Folk Literature

What is your favorite – what one do you remember best – any about animals

Legends Fairy Tales Pourquoi (why) tales Fables (moral) Trickster tales

Davy Crocket Cinderella How…. Aesop Coyote/Anansi/Raven

Johnny Appleseed

1. usually does not have a single identifiable author
2. originates in oral tellings – therefore may have many versions (ie. Cinderella, Goldilocks)
3. “stock” characters: all good/really good or all bad/really bad
4. has fantastic or unrealistic elements
5. usually has a lesson or moral
6. set in vague historical past: “once upon a time….long ago”

Fairy Tales:

Set in vague time

Characters are make believe people

Strange tasks, challenges to meet

Helped by magical, mysterious beings

Legends:

Set in recognizable place and time

Characters are human heroine or hero

Performs superhuman deeds

Based on real, historical figure whose abilities have been exaggerated over time

Fables

Very short tales that usually end with a moral that suggests wise way of behaving

Most about animals, that act like humans

Pourquoi stories

Tell why or how something in nature came to be that way

Characters are usually animals – why rabbit has a short tail

Trickster tales

Character usually animal – fox, crow, coyote, Anansi- delight in deceiving other animals

Trickster usually wins, not only because of own cleverness, but failing in victim (vanity, pride)