Folk, Fairy and Tall Tales: Characteristics and Related Information
FOLK TALES: Generally, folk tales are stories of the "common man." They employ limited, but obvious, social stratification (much like myths which have gods, demigods, and mortals) through their characters: peasants and royalty, prostitutes and religious leaders or ministers, theatrical players, drunkards and high-ranking government officials. Although there may be various versions of the story, each is usually "localized" by the writer's substitution of ordinary things his reader would recognize: geographical landmarks, like mountains, rivers, towns, or even noted historical figures. Like fables, folk tales usually have a moral, or lesson, the reader should recognize, appreciate, and adopt. Many of the tales feature real people or events, but, which, over time and re-telling, have grown to "mythic" proportions.
In the early 19th century, the famous brothers, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, became interested in folk tales and their history; they travelled extensively, gathering many of these "localized" versions of stories, often the same story, and set about trying to reduce them to a "singular, uniform version," while also trying to trace the story to its original roots. They found numerous versions of the "Cinderella" tale (with most versions of the tale not meant for children, having grotesque elements, like one of the evil stepsisters who cut off parts of her foot in order to force the glass slipper to fit!). Through them, the concept of "The Oral Tradition," the notion of passing along stories and song (and local/family history) down, by word of mouth, from generation to generation, helped to standardize literary research and criticism. Today, we still participate in the Oral Tradition: family gatherings during the holidays, where family members reminisce; classmates gather at a reunion, and laughingly recall fun times; or even the elementary classroom game where a "secret" is passed from one child to another.
FAIRY TALES: Obviously, these tales, by their very nature, always include elements of the supernatural, mystical, or magical components. These can be characters (fairies, ghosts, pixies, banshees, leprechauns, witches, etc.), places or settings (Xanadu, Shangri-La, Brigadoon, etc.), or even cryptozoological animals (unicorns, dragons, centaurs, etc.). Most often, the stories change both through the retelling and "local color." These tales utilize a relatively common dichotomy: good vs. evil. The protagonist generally represents the innocent/pure (good) vs. the antagonist, who represents evil, darkness, ignorance, etc. (bad). These tales often share many similarities with folk tales. What many do not realize, however, and it's a bit difficult to comprehend, but during this time the people actually believed in the reality of such beings and places, as solidly and firmly as they did all of the other aspects of their daily lives.
TALL TALES: Tall tales are not a predominantly American phenomenon, (although our reading selection is) but scholars have traced elements of these kinds of tales back to the stories of Baron Munchausen. R. E. Raspe's collection of the Baron's tales, Baron Münchausen's Narrative of his Marvelous Travels and Campaigns in Russia (1786) was so very popular that by 1800 the book had been translated into five languages, and by 1835 there were at least twenty-four American editions of the work. In recent years, a number of other more modern, similar styles of stories from foreign countries/cultures have surfaced. They make constant and repeated use of hyperbole, or gross exaggeration, in order to create preposterous and laughable situations, to present humorous mistakes and bad choices, and to deliver highly unlikely and suspect outcomes. Sometimes the protagonist is portrayed as unsophisticated and ignorant, while the story itself shows the character's true inherent intellect, shrewdness, guile, and ability, eventually, to overcome all obstacles (no matter how improbable) and succeed/win/marry, etc.