Similar characters and plots appear in folklore from all over the world, reveling windows into each culture and, at the same time, insight into the human psyche. In Can You Guess My Name?, Judy Sierra guides us through 15 fantastic folklore stories from across the globe categorized around 5 familiar stories: “The Three Pigs”, “The Bremen Town Musicians”, “Rumpelstiltskin”, “The Frog Prince”, and “Hansel and Gretel”. Each of the 5 themes has three original folk stories from different parts of the world that follow the same basic outline. The similarities are explained in a brief blurb that points out the analogous characters, plots, and endings. This blurb also points out interesting information about the origins of the stories; for example, tales such as “The Three Pigs” were only told in industrialized countries. This is because the idea of moving far away from home to live alone was unheard of in other parts of the world. In reading these stories one cannot help but realize we humans have more in common with each other then we have differences.
It is amazing to read stories from around the world that have such similar characteristics. For example, the stories similar to “Rumpelstiltskin” all involve the main character finding out the name of a trickster to gain something. The Swedish version “Titeliture” is most similar to the recognizable “Rumpelstiltskin”, the main difference is the names of the characters. “How Ijapa the Tortoise Tricked the Hippopotamus”, a Nigerian tale, explains why hippopotamus live in the water. The Rumpelstiltskin charter is the greedy hippopotamus who will not share his food until one of his 'friends' guesses his name. The Japanese version, “Oniroku”, describes a bridge builder who enlists the help of a sea monster only to find out that the sea monster wants his eyes in return. The saving grace for all these characters was the good fortune of learning the name of the antagonist.
At the end of the book there are summaries and brief histories of each of the 15 stories. The stories are categorized by a system created by Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Aarne and Thompson are folklorists who have read and categorized thousands of stories and arranged them in over 2,000 tale types.
The stores are bolstered by the beautiful pictures by Stefano Vitale. Painted on wood, the art work reflects the culture of the story being told. Not only are the pictures masterfully done, but are they stylized to reflect the art of the culture. Along with brilliant pictures that convey the meaning of the text, each page has a border that follows the theme of the story and culture.
I love the idea that the tales are similar around the world, like we were discussing in class. I think it's cool that the illustrations are stylized to the culture of the story. Also, I loved Rumplestiltskin as a child, and I was kind of pumped that it's in other cultures too :D
ReplyDeleteThis collection would be a great way to increase multicultural education in the classroom and allow students to see that the folktales they have heard since childhood have counterparts in other countries and across the world. The Japanese version of Rumplestiltskin sounds very interesting!
ReplyDeleteThis really seems to go hand-in-hand with the discussions we've been having in class about fractured Fairy Tales. While this isn't a collection of fractured tales, I feel like it relates in that in order to understand the benefit of these tales the students must first know our culture's equivalents. The difference here is that the students can easily understand and appreciate the stories in their own right. While it adds a dimension for them to be able to compare/relate them, it is not necessary to grasp the tale.
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