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Narrative Logo - Click for Main Menu Lecture II. Tales Told Around the Fire - The Oral Folk Tradition Review of Last Week Folk and Fairy tales are considerably more than the spoken equivalent of the printed short story. In the last class session we examined a Mi'kmaq Cinderella story. This is only one version of at least 500 versions of cinder-girl-type stories that have been told for at least 2000 years and perhaps much longer. Cinderella tales are part of a very large oral tradition that encompasses everything from e-mail jokes to serious legend, from "old wives' tales" to ghost stories. While "oral tradition" has been relegated to children, often seen as unreliable and fanciful, we can learn about cultures and human nature in the examination of the rich folklore tradition of many countries over hundreds of years. |
