoming is the inconsistent information provided in the commentaries. Sometimes they summarize the plots while highlighting aspirational traits the main characters have. Or they give short biographies of historical figures. Occasionally, they consist of personal anecdotes or describe Ragan's emotional reactions to a story. Readers would've benefited more if the commentaries were dedicated to teaching folkloristics. For instance, "Whuppity Stoorie" provided an opportunity to discuss the AT Index (later ATU) and other variants of tale type 500 like "Rumpelstiltskin" and "Tom Tit Tot." Similarly, "The Pigeon's Bride" could have mentioned Motif D350, "Transformation: bird to person." Information about the tradition-bearers (name, age, gender, context, etc.) could also have been added when and where such data was available.
A related problem is the internal contradictions. Ragan said she created the anthology to offset the uninspiring female characters in her daughter's books: "In the scarcity and poor quality of heroines my daughter was constantly told 'you don’t exist, you’re not important.' I love my girl too much to let her listen to that." Thus, she sought folktales in which “The main characters are female and they are worthy of emulation.” Why then include several abusive protagonists? “The Three Sisters and Their Husbands, Three Brothers,” depict women manipulating and publicly humiliating their spouses; "The Fortune-Teller," cons men into paying for a fraudulent prediction; “The Innkeeper’s Wise Daughter,” violates her prenuptial agreement and abducts her unconscious husband; “Molly Cotton-Tail Steals Mr. Fox’s Butter,” centers a thief, who encourages violence against her patsy, and causes a years-long family feud; “The Close Alliance: A Tale of Woe,” the protagonist accuses her husband of laziness, insults his intelligence, and dismisses his fear of the tiger; "A Calabash of Poi" has a goddess ruin a household's crops because the residents offended her; and in “Moremi and the Egunguns,” the protagonist escalates nonviolent raids into a counterattack and commits human sacrifice. While these characters are outnumbered by heroic ones, Ragan never acknowledges how they are incompatible with her standards.
Despite these shortcomings, the book is among the best folktale anthologies ever published. It's representative sample of international folktales is rivaled by few other books and this alone make the book required reading for general readers and folklorists.
Halloween is coming! For many, it's the best holiday of the year, and there are countless traditions that go along with it. A common one is to watch scary movies. As a complement to that, here are monster-filled folktales for horror lovers:
Bonus: The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions (1989) by David J. Hufford
A group of brothers are transformed into birds and it falls to their littlest sister to rescue them. Sometimes she must remain silent for several years. Or she has to go on a long quest to reach the mountain they reside in. No matter what, the familial love and loyalty always breaks the curse.
For more information on the ATU acronym, read this post.
Since the days of Sigmund Freud, people have tried to assess the relationship between the human mind and the stories we tell. More so when those stories are popular and/or passed down for generations. While the quality and content of the material may vary, there's no denying that the study of folk narrative and psychology is a rich field.
"Psychoanalysis and Folklore" (1930) Ernest Jones.
"Jungian Psychology and Its Uses in Folklore" (1969) by Carlos C. Drake.
A Psychiatric Study of Myths and Fairy Tales: Their Origin, Meaning, and Usefulness (1974) by Julius E. Heuscher.
"Psychology, Psychoanalysis, and Folklore" (1974) by David Hufford.
La Terra in Piazza (1975) by Alan Dundes and Alessandro Falassi.
The Hand Made Object and Its Maker (1975) by Michael Owen Jones.
"Language Differences" (1975) by Warren Ten Houten.
The Uses of Enchantment (1976) by Bruno Bettelheim.
"The Misuses of Enchantment: Controversies on the Significance of Fairy Tales" (1985) by Kay F. Stone.
The Japanese Psyche: Major Motifs in the Fairy Tales of Japan (1988) by Hayao Kawai.
Frogs and Snails and Feminist Tales: Preschool Children and Gender (1989) by Bronwyn Davies.
"The Structure and Interpretation of Fairy Tales Composed by Children" (1990) by Kristin Wardetzky.
“A Qualitative Study of the Perceived Impact of Fairy Tales on a Group of Women” (1995) by Rita J. Comtois.
The Interpretation of Fairy Tales (1996) by Marie-Louise von Franz.
The obvious limitation of this list is that the sources are all from before the 2000s. They don't account for the rise of the Internet, its effects on people, or how perception of fairy tales and other folklore genres have changed due to newer media (e.g., Frozen, 2013) and later scholarship. But it does provide an excellent overview of how the standards and practices have evolved (or not).
People in terrible situations often resort to drastic measures escape. One method involves accepting favors from questionable individuals. Chances are, the beneficiaries will owe more than they are able - or willing - to give. But with luck, there's a loophole that'll let them keep their boon and avoid their debts.
The Wild Jager and the Baroness
Additional variants can be found here. An analysis of the tale type is available here.
For more information on the ATU acronym, read this post.
