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Folktale
Folktale
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Definition:
Ancient stories originally composed and told for all age groups that have been passed down orally from generation to generation to explain the natural and spiritual worlds, as well as to entertain and to indoctrinate their members. Folktales express relationships among human beings and their fears and desires, reflecting the values and cultural patterns of the particular group from which they come. Folktales, also known as folklore, encompass fables, myth, legend, tall tales and fairy tales.
Purposes:
- To tell an entertaining story
- To reveal human nature
- To kindle imagination
- To understand universal qualities of humankind (how humans are alike)
- To convey morals and values
- To instill cultural beliefs, values and practices
Characteristics:
- Short, predictable narratives
- Express deep, universal emotions such as joy, grief, fear, jealousy, and awe
- Intrigue developed through repetition of phrases
- Repetitive language and events often occur with additional or changed details
- Identical themes found in tales across cultures
- Multiple forms:
- Cumulative, “pourquoi”, beast, noodlehead, numbskull, wonder, and trickster tales
- Fables, fairytales, tall tales
- Ghost stories, ballads, myths, legends, and epics
Themes:
- Reflective of the cultural values from which the tale originated
- Good (e.g., industrious, kind, patient, clever) triumphs over evil (e.g., selfish, greedy, lazy)
- Wishes come true after tests or struggles
- Values of humility, kindness, patience, sympathy, hard work, and courage are rewarded
- “Justice” themes
- Motifs: wishes, magical powers, transformations, magical objects, trickery, magical numbers (e.g., 3, 7, 12, etc.)
Characters:
- Underdeveloped
- Magical characters (e.g., fairies, elves, ogres, giants) and events
- Underdog triumphs
- Main character changes at conclusion
- Tricksters make up for physical weakness through cleverness or stupidity
- Incorporates colloquial and/or daily speech
- Stereotypical: entirely good, evil, obedient, lazy, and so on
- Duality that represents extremes in characters’ traits and appearance
- May be physically attractive with unattractive character traits and vice versa
Setting:
- Patterned beginnings and endings
- Setting in the distant past
- Setting may be make-believe, incorporating amazing places and things
- Often emphasizes a culture or country
Plot:
- Cumulative or linear plot structures
- Problem “tests” the main character (e.g., endurance, cleverness, survival)
- May include irony (e.g., the youngest is successful, the trickster is tricked)
- Characters, setting and problem revealed early
- Characters often engaged in outwitting one another
- Simple, direct, strong, linear plot
- Problem-solution pattern (including trickery and deception)
- “Quick”, magical transformation at resolution point
- Satisfying, definite conclusion
Author’s craft:
- Short or split into episodes
- Patterned beginnings
- Replication of simple sentence structure and concrete expressions
- Brisk, action-filled beginnings
- Humor
- Predictable ending
- Rhyme
- Using repetitions based upon magical numbers: characters / chants / verses / main episodes / attempts to solve problems
- Effective dialogue (expressing joy, grief, fear, jealousy, awe)
- High action throughout the narrative
- Instructive tone
- Evidence of reflection/insight regarding the cultural values
Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPREHENDING the Genre and Text of Folktales:
| Grade 1
Opportunities to Teach: | Grade 3
Opportunities to Teach: | Grade 6
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Grade Level Instructional Scope for COMPOSING the Genre and Text of Folktales:
| Grade 3
Opportunities to Teach: | Grade 6
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Booklists:
Access to the Documents:
Complete K-8 Genre Project
From the Michigan Department of Education
Complete K-8 Genre Booklist
From Kent Intermediate School District
Page last modified on October 09, 2009, at 04:09 PM