A word, first, about sequence. The opinion exists that this sequence is accidental. Veselóvskij writes, “The selection and order of tasks and encounters (examples of motifs) already presupposes a certain freedom.” Śklóvskij stated this idea in even sharper terms: “It is quite impossible to understand why, in the act of adoption, the accidental sequence [Śklóvskij’s italics] of motifs must be retained. In the testimony of witnesses, it is precisely the sequence of events which is distorted most of all.” This reference to the evidence of witnesses is unconvincing. If witnesses distort the sequence of events, their narration is meaningless. The sequence of events has its own laws. The short story too has similar laws, as do organic formations. Theft cannot take place before the door is forced. Insofar as the tale is concerned, it has its own entirely particular and specific laws. The sequence of elements, as we shall see later on, is strictly uniform. Freedom within this sequence is restricted by very narrow limits which can be exactly formulated. We thus obtain the third basic thesis of this work, subject to further development and verification:
3. The sequence of functions is always identical.
As for groupings, it is necessary to say first of all that by no means do all tales give evidence of all functions. But this in no way changes the law of sequence. The absence of certain functions does not change the order of the rest. We shall dwell on this phenomenon later. For the present we shall deal with groupings in the proper sense of the word. The presentation of the question itself evokes the following assumption: if functions are singled out, then it will be possible to trace those tales which present identical functions. Tales with identical functions can be considered as belonging to one type. On this foundation, an index of types can then be created, based not upon theme features, which are somewhat vague and diffuse, but upon exact structural features. Indeed, this will be possible. If we further compare structural types among themselves, we are led to the following completely unexpected phenomenon: functions cannot be distributed around mutually exclusive axes. This phenomenon, in all its concreteness, will become apparent to us in the succeeding and final chapters of this book. For the time being, it can be interpreted in the following manner: if we designate with the letter A a function encountered everywhere in first position, and similarly designate with the letter B the function which (if it is at all present) always follows A, then all functions known to the tale will arrange themselves within a single tale, and none will fall out of order, nor will any one exclude or contradict any other. This is, of course, a completely unexpected result. Naturally, we would have expected that where there is a function A, there cannot be certain functions belonging to other tales. Supposedly we would obtain several axes, but only a single axis is obtained for all fairy tales. They are of the same type, while the combinations spoken of previously are subtypes. At first glance, this conclusion may appear absurd or perhaps even wild, yet it can be verified in a most exact manner. Such a typological unity represents a very complex problem on which it will be necessary to dwell further. This phenomenon will raise a whole series of questions.
In this manner, we arrive at the fourth basic thesis of our work:
4. All fairy tales are of one type in regard to their structure.
We shall now set about the task of proving, developing, and elaborating these theses in detail. Here it should be recalled that the study of the tale must be carried on strictly deductively, i.e., proceeding from the material at hand to the consequences (and in effect it is so carried on in this work). But the presentation may have a reversed order, since it is easier to follow the development if the general bases are known to the reader beforehand.
Before starting the elaboration, however, it is necessary to decide what material can serve as the subject of this study. First glance would seem to indicate that it is necessary to cover all extant material. In fact, this is not so. Since we are studying tales according to the functions of their dramatis personae, the accumulation of material can be suspended as soon as it becomes apparent that the new tales considered present no new functions. Of course, the investigator must look through an enormous amount of reference material. But there is no need to inject the entire body of this material into the study. We have found that 100 tales constitute more than enough material. Having discovered that no new functions can be found, the morphologist can put a stop to his work, and further study will follow different directions (the formation of indices, the complete systemization, historical study). But just because material can be limited in quantity, that does not mean that it can be selected at one’s own discretion. It should be dictated from without. We shall use the collection by Afanás’ev, starting the study of tales with No. 50 (according to his plan, this is the first fairy tale of the collection), and finishing it with No. 151.1 Such a limitation of material will undoubtedly call forth many objections, but it is theoretically justified. To justify it further, it would be necessary to take into account the degree of repetition of tale phenomena. If repetition is great, then one may take a limited amount of material. If repetition is small, this is impossible. The repetition of fundamental components * * * exceeds all expectations. Consequently, it is theoretically possible to limit oneself to a small body of material. Practically, this limitation justifies itself by the fact that the inclusion of a great quantity of material would have excessively increased the size of this work. We are not interested in the quantity of material, but in the quality of its analysis. Our working material consists of 100 tales. The rest is reference material, of great interest to the investigator, but lacking a broader interest.
* * *
Propp’s Thirty-One Functions
1. One of the members of a family absents himself from home (absentation).
2. An interdiction is addressed to the hero (interdiction).
3. The interdiction is violated (violation).
4. The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (reconnaissance).
5. The villain receives information about his victim (delivery).
6. The villain attempts to deceive his victim in order to take possession of him or his belongings (trickery).
7. The victim submits to deception and thereby unwittingly helps his enemy (complicity).
8. The villain causes harm or injury to a member of the family (villainy).
8a. One member of a family either lacks something or desires to have something (lack).
