Fairy tales
- Thread starter Pegasis
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The Taciturn Scholar
Member
Agreed on both counts; I actually wrote an essay recently which touched briefly on this.
Easily, "The King who was a Gentleman." It seems there was a King who fancied himself a gentleman, since he would never call anyone a liar, no matter what they said. The King proposed a contest to marry off his daughter and find the next king.* see if anyone could compel him to declare the suitor a liar—the punishment for failure is, of course, a beheading.—would you expect any less of a folktale king? Jack, or Boots finally gets the king to tell him he is a liar after, on his third and final attempt, tells how he fell from a great beanstalk, lodged himself in the earth so he couldn't move, and was forced to cut off his head with his knife. The head runs off to seek help, but is intercepted by a fox. Sensing his head is in danger, Jack jumps out of the ground and kicks out of the fox seven more kings who were more gentlemanly than the king whose daughter he was seeking. That one always made me laugh.
I also enjoy the "Lose Your Temper, Lose Your Bet" and the other Cunning Servant folktales.
*Holding a contest to find an incredible liar is not recommended protocol for both finding King, or a husband for your daughter; it only serves to accentuate its hilarity.
fibi ducks
Active Member
i have fairy tales that i specialy dislike. one was the Bremen Town Musicians.
the story went something like this:
there was a kat who played the oboe, or something like that, and he
went to the next town along where he asked for another animal to join the band,
and so there was a dog who played the flute, and then they went to the next town,
where they found a pidgeon who played drums... it went on in this way for a long time.
i don't remember whether anything happened in the end.
I also particularly dislike all stories that go on about a young peasant who shows noble
qualities from childhood and then turns out to have been found in the woods/hill etc and his real parents are the king and queen. ug. puke.
the story went something like this:
there was a kat who played the oboe, or something like that, and he
went to the next town along where he asked for another animal to join the band,
and so there was a dog who played the flute, and then they went to the next town,
where they found a pidgeon who played drums... it went on in this way for a long time.
i don't remember whether anything happened in the end.
I also particularly dislike all stories that go on about a young peasant who shows noble
qualities from childhood and then turns out to have been found in the woods/hill etc and his real parents are the king and queen. ug. puke.
LegendofJoe
Active Member
Yeah, fairy tales like that can be grating!
fibi ducks
Active Member
Hi Legend f Joe.
I also noticed that in some stories the same thing happens seven times before its possible to move forward with the plot. that wasn't very exciting. you'd think that it would drum the story into the childs memory. let me see. i recollect a king who doesn't want to have his daughter marry and makes a contest where anyone who looses looses his head - of course - and its the seventh applicant who wins through. ok so it sort of worked.
The Taciturn Scholar
Member
Myrddin
Well-Known Member
Tom Tit-Tot?!?
LegendofJoe
Active Member
There is a book by Propp called Morphology of the Folktale.
I did not read it, but from what i know he examines the repetitive formulas that are found in folktales.
The number of times someone does something is significant. It can be tedious for a modern reader however.
In the collection of stories from the Navajo, The Dine' Bahane, many events have to be repeated four times in order for it to stick.
I suppose 4 is sacred (4 seasons, four directions, etc.), but I could be wrong.
The Taciturn Scholar
Member
Yep, English variant!Tom Tit-Tot?!?
"A-why," says he, "I was out a huntin' to-day, an' I got away to a place in the wood I'd never seen afore. An' there was an old chalk-pit. An' I heard a sort of hummin', kind o'. So I got off my hobby, an' I went right quiet to the pit, an' I looked down. Well, what should there be but the funniest little black thing you ever set eyes on. An' what was that a-doing on, but that had a little spinnin'-wheel, an' that were a-spinnin' wonderful fast, an' a-twirlin' that's tail. An' as that span. that sang:
'Nimmy Nimmy Not
My name's TOM TIT TOT.'"
Copied from Fairy Gold by Ernest Rhys.
Myrddin
Well-Known Member
A nimmy nimmy thank you. You're a kind lad. (English variant, you say? 'Cause I got a Southern accent stuck in me head.)Yep, English variant!
"A-why," says he, "I was out a huntin' to-day, an' I got away to a place in the wood I'd never seen afore. An' there was an old chalk-pit. An' I heard a sort of hummin', kind o'. So I got off my hobby, an' I went right quiet to the pit, an' I looked down. Well, what should there be but the funniest little black thing you ever set eyes on. An' what was that a-doing on, but that had a little spinnin'-wheel, an' that were a-spinnin' wonderful fast, an' a-twirlin' that's tail. An' as that span. that sang:
'Nimmy Nimmy Not
My name's TOM TIT TOT.'"
Copied from Fairy Gold by Ernest Rhys.
fibi ducks
Active Member
Hi Legend of Joe,
I hope you are well.
This about the Navajo, a friend of mine was interested in their lore and told me that they are the only people who have the number 4 be a big part of their stories. everyone else is into 3's i think he said. he didn't have any account of why this is. just that it is a mystery.
RLynn
Active Member
It sounds like Propp may be a structuralist. I haven't thought about structuralism in ages, but it is a fascinating subject (especially for a mathematician like me). I need to check on that book.
LegendofJoe
Active Member
Hi fibi ducks
Hope you are well too thank you.
That is a wonderful piece of info. Thanks for sharing.
LegendofJoe
Active Member
Do you mean structuralist ala Levi-Strauss?
Or are there other meanings for that term?
RLynn
Active Member
"The number 4 is central in the world view of the Sioux, with four groups of gods (superior, ally, subordinate, and spirit), four types of animal (creeping, flying, four-legged, and two-legged), and four ages of humans (infant, child, mature, and elderly). Their medicine men instructed them to carry out all activities in groups of four."
fibi ducks
Active Member
i feel a bit put out, like the Sioux just did it to show i was wrong about the Navajo.