Folktales can help children develop strong reading skills, study other cultures, show positive character traits, and discover an interest in stories. Folktales have been passed down through oral tradition, refined over time making it easier to remember and pass onto another person. They can help children develop critical reading skills, vocabulary, and comprehension. The can play a huge role in values or character traits; sharing cultural values. For example, when people belong to a tribe they needed to be able to get along well under a variety of circumstances and minimize conflict. Typically, the chief would confront someone. As a result, stories are often shared to clarify how an act of wrongdoing had occurred. As folktales are passed down over generations they modeled behaviors and expectations about how to live a meaningful life. Folktales by their nature celebrate diversity.
Experiencing stories from different cultures, children can discover valuable insights about another culture’s values, beliefs, history, practices, and customs. When children learn about diverse cultural traditions, they not only broaden their view of the world, they may also develop a greater appreciation of their own family’s heritage. Two of my articles are similar to each other. The Story of the Fisherman talks about a fisherman trying to make means for his family, goes fishing every day to bring food home. He promises his self to only throw the nets four times. He goes to do his regular routine to find out he cannot catch any fish until…he finds a golden vase. He tries to figure out how to open it; he twisted it, turned it upside down, nothing would budge. A huge thick cloud of smoke started to rise for the vase. The vase opens, and a genie comes out granting him a wish on how he shall choose to die. The fisherman challenged him and tricked the genie to go back into the vase.
He threw the vase back into the ocean and promised to build a house by the river to prevent anyone from finding the vase. The Story of the Husband and the Parrot talks about a husband who bought a parrot and asked his wife to take care of it until he comes back home from a business trip… The husband asked the parrot what happened because it only told the truth. The husband scolded the wife because of what the parrot had said. She thought one of the slaves had mentioned something for the parrot to make those accusations. The wife told slaves to use hand mill under the cage, throw water at the cage, and turn a mirror from left to right by the candle. Again, the husband had asked what happened. The parrot mentioned lighting, thunder, and rain.
The guy figured the parrot was lying and killed him. He apologized to his wife. The two share an evil/mischievous character. They give the good vs evil aspect. Unlike my first two folktales, The Little Hunchback and The Enchanted Horse focus on heroism. The Little Hunchback talks about a tailor and his wife who offer the hunchback to eat dinner at their place. The hunchback had swallowed a large bone…despite the tailor and his wife’s effort to save him, he had died from suffocation. They came up with a plan to blame a doctor who lived next to them. He told the server to get his master for help.
The two told the others he was sick making them think they were the reason he died. They made a scene to an officer claiming that he tried to rob them. The police question the people and could not deny what they did. The police told the town they were going to hang the murders until… the real killers confessed. The Enchanted Horse talks about a festival going on in the kingdom of Persia. The king was looking for a horse to ride. An Indian came to show off the horse he owns and the things the horse can do. The king tells his guards to throw the Indian into prison for saying rude remarks towards the son about the deal they were going to make with the horse. The son was trying to get the princess to marry him. She kept saying no until she saw when the prince mounted the horse. She accepted.
