Terms and concepts from literary/folkloristic studies useful in analyzing folktales
F101 Introduction to Folklore
Terms and concepts from literary/folkloristic studies useful in analyzing folktales
Content
*tale type: a recurring pattern of narrative plot elements (actions); the plot outline
shared by all stories that folklorists would consider “the same story”
*ur-form: the “original” form assumed to have existed when a given story began
its diffusion outward from that first telling
*oikotype: a particular sequence of motifs and details of story associated with a
tale as it is known in a particular area
*motif: the smallest meaningful component of a story; individual units of content
(objects, images, actions, characters, etc.) found in more than one story
*cultural milieu: the setting, social attitudes, and historical information of the
period and place in which a given version of a tale was told/collected (includes
allusions to the cultural frame of reference of the tellers/listeners)
*dramatis personae: the cast of characters usually found in folktales (suggested by
Vladimir Propp in The Morphology of the Folktale)
1) the hero
2) the villain
3) the princess (the person to be rescued)
4) the helper or helpers
5) the donor or donors
6) the false hero (not always present)
Style
*omniscient narrator: the voice of the storyteller who knows elements of the plot
that the characters in the story do not
*epic laws of folk narrative: stylistic conventions of the magic tale (Märchen)
identified by Axel Olrik in 1908; nine of these laws are:
1) opening formula
2) closing formula
3) repetition
4) the law of threes (3s)
5) two to a scene
6) law of contrasts or polarities
7) importance of the final position
8) concentration on a leading character
9) the tableau scene (A scene in which the action peaks in an impressive way,
often depicting the lead character at an important moment in the plot or conveying
an especially memorable setting or event)
Form
*prose: most folktales are told without the clearly repeated rhythm or rhyme
associated with verse; however, some closing formulas are in verse
*cante fable: a story in which verse lines are interspersed throughout the prose
*ballad: a narrative folksong; a song that tells a story
*Propp’s thirty-one functions: the structure that Russian scholar Vladimir Propp
identified as characteristic of magic tales; of the 31 functions or actions,
absolutely essential to the story are A (lack or villainy) and K (the original
misfortune or lack is liquidated); or as Alan Dundes says: lack/lack liquidated;
common in opening is the Interdiction/Violation of Interdiction sequence
Function
*In the past, the typical audience for most folktales included adults; in fact, most
of the well-known Indo-European Märchen are aimed at young adults, who, like
the heroes in the tales, are contemplating leaving home and taking on adult roles
*William Bascom’s “Four Function of Folklore”: the overarching function of all
folklore is “to maintain the stability of culture”
1) entertainment
2) education
3) validation of culture
4) conformity
*etiological ending: an ending to the tale that explains why things are the way
they are (e.g., natural phenomena)
*the esoteric-exoteric factor: the tendency of much folklore to reflect attitudes and
beliefs of one group about another; what “we” think about “them,” what “they
think about “us,” what we think they think we think about them, etc.
History of folktale study and the Norwegian collection
*Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson, authors of The Types of the Folktale; plot
outlines in the Aarne-Thompson index include those for the animal tales (1-300)
and for the magic tales (300-750); Beauty and the Beast, for example, is AT 425C
*Stith Thompson created the six-volume Motif-Index of Folk Literature
*Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm published their collection of German folktales in
1812 and started the nationalistic collecting of tales that led to the Norwegian
collection now known as East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon
*Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe collected the oral Norwegian tales
and published them in 1843-44
*Sir George Webbe Dasent translated the tales into English in 1859
*Erik Werenskiold and Theodor Kittlelsen and other prominent artist in Norway
were commissioned to illustrate the Norwegian tales; many are included in the
Dover paperback used in class; originals are housed in the National Gallery in
Oslo
Folktales on the Internet
*SurLaLune: a web site that compares many of the best known European tales; its
web address is: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com; this site is especially good for
illustrations and annotated texts
*Eastern Kentucky Folktales: a web site that examines the folktale collecting of
Leonard Roberts in the 1950s; its web address is: