Fairytales and Oral Tradition
By Patrick Lucas
Oral tradition is when a story is told by word of mouth as opposed to being written down. It was used for a long time and fairytales and folktales would be told instead of read. Fairytales are often mixed up with folklore because they are actually much alike. Almost all stories such as these have formulas, themes, and story patterns that can be observed. This is known as the Parry-Lord theory. (Green 614) Each of these stories fills a need for the culture it belongs to, whether that need is to entertain, give meaning to ordinary every day occurrences, or even to frighten their children into behaving.
No culture has ever been discovered that does not have a history filled with oral tradition. Any story passed along this way with time, will transform due to “failure of memory.”(Vansina 40) Storytellers will not remember certain parts or they will erase and add their own parts to the story because of this. Oral tradition is not perfect. Stories told this way will change until they are written down, and even then may even change after that.
There is a huge difference between the fairy tale of today and of one dating back much farther. The main difference is that today’s are created by one author, while those from a long time ago have many different individual authors. (Sherr 169) This means that any fairytale could have started off as an actual true account of something that happened. The actual story was warped and morphed by the storytellers that came after the original. For example, the story of Cinderella is of incredibly ancient origins dating back to ancient Greek times. There is a tale of a Greek slave named Rhodopis who marries the king of Egypt. Over time, this tale changed into the fairy tale people all around the world know and love.
In conclusion, oral tradition is important to the history of fairytales. They were shaped by it and ultimately written down because of it. The alterations made by the countless storytellers are how the story is known today, and they cannot be overlooked. Although the Grimm brothers and Perrault both are credited oftentimes for such magnificent works, oral tradition shows that a myriad of people are the authors and that a numerous amount of versions of the story are out there as well.
No culture has ever been discovered that does not have a history filled with oral tradition. Any story passed along this way with time, will transform due to “failure of memory.”(Vansina 40) Storytellers will not remember certain parts or they will erase and add their own parts to the story because of this. Oral tradition is not perfect. Stories told this way will change until they are written down, and even then may even change after that.
There is a huge difference between the fairy tale of today and of one dating back much farther. The main difference is that today’s are created by one author, while those from a long time ago have many different individual authors. (Sherr 169) This means that any fairytale could have started off as an actual true account of something that happened. The actual story was warped and morphed by the storytellers that came after the original. For example, the story of Cinderella is of incredibly ancient origins dating back to ancient Greek times. There is a tale of a Greek slave named Rhodopis who marries the king of Egypt. Over time, this tale changed into the fairy tale people all around the world know and love.
In conclusion, oral tradition is important to the history of fairytales. They were shaped by it and ultimately written down because of it. The alterations made by the countless storytellers are how the story is known today, and they cannot be overlooked. Although the Grimm brothers and Perrault both are credited oftentimes for such magnificent works, oral tradition shows that a myriad of people are the authors and that a numerous amount of versions of the story are out there as well.
Works Cited
Green, Thomas. Folklore. 2. Santa Barbara: 1997.
Sherr, Paul. The Short Story and the Oral Tradition. San Francisco: Boyd & Fraser Publishing Company, 1970. Print.
Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1961. Print.
Green, Thomas. Folklore. 2. Santa Barbara: 1997.
Sherr, Paul. The Short Story and the Oral Tradition. San Francisco: Boyd & Fraser Publishing Company, 1970. Print.
Vansina, Jan. Oral Tradition. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Company, 1961. Print.