Folktale Heroines I categories of traditional stories a 3 main categories of traditional stories 1 myth gods set in remote past 2 3 legend heroes set in recent past folktale involve lesser supernatural figures or ordinary people no set time once upon a time b often overlap c Traditional stories passed down through generations often orally II Folktale Motifs and Tale Types a motif single element idea in story e g magic ring idea that originally sky and earth were one tale type type of story e g the Dragon Slayer b c Motif Index of Folk Literature 1 Stith Thompson 1885 1976 2 ruthenia ru folklore thompson index htm d Arne Thompson 2 different guys tale type index 1 Anti Aarne 1867 1925 2 revised by Thompson III Arne Thompson Tale Type 720 My Mother She Killed Me My Father He Ate Me a The Juniper Tree German folktale brothers Grimm 1 Man and woman have a son mother dies father remarries 2 Father and stepmother have a daughter together Marlinchen heroine 3 Evil stepmother kills son and puts him in black pudding son 4 Feeds black pudding to the father 5 Daughter takes the remains bones of her brother and puts them into a handkerchief 6 She buries it under a juniper tree 7 bird comes out of the juniper tree and starts singing a song 8 the bird goes around town singing the song gets chain red shoes and millstone from shop owners for singing the song again for them 9 He goes back to the house and starts singing the song the evil stepmother knows the bird is the son 10 The bird drops the golden chain on the neck of the father 11 He drops the red shoes for Marlenchen 12 He drops the millstone and crushes the stepmother b The Crow s Nest Hungary 1 A daughter leaves home to run some errands 2 Mother decides to cut up her son and put him in stewed cabbage 3 She feeds the cabbage to the father 4 5 6 Crow goes around singing and gets cloak stick and millstone from shop daughter buries the bones remains of her brother under a tree the tree opens and a crow boy comes out owners 7 Daughter gets the cloak 8 Father gets the stick 9 Millstone is dropped on mother and she is crushed c The Rose Tree England bird comes out of tree 1 Evil mother kills daughter and makes stewed heart liver daughter 2 Feeds to father 3 Son takes what s left of her and buries it under a rose tree 4 5 Gets shoes watch chain millstone for singing 6 Shoes are dropped at son s feet 7 Watch chain is given to father 8 Millstone is dropped on the mother d Similarities 1 Mother figure kills the child 2 There is a tree where the remains of the murdered child are buried under 3 The millstone is dropped on the mother figure 4 There s always a bird that sings 5 The millstone is always collected last 6 The murdered child is always served to the father as a kind of food e Differences in these stories In the last story the murdered child is the daughter son becomes hero 1 2 The songs are slightly different 3 Always a different tree 4 The murdered child is always made into a different food each food is particular to the culture that tells the story 5 Not always the stepmother that murders their child sometimes it s the mother f These are folktales because there isn t a specified point in time concern ordinary people although the birds have magical elements the millstone is huge but the bird is able to carry it around IV Arne Thompson Tale Type 425 The Search for the Lost Husband a The Monster as Husband a woman is married to a monster husband b Disenchantment of the Monster somehow the woman finds out her husband is a monster usually she sees him in his true form c Loss of the Husband d Search for the Husband e Recovery of the Husband husband and wife are reunited f Ex Beauty and the Beast V Cupid and Psyche a original story written by Lucius Apuleius 1 born c 125 CE 2 Madaura Africa b c Metamorphoses or the Golden Ass 152 154 CE embedded narrative character in a story tells a story to another character in the story VI Cupid and Psyche a The Monster as Husband Cupid Greek Eros Psyche Venus Greek Aphrodite 1 Psyche is a beautiful mortal woman so beautiful people stop worshipping Venus goddess of sexual desire 2 Venus gets jealous and wants to humiliate Psyche 3 To punish Psyche Venus sends Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a horrible ugly commoner 4 Cupid touches Psyche with his arrow she sees him and falls in love with him Cupid accidentally touches himself with his arrow and falls in love with Psyche 5 Cupid and Psyche get married although Psyche cannot see Cupid 6 Psyche marries a monster on the mountaintop 7 She s only with her husband at night never during the day 8 Psyche s sisters are jealous tell Psyche to take a candle with her a night to try to see her husband because they ve heard rumors Psyche s husband is a monstrous snake Disenchantment of the Monster snake Psyche sees beautiful Cupid b c Loss of the Husband Cupid flies away and Psyche jumps out the window after him their beautiful palace falls away Search for the Husband impossible tasks 1 Venus sets impossible tasks for Psyche 2 Cupid helps her do the last task himself d e VII The Singing Soaring Lark German a The Monster as Husband woman lion Recovery of the Husband deification of Psyche she becomes one of the Olympian gods 1 A father has 3 daughter 2 He s going on a trip and asks what gifts they want him to bring back they ask for pearls diamonds and favorite daughter a singing soaring lark 3 When he finds one in a tree and goes to get it a lion jumps out and says they can have the lark if he gives the lion whatever he sees when he first gets home 4 The first thing he sees is the youngest favorite daughter who wanted the lark 5 She is sent to the lion s palace 6 Eventually she wants to see her family 7 The lion is actually and enchanted prince he is a lion during the day and a handsome prince at night 8 Girl only sees handsome prince at night never lion b Disenchantment of the Monster dove prince tells her if the sunlight hits him he will turn into a dove 1 The sunlight comes in and hits the prince c Loss of the Husband he turns into a dove and has to stay a dove for 7 years d Search for the Husband sun moon winds dragon griffin witch 1 Sun gives her a box and says don t open until you really need it 2 Moon egg open …
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