One of the characteristics of folktales and legends is didactics. Why do you think such old stories have moral lessons to teach their readers?
Answers
Answer:
The campers huddle nervously around the fire as the smoke wafts up in eerie patterns. The counselor tells the familiar old ghost story in a low, spooky tone, building the anticipation as the young children squeal in terrified delight. They've heard this story dozens of times before, but it's part of camp tradition, and every year they ask to hear it again and again.
The campers in this situation may not know it, but they're participating in the ancient tradition of telling folk tales, which are stories passed down verbally from generation to generation. Ghost stories, of course, are just one kind of folk tale. We'll take a closer look at what defines a folk tale and examine some different types.
Video
Quiz
Course
144K views
What Makes a Folk Tale?
There are many different kinds of folk tales, with thousands of regional and cultural variations, but they all share a few common characteristics. At the most basic level, we can say that a folk tale is a story passed down orally from generation to generation. Let's look more closely at a few defining traits. Folk tales usually:
Feature regular people: Our English word 'folk' comes from the German word volk, meaning 'people.' So, as you might guess, folk tales are stories about everyday life and the day-to-day issues of humanity. Sometimes the stories involve supernatural elements, like the ghost story we discussed above, but they usually happen to people just like you and me. Other kinds of folk tales involve animals, but the animal characters behave like humans, with realistic emotions, flaws, and failings. This is part of what makes folk tales so enduring and appealing - listeners can relate to the characters in the story and imagine what they'd do in the same situation.
Are simple: Think about the word 'folks' or 'folksy.' What image comes to mind? Maybe you think of grandmas and grandpas, farm life, and simple villagers. When we talk about 'folklore,' we're talking about the kind of knowledge used by everyday people, not the refined kind of book-learning you'd find in universities.