9. Misfortune or lack is made known; the hero is approached with a request or command; he is allowed to go or he is dispatched (mediation, the connective incident).
10. The seeker agrees to or decides upon counteraction (beginning counteraction).
11. The hero leaves home (departure).
12. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked, etc., which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or helper (the first function of the donor).
13. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor (the hero’s reaction).
14. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent (provision or receipt of a magical agent).
15. The hero is transferred, delivered, or led to the whereabouts of an object of search (spatial transference between two kingdoms, guidance).
16. The hero and the villain join in direct combat (struggle).
17. The hero is branded (branding, marking).
18. The villain is defeated (victory).
19. The initial misfortune or lack is liquidated (liquidation).
20. The hero returns (return).
21. The hero is pursued (pursuit, chase).
22. Rescue of the hero from pursuit (rescue).
23. The hero, unrecognized, arrives home or in another country (unrecognized arrival).
24. A false hero presents unfounded claims (unfounded claims).
25. A difficult task is proposed to the hero (difficult task).
26. The task is resolved (solution).
27. The hero is recognized (re
cognition).
28. The false hero or villain is exposed (exposure).
29. The hero is given a new appearance (transfiguration).
30. The villain is punished (punishment).
31. The hero is married and ascends the throne (wedding).
* * *
Propp’s Dramatis Personae
1. Villain
2. Donor or provider
3. Helper
4. Princess (a sought-for person) and her father
5. Dispatcher
6. Hero
7. False Hero
* * *
† From Vladimir Propp, “The Method and Material,” in Morphology of the Folktale, trans. Laurence Scott (Austin: U of Texas P, 1968), pp. 19–24. Copyright © 1968 by the University of Texas. Reprinted by permission of University of Texas Press.
1. Propp bases his analyses on one hundred tales from Alexander Afanasev’s Russian Fairy Tales, trans. Norbert Guterman (New York: Pantheon, 1945) [editor’s note].
MARIA TATAR
Valediction†
Take your hard-won diamonds
And spend them wisely
On match girls and poets,
Or scatter them in the woods
To show Thumbling a way back home.
In the night, light a candle,
The shadows will rise and stretch
And shrink back at noon to mock you
While you work the puzzle of your mind
Gazing at the skulls on Baba Yaga’s fences.
All places are now your study
And the pages you turn beat time to your heart
Once you find terror and hope
Living on the same side of the street
In the neighborhood you call home.
Are you reassembled? Is the splinter out?
Which of Bluebeard’s wives put you back together
And let you walk the trickster tightrope
Between appetite and hunger,
Desire and dread, gold and pitch?
“Many are the deceivers”:
The briar bowers protecting beauty,
Husbands tempting you with forbidden keys,
Kings protecting daughters in locked towers,
And ogres promising you a good night’s sleep.
And in rush numbskulls, fools, and ragged simpletons,
Small and meek, the runts of the family,
Ready to steal your gold, outwit your wife,
And rob you of hens and harps,
All the while claiming that they traded the cow for beans.
Now that you are acquainted with the night,
The sun, that busy old fool, has never once
Seen anything as beautiful as your knowing eyes.
Share your crusts. Magnify your apples.
Cherish the frogs and stoats, for all are enchanted.
Swarms of mice may haunt your dreams
But make them tea, give them biscuits,
Settle down in a warm corner of the house
And let the world grow calm
As you lean into stories and dream.
* * *
† Written for this Norton Critical Edition.
Selected Bibliography
ANTHOLOGIES
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Arabian Nights. Trans. Richard F. Burton. Ed. David Shumaker. New York: Avenel Books, 1978.
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______. Popular Tales from the Norse. Trans. Sir George Webbe Dasent. New York: Appleton, 1859.
Auerbach, Nina, and U. C. Knoepflmacher, comps. Forbidden Journeys: Fairy Tales and Fantasies by Victorian Women Writers. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1992.
Basile, Giambattista. Giambattista Basile’s The Tale of Tales, or Entertainment for Little Ones. Trans. Nancy Canepa. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2007.
______. The Pentamerone of Giambattista Basile. Trans. Benedetto Croce. Ed. N. M. Penzer. 2 vols. London: Bodley Head, 1932.
Bernheimer, Kate, ed. Brothers and Beasts: An Anthology of Men on Fairy Tales. Detroit: Wayne State UP, 2007.
______. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Women Writers Explore Their Favorite Fairy Tales. 2nd ed. New York: Anchor, 2002.
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Briggs, Katharine M. A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language. 4 vols. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970–71.
______, and Ruth L. Tongue. Folktales of England. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1965.
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Carter, Angela. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979.
