Folk Tales

[AdamYJ]

Usually, when I read for leisure, I find myself settling down with a big, thick book of folk tales. The stories have a nice, rustic feel and you learn a bit about other cultures in the process. I also use them for storytelling, which is a hobby of mine.

Anyone else a fan of the old oral culture?

[Inkthinker]

One of my favorite old books was Grandfather Tales, a collection of folk stories from the Appalachian regions that's very rich and a lot of fun to read. I think sometimes people forget that parts of the US have a pretty rich mythology to draw from.

[AdamYJ]

One of my favorite old books was Grandfather Tales, a collection of folk stories from the Appalachian regions that's very rich and a lot of fun to read. I think sometimes people forget that parts of the US have a pretty rich mythology to draw from.

Any Jack Tales in there? One of the most notable types of tales to come out of the Appalachian region of the American South are the Jack Tales. They're tales that started in England starring a boy named Jack (best known for beanstalk-climbing and giant-killing) but then got carried across the sea and transformed into more rural American fare. Jack is generally a fairy-tale hero, trickster and everyman rolled into one, usually managing to be equal parts clever and foolish.

Anyway, yeah, you're right. The US has its own rich folk tradition. There are the Appalachian tales you mentioned. There are the tales of the African-American people of the rural South, which include characters like Br'er Rabbit. There are the Tall Tales that exaggerate the feats of real people, like Davy Crockett and Johnny Appleseed, as well as made-up people, like Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan, as the West was settled. Plus, there are ghost stories found pretty much from sea to shining sea, plus you can't forget about the Native American tales that were here before settlers even arrived.

[Bazooka Jones]

I'm also a folktale junky. Two of my favorites are the Ralph Manheim edition of Grimm, and King Kalakua's Legends and Myths of Hawaii. Burton's Arabian Knights is also good stuff.

I really enjoy looking at other cultures through the lens of folktales and folklore. I'm continually surprised by just how dark, twisted, and comic some of these stories are.

[AdamYJ]

I'm also a folktale junky. Two of my favorites are the Ralph Manheim edition of Grimm, and King Kalakua's Legends and Myths of Hawaii. Burton's Arabian Knights is also good stuff.

I really enjoy looking at other cultures through the lens of folktales and folklore. I'm continually surprised by just how dark, twisted, and comic some of these stories are.

I'll have to look into getting that book of Hawaiian tales.

Reading Grimm, especially for the first time, can be quite a revelation. Everyone always goes in thinking that they know fairy tales and they know Grimm. It can be really something when you open the book expecting the dozen or so popular fairy tales you know of and discover 210 different tales, only a handful of which you're aware of. And then it's even more interesting to discover that some of the fairy tales you expected (like Jack and the Beanstalk, Puss-in-Boots and Beauty and the Beast) weren't even collected by the Brothers Grimm. It makes you realize just how much bigger the world of folk and fairy tales is than you first realized.