Anna Messerly

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Folk, Not Fairy

• Anna Messerly
• Siloam Springs High School

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Folktales are...

• Stories that grow out of the lives and
  imaginations of the people or folk.
• Accepted as fact in Russian history.
• Rooted in the oral tradition.
• Told after the children have gone to bed.
• Not fairy tales.

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Types of Folktales

• Magic tales with a female hero
• Magic tales with a male hero
• Animal tales (with animals as main characters,
  with or without the participation of human
  characters)
• Magic tales about everyday life

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Tales with Female Heroes

• Center around her ability to perform certain
  tasks and test her ethics.
• Female is always expected to act and to perform
  some task.
• The result of her actions is that she finds a
  husband, or acquires a dowry, which will ensure
  that she will find a good husband eventually.

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Tales with Male Heroes

• Always leaves his home on a quest.
• Is not expected to perform tasks, at least not by
  himself.
• Knows how to behave properly and how to secure
  the assistant of magic helpers, but he needs
  those helpers when it comes down to actions.

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Animal Tales

• Not magical nor are they cute stories about nice
  furry creatures.
• Animal characters are strictly typecast
• Wolves are greedy, rather stupid, and male.
• Foxes are sly, calculating, tricksters, and
  female.
• Cats are opportunistic, lazy, and male.
• Bears are lumbering, rather clumsy, not very
  bright, and male.
• Hares are quick, cowardly, and male.
• The goat is cunning and female.
• The rooster is cocky, boastful, and male.

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Magic Tales

• Tales about soldiers returning home who meet (and
  defeat) Death, or who encounter a witch or some
  other kind of magical being.
• Gain fortune in the end (or maybe just a bowl of
  soup).

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Baba Yaga
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Resources

• Websites
• http//folklore.mashaholl.com/index.html
• http//russian-crafts.com/tales.html
• http//www.endicott-studio.com/rdrm/rrrussian.html
  
• http//www.oldrussia.net/baba.html
• For more information or lesson plans, e-mail me
  at anna.messerly_at_sssd.k12.ar.us