Theories of Folktale Origin

Traditional Literature

Stories passed down through oral storytelling, and from generation to generation fall under the broad term traditional literature. Over time and through many tellers, these stories altered, drawing upon each new generation's truth to become the stories we are familiar with today. Rich in tradition and richer in language, traditional literature connects the future to the past.

The Brothers Grimm were the first to systematically collect and record tales of the common people. Within traditional literature there are several categories: fables, folktales, myths, and legends; within the categories are types. Traditional literature is one of the most popular genres in picture books. Kathleen T. Horning cites many reasons for this: 1) The action, patterned language, and simple themes threaded through the tales make them appealing to children, 2) the emphasis in library programming on storytelling, and 3) the demand for multicultural literature. In the early 1990s multicultural fairy tales were abundant, filling a need for diversity in children's literature.

In the last decade parodies, or fractured tales, have become very popular--no piece of traditional literature is safe from the machinations of a warped and creative mind. Beginning with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Viking, 1989), Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith set off a trend that shows no sign of abating.

І. Folktales

Origins and Diffusion of Folktales

Theories of Folktale Origin

No one theory listed below has been proved true; probably all of them have some points of validity.

Monogenesis ("single origin") Theory:

· The earliest theory; also called the "Indo-European Myth Theory" or "Aryan Myth Theory".

· Belief that all folktales were descended from the myths of the Indo-Europeans or Aryans.

o Indo-Europeans were supposedly ancestral to many races from India west through Europe.

o Almost all European languages are descended from the Indo-European language; possibly many folktale elements have descended also.

o Does not take into account similar folktales from other parts of the world.

Polygenesis ("many origin") Theory:

· Belief that people everywhere have the same experiences and thus develop the same stories.

· People in all parts of the world are not alike.

· Although stories might have originated in similar experiences, it is unlikely that they would be as similar in details as they have proved to be.

Psychological explanations:

· Freud believed that folktales arose from our unconscious needs and frustrations, which grew out of our childhood experiences.

· Jung believed that folktales grew out of our "collective unconscious," experiences that are rooted in the past of all mankind so that stories which grew out of them are found among all peoples.

· Some people believe that folktales grew out of dreams and nightmares which haunt us.

· Some people believe that folktales are a form of wish fulfillment, which allow us to satisfy our emotional needs.

Sociological explanations:

· Some people have believed that folktales are remnants of nature myths; stories which explain nature through a story which was once accepted as true.

· Others have believed that folktales are remnants of other kinds of religious myth or ritual; characters may symbolize various mythical characters, or rhymes memorialize ritual words and speeches.

· Anthropologists believe that folktales are the "cement of society," einforcing the moral lessons that a society wants its members to learn.

Diffusion of folktales:

· Many folktales exist in variant forms from all over the world.

· Folktales were carried from one place to another as groups of people migrated and settled in new areas.

· Folktales have also been carried by individuals- soldiers and sailors, captives and slaves, minstrels and bards, merchants and traders--who have moved from one place to another temporarily or permanently.

· Tales which traveled by land changed more than those that traveled by sea, because more people told and thus changed them.

Folktales today:

· Folktales were originally told to an audience of both adults and children; the oral process of telling and adapting folktales continues today in many parts of the world, but among literate peoples, the process is found less often now except in storytelling to children.

· Once a story is written down, it tends to be more fixed in form, and even people who tell it change it less.

· Cumulative tales are popular with preschool children; preschool and primary children like talking animal tales; and third and fourth graders prefer tales of magic (Mдrchen).

· There is currently a revival of storytelling (especially by professional storytellers) in this country, which is popular with adults as well as children.