The article doesn't give too much info and I'd like to know more; I'll research it in more detail later when I have a chance. I'm not surprised that some of these tales date back thousands of years, I wonder how long ago the folklore in my local area dates back to?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35358487
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Some fairy tales thousands of years old
- MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Re: Some fairy tales thousands of years old
I'm not surprised. I've always considered the fairy tale the basic format for what people want in a story, because they are so similar across all cultures and eras, and they express, in outline, the underlying 'moral code' humankind seems to have built-in.
My favorite fairy tale, when I was a kid, was Sheherizade and the thousand and one Arabian nights--although I don't think my young self got it that what the sultan was actually doing was screwing a different woman every night and then offing her. I just liked that she could come up with something so fascinating that he had to hear more. Incipient storyteller, I guess.
Anybody? what was yours, and why?
My favorite fairy tale, when I was a kid, was Sheherizade and the thousand and one Arabian nights--although I don't think my young self got it that what the sultan was actually doing was screwing a different woman every night and then offing her. I just liked that she could come up with something so fascinating that he had to hear more. Incipient storyteller, I guess.
Anybody? what was yours, and why?
Re: Some fairy tales thousands of years old
I love fairy and folk tales and have collected them for years. I'm working on a writing project where I'm retelling some of my favorites from around the world. First up is Tokoyo based on a Japanese folktale from the 1300's.
Faith L. Justice, Author Website
- DianeL
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Re: Some fairy tales thousands of years old
Lisa, thanks for sharing the link!
Like MLE, this doesn't surprise me either; fairy tales deal in archetypes, and human beings tell the same stories across cultures and millennia. The example of Beauty and the Beast is great - when I was a kid, I learned the story of Cupid and Psyche before I ever ran across B&B, with the result that the latter seemed a drab retellng stripped of all the depths of the mythic era.
Like MLE, this doesn't surprise me either; fairy tales deal in archetypes, and human beings tell the same stories across cultures and millennia. The example of Beauty and the Beast is great - when I was a kid, I learned the story of Cupid and Psyche before I ever ran across B&B, with the result that the latter seemed a drab retellng stripped of all the depths of the mythic era.
"To be the queen, she agreed to be the widow!"
***
The pre-modern world was willing to attribute charisma to women well before it was willing to attribute sustained rationality to them.
---Medieval Kingship, Henry A. Myers
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http://dianelmajor.blogspot.com/
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***
The pre-modern world was willing to attribute charisma to women well before it was willing to attribute sustained rationality to them.
---Medieval Kingship, Henry A. Myers
***
http://dianelmajor.blogspot.com/
I'm a Twit: @DianeLMajor