Week of June 02, 2014: Folklore
Folklore is a story told by mouth (oral tradition) and later written down.
Folklore is a story told by mouth (oral tradition) and later written down.
This Week's Words You Should Know!Who is Aesop?
Who is Aesop? Aesop is the name of the man credited with the authorship of a collection or book of fables. Aesop was a slave who many believe lived in Samos, a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea but others say he came from Ethiopia. The name of his first owner was Xanthus. It is believed that he eventually became a free man. In Aesop's biography Planudes describes Aesop an ugly, deformed dwarf, and the famous marble statue at the Villa Albani in Rome depicts Aesop accordingly. Video: The Fox and the Stork
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The Fox in World Literature
The article discusses the role of the fox in international folktales, both written and oral. The animal is taken to be the incarnation of cunning, slyness, perfidy, and even wickedness. However, more positive qualities and faculties, such as an ingenious mind, a readiness to care for and help others, quickness, and circumspection are also recognized. This is a sign of the ambivalence considered to be characteristic for all animals. The content and motifs in European or European-influenced fox narratives are most often predicated by descriptions that go back to antiquity. Some Asian fox narratives, too, can be traced far back, but they diverge markedly from the European ones. While the role of the fox in fables and animal tales in particular is subjected to extreme fluctuations in its valence, the same can hardly be said for magic tales. Here, the fox is mostly encountered in the role of a grateful (helpful) animal. |