The Folktale
Stith Thompson
Formulas. |
Part Two The Folktale from Ireland to India III – The Simple Tale 3. Formula tales A. Tales with Formulistic Framework |
In considering the tales current in the oral tradition of Europe and Western Asia, it has been convenient to bring together three categories of narratives: complex tales, (2) simple tales with human actors, and (3) simple tales with animal actors. Such a classification is simpler than the facts of the case actually warrant. It is not always possible to tell where to draw the line between simple and complex, or, indeed, between human and animal. Some tales refuse to stay within a classification, even one in which they clearly belong in their usual form. A very special group of stories illustrates the difficulty of classifying on the basis either of complexity of plot or of the humanness of the actors. In this group of stories the form is all-important. The central situation is simple, but the formal handling of it assumes a certain complexity: and the actors are almost indifferently animals or persons. Such stories we call formula tales. [358] Formula tales contain a minimum of actual narrative. The simple central situation serves as a basis for the working out of a narrative pattern. But the pattern so developed is interesting, not on account of what happens in the story, but on account of the exact form in which the story is narrated. Sometimes this formalism consists in a sort of framework which encloses the story and sometimes in that peculiar piling up of words which makes the cumulative tale. In any case, the effect of a formulistic story is always essentially playful, and the proper narrating of one of these tales takes on all the aspects of a game. Certain of the countries of eastern Europe are especially fond of telling endless tales. These are usually quite simple in pattern. A situation is afforded in which a particular task must be repeated an indefinite number of times. Thousands of sheep, for example, must be put over a stream one at a time, and the narrator proceeds inexorably with his literal repetitions of the performance until his listeners can stand it no longer ( The ending of a narrative offers an opportunity for special formulistic [p. 230] treatment. Sometimes a story-teller teases his audience by stopping just as the interest has been aroused. The ending of the tale may be similar to that of The Three Wise Men of Gotham: "If the bowl had been stronger, my tale had been longer" ( |
[358] For formula tales, see: Motif-Index [359] With tales of the kind we are discussing the spirit of play is so important that they are of primary interest to the student of children's games. |
Types: 2250, 2200, 2300, 2350 |
Motifs Z0-Z99, Z11, Z12, Z13, Z17 |