A to Z Challenge: Prelude

The 2024 A to Z Challenge required me to do more research than I usual - so much that I won't be able to use everything I found! But it felt like such a shame to let it all fade into obscurity. So, to celebrate the eve of the event, allow me to share the bonus content:

Legends of the Fire Spirits: Jinn and Genies from Arabia to Zanzibar by Robert Lebling.

Lao Folktales by Wajuppa Tossa, Kongdeuane Nattavong, & Margaret Read .MacDonald.

Dab neeg hmoob/Myths, Legends and Folk Takes from the Hmong of Laos by Charles Johnson & Se Yang.

Folk Stories of the Hmong: Peoples of Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam by Dia Cha & Norma J. Livo.

Tales, Fables and Narratives of Rwanda by Eugène Hurel, Matthias Brack, Leo Sibomana, and John Doldo IV

Wakaima and the Clay Man, and other African Folktales by E. Balintuma Kalibala and Mary Gould Davis.

World Folktales by Atelia Clarkson and Gilbert B. Cross.

Variants of "Jack and the Beanstalk" (ATU 328A)

Jack Seized the Hen by Warwick Goble (1923)

Ah, the tale of a plucky boy who climbs a plant that reaches the clouds! Storytellers have turned it into an SF novel, a TV miniseries, and a mural, among other things. If you want to adapt this tale then check out the classics:

Jack and the Beanstalk in English Fairy and Folk Tales by E. S. Hartland

Jack and the Beanstalk in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Jack and the Beanstalk in What They Say in New England by Clifton Johnson

Jack and the Bean-pole in Tales from Maryland and Pennsylvania by Elsie Clews Parsons

Jack and the Beanstalk in English Fairy Tales by Flora Annie Steel

Jack and the Bean-stalk in Jamaica Anansi Stories by Martha Warren Beckwith

Jack and the Beanstalk in Mountain White Folk-Lore: Tales from the Southern Blue Ridge by Isabel Gordon Carter

Bonus: scholarly writings.

“Jack and the Beanstalk” by Humphrey Humphreys in The Study of Folklore.

“Jack and the Beanstalk” by William Desmonde in The Study of Folklore.

“Jack and the Beanstalk: An American Version” by Martha Wolfenstein in The Study of Folklore.

Jack In Two Worlds: Contemporary North American Tales and Their Tellers by William Bernard McCarthy.

The Composition of "Jack and the Beanstalk" by Christine Goldberg

For more information on the ATU acronym mentioned in the title, read this post.

Variants of "The Dragon Slayer" (ATU 300)

St. George and the Dragon by Donato Giancola (2010)

Ever heard the tale of a brave soul who vanquished a beast and saved its intended victim? It's one of our most popular folk narratives. Writers looking to tell their own version should start by reading these:

Perseus and Andromeda in The Library of Greek Mythology by Pseudo-Apollodorus and Robin Hard.

Li Chi Slays the Serpent in In Search of the Supernatural by Gan Bao, Kenneth J. DeWoskin & J.I. Crump.

The Thirteenth Son of the King of Erin in Myths and Folk-lore of Ireland by Jeremiah Curtin.

The Blind Man and the Hunchback in Some Folk-Lore Stories and Songs in Chinyanja by R. Sutherland Rattray.

Schippeitaro in The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

Nikita the Tanner in Russian Folk-Tales by Leonard A. Magnus.

Scholarship:

A Sixteenth Century Version of The Dragon-Slayer

The Three Suitors of the King's Daughter: Character Roles in the Estonian Version of the Dragon-Slayer

Related Posts:

For an explanation of the ATU acronym mentioned in the title, read this post.

Link Roundup

Some of the best folklore content is scattered across the internet. Here's a sampling:

Red as Blood, White as Snow, Black as Crow: Chromatic Symbolism of Womanhood in Fairy Tales

The Fairy-Tale Collections of Andrew Lang and Joseph Jacobs: Identity, Nation, Empire

That Fairy-Tale Feel: A Folkloric Approach to Meredith Ann Pierce’s The Darkangel

What Folk Genre is Star Wars?

Fairy Tale Timeline

The Blind Prince Reimagined: Disability in Fairy Tales

Loki: 5 Big Misconceptions

Any articles or videos I missed? Let me know in the comments!

A to Z Blogging Challenge: 2024

 

I've seen other bloggers participate in this event and thought it seemed like a pretty good rite of passage for a newbie.

My inaugural theme is International Folktales.

