Lecture V: Tale Types and Motifs

 

Taboo Tales

While we have looked at Mythological Motifs, Animals, Magic, the Dead (well, coming to it!) and some Marvels, we have pretty much skipped over the Taboo - actually the subject of this lecture's Cinderella tale.  



Caption:  Rumplestiltskin to the rescue of the Miller's Daughter

The cow taboo that we read about in Harris finds its way into the Indian Cinderella, in that dream-logic of folklore. Also, the "name of the helper" tale type is can be a Taboo tale in type C432.1 "guessing name of supernatural creature gives power over him."  We see a slight variation of this in Rumplestiltskin (tale type 500--The Name of the Helper).   There are over a thousand ramifications of the taboo, or tabu - ranging from the very serious, double obligation Geas of the Old Irish prohibitions to the religious systems of Polynesia and Hawaii.  The most familiar taboos surround the forbidden chest, door, or box.  Another standard is the lost husband or wife - Orpheus is the best-known example.  But we must also watch out for flowers not to be picked, fruit not to be eaten (in Eden, perhaps?), time-limit taboos, not calling a thing by name, not looking back, and not behaving wrong in the presence of supernatural beings . . . .




The Yellow Fairy with fairy dust

Many of the tales that we call Fairy Tales are actually tales of Taboo.  We looked into fairies a bit two weeks ago - noting that they could be dangerous as well as beneficent.  Fairies come in a number of forms, they might be seen as elves, brownies, leprechauns, pixies, and so forth.  They often travel in troops, live in isolated places - maybe the hollow of a tree or under a knoll, seem to be unacquainted with fire, and accept tokens gifts as evidence of friendship.  However, the taboos associated with fairies are many:  one should not eat with fairies; if one spends the night in a fairy camp, one may return to the world but will never be human again; one should never bathe or touch water in a lake in fairyland;  one should beware touching  fairy bathwater, or get soap or ointment on oneself while bathing a fairy child; fairies can take the "substance" of a thing and leave a sham or shell; they can appear as spirits of the dead or the living; time may pass at a supernatural speed in fairyland; and fairies may play flutes or other instruments to lure the unsuspecting.

you might want to watch out for these Fairy Hideaways:

 

Faerie Rings:  Faeries dance in circles and their music lures humans to them. Once inside, a human cannot escape unless a human chain from the outside is formed to pull him/her out. Inside, what seems like a couple minutes could actually be several days.

 

Gump Hill near Cornwall, is reported to be a popular Faerie meeting place.

 

Faerie Islands: elusive islands where all is happiness, it is always Spring, and no one ages or falls ill. Some float, some are underwater and only come up at night, some are only visible every so often. Among the best known are the Isles of the Blest (a/k/a Fortunate Islands), Tir Nan Og (the Land of the Young), Tirfo Thuinn (the Land Under the Waves), Tire Nam Beo (Land of the Living), Tirn Aill (the Other World), Mag Mor (the Great Plain), Mag Mell (the Pleasant Plain), and Tir Tairngire (the Plain of Happiness).

 

Of course, if you are ever in trouble with a Fairy, you can always open a Bible.

Caption:  Magic wand and fairy dust

oh, a few more:

 

Bells:

They are used as protection against faeries and evil spirits.  But faeries also use bells. They are commonly used by faerie riders on the harnesses of their horses.

 

Ill Health:

• Stroke - actually has its roots in faerie superstition, shortened from "faerie stroke" or "elf stroke."  It comes from an elf who strikes a human, then invisibly carried him off while a stock character kept their place.

• Rheumatism

• Slipped discs

• Deformations

• Paralysis - caused by the "invisible presence of a faerie marker"

• Cramps - punishment for annoying faeries

• Unexplained bruises - caused by pinching faeries

• Consumption -  tuberculosis, has many causes: one being a broken heart

• Problems with childbirth - faeries may be blamed, as they are also fertility spirits

• Skin diseases - impetigo and lice

 

As an aside, it's instructive to look at the fairy tales we are familiar with to see what has happened to the taboo element.  The Little Mermaid is essentially a fairyland taboo tale in reverse - our Mermaid originates in fairyland, she goes to the "real" world, and, in the Andersen version, she cannot re-enter the land under the waves - a traditional fairyland. 



Caption:  Tinkerbell

In Peter Pan, Tinkerbell is a fairy, and she takes the children to Fairyland.  Peter, of course, is the one who cannot return - and even the contemporary endings suggest that this outcome has both literary, social, and psychological overtones.



Rainbow in the clouds

Similarly, you will be able to read about The Wizard of Oz and its creation in Zipes, but Dorothy is essentially in a fairyland when she gets to Oz;  in Oz, there are Fairy Queens, Wizards, Munchkins, Fairy Witches, etc. abounding.  Dorothy does get back, but only with the red shoes (and thereby hangs another tale)!

Taboo and fairies are not confined to the mists and moors of the British Isles - in fact, a healthy tradition of fairy tabu exists in many Polynesian and Pacific Island cultures.  Also, the animal-wife as seal is a standard feature in tribal lore from the northlands of the world and figures as a close reflection of European fairy taboo....  As in each of the tale types, there are hundreds of subcategories - for example:

C31.10--Taboo:  giving garment back to supernatural wife.

C322--Looking into a bag.

C337--Looking up a chimney.

C631--Breaking the Sabbath.

 

Taboos are everywhere however.  They can be buried in many folk stories in ways we might not expect, and they are associated with the folkstock of holidays and festivals, for example.  Here is a Taboo list for Chinese New Year:



Caption:  Chinese New Year's symbol

Chinese will do a Spring cleaning a few days before the New Year to spruce up the home as well as to get rid off of old stuff. And then, right after the New Year Eve dinner is over and the home is clean, all brooms and kitchen knifes will be kept away. During the first day of the New Year, not only is one not supposed to utter any unlucky words such as "death" and "accident", one is also forbidden to touch the brooms and knifes, for they may sweep in bad luck and misfortune. If one accidentally breaks the dishes, one must quickly utter "sui sui ping an" or "tai kat lai si" (in Cantonese).



Caption:  The "I believe in Fairies" graphic


 

1. (Fairy graphics from Jani's Foundus Page.  Would you believe 200,000 visits since 1999?  (www.foundus.com/faerie )


Continue with Lecture V.