Up to this point, as we have passed in review the more complicated of the European and Asiatic folktales, the element of the supernatural has usually played a considerable role. Ogres and other supernatural monsters, helpful creatures like dwarfs and fairies, ghosts and grateful dead men, magic and enchantments—these all come from the world of wonder that gives to this class of tales the general name of wonder stories. But even in tales not primarily concerned with the marvelous it frequently lurks in the background of the story-teller's thoughts and he assumes a faith in his hearers which will carry them with him into a world of fancy far removed from the actual world of their everyday life. Though such tales may contain no motifs from the realm of faery or magic, they do not hesitate at the most extravagant exaggeration of the physical qualities of the characters, of the nature of the deeds accomplished, and of the astonishing coincidences which are ascribed to the power of prophecy or to luck, or to the inevitable course of divine justice. There is real validity not only for these presuppositions of a taleteller about the frame of mind of his hearers but also for the ease with which these hearers move about from one world to another and range from familiar scenes of everyday to heaven or to hell or to fairyland.

But those who tell and those who listen to fairy tales live a practical life and even in their taletelling they have their realistic moods in which they are particularly interested in stories of deception, cheats, swindles, and clever thefts. They enjoy instances of stupidity, where they can see an amusing contrast with their own sane and well-advised behavior. Many of these anecdotes [p. 153] are extremely simple, having only a single point, and are best studied along with series of others like them. [235]

In contrast to these simple anecdotes, a number of stories of cleverness, of cheats, and of robberies are as complicated in their structure as many a wonder tale. Sometimes the central point—essentially an interest in the workings of a keen mind—is combined with all sorts of other material. For this reason the behavior of tales of this kind as they are handed about or travel from country to country is of the same order as that of other stories with complicated plots. Though some parts may drop out, and though substitutions may be made, the tale as a whole maintains its identity.