Things You Learn Before You Can Speak

folk tale

lying

sexism

truth-telling

is simply an abstract story-'pattern, uncomplicated and easy to remember, no more hampered by barriers of language and culture than migrating birds are by customs officers, and made up of interchangeable motifs that can be counted and indexed.

Folk tales are simply abstract story-'patterns, uncomplicated and easy to remember, no more hampered by barriers of language and culture than migrating birds are by customs officers, and made up of interchangeable motifs that can be counted and indexed.

is a sequence of motifemes, (or structural slots in a folktale narrative.

a sequence of motifemes, (or structural slots in a folktale narrative)

is the primer of the picture-language of the soul.

The folktale is the primer of the picture-language of the soul.

is filled with stories of people punished for saying the truth. Only the Fool, exempt from society's rules, is allowed to speak with complete freedom.

History, mythology, and folktales are filled with stories of people punished for saying the truth. Only the Fool, exempt from society's rules, is allowed to speak with complete freedom.

is a genre in which very strange things happen and there is never much attention given to the whys and wherefores.

Things, very strange things, happen in folktales and there is never much attention given to the whys and wherefores.

is a genre in which the protagonist is always, and intensely, a young person moving through ordeals into adult life. This is why there are no wicked stepchildren in the tales.

The protagonist of folktale is always, and intensely, a young person moving through ordeals into adult life. . . . and this is why there are no wicked stepchildren in the tales.

folk tale, n.All

folk tale