Hi all,
I was searching around the internet and found this interesting African folktale about a sultan who has 3 sons who seem to be unable to learn. One day a magician comes to the sultan and says that he can teach the sons to read and write but in return the sultan must give up one of his sons to the magician. I don't want to tell too much so I'll let you read it for yourselves. I've also attached the link to the website that has various folktales and fairytales from different regions of the world. Hope you enjoy!
-Zachery Murphy
http://worldoftales.com/African_folktales/African_Folktale_47.html
http://worldoftales.com/
Hey Zach,
ReplyDeleteThat was an interesting tale with the sultan and the son. I could not help realizing an underlying theme with the other African folktales, as well the one that you presented, the fact that they seem very accommodating of magic not apprehensive and reactionary like the culture of western and even eastern Europe. I think that without a centralized church hierarchy and witchcraft being interpreted and manipulated "from above", other cultures such as African, Asian, Islamic, etc have seemingly been more enlightened with the prospect of magic and the practitioners during the upper middle ages. I can especially see this with the other interesting folk-tales that your link provides as well, thanks.
Hey! I looked at this website and I looked at the Irish Fairytales link and I found a story called, "The Fairy Tree of Dooros". I thought this was a cool story because we had just talked about fairies and their connection with the Irish culture.
ReplyDeleteIn this tale there is a magical tree that had magic berries on it. When fairies ate them they turned beautiful and youthful. The fairies were careful not to leave the berries in human world until one day a little fairy left a berry in the forest. The little fairy had to find a giant to guard the berry tree so no humans could ever get a berry again. Years later the cruel king gained power by killing the old fairy king. The new cruel king got a witch to make the salin kings daughter terribly ugly. The daughter lived alone in a cabin because she was so sad. A robin came to her windowsil everyday to sing to her and wanted to give her a berry so she could be beautiful again. The robin had to steal a berry from the tree when the giant couldnt breath on him and kill him. Basically the girl became beautiful again and married the new king's son and became queen.
I just thought this was an interesting story realting to fairies.
-Emily Reinhart