Folktales

Folktales deal with adventures both plausible and implausible wrapped in the forms of human or animal abilities. Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, and the Story of the Three Little Pigs, are all examples of the childhood tales that we have all grown up with. They are the simple tales that have truly evil people or animals, and truly good people or animals, and the good always wins out in the end in these stories, giving way to the child's version of fairness. These stories usually start out like: "Once upon a time in a far away land there lived a....," or "Once upon a time there was...." All cultures have folktales and while the characters have changed slightly in some of the stories, or the plot might have changed in some fashion, the main idea is still there. An excellent example of the same story in different versions can be seen in the story of Lon Po Po from China, the story of Little Red Riding Hood from France, and the story of Little Red Cap from Germany, all of which share the same themes. A little girl who wears red goes through the forest on the way to her grandmother's house and is met by a wolf. The wolf gets into the house and somehow the people trick the wolf so that he does not get to eat or finish digesting the people he wants for a meal. Folktales proved to be excellent vehicles for teaching children the values and lessons in behavior which the storyteller thought appropriate.