Folktales

‘Cuir Dhachaidh E’ (‘Send It Home’): The Gifts of the Little People, the Bob of Fettercairn and the aesthetics of a tale and a tune

by Tiber Falzett

2012 [Forthcoming]. In Proceedings of Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 6. Eds. Colm Ó Baoill and Nancy McGuire.

My research on the nature of Scottish Gaelic performance culture has focused mainly around seanchas or discourse on... more My research on the nature of Scottish Gaelic performance culture has focused mainly around seanchas or discourse on tradition and the semiotics of words contained in such discourse (Falzett 2007-2010; 2010; 2012).  However, as John Shaw has argued, much can be learned by applying such contextual knowledge from the field to the analysis of verbal art forms (i.e. songs, stories, etc.) themselves: “Ideally, informants’ perceptions may eventually be correlated with analysis of texts—permitted variants and other materials—to form a coherent description” (1992/1993: 40). Therefore, this paper hopes to provide insights regarding the dynamic relationships between language and music in varied performative contexts of Scottish Gaelic cultural expression. This will be done by examining the role of ‘genre reinforcement’ (Shaw 1992/3: 38-40) in two Scottish Gaelic versions of ATU  503 (The Gifts of the Little People): one from Kate Dix of Berneray, Uist and the other from Donald (Danny) Cameron of Malden, Massachusetts, who grew up in Beaver Meadow, Antigonish County on the Nova Scotia mainland. In turn, the association of these two versions to the dance-tune ‘The Bob of Fettercairn’ and a related port-à-beul  version of it, beginning with the phrase “Cuir dhachaidh e,” will form the basis of our examination here.

The second part of this paper looks more abstractly at the symbolic nature of the narrative and examines the language contained within various Scottish Gaelic recitations of it. The Gifts of the Little People is well attested throughout the Gaelic-speaking regions of Scotland, Ireland and Nova Scotia. Lillis Ó Laoire’s (2009) groundbreaking discussions on the semiotic significance of this popular narrative have elucidated our understanding of its relevance to the inner mechanics of Gaelic aesthetic criteria and modes of transmission. Following Ó Laoire’s approach, the narrative’s aesthetic symbolism will be further explored through the lenses of emerging theoretical trends in the study of metaphor and other tropes from various scholarly disciplines, including cognitive linguistics and anthropology. This will incorporate a discussion concerning embodied understandings of abstract thought as demonstrated by the seemingly intangible nature of the aural and its ability to be made sense of through its associations with more concrete forms of sensory-motor experience, including vision, motion, and taste.

„The Hunted Children of Kings: A Theme in the Old Icelandic Sagas,“ Scandinavica 43 (2004), 5–27.

by Ármann Jakobsson

Masal mekânında kadın olmak: masallarda toplumsal cinsiyet ve mekân ilişkisi

by EVRİM ÖLÇER ÖZÜNEL

«Το αποστομωτικό ερώτημα: Ένας τύπος γρίφου σε αρχαίες διηγήσεις», στο Π. Βαλαβάνης & Ι. Κ. Προμπονάς (επιμ.), Ευεργεσίη. Τόμος χαριστήριος στον Παναγιώτη Ι. Κοντό, Αθήνα 2006, 265-276. ["The Unanswerable Question: A Type of Riddle in Ancient Narratives", in P. Balabanis & I. K. Promponas (eds.), Euergesie. Festschrift for Panagiotis I. Kontos, Athens 2006, 265-276.]

by Ioannis Konstantakos

Asini senza cuore

by Vermondo Brugnatelli

Published in: R. Arena, M.P. Bologna, M.L. Mayer, A. Passi (eds.), Bandhu. Scritti in onore di Carlo Della Casa in occasione del suo settantesimo compleanno, Alessandria, Ed. dell'Orso, 1997, pp. 605-616 [ISBN 88-7694-243-2].

[Paper in Italian]
Starting from the analysis of a widespread tale, this paper deals with the traditional way of... more [Paper in Italian]
Starting from the analysis of a widespread tale, this paper deals with the traditional way of regarding some parts of the body as the seat of different moral qualities and affections within North African culture and elsewhere. In particular, Berbers tend to ascribe (irrational) love to the liver and rational mind to the heart.

