Fairy Tales

1
Fairy Tales

• Motifs, Tale Types, and Variants

2
Tale Types

• There are similar folkloric stories found all
  over the world
• Finnish scholar Antii Aarne assigned type
  numbers to the major Indo-European tales  in 1910
  
• For Aarne, a type was a collection of similar
  stories that bear a historical relationship to
  each other
• For example, he classified a story as a
  Cinderella type (510A) only if he believed it
  derived from other historically-related stories

3
The Modern Tale Type Index

• American folklorist Stith Thompson revised Antii
  Aarne's tale type index in 1961
• He added a second, more detailed type of
  numerical index, the motif index
• This catalogs smaller elements of a story and
  implies no historical connection between stories
  listed together through their common motifs
• A motif is a recurring element, like three
  wishes or a long, death-like sleep

4
Variants of Tale Types

• All the stories categorized in the same tale type
  are called variants of that tale type
• According to Thompson's system, a variant of 510A
  found in Africa or Asia, for example, would not
  necessarily be derived from an Indo-European
  variant
• His six-volume index with over 40,000 distinct
  motifs is still used internationally to discuss,
  classify, and identify folktales
• The index classifies folklore, not literary fairy
  tales or other modern adaptations

5
Review

• Stith Thompson created the modern tale type index
  by revising and adding to Antii Aarne's original
  index
• The term tale type is used to categorize
  folkloric stories that possess the same basic
  elements
• These shared elements are called motifs
• All the folkloric stories in a given tale type
  are called variants
• Each tale type has its own number for easy use by
  scholars

6
Classic and Other Fairy Tales

• The term classic used in reference to fairy
  tales refers to the most well-known variants,
  like Cinderella
• Each has many lesser-known variants around the
  worldCinderella has over 700
• The fairy tales we now think of as classic have
  often been modified to make them suitable for
  children
• Many sexual, scatological, or violent details
  found in the earlier variants have been removed

7
Example of a Set of Motifs from a Tale Type

• A heroine (or hero) oppressed by a wicked family
  member
• The heroine or hero forced to live in degraded
  circumstances doing menial labor
• Some kind of magical help
• Meeting with an individual of higher status
• A test proving the heroines or heros true
  identity and worthiness for marriage
• Marriage to the individual of higher status
  raising of personal status

8
Example of a Magical Help from Different Variants
of Tale Type 510 (Cinderella)

• A fairy godmother (510A)
• A magic tree and birds (510A)
• A magical cow (510A)
• A magical frog (510A)
• Magical fish bones (510A)
• A rather inept fairy godmother who isnt much
  help--but at least she tries (510B)

9
Some Tale Types Can Be Subdivided

• Cinderella, Tale Type 510, has two
  subcategories
• 510A, usually referred to as Cinderella after
  its most famous variant, has a heroine oppressed
  by a wicked female or females, usually a
  stepmother
• 510B has a heroine oppressed by an unloving or
  incestuous father

10
Review

• All folktales are made up of sets of narrative
  elements, and the same elements can occur in the
  same order in tales all over the world
• These common recurring elements are called
  motifs
• A group of stories sharing the same motifs are
  considered to all be part of the same tale type
• These stories are called variants
• Stith Thompson, building on Anti Aarnes work,
  created the modern Tale Type Index

11
Quiz

• What do we call the different stories grouped in
  a single tale type?
• Who thought that all similar stories must be
  related historically to each other?
• Who decided they were not necessarily
  historically related even if they were very
  similar?
• What do scholars look at to determine what
  stories are categorized in a given tale type?

12

• What do we call the different stories grouped in
  a single tale type? variants
• Who thought that all similar stories must be
  related historically to each other?Finnish
  scholar Anti Aarne
• Who decided they were not necessarily
  historically related even if they were very
  similar?American scholar Stith Thompson
• What do scholars look at to determine what
  stories are categorized in a given tale
  type?Their motifs

13
Motif Game

• Motif is a word that is used outside of
  folklore, as well, to describe any kind of
  recurring element in arts, crafts, and
  literature.
• We normally dont use the term when talking about
  food, but lets do so now.
• Pretend we call categories of food Types and
  classify anything with the same motifs as a
  variant of that type.

14
What type of food has the following motifs?

• What is . . .
• Round and flat
• covered in tomato sauce
• sprinkled with grated mozzarella cheese
• sprinkled with assorted other sliced or chopped
  up stuff
• baked

15
Pizza! Variants of pizza include . . .

• Pepperoni
• Hawaiian (with pineapple, etc.)
• Vegetarian
• And many, many others
• Some may even alter a motif
• pesto sauce instead of tomato sauce
• other types of cheese
• square shape instead of round
• But you can always categorize a pizza as a
  pizza by its motifs.

16
The Ingredients of the Cinderella Tale Type

• A heroine (or hero) oppressed by a wicked family
  member
• The heroine or hero forced to live in degraded
  circumstances doing menial labor
• Some kind of magical help
• Meeting with an individual of higher status
• A test proving the heroines or heros true
  identity and worthiness for marriage
• Marriage to the individual of higher status
  raising of personal status

17
Tale Types, like types of food, are determined by
their ingredients

• Variants of the tale type Cinderella (510A and
  510B) include
• Cinderella
• The Story of the Black Cow
• Donkeyskin
• The Princess in the Suit of Leather
• The Maiden, the Frog, and the Chiefs Son
• Each variant in the same tale type shares the
  basic motifs, even if they take different forms.