The Folktale
Stith Thompson
he Keen Sight of the Dove and the Keen Hearing of the Frog |
The Folktale from Ireland to India III – The Simple Tale 2. Animal tales B. The Northern Animal Cycle and Reynard the Fox |
One of the most interesting literary products of the Middle Ages in western Europe is the collection of animal tales which eventually formed the satirical epic known from its most famous example as the Roman de Renart. The literary history of this group of writings is not to our purpose. [332] But no discussion of the oral tale in Europe can neglect stories with such vitality as those which are collected by the scores and sometimes hundreds in lands around the Baltic, which even seven hundred years ago were well enough known to form an animal epic, and which within the past four centuries have traveled to Africa and on slave ships to all parts of the New World. A considerable group of these tales early aroused the interest of Kaarle Krohn, and to them he applied for the first time the rigorous analytical study which has later become known as the historical-geographical method. [333] He observed that these tales still had a very vigorous life in Finland and Russia, and that most of them also formed a part of the Reynard cycle. By a close analysis of the details, he examined the question of origin and subsequent history of these stories. He found that in practice one particular series of episodes was ordinarily handled as a unit. In this series the stupid bear or wolf is placed in opposition to the sly fox. Such an opposition Krohn does not find in the literary fables, but it is an essential part of this whole group of episodes, [334] as well as of a few related independent stories. The cycle which forms the principal part of Krohn's study usually consists of five parts, any one of which may also be found as a self-sufficient anecdote. The fox sees a man hauling a wagon load of fish. He lies down in the road where the wagon must pass and plays dead. The man throws him onto the wagon of fish and the fox throws the fish off behind and carries them away. He tells his friend the bear about his experience. In some versions of the tale the bear tries the same trick but is caught and killed ( Although three out of five of these episodes ( It was clear that into Finland there came from the west Scandinavian versions, and from the east Russian versions of one and the same tale, and that Finland was not a land through which tales traveled, but was rather the final destination of two streams of tradition. . . . The most southern part of northern Europe which can be conceived of as the home of the tale of the bear and the fox is northern Germany. . . . We can conclude that in Germany the whole chain of adventures was present before the settling of the Saxons. . . . From Germany on the one hand the original form with the bear reached Scandinavia and on the other hand the form with the wolf, influenced by the fable literature and the animal epic, reached Russia. [337] The other adventures of the fox and the wolf (or bear) more frequently appear as independent tales. In general, Krohn finds that they have much the same history as the regular cycle. In one of these episodes ( Neither of these two episodes entered the animal epic, but they are favorites in northern Europe. The tale of how the fox played godfather ( In contrast to the wide popularity of the tale of the fox as godfather, the episode in Reynard the Fox concerning the oath on the iron ( The fox's persuasive powers are shown in two more stories studied by Krohn, both of which are confined to the folklore of northern Europe. The first of these ( Some of the other episodes studied by Krohn, and having much the same history as the main cycle, are Aarne's Gerber [340] believes that the last of these tales, as, indeed, all of the incidents concerned with building or construction, belongs essentially to a series of transactions between a man and a demon or ogre. [341] He says: The connection between the Northern animal tale and the Norman or North-French demon tale is unmistakable, and, like the next adventure [the deceptive crop division], [342] and perhaps also the one following, is a proof of the close relations between the tales of the bear and the fox and the demon tales. The demon tale was most likely the source of the other because it is more natural. Is it in the relation between these tales that we are to seek, perhaps, the reason why the fox is called Michael with all Scandinavians? Another story of the bear or wolf and the fox which seems to be definitely outside the cycle we have been considering is about how the bear is persuaded to bite the seemingly dead horse's tail ( Throughout the entire group of animal tales thus far discussed the dupe is sometimes the bear and sometimes the wolf, but the clever animal is almost consistently the fox. It is interesting that as these have spread from their original home, the fox has given way to the hare or the rabbit and even to the lowly spider. [343] In addition to those animal tales studied by Krohn, several other episodes from the Reynard cycle are known in folk tradition. The simple tale of the wolf who is the guest of the dog and who drinks too much and insists on singing until he is attacked and killed ( The Reynard cycle also contains several incidents concerned with a war between groups of animals. These are not always clearly separated, but the whole series seems to come eventually from the Orient, probably, from India. Sometimes there is a war between the domestic and wild animals. A cat raises her tail and the cowardly wild animals think it is a gun and flee ( Finally, in the Reynard cycle, are to be mentioned the two related animal tales which have received more thorough study than any other. The first of these is sometimes not strictly an animal story, but may be concerned almost entirely with objects ( The objects which journey together are also found in the story of The Bean, the Straw, and the Coal ( By no means all the stories in the northern animal cycle appeared in the medieval beast epic. Indeed, the animal cycle for countries like Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, and Russia is surprisingly extensive. In addition to the stories found in other countries and in literary works, a great many have attained popularity only in a limited geographical range and have been reported in but a few versions. In spite of their geographical limitations, however, a score or more of these are so well known in their own area that they cannot be disregarded in any account of the animal tradition of Europe. [346] |
[332] For a good discussion of the relation of the Reynard cycle to the oral animal tale and to the fables, see A. Graf, Die Grundlagen des Reineke Fuchs (FF Communications No. 38, Helsinki, 1921); L. Sudre, Les sources du roman de Renart (Paris, 1893). [333] Bär (Wolf) und Fuchs. [334] In his list of tale types Aarne had this chain of incidents in mind when he arranged his first five numbers, since the chain consists of Aarne's types 1 to 5 inclusive. [335] A special modification of this anecdote popular among the Negroes of the West Indies and of the United States, and also known among the Indians, tells how rabbit rides fox a-courting. He has boasted to his lady-love that the fox is his riding horse ( [336] For a good discussion of this cycle, in the light not only of his original study but of other researches over nearly fifty years, see Krohn, Übersicht, pp. 18ff. [337] Krohn, loc. cit. [338] Similar tales concern the burning of the bear with a red hot iron ( [339] For further discussion of this tale, see [340] Adolph Gerber, "Great Russian Animal Tales," Publications of the Modern Language Association of America, VI, 55. Gerber's whole article is very valuable for its discussion of these and similar animal tales. [341] For this group of incidents, see [342] [343] See Joel Chandler Harris's Uncle Remus cycle and Beckwith, Jamaica Anansi Stories. [344] Tiere auf der Wanderschaft. [345] A peculiar analogue to the story of the objects traveling together is the well-known American Indian tale of Turtle's War Party. In this story the turtle recruits a war party of strange objects (knife, brush, awl, etc.) and animals. Because of their nature, the companions get into trouble. See p. 322, below. Attention may be also called at this point to an essentially literary tale of The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage who keep house together, each with appropriate duties, and succeed until they unwisely exchange their roles ( [346] The tales referred to are: The Fox Tricks the Wolf into Falling into a Pit ( |
Types: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9B, 15, 20C, 21, 30, 36, 37, 39, 43, 44, 47A, 49, 71, 72, 85, 90, 100, 103, 104, 115, 116, 118, 123*, 130, 152*, 153, 158, 159, 170, 204, 206, 210, 220, 222, 224, 226, 230, 232, 238, 242, 243*, 245, 248, 280, 281*, 295, 1030, 1097, 1133, 2033 |