Folktale (myth) 1:
Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Young Oxford Book of Folk Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Title of folktale: The Rainbow Bird and the Crocodile and How People First Got Fire

Characters: Old Man; the Boy; Crocodile; Rainbow Bee-Eater

Setting: in the land of Dreamtime in Austrailia

Theme: folktale; myths; legends; anthology and collections; explanation of natural phenomena (how people got fire)

Genre: Traditional literature; folklore; ancient myths; oral traditions

Golden Quote: “As for the Boy, now he had a good idea. Now he decided to give fire to the people is whenever they wanted to make a fire all they had to do was get the wood from any tree. So he ran around the bush putting fire into the heart of every tree.”

Summary: This is a collection of 35 folk tales from all over the world. You'll meet ghosts, spirits, robbers, princesses, sharks, and tigers, wealthy sultans and hungry peasants, fair maidens and cackling witches, rainbow birds and laughing fish. The stories are romantic, funny, sad, exciting, miraculous, and exotic. They vary in style and content, from the familiar "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," to the surprising, such as the Yoruba tale "Onieye and King Olu Dotun's Daughter." The stories are arranged by place of origin, covering all five continents. We circle the world, moving from one country to another, and travel through history, from long-past centuries to a place where time has no meaning. And through it all we are moved from tears to laughter, from fear to hope and understanding. The volume is copiously illustrated with handsome black-and-white illustrations.

Summary of folk tale: This ancient myth from Austrailia attempts to explain how people first got fire. There was one person who harnessed all the power to start fires, the Old Man. The Old Man was very selfish with the fire. He would go around flaunting that he could start fires and would not share it with anyone. The Boy decides he is going to confront the Old Man about his ability to start fires. After the Old Man dismisses him, he comes back asking him about the bud-bud sticks he needs to start his own fire. The Old Man feels bad about the way he treated the Boy and asks the Boy to get the nits out of his hair. As soon as the Boy starts taking the nits out of hair, the Old Man falls into a deep sleep. The Boy makes sure he cannot be woken up and steals his fire powers away from the Old Man. To make sure the Old Man gets what he deserves, the Boy starts a fire around where he is sleeping and as the Old Man tries to escape he is badly burned and turns into a Crocodile that stays in the marshes and the Boy turns into a Rainbow Bee-Eater putting fire into the heart of every tree to give to the people.

Audience: Grade 3 and up

Curriculum ties: unit of different cultures traditional folklore and myths; compare and contrast different versions from other parts of the world; students can research folklore of their own ancestry, what are the common elements of trickster tales?

Awards: None

Personal response: I am fascinated by the way many different cultures explain a natural phenomenon and how it came into existence through a good story. When one examines the human experience, past and present, it demonstrates there is a common thread among us- our gift of storytelling (passed along from generation to generation) and our curious attempt to explain the unknown. The ability to harness the power of fire to improve daily life was truly a tremendous human invention and, in the case of this fire myth and other cultures’ fire myths for that matter, became such a vital part of people’s survival they deemed it necessary to create magical tales to celebrate its importance. Another aspect of this particular tale I found to be of interest is its connection to how crocodiles and rainbow bee-eaters came into existence as well. For the indigenous people of Australia, crocodiles, rainbow bee-eaters, and fire were regular occurrences in their habitat and way of life.

Folktale 2:
Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Young Oxford Book of Folk Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Title of folktale/fairy tale: Vasilissa the Fair

Characters: Vasilissa; Vasilissa’s magic doll; her father; evil stepmother; two evil stepsisters; evil witch (Baba-Yaga); White Knight; Red
Knight; Black Knight; Granny; Tsar

Settings: Visilissa’a childhood home; a forest where Baba-Yaga lives; Granny’s house; the tsar’s castle

Theme: folktale; myths; legends; fairytales; anthology and collections

Genre: Traditional literature; folklore, fairytales

Golden Quote: Vasilissa: “’Now, little doll, have something to eat and hear my trouble. They have sent me to Baba-Yaga’s for a light, and she will eat me.’”

