Narrative Logo - Click for Main Menu Lecture III: The Characteristics and History of the Oral Tale
History of a Folktale - patter to print Fairy tales, nursery rhymes, "tall tales," ghost stories, chants, jokes, songs, "old wives' tales," spells, parables, urban legends, and, of course, fables are all part of this age-old tradition. These folk creations may circulate in cultures for centuries before they are captured in print. Caption: Stone face of the Green Tree-man on old European church facade . . . The Green Man Let us take the Green Man of Legend . . . . If we look at one of the most prevalent legends throughout history, we can see how a piece of legendstock might evolve. Probably the most persistent legend we know of is that of the fertility god. Fertility figures are known in every culture, from the curvaceous female figurines of the Stone Age down to our own fanciful use of the Camelot Legend. Take a look at this list: Osiris, Enkidu, The Green Man, The
Straw Man, Kirtimukha {We will return to more specific details about the relationship between The Green Man figures, Sir Gawain, and Arthurian Legends in Lecture VI, as we continue with literary interpretations of tales}. First, of course, Osiris is continually represented in Egyptian graphics as green, and painted green. Caption: Isis and a green Osiris in his mummified state The legend of Osiris offers a very strange link to the continual Tree/Green/Resurrection legends that continue to appear throughout history. When Osiris is killed the first time by the evil Seth, he is put into a boat and floated out to the sea. Isis searches everywhere for him, and finds him in Byblos, entombed in a wooden pillar. She rescues him from this entrapment, and brings him back to Egypt, where she is able, with the help of the god, Thoth, to revive him long enough to conceive Horus the Child. In a quite direct link, the folklore work of James Frazer in The Golden Bough traces the kingship renewal rituals through several cultures. [You can read this Frazer book online - see your resources page.] Frazer spent many years collecting folk tales on site and then published his 12-volume study in 1911-15. He was able to reach many cultures that have changed radically in the Twentieth Century, and so his careful documentation is very valuable today. King/fertility rituals have a certain pattern that is related to seasons, the agricultural cycle, and to perceived health and welfare of the culture as a whole. According to Frazer, the celebration of the Tree or Forest fertility god persisted in rural Europe for centuries after Christianity was fully ensconced. The folk traditions from the fertility god can be found today, in the maypole and May Day, and in the rituals of the NeoPagans. At this time, life is renewing itself. Birds
and animals are mating. In the fields, newly planted The Maypole tradition has been de-emphasized in the US ever since the conflict with Russia and the Communists' selection of May 1 for the International Holiday. Nonetheless, we can feel the folklore roots of the old Maypole chant: We are the flow, and from Mike Harding's Page about The Green Man: It could be that the images represent the God of the Woods, the Life Spirit, the Spirit of Death and Resurrection and, as an image, the Green Man has his counterpart in one of the oldest English Folk images, the Corn or Barley God whose beginnings stretch back to the camps of the Neolithic farmers.
Phil Lister writes: Silvanus (god of the forest) at the Abbey of Saint Denis, France; and Oceanus (both god of the sea and a satyr) in Mundanya, Istanbul. This has led many to seek clues in myth, legend and religion. John Barleycorn - celebrated in song - shows the same themes of death and rebirth, as does the Green Knight in the Arthurian story of Sir Gawain. Medieval legends of the Wild Men - dressed in leaves, living in the forest and venturing forth to take food, have been connected with the Green Man. In some stories of Robin Hood - the robber and hero dressed in green - he attains godlike status and links with the Horned God Hermes. Present-day Western pagan thought identifies the Green Man as the symbol of the qualities of godhood within the male, as well as being an expression of the life/death/rebirth cycle and its relationship with the transcendent life-force, the Goddess, the female expression of godhood. . . . . So, who is the Green Man? Well, the Green Man persists in many forms--both oral and written. We will examine the several early print versions that have to do with the Grail and Sir Gawain in Lecture VI. But here are just a sampling of the books that have used material from the Arthurian Legends: A listing of just the A's and B's of books that have been written using the Arthur material-- Anderson, Dennis Lee. Arthur, King. New York: Harper, 1995.
Barrron, Thomas. A. The Lost Years of Merlin. New York:
Philomel, 1996. Barthelme, Donald. The King (@ ). New York: Harper & Row,
1990. Berger, Thomas. Arthur Rex: A Legendary Novel. New York:
Delacorte, 1978. Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon (**). New York:
Knopf, 1982. Bradshaw, Gillian. Hawk of May. New York: Simon and Schuster,
1980. ---. Kingdom of Summer. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1981. Burgess, Anthony. Any Old Iron. New York: Random House, 1989.
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