Folktales What is a folktale? Characteristics of folktales Trickster Tales

Development of folktales Stories that began with oral storytelling, passed down through the ages Explore the fears of the culture Universal truths that tells what happens to people who do not obey the group traditions

Characteristics of Folktales simple and straightforward includes magic or supernatural powers characters represent human qualities such as good, evil, wisdom, foolishness, laziness problems and conflicts are clear ending usually happy or satisfying good usually rewarded, evil punished

Characters Characters are usually static Hero and/or heroine are young Hero is honorable, courageous, unselfish, and caring Heroine is fair, kind charitable, and caring Often involve animals with human characteristics

Plot characteristics often include: Groupings of three characters, tasks, and/or events Good and evil characters who are everyday people or animals and have a problem to solve Magical beings and /or objects Spells, enchantments, or magical transformations Phrases are repeated. For example: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall…”. Happy endings or satisfying endings

Trickster Tales The protagonist (or trickster) is clever and devious Causes problems for another Usually unpunished Different cultures have specific tricksters

Tricksters from Different Cultures

“Sketches,” or what we have come to call short stories WASHINGTON IRVING (1783-1859) “Sketches,” or what we have come to call short stories Distinctly American settings and characters Preserved in writing the early folktales of the Dutch settlers in the Adirondacks of New York state Examples: “Rip Van Winkle,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” and “The Devil and Tom Walker”

Joel Chandler Harris 1845-1908 Gathered the dialect tales he had heard in his childhood told by slaves Trickster tales in which the enslaved secretly outwit their masters !ntroduced Americans to the basic patterns and rhythms of southern African-American speech.