I'm going to go through the countries of the world and share their folktales. However, I'm limiting myself to stories available in English.

Tale Types: An Introduction

The ATU index is a tool folklorists use to catalogue folktales with similar plots. It was created by Antti Aarne in 1910, translated and expanded by Stith Thompson in 1928 and 1961 (previously known as AT or AaTh ), then revised by Hans-Jörg Uther in 2004.

All three volumes are online:

Volume 1: Animal Tales, Tales of Magic, Religious Tales, and Realistic Tales

Volume 2: Tales of the Stupid Ogre, Anecdotes and Jokes, and Formula Tales

Volume 3: Appendices


You can even read stories organized by tale type:

Multilingual Folk Tale Database

Linked ATU Tales

D. L. Ashliman also has a website that sometimes lists tales by their type:

Beauty and the Beast (425C)

Cinderella (510A)

The Fox and the Cat (105)

Various countries have their own national indices based on the ATU system:

Types of Japanese Folktales by Keigo Seki

Index of Spanish Folktales, Classified According to Antti Aarne's "Types of the Folktale" by Ralph Steele Boggs

Type and Motif-Index of the Folktales of England and North America by Ernest Warren Baughman

The Types of the Folktale in Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Spanish South America by T. L. Hansen

A Tale Type Index of Australian Aboriginal Oral Narratives by Patricia Panyity Waterman


Some resources, usually related to tale type indices, are available in non-English languages:

Enzyklopädie des Märchens

Ruthenia's Russian Folktale Index

The above is just a sampling of what's out there. Copyright laws, language barriers, and sheer quantity of material make it impossible to be comprehensive. But this should be a good start.

Arthurian Folklore: An Introduction.

"He hardly more than touched the sword" - illustrated by Walter J. Enright

King Arthur and His Knights (1903) by Maude L. Radford

King Arthur is a legendary figure of British folklore. Possibly based on a real man (Lucius Artorius Castus, Riothamus, etc.), the character has been reimagined from the medieval era to the present. He's also had a legion of characters crop up around him. With centuries of major and minor works across written and visual media, newcomers to the Arthurian mythos may not know where to begin. Here are a few recommendations.

Primary texts:

"Culhwch ac Olwen" a Welsh tale where Arthur helps his cousin get a wife.

"The Dream of Rhonabwy" a Welsh tale where Arthur plays cards while a battle rages.

"The Companionship of Myrddin and Gwenddydd his Sister" a Welsh poem featuring Merlin.

"Tom A Lincoln" an English romance starring Arthur's illegitimate son.

"The Jeaste of Sir Gawain" an English tale where Gawain seduces a woman, offending her kinsmen.

The Romance of Arthur: An Anthology of Medieval Texts in Translation, 3rd Edition (2013) by Norris Jay Lacy & James J. Wilhelm.
A collection of Arthurian narratives from Welsh, French, Norse, German and Latin traditions.

Lancelot–Grail: The Old French Arthurian Vulgate and Post-Vulgate in Translation (1992 - 1996) by Norris J. Lacy.
A multivolume translation of one of the most important Arthurian narrative cycles.

The Portuguese Book of Joseph of Arimathaea (2017) by Henry Hare Carter.
A study of an intermediate text that links the death of Jesus Christ with later adventures of Arthur's knights. The actual story can be read in English here.

Scholarship:

The Camelot Project 
A database for all things Arthuriana. Includes archived interviews, artwork, and English translations of many texts.

An Index of Themes and Motifs in Twelfth-Century French Arthurian Poetry (1992) by E. H. Ruck.
A comprehensive listing and description of the small narrative elements in Arthurian poems.

Index des motifs narratifs dans les romans arthuriens français en vers: XIIe-XIIIe siècles (1992) by Anita Guerreau-Jalabert.
Same as the above but for Arthurian prose.

From Scythia to Camelot by C. Scott Littleton and Linda A. Malcor (2000)

A book which argues against the supposed Celtic origins of the Arthurian mythos. It claims that the Holy Grail legends derive from the Iranians.

King Arthur in Antiquity (2004) by Graham Anderson.
Same as the above except it proposes an ancient Greco-Roman origin.

Welcome

Dear Guest,

Thank you for visiting my blog. Here you will find various bits of folktale content. This includes variants of popular tales, articles by folklorists, book reviews, and various odds and ends. I hope everything is to your liking.

P.S. This blog gets its name from the opening narration of Merlin (2008).

Sincerely,

Diego Morales