folktale essays

To define the term fairy tale one would have to do more than simply look up the definition in a dictionary. With a vast history, fairy tales come in many different variations, differing from one culture to the next. The most often question asked, however, is the question as to what makes a story a fairy tale and not just a story. In the historic sense, fairy tales are oral traditions passed down generation to teach moral and life lessons. Most people would benefit greatly from the lessons presented in many tales. To help make it clear as to what a fairy tale should contain within its story, Vladimir Propp, in his Morphology of the Folktale, assigns specific letters and numbers in each action in the tale to come up with an equation of sorts to define every tale. There are 31 functions total in Propp's list. Before Propp created his morphology list, analysis of fairy tales were done by comparing motifs which were more than often descriptive, and not focusing on the action of the tales. Propp used 100 examples to prove his theory. Here, however, only three will be used. In the Brother's Grimm version of Hansel and Gretel,  absentation, the first of Propp's Functions, occurs when Hansel and Gretel's parents leave them deep in the forest to rid of them (Grimm186). This can be argued that the children are not actually absent from the story, but absent from the home. The family is living in a time of famine, so the parents simple solution is to get rid of the children. Interdiction, the second function, takes place when the children's mother builds a fire in the deep forest and requests them to stay by it until she returns, while her and her husband leave to find wood, or so she says. This interdiction is violated when the children leave the fire site and attempt to find there way back home, but instead make there way to a witches house made of candy, in the f This Essay.
Folk Tales Length: 639 words (1.8 double-spaced pages) Rating: Red (FREE)   - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - When you where a kid did your parents ever tell you stories about your culture or about your family& 8217;s values? Chances are they where telling you a folk tale. Folk tales are stories passed down usually by word of mouth but often they are written down. Folk tales teach a valuable life lesson while entertaining the reader or in some cases the listener. This essay will give examples of three folk tales and go into depth on how they teach lessons and still remain entertaining for children and even adults.       The first of the three folk tales I will be discussing is titled The Sheep of San Cristobal, in which a young woman named Filipa looses her only son. She makes ends meet by growing beans and selling them to the local townspeople, who are very sympathetic to Filipa. When a rich sheep herder named Don Jose starts harassing Filipa because she refuses to marry him She wishes for him to fall off a cliff and break his neck, when her wish comes true she feels very guilty and makes penance by giving away all of Don Jose& 8217;s sheep to those poor enough to deserve them. At the end of her penance she finds her son. This story tells allot about Spanish Culture and shows how religious the people are. The second folk tale is titled From things fall apart. It is a story of a greedy manipulative turtle who tricks a flock of birds out of their feast in the sky, but he soon learns his lesson when the birds take away their feathers and he is forced to jump back to earth thus shattering his smooth shell. This story shows that this culture believes that if you do bad things you will eventually get what is coming to you.The third folk tale is called In the Land of the Small Dragon. This story has many similarities with Cinderella. It is.
Only available on StudyMode Read full document → Save to my library When you where a kid did your parents ever tell you stories about your culture or about your family’s values? Chances are they where telling you a folk tale. Folk tales are stories passed down usually by word of mouth but often they are written down. Folk tales teach a valuable life lesson while entertaining the reader or in some cases the listener. This essay will give examples of three folk tales and go into depth on how they teach lessons and still remain entertaining for children and even adults. The first of the three folk tales I will be discussing is titled The Sheep of San Cristobal, in which a young woman named Filipa looses her only son. She makes ends meet by growing beans and selling them to the local townspeople, who are very sympathetic to Filipa. When a rich sheep herder named Don Jose starts harassing Filipa because she refuses to marry him She wishes for him to fall off a cliff and break his neck, when her wish comes true she feels very guilty and makes penance by giving away all of Don Jose’s sheep to those poor enough to deserve them. At the end of her penance she finds her son. This story tells allot about Spanish Culture and shows how religious the people are. The second folk tale is titled From things fall apart. It is a story of a greedy manipulative turtle who tricks a flock of birds out of their feast in the sky, but he soon learns his lesson when the birds take away their feathers and he is forced to jump back to earth thus shattering his smooth shell. This story shows that this culture believes that if you do bad things you will eventually get what is coming to you.The third folk tale is called In the Land of the Small Dragon. This story has many similarities with Cinderella. It is the story of a beautiful young girl named Tam who’s beauty reflects her inner kindness and.
Like the myths of all peoples, the stories included in Scottish Folk-Tales and Legends are intended to instruct readers, especially the young. The strengths and weaknesses that characterize the Scots are plainly set forth in language that cannot be misunderstood. Wilson avoids the use of Gaelic terms or words in the Scottish dialect that might confuse readers who are not familiar with these languages. While the Scots value warriors, they do not stint their appreciation of women who prevail despite hardship. The wife of Roderic MacCodrum is able to assume the guise of a seal or a woman at will, but, when Roderic hides her seal skin, she is forced to live among humans. Her discovery of his deceit permits her to return to the sea, but in her joy is also pain because she knows that his real weakness is his deep love for her. In Scottish folklore, love that brings both exhilaration and despair or that requires sacrifice is also a favorite topic. The son and daughter of the Ailp king accept a mutual enchantment and the years of anguish that it will bring because they realize that only in sharing the pain can they ever win release. Survival in an harsh environment demands cooperation and oblation, attributes that are prominently featured in these narratives. Scottish Folk-Tales and Legends also contains stories of fairies and other supernatural beings that teach lessons about morality. Those who suffer the wrath of “the little. (The entire section is 572 words.).