The Elusive Tale: Leveraging the Study of Information Seeking and Knowledge Organization to Improve Access to and Discovery of Folktales

by Carol Tilley

Co-authored with Kathryn La Barre. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. Volume 63, Issue 4, pages 687–701, April 2012

The Folktales and Facets project proposes ways to enhance access to folktales—in written and audiovisual... more The Folktales and Facets project proposes ways to enhance access to folktales—in written and audiovisual formats—through the systematic and rigorous development of user- and task- focused models of information representation. Methods used include cognitive task analysis and facet analysis to better understand the information seeking and use practices of people working with folktales and the intellectual dimensions of the domain. Interviews were conducted with 9 informants, representing scholars, storytellers and teachers who rely on folktales in their professional lives to determine common tasks across user groups. Four tasks were identified, collect, create, instruct, and study. Facet analysis was conducted on the transcripts of these interviews, and a representative set of literature that included subject indexing material and a random stratified set of document surrogates drawn from a collection of folktales – including bibliographic records, introductions, reviews, tables of contents, and bibliographies. Eight facets were identified as most salient for this group of users: agent, association, context, documentation, location, subject, time and viewpoint. Implications include the need for systems designers to devise methods for harvesting and integrating extant contextual material into search and discovery systems, and to take into account user-desired features in the development of enhanced services for digital repositories.

Cantari e fiabe: a proposito del problema delle fonti

by Carlo Donà

“Rivista  di Studi testuali”, VI-VII (2004-2005),  pp. 105-137

La “Ponzela Gaia” e le forme medievali di AT 401

by Carlo Donà

In La fiaba e altri frammenti di narrazione popolare, Atti del Convegno internazionale di studio sulla narrativa popolare, Padova, 1-2 aprile 2004, Firenze, Olschki (“Biblioteca di Lares”, LX), 2006, pp. 1-21

Les « Cantari » et la tradition écrite du conte populaire

by Carlo Donà

Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes, 20 | 2010, [En ligne], mis en ligne le 30 décembre 2013. URL : http://crm.revues.org//12229.

The folktale written tradition has obscure origins. Folktale is a very old and very widespread literary genre which,... more The folktale written tradition has obscure origins. Folktale is a very old and very widespread literary genre which, originally, belonged only to purely oral tradition. With very few exceptions, it takes on written form relatively late, according to current opinion, with Straparola (1550-53) and Basile (1630-34). This article attempts to demonstrate, by contrast, that the written tradition of folktales has in fact its origins in Italy, but almost two centuries before the Piacevoli Notti. It began, in the second half of the XIVth century, with the cantari, little poems of popular taste, in ottava rima, which, for the first time in European literature, systematically explored the folktale tradition, and borrowed from it a large number of narrative frameworks. Tales such as Liombruno, Bel Gherardino, Campriano and so on, are, from every point of view, real folktales in literary form : they opened the way from Märchen to literature, and enjoyed great success for several centuries, deeply influencing both literature and popular narrative.

Four Versions of a Neo-Aramaic Children's Story

by Eleanor Coghill

Intorno a Salvàns e Pagàns in Friuli: buone vecchie cose o nuove cose buone

by Davide Ermacora

Published in «Atti dell'Accademia San Marco» 11 (2009), 477-502

Due libri recenti sulle Agane

by Davide Ermacora

Published in «Ce Fastu?» 1 (2011), 71-82

This short review discusses, and raises some observations about, two new monographs on the folk belief in Alpine... more This short review discusses, and raises some observations about, two new monographs on the folk belief in Alpine fairies known as the Agane. Attention is focused, in particular, on the question of the pre-Christian origins of this belief throught archaeological sources and comparative mythology

Survie et création: la nourriture dans les contes louisianais et martiniquais

by Valérie Loichot

Leggere l'idiozia. Note sul ciclo narrativo di Giufà

by Matteo Martelli

published in "Strumenti critici", 2, 2011

The essay is an analysis of the Sicilian character Giufà, a sort of fool hero of Mediterranean folk tales.... more The essay is an analysis of the Sicilian character Giufà, a sort of fool hero of Mediterranean folk tales. Particularly, it suggests different interpretations of Giufà's actions from his several comic aspects to his funny attributes. Moreover, the tales offer to the reader a transformation of values that shows Giufà's foolishness as a positive way to observe reality.

Slittamenti comici. Giufà e il decentramento della frontiera

by Matteo Martelli

published in «Italian Quarterly», 2007

Il margine e l’ambivalenza. Sullo status dello sciocco.

by Matteo Martelli

in «Studi Urbinati», 2006

"Ο Σολομών αγωνιστής. Οι αγώνες γρίφων του βασιλιά Σολομώντα στην Παλαιά Διαθήκη και στην ελληνιστική ιστοριογραφία", Ελληνικά 54 (2004) 221-271. ["Solomon Agonistes: The Riddle-Contests of King Solomon in the Old Testament and in Hellenistic Historiographers", Hellenika 54 (2004) 221-271.]

by Ioannis Konstantakos

"Trial by Riddle: The Testing of the Counsellor and the Contest of Kings in the Legend of Amasis and Bias", Classica et Mediaevalia 55 (2004) 85-137.

by Ioannis Konstantakos

The tale of the riddle-contest between the Pharaoh Amasis and the king of Ethiopia (Plutarch, Convivium Septem... more The tale of the riddle-contest between the Pharaoh Amasis and the king of Ethiopia (Plutarch, Convivium Septem Sapientium 151A-E) was based on an Egyptian story about a contest of wits between Amasis and the king of Kush. The Egyptian story was taken over by Greek narrators, who incorporated it into the cycle of the Seven Sages, casting Bias in the role of Amasis’ consultant. The story about the tongue being the best and the worst part of an animal (Convivium 146E-F) grew out of a well-known maxim and was widely disseminated. In the legend of Amasis and Bias it functioned as a prelude to the main riddle-contest, testing Bias’ aptitude for the role of the Pharaoh’s consultant. This twofold pattern (a first, testing problem as a preliminary for a more serious contest of wits) occurs in many stories, both in the Greek (Glaukos and Polyidos, Kroisos’ diapeira of the oracles) and in other traditions (Sanskrit, Norse, ancient Egyptian). The legend of Amasis and Bias was structured on this pattern by Greek storytellers before Plutarch; the latter found the story so developed in a written source (probably a work about the Seven Sages). An appendix examines various types of riddles and problems which occur in the stories here discussed (adynaton, riddle of the superlative, simile-riddle, games based on a climactic sequence, the relation of oracles and omens with riddles).

"Nektanebo in the Vita Aesopi and in Other Narratives", Classica et Mediaevalia 60 (2009) 99-144.

by Ioannis Konstantakos

In adapting the Near-Eastern Tale of Ahiqar for a section of his own work, the author of the Vita Aesopi gave the name... more In adapting the Near-Eastern Tale of Ahiqar for a section of his own work, the author of the Vita Aesopi gave the name of Nektanebo to the anonymous Egyptian Pharaoh of his model. Nektanebo II (360-343 B.C.), the last native ruler of Egypt, had become a legendary personage: several narratives were circulating about him from Hellenistic times onwards, and they were still quite popular at the time the Vita was composed (1st/2nd c. A.D.). The figure of Nektanebo, as depicted in those narratives, presented a series of striking correspondences with the Pharaoh’s character in the Tale of Ahiqar. The author of the Vita presumably noticed those correspondences and was thereby induced to choose Nektanebo for the role of the Pharaoh in his own adaptation. The author also borrowed from the aforementioned narratives a number of circumstantial details and introduced them into his adaptation of Ahiqar, in order to lend appropriate local colouring to the setting and action of his Egyptian episodes.

"The Miserly Monarch. Nektanebo's Tribute to Babylon in the Vita Aesopi", Symbolae Osloenses 84 (2009) 90-110.

by Ioannis Konstantakos

In the riddle-contest of the Vita Aesopi (ch. 105-123) the Pharaoh Nektanebo initially prescribes ten years’ tribute... more In the riddle-contest of the Vita Aesopi (ch. 105-123) the Pharaoh Nektanebo initially prescribes ten years’ tribute as the prize for the winner; but when he finally loses the contest, he only pays three years’ tribute to his opponent. In this respect the Vita differs from its model, the Near-Eastern Tale of Ahiqar, where the tribute is for three years on both occasions. This variation was introduced by the author of the Vita, so as to highlight Nektanebo’s avarice, a quality also attributed to this Pharaoh in other narratives. For the same purpose the Greek author made some additional alterations to his model.