READING TRADITIONAL TALES

AND KNOWING THEIR

PATTERNS & VARIANTS

Prepared By: Francisco L. Gatchalian III

Folktales

Different scholars classify folktales way. According to

Stancy Carney, the tales are derived into (Torres, 2003).

FOLKTALE

S

Cumulative Tales Talking Beast Tales Drolls and humurous

Realistic Tales Religious Tales

Romances Tales Pourqoui TalesTales of magic

Cumulative Tales

Cumulative Tales:

these have little plot

and lots of rhythm.

Events follow a logical

order in a pattern of

repetition.

Repetitive Tales - those

stories that have "add-

ons".

Chain Tales - those

stories that have pattern

that units the whole

story

Talking Beast Tales

Talking Beast Tales:

animals behave as

human. An example

is the story of Three

Little Pigs.

Drolls and Humorous

Drolls and Humorous:

are fun and nonsense

stories. The main

character makes silly

mistakes. The

characters are poor or

the lower classes of

society.

Realistic tales

Realistic Tales: the

characters, plot and

setting can be

possible in real

world.

Religious Tales

Religious Tales:

these are usually

didactic but can be

humorous.

Romances

Romances: lovers are

separated and

through magic and

impossible tasks are

again reunited.

Tales of Magic

Tales of Magic: a.k.a

fairy tales. Magic is

involved. The

characters come

from the upper

classes of society.

Pourqoui Tales

Pourqoui Tales: are

the "why" stories.

They try to explain

animal traits as well

as human behavior.

Tall Tales and Folktales

Tall tales do appear in other countries, but it is in the US that unforgettable heroes have appeared in these types of stories.

American tales have humor, courage and the spirit that pioneers must have to be able to survive the hostile enviroment.

GFT: The Symbolism

From the picture given, the students will recognize in what folktales did they

remember that symbolism or photo.

Folktales have some common basic

characteristics (Torres, 2003). They are the

following:

Characteristics of Folktales

Structure of plot

Structure of Plot. The characters are

presented in the beginning, the setting is

quickly established, the story contain conflict,

climax, falling action and conclusion.

characterization

Characterization. The characters are flat or

presented as one-dimensional (i.e. completely

good or bad).

STYles

Style: folktales of different cultures have their

own unique way of presenting their stories.

Example:

"Once upon a time..."

"There was a time...“

theme

Theme: The most common contemporary

understanding of theme is an idea or point that

is central to a story, which can often be

summed in a single word (e.g. love, death,

betrayal) (wikipedia.org).

The importance of love, courage, friendship is

many times presented in folktales.

MOTifs

Motifs: are basically the patterns seen in folktalessuch as:> The characters seen in folktales: wicked stepmothers, abused children, tricksters and the younger brother.> The supernatural beings:fairies, witches, giants> The magical objects: tablecloth that give food, mirror that speaks.> Enchantments: prince turned into a frog, lonh sleep over 100 years

Fable - a short story

that usually is about

animals and that is

intended to teach a

lesson (Merriam

Webster Dictionary).

Aesop - considered

as father of fables.

Characteristics of fables

• Stories are short.

• The stories have a lesson.

• Animals and natural elements can speak as

humans.

• Characters represent human characteristics

or behavior.

• Few characters appear in these stories.

• Plots usally present a single event.

MYTHs

Myths: a traditional story about superheroes or

supernatural being, often explaining the origins

of natural phenomena or aspect of human

behavior.

Creation Myths Nature Myths Hero Myths

MYTH

Creation Myth

Creation Myths: These stories explain how the

world and human was created.

Nature myths

Nature Myths: These are the stories that try to

explain why season changes.

Hero myths

Hero Myths: In these stories the hero must

accomplish some tasks.

Legends & epics

is a mixture of reality and fiction. Basically, legends start of from a real incident that through time transformed by imaginary events added by the narrator of the story.

Epics: a long narrative on a cycle of stories clustering around the actions of a single hero.

LEGENDS EPICS

EPICS in the philippines

LUZON

the Hudhud of the Ifugaothe pre-Hispanic epic poem Biag ni Lam-angthe Ullalim epic songs of the Kalingathe Ibalon epic from Bicol

WESTERN VISAYAS

the Hinilawod – the longest and oldest epic of the Hiligaynon people

MINDANAO

the Darangan of the Maranao (recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity)