Folk tales are a category of traditional tales which are told over time and which communicate the social attitudes, beliefs and customs of a particular culture. Although their roots are in oral tradition, many have now been written down. As Mary Steele writes, ‘folk tale’ and ‘fairy tale’ have been used interchangeably by editors, although ‘fairy tale’ in the title generally indicates that the book is intended for children’ (Steele, 1989, p. 5). My students and I find it helpful to join Townsend in regarding ‘folk’ as referring to the origin of a tale, while ‘fairy’ refers to its nature (Townsend, 1995, p. 67). So ‘folk tales’ is the larger category and a particular folk tale may or may not be a fairy tale.
Folk tales come from many different countries and alongside a good story tell us something about the cultures in which they are set. The annotated lists of traditional tales in A Multicultural Guide to Children’s Books 0–16+ recommend folk tales for different age-groups. For example, stories from a number of different countries particularly suitable for reading out loud to younger children are to be found in Margaret Mayo’s The Orchard Book of Magical Tales (Orchard, 1993). Enjoyed from about age seven years upwards are Caroline Ness’s tales from the Indian sub-continent The Ocean of Story: a collection of magical folk tales (1995) and Berlie Doherty’s collