Myth and Folk Topic 2 Input

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF FOLK LITERATURE
PERIOD 20TH CENTURY

Significance:
 early classic personified toy animal story
 early classic quest adventure for children
 classis U.S. animal fantasy
 a franker and more open approach to subjects in children's books
 the field of children's literature has grown worldwide; heroes
came in all colors.
 promoted the writing of great works of children's literature
 raised the status of children's literature and promoted the
publishing of children's books
EPICS
 Epics are long stories of human adventure and heroism
recounted in many episodes often in verse.
 The hero is always human while the setting is earthly but not
always realistic.
 Epics are more suitable for students in high school or college.
LEGENDS AND TALL TALES

 Legends are stories based on both real or supposedly real
individuals, and their marvelous deeds such as King Arthur and
Robin Hood.
 Tall tales are highly exaggerated accounts of persons, both real
and imagined, so they may be considered a subcategory of
legends.
 Tall tales are usually valued for their humor and exaggeration
whereas legend are more austere in tone.
FABLES
 Fables are simple stories that incorporate characters(typically
animals) whose actions teach a moral lesson or universal truth.
 Many fables demands abstract thinking.
 Animals are used as symbols of human behavior.
 Aesop's fables is the first known collection of fables.
FOLKTALES (FAIRY TALES)
 Folktales are stories that grew out of the lives and imaginations
of the people, or folk.
 Their popularity springs from their imaginative characters, their
supernatural elements, and their focus on action, their simple
sense of justice, their happy endings, and the fundamental
wisdom they contain.
Important folktale collections:
1) Charles Perrault's "Tales of Mother Goose" (1697) collected

and published in France: first written version of folktales.
2) Wilhelm and Jakob Grimm's "Nursery and Household
Tales"(1812) collected and published in Germany: helped to
popularize folktales (also see Grimm's tales at
nationalgeographic.com and Animated Grimm Tales)
3) Joseph Jacobs's "English Fairy Tales" (1894) collected and
published in England: further helped to popularize folk literature.
4) Andrew Lang's "Fairy Books" (1889: 1910) collected and
published a series of fairy books containing folktales from around
the world.
KINDS OF FOLKTALES
Animal Tales
 the oldest of all folktales. They are part myth, part fable, and
part fairy tales.
 They play significant roles in early stories and legends.
Wonder Tales
 (also known as fairy tales) are the best known of the traditional
folktales.
 They are stories of supernatural wonders typically depicting the
conflict between good and evil.
Cumulative
 are the ones which successive additions are made to a repetitive
plot line.
 They are generally very simple in plot and brief, for with each
addition, the entire sequence is repeated.
 For example, "The Gingerbread Man" and "Goldilocks and the
Three Bears"
Pourquoi Tales
 ("pourquoi" means "why" in French) seeks to explain natural
phenomena.
 They provide primitive explanations for the many "why"
questions early humans asked.
 The setting in pourquoi tales is earthly and deities play no role in
pourquoi tales as they do in myths.
Noodlehead Tales
 Light-hearted tales about silly people doing silly things.
 These tales are popular because of their pure nonsense and
jocularity, and sometimes we enjoy the triumph of the
goodhearted simpleton over the craftier evil characters of the
story.
LITERARY FAIRY TALES

o Are original tales written by specific modern authors that have all
the flavor of a traditional folktale.
o These tales fall somewhere between traditional literature and
fantasy.
o A modern variation of the literary fairy tale is a spoof or satire
(i.e., a parody of a folktale).
o Satire results when writers feel a literary form has been
exhausted and that it offers no other serious possibilities;
therefore, they begin to poke fun at it and then give the form a
new life.
For example:
 James Thurber's "Many Moons" (1943)
 Roald Dahl's "Revolting Rhymes"(1982)
 Eugene Trivizas's "The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig"
(illustrated by Helen
 Oxenbury)(1997)
 Jon Scieszka's "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" (1996)
 Colin & Jacqui Hawkins's "Fairytale News"(2004)
IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING FOLK LITERATURESIFOLK

TALES
 Folktales can be used to help develop strong reading skills, study
other cultures, model positive character traits, and discover a
love of stories.
 As Margaret Read MacDonald writes, "A folktale is a story that
has been passed from person to person." Since folktales have
been passed down through the oral tradition, they were honed
for listening, so they were easy to remember and share.
 As a result, folktales make it easier for us to differentiate
characters, follow a plotline or recall a sequence of events.
 They also play an important role in passing along core values or
character traits. Folktales were often employed to share a
common history, to reinforce cultural values or highlight
important traditions.
 As a result, folktales can demonstrate the importance of making
difficult decisions under challenging circumstances. Engaging in
discussions about the consequences of making poorly
thoughtout or rash decisions, helps them see the importance of
making effective decisions in their lives.
In short, folktales can be used in a variety of ways to:
1. Develop stronger reading skills

2. Study other cultures
3. Model character traits
4. Appreciate other traditions
5. Learn about decision making
6. Explore new ways of seeing the world
7. Discover a love of stories

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF FOLK LITERATURE

PERIOD 20TH CENTURY

LEGENDS AND TALL TALES

Important folktale collections:

1) Charles Perrault's "Tales of Mother Goose" (1697) collected

LITERARY FAIRY TALES

IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING FOLK LITERATURESIFOLK

In short, folktales can be used in a variety of ways to:

1. Develop stronger reading skills

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