Summary: This is a collection of 35 folk tales from all over the world. You'll meet ghosts, spirits, robbers, princesses, sharks, and tigers, wealthy sultans and hungry peasants, fair maidens and cackling witches, rainbow birds and laughing fish. The stories are romantic, funny, sad, exciting, miraculous, and exotic. They vary in style and content, from the familiar "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," to the surprising, such as the Yoruba tale "Onieye and King Olu Dotun's Daughter." The stories are arranged by place of origin, covering all five continents. We circle the world, moving from one country to another, and travel through history, from long-past centuries to a place where time has no meaning. And through it all we are moved from tears to laughter, from fear to hope and understanding. The volume is copiously illustrated with handsome black-and-white illustrations.

Summary of folk tale: A long time ago there lived a beautiful and kind Russian girl named Vasilissa. When her mother died, she gave her a magic doll that would keep her safe for the rest of her life as long as she fed the doll. When her father married an evil woman with two evil daughters, her magic doll helped her through all the bad times she endured under their thumb. One night, her stepsisters tricked her into getting light from the wicked witch, Baba-Yaga. Baba-Yaga lived in the dark forest and would eat anyone who entered her house. The witched decided she would spare her as long as she did everything she asked. With her magic doll’s help, Vasilissa was able to accomplish all the tasks Baba-Yaga forced her to do and, in return, she was released to go home with a lit human skull that destroyed her evil stepmother and stepsisters. In the end, her magic doll provides her safety (as her mother promised) and a wonderful marriage to the handsome tsar of the kingdom.

Audience: Grade 3 and up

Curriculum ties: unit on different cultures traditional folklore and myths; compare and contrast different versions from other parts of the world; students can research folklore of their own ancestry, what are the common elements of trickster tales?

Awards: None

Personal response: Vasilissa the Fair is an archetype of Cinderella in Russian folklore. Although, this folktale possesses many of the same elements as other versions of Cinderella, there are many varying aspects as well. Vasillissa has a magic doll to protect her (similar to the fairly god mother) against her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, however, she also encounters a cannibalistic witch who lives in the dark and scary forest (perhaps the same witch in Hansel and Gretel?) . Despite all the obstacles she faces throughout the story, she ends of living happily ever after with the handsome Tsar. I enjoyed this folktale very much because I was able to examine distinct aspects of Russian culture, while at the time, dissect the story into its various similar folktale/fairytale elements as well. Additionally, I loved the reference to Vasilissa’s magic doll being a Matryoshka doll, a folk art crafted doll still popular today.
lktale 2.

Folktale (trickster tale) 3.

Crossley-Holland, Kevin. The Young Oxford Book of Folk Tales. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Title of folktale: Tiger Story, Anansi Story

Characters: Tiger (King of forest); Anansi spider; Snake; Queen Bee; Gourde full of live bees; Parrot, Wise Owl; Centipede; Turtle; Lizard; Cricket

Setting: a forest

Theme: folktale; myths; legends; trickster tale; anthology and collections

Genre: Traditional literature; folklore

Golden Quote: Anansi: “’But that’s school-work, Queen Bee. I couldn’t do that. I was never quick in school. That’s too hard for me, too hard, Queen Bee. And that dreadful Tiger is so quick-tempered. What am I to do, Queen Bee?’”

Summary: This is a collection of 35 folk tales from all over the world. You'll meet ghosts, spirits, robbers, princesses, sharks, and tigers, wealthy sultans and hungry peasants, fair maidens and cackling witches, rainbow birds and laughing fish. The stories are romantic, funny, sad, exciting, miraculous, and exotic. They vary in style and content, from the familiar "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves," to the surprising, such as the Yoruba tale "Onieye and King Olu Dotun's Daughter." The stories are arranged by place of origin, covering all five continents. We circle the world, moving from one country to another, and travel through history, from long-past centuries to a place where time has no meaning. And through it all we are moved from tears to laughter, from fear to hope and understanding. The volume is copiously illustrated with handsome black-and-white illustrations.

Summary of folk tale: Tiger is King of the forest and everything strong is named after him. Anansi spider is the weakest creature in the forest. One day, Anansi asks if Tiger stories can be renamed after him (Anansi stories). Tiger says yes to the renaming of the stories under two conditions: Anansi must capture a gourde full or live bees and he must capture of Mr. Snake. Just when Tiger thinks he has given Anansi two impossible missions, Anansi tricks all the creatures of the forest and gets his wish.

Audience: Grade 3 and up

Curriculum ties: unit on different cultures traditional folklore and myths; compare and contrast different versions from other parts of the world; students can research folklore of their own ancestry, what are the common elements of trickster tales?

Awards: None

Personal response: The Anansi spider is a trickster from Central and South America folklore. Anansi is a character that exhibits foolish type behavior in a selfish yet humorous manner. Although his behavior is perceived as unwise, he is actually very rational in his actions and thought processes. His schemes are intentionally conniving, thus making a fool out the creature or person he is targeting. In this folktale, he not only tricks the strongest, most powerful creature in the forest, Tiger, but he is able to deceive all the other animals in the forest to get what he wants. This story embodies all the features of a trickster tale- amusement, morality, and how things came to be named. The stories are no longer called Tiger stories, but rather Anansi stories because he was able to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes to get the one thing he wanted- all stories to be named after him. The stories of Anansi are entertaining, but in terms of morality, the actions of Anansi should not be seen as traits people should retain if they want to have integrity and good character. ( )

This book contains a smorgasbord of fairy and folk tales from all around the world on a variety of themes. This makes it a good overview, but to me this was also its downfall. There was no unifying theme to make the stories connect with one another and the organization was poor in my opinion. While other folk tale collections I’ve read will organize the tales by themes, this book’s editor chose to organize by region. This doesn’t really mean a whole lot to the reader, especially considering that the country of origin for each story is given in the table of contents but not at the beginning of the actual story (resulting in a lot of flipping back and forth between pages if you want to know where the story you are currently reading originates from). There is also at least one factual error that I notice in this organization – a Mexican tale is included in the section of Central and South American tales, instead of in the following section of North American tales.

Another issue I had with the organization of this book was the inclusion of a glossary at the end. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad the book includes a glossary so children can learn more about the various cultures included in the text. But one problem I had with the glossary is that it’s a small, one-page glossary buried at the back of the book and very easy to forget about as you are reading, even when you come across an unknown word. I think it would be better if the words were defined on the page in a footnote or if the glossary words were at least highlighted somehow in the text (in italics, with an asterisk, etc.) so that the reader knows when to turn to the glossary in the back. Another issue I had was the decision to include or exclude certain words from the glossary seemed rather arbitrary. For instance, Hanukkah was included, even though I think the average English-speaking person has a least some conception of what Hanukkah is. On the other hand, kraal was not defined, and I have doubts as to how many people know the meaning of this word.

The simple black and white illustrations were a nice bonus to this book, which on first glance does not seem like the type of book that would include pictures. I’m not sure how the illustrations were produced, but some gave the appearance of being woodcuts, which is a style I particularly enjoy. I only had one issue with the pictures and that is that one story prominently featured a tiger as a character while the accompanying illustrations resembled a spotted leopard or jaguar more than a striped tiger. Otherwise, I found the pictures a delightful addition and think many children will also.

As a disclaimer, I must admit that I’m not a huge fan of fairy tales and find a lot of them just plain stupid – for instance, one very short story in this collection involves a little girl who is always told ghost stories by her brother and when meeting an actual ghost as she taking in the laundry, she thinks it is her brother playing a trick on her. She grabs the nightcap off the ghost’s head along with the rest of the laundry and only realizes her mistake later. She comes back to the ghost and gives him back his nightcap, after which he strikes her down dead. Huh? What exactly is the moral of the story? What should children reading this get out of it? Of course, that is just my personal feelings on fairy tales – other people love them so they might enjoy this comprehensive collection of folk and fairy tales despite its flaws. ( )