______, ed. The Second Virago Book of Fairy Tales. London: Virago, 1992.
______, ed. The Virago Book of Fairy Tales. London: Virago, 1990.
Chase, Richard, comp. American Folk Tales and Songs. New York: Signet, 1956.
______. The Jack Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1943.
Clarkson, Atelia, and Gilbert B. Cross, comps. World Folktales: A Scribner Resource Collection. New York: Scribner’s, 1980.
Cole, Joanna, ed. Best-Loved Folktales of the World. New York: Anchor, 1983.
Crossley-Holland, Kevin, comp. Folktales of the British Isles. New York: Pantheon, 1988.
Dahl, Roald. Revolting Rhymes. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982.
Dasent, George Webbe, comp. East o’ the Sun and West o’ the Moon. Toronto: Dover, 1970.
Datlow, Ellen, and Terri Windling, eds. Black Thorn, White Rose. New York: Avon, 1994.
______. Snow White, Blood Red. New York: William Morrow, 1993.
Dawkins, R. M., comp. Modern Greek Folktales. Oxford: Clarendon, 1953.
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Dorson, Richard M., comp. American Negro Folktales. New York: Fawcett, 1968.
______. Buying the Wind: Regional Folklore of the United States. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1964.
______. Folktales Told around the World. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1975.
Eberhard, Wolfram, comp. Folktales of China. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1965.
Erdoes, Richard, and Alfonso Ortiz, comps. American Myths and Legends. New York: Pantheon, 1984.
Feldmann, Susan, comp. The Storytelling Stone: Myths and Tales of the American Indians. New York: Dell, 1965.
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Trans. Jack Zipes. Toronto: Bantam, 1987.
Hallett, Martin, and Barbara Karasek, comps. Folk and Fairy Tales. 4th ed. Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2008.
Hearn, Michael Patrick, comp. Victorian Fairy Tale Book. New York: Pantheon, 1988.
Jacobs, Joseph, comp. Celtic Fairy Tales. London: Nutt, 1892.
______. English Fairy Tales (1890). London: Bodley Head, 1968.
Jones, Christine A. and Jennifer Schacker, eds. Marvelous Transformations: An Anthology of Fairy Tales and Contemporary Critical Perspectives. Peterborough, ON: Broadview, 2012.
Lang, Andrew, comp. The Blue Fairy Book (1889). New York: Dover, 1974.
______. The Green Fairy Book (1892). New York: Dover, 1974.
______. The Pink Fairy Book (1897). New York: Dover, 1974.
______. The Red Fairy Book (1890). New York: Dover, 1974.
______. Yellow Fairy Book (1894). New York: Dover, 1974.
Lurie, Alison, comp. Clever G
retchen and Other Forgotten Folktales. New York: Crowell, 1980.
______. The Oxford Book of Modern Fairy Tales. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1993.
Massignon, Geneviève, comp. Folktales of France. Trans. Jacqueline Hyland. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1968.
Mieder, Wolfgang, comp. Disenchantments: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry. Hanover, NH: UP of New England, 1985.
Minard, Rosemary. Womenfolk and Fairy Tales. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1975.
Montgomerie, Norah, and William Montgomerie, comps. The Well at the World’s End: Folk Tales of Scotland. Toronto: Bodley Head, 1956.
Noy, Dov, comp. Folktales of Israel. Trans. Gene Baharav. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1963.
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Perrault, Charles. Perrault’s Complete Fairy Tales. Trans. A. E. Johnson et al. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1961.
Phelps, Ethel Johnston, comp. The Maid of the North: Feminist Folk Tales from around the World. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1981.
______. Tatterhood and Other Tales. Old Westbury, NY: Feminist Press, 1978.
Philip, Neil, comp. The Cinderella Story: The Origins and Variations of the Story Known as “Cinderella.” London: Penguin, 1989.
Pourrat, Henri, comp. French Folktales. Trans. Royall Tyler. New York: Pantheon, 1989.
Ramanujan, A. K., comp. Folktales from India. New York: Random House, 1991.
Randolph, Vance, comp. Pissing in the Snow and Other Ozark Folktales. Urbana: U of Illinois P, 1976.
______. Sticks in the Knapsack and Other Ozark Folk Tales. New York: Columbia UP, 1958.
Ranke, Kurt, comp. Folktales of Germany. Trans. Lotte Baumann. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1966.
Rugoff, Milton A., comp. A Harvest of World Folk Tales. New York: Viking, 1949.
Schönwerth, Franz Xaver von. The Turnip Princess and Other Newly Discovered Fairy Tales. New York: Penguin, 2015.
Simpson, Jacqueline, comp. Icelandic Folktales and Legends. Berkeley: U of California P, 1972.
Straparola, Giovanni Francesco. The Facetious Nights of Straparola. Trans. W. G. Waters. 4 vols. London: Society of Bibliophiles, 1901.
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