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Folktales Told Around the World

All the selections in Richard M. Dorson’s Folktales Told around the World were recorded by expert collectors, and the majority of them are published here for the first time. The tales presented are told in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North and South America, and Oceania. Unlike other collections derived in large part from literary texts, this volume meets the criteria of professional folklorists in assembling only authentic examples of folktales as they were orally told. Background information, notes on the narrators, and scholarly commentaries are provided to establish the folkloric character of the tales.

648 pages | 24 plates | 6 x 9 | © 1978

Folklore and Mythology

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Choosing the World’s Folktales - Richard M. Dorson
 
Europe
Ireland - Sean O’Sullivan
Fionn in Search of His Youth
The Cold May Night
 
Scotland (Lowlands) - Hamish Henderson
The King of England
Johnnie in the Cradle
Applie and Orangie
The Aberdonians and the Chocolates
The Lone Highlander
The Minister to His Flock
 
Scotland (Highlands) - John MacInnes
The Blacksmith’s Son
Black Patrick’s Bowshot

England - Katharine M. Briggs and Ruth L. Tongue
Annie Luker’s Ghost
The Grey Goose Feathers
The Five-Pound Note
 
France - Geneviève Massignon
Cinderella
The Scalded Wolf
 
Spain - Aurelio M. Espinosa
The Unbeliever and the Skull
Santa Catalina
The Mass of Saint Joseph
 
Italy - Carla Bianco
Bertoldino
The Tale of Sister Cat
The Dove and the Fox
 
Switzerland - Robert Wildhaber
Summoned into the Valley of Josaphat
About the Black Spider
Sennentunscheli on the Wyssenboden
The Knife in the Hay
 
Germany - Kurt Ranke
The Swinehard Who Married a Princess
The Ox as Mayor
 
Norway - Reidar Christiansen
The Drinking Horn Stolen from the Huldre Folk at (a) Vallerhaug, (b) Vellerhaug, (c) Hifjell
The Altarpiece in Ringsaker Church
 
Finland - Pirkko-Liisa Rausmaa
The Hunter’s Joke
 
Poland - Julian Krzyzanowski
Old Fakla and the Sleeping Knights
The Holy Figure in the Szaflary
The Ages of Man
Song of the Thief
 
Hungary - Linda Dégh
The Magic Calk
Lazybones
 
Russia
The Sorcerer and His Apprentice - Mark Azadovskij
Peter the Great and the Stonemason - I. V. Karnaukhova
Two Thieves
 
Greece - Georgios A. Megas
The Lake Spirits of Peristera and Xerovouni
 
Middle East
Turkey - Ilhan Basgöz
Nasreddin Hodja and Tamerlane
The Smart Brother and the Crazy Brother
Dervish Baba
 
Egypt - Hasan El-Shamy
The Sure News Is Up Ahead
The Falcon’s Daughter
 
Tunisia - Hasan El-Shamy
The Sparrow and the King
 
Iraq - Hasan El-Shamy
The Cruel Mother-in-Law
 
Israel - Dov Noy
A Dispute in Sign Language
A Tale of a Jew Who Bridled the Wind
 
Asia
India - Praphulladatta Goswami
Teja and Teji
The Mother Serpent
The King of Cheats
The Monk Who Dueled
Mataru the Grandfather
Tenali Rama and the King’s Pets
The Peasant Thanthanpal
Babar Deva the Outlaw
 
Afghanistan - Hafizullah Baghban
The Romance of Mongol Girl and Arab Boy
The Decapitation of Sufi Islam
The Two Thieves With the Same Wife
Khastakhumar and Bibinagar
The Seventy-Year-Old Corpse
 
Japan
The Mountain Where Old People Were Abandoned - Keigo Seki
The Man Who Bought a Dream - Robert J. Adams
 
Philippines
The Adulteress Rat - E. Arsenio Manuel
The Gungutan and the Big-Bellied Man
Agkon, the Greedy Son
The Seven Young Sky Women - Hazel Wrigglesworth
 
China - Wolfram Eberhard
The Bridge of Ch’üan-Chou
Chu the Rogue
 
Burma - Suzan Lapai
Liar Mvkang and the Rich Villagers
Liar Mvkang Sells Ashes
Liar Mvkang and the Water Snake
The Orphan and His Grandmother
 
Korea - Yim Suk-Jay
Why People’s Noses Run When They Catch Cold
The Red Pond
The Kindhearted Crab and the Cunning Mouse
The Grave of the Golden Ruler
The One-Sided Boy
 
Oceania
Micronesia
The Ghosts of the Two Mountains - Robert Mitchell
Adventures and Death of Rat
The Maiden Who Married a Crane
The Exiled Sister and Her Son
The Mistreated Stepson
The Spirit Who Swallowed People
The First Getting of the Way to Cultivate Cyrtosperma - Katharine Luomala
 
Polynesia - Katharine Luomala
Maui of a Thousand Tricks
 
Melanesia - Elli Köngäs Maranda
The Myth of Fuusai
 
Africa
Liberia (Gbande) - John Milbury-Steen
The Two Brothers
How the Society Can Get Back Its Medicine
Bush Fowl and Turtle Build a Town
 
Nigeria (Yoruba) - Deirdre La Pin
Jomo, Guardian of the Great Sword
He-Who-Meets-Problems-Alone and He-Who-Seeks-Good-Advice
Cameroun (Gbaya) - Philip A. Noss
Wanto and the Shapeless Thing
Wanto and the Success-by-the-Stump People
Chameleon Wins a Wife
Eagle, Python, and Weaverbird
The Ant and the Termite
The Boy and the Buffalo
 
Zäire (Nyanga) - Daniel P. Biebuyck
Origin of the Enmity between Dog and Leopard
Trapper, Gatherer-of-Honey, and Cultivator
How Nturo Rejected Mpaca
 
South Africa (Xhosa) - Harold Scheub
A Girl Is Cast Off by Her Family
A Zim Steals a Duiker’s Children
Hlakanyana Does Mischief But Is Caught
Mbengu-Sonyangaza’s Sister Prepares to Undergo Purification Rites
 
New World
Canada
The Duek Dog - Luc Lacourciè
The Tub of Butter
The String of Trout
The Sheep and the Ram
The Sword of Wisdom
The Big Dog
The Scalping of Pérusse
Selling Toilet Paper in the Subway - Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
The Laughing Hyena
An Unexpected Donation
 
United States - Richard M. Dorson
Winabijou (Nanabush) Brings on the Flood
The Mermaid
The Legend of Yoho Cove
Paree at the Carnival
Miracles of Saint Spyridon
The Two Brothers
 
Mexico - Américo Paredes
Kondoy
On Holy Week
 
Bahamas - Daniel J. Crowley
Ordeal by Water
 
Cuba - Daniel J. Crowley
Little Cockroach Martina
 
Trinidad - Daniel J. Crowley
The Poor Brahmin
 
Brazil - Luis da Camara Cascudo
Cases
 
Peru
Treasure, Envy, and Witchcraft - Jean MacLaughlin
The Mouse and the Fox
The Condemned Lover
Quevedo Works as a Cook
The Lake of Langui
The Twin Cycle (Yagua) - Paul Powlison
 
Chili
The Witranalwe Who Guarded Sheep - L. C. Faron
Pedro Urdemales Cheats Two Horsemen - Yolando Pino-Saavedra
 
Index of Motifs
Index of Tale Types
Contributors
General Index
Index of Bibliographic Items
Index of Collectors
List of Narrators








 

 
 

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