Arabic Folktales

Last Thursday our class was lucky enough to hear a lecture by Professor Zaru about Arabic Folktales. I liked how she started out clarifying which countries actually make up the Arabic world. There is much confusion revolving around which nations are truly a part of it. After clearing up the misconceptions we had a better idea of the origins of the following tales and traditions.

 I think Professor Zaru’s Arabic lecture was a very good compliment to our last speaker, Dr. Ochieng' K'Olewe. Both Arabic and Kenya story telling involves themes of animals, trickery and humor. To me the Arabic tales of Kalila wa Dimna were very similar to that of Ashanti and Anansi, where the characters are animals who offer practical and moral advice. In both traditions storytelling is considered an art form, a form of entertainment and both set moral guidelines.  In Arabic folktales the common characteristics are: oral tradition, entertainment, insight into human behavior, and variations in theme.

Another aspect that stood out for me was the frame story of One Thousand and One Nights. I was fascinated how one woman pushed off her death for such a long time by using a web of folktales that intertwined together. It especially was interesting how each night she was able to leave the tale at a cliffhanger that would prolong the ending for another time. Her wits allowed herself to evade her execution and win the heart of the cruel man who once was extremely sexist and violent. 

Folktale and Storytelling Tradition from Kenya

Today our class was privileged enough to experience a lecture by Dr. Ochieng’ K’Olewe titled “Folktale and Storytelling Tradition from Kenya”. This was by far my favorite guest speaker we have had so far. He was a very knowledgeable and entertaining speaker and was an excellent storyteller.  I especially enjoyed his use of the traditional drum and how he got the class involved in singing. His lecture was very engaging and extremely fun. Dr. Ochieng’ K’Olewe enriched our knowledge of folk and fairy tales by providing us with engaging traditional tales from Kenya and through the use of music. What stood out for me was that in Africa the tales are told at night when there is no light so that the voice of the story teller becomes more prominent and the focus is strictly guided to the teller’s voice. Story tellers are prominently Aunts and Grandmothers. We learned that the importance of the tales lie in entertainment, the musical aspect, carries values, beliefs, and taboos, teach morality, meant to celebrate and emphasize the importance of wits, and is used to provide an understanding for the “stuff” phenomenon. Dr. Ochieng’ K’Olewe also mentioned the value of riddles.  Riddles can be told anytime of the day, are based on things you can see and teach the importance of language and competence. In Africa the community and society may not be as safe as we would like it to be so the riddles teach children how to use their wits to outsmart any threats they may come across. They must learn to think on their feet and out do others.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&v=xFnOCCq0y-w&annotation_id=annotation_715401

Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there lived a hunter by the name of Fudd. He was the father of three and every day he would go out into the woods and shoot an animal to bring back for dinner. One day Fudd was hunting in a nearby forest and he fell asleep. When he awoke, standing in front of him was the biggest deer he had ever seen. Fudd picked up his rifle and pointed it at the deer. The deer looked up and said “please Fudd do not shoot me for if I was in your shoes I would not shoot you”. Fudd laughed and replied I’m a hunter and I’m better than you, therefore I will shoot you and eat you up”.  He then pulled the trigger but nothing happened, the deer laughed and said “I am clever and you will never get me” and ran off into the woods. The next day the hunter decided this time he was going to bring extra bullets and put in his pocket so if the deer unloaded his gun he would have more ammunition. He went back to the exact same place where he saw the deer last and once again fell asleep. When he woke up the giant deer was standing there grazing in the meadow right in from of him. He pulled out his gun and aimed it at the deer. The deer said “please Fudd do not shoot me for if I was in your shoes I would not shoot you”. Fudd laughed and replied I’m a hunter and I’m better than you, therefore I will shoot you and eat you up”. He then pulled the trigger and nothing happened so he reached into his pocket to grab the extra bullets. When he reached in the bullets were gone and he had grabbed a mousetrap and it snapped his fingers off. The deer laughed and said “I am clever and you will never get me” and ran off into the woods. The following day Fudd decided that he would go to the exact same spot but this time he promised himself not to fall asleep. After waiting for three hours the deer walked up and Fudd aimed his rifle at the deer. The deer said “please Fudd do not shoot me for if I was in your shoes I would not shoot you”. Fudd laughed and replied I’m a hunter and I’m better than you, therefore I will shoot you and eat you up”. He pulled the trigger and this time the gun did fire and hit the deer but then it ricocheted back and hit Fudd in the chest. The deer laughed and said “I am a clever deer and you will never get me, I am also immortal and my hide is indestructible and now you are dead. Since you treated me with no respect and insisted on shooting and eating me I shall do the same and go and eat your family as well”.  

African-American Folk and Fairy Tales

Last Thursday our fairy tale class had the privilege of hearing a lecture from Dr. Johnson-Ross about the African American story telling tradition. She provided the class with many historical facts and mentioned bits of history I had never heard before, leaving me with a feeling that I didn’t know as much about American history as I had thought. She placed a lot of emphasis on The Brownies Book and created a comparison to the magazine Highlights that I used to read quite frequently as a child. The Brownies Book  was written between January 1920 – December 1921, and it used folk tales, games, and songs aimed to help support African Americans through the times of segregation. The tales in this book included fairy tales from all around the world. A lot of the stories focused primarily upon animals as being the main characters which is unlike the European fairy tales we have read in class that are largely focused on humans. Dr. Johnson-Ross additionally addressed a story by the name of The People Could Fly. She showed us a power point that included many pages from the book and it showed people being told they could fly and then they would fly away and escape slavery. The idea behind this story is that if you believe you can achieve. This is a very meaningful message and was very appropriate for the time period it was wrote in. Overall, I found Dr. Johnson-Ross’s presentation to be very emotional and historical. It was an interesting lecture that included many key underrated pieces of American history and showed how fairy tales can be used to educate and encourage the concepts of freedom and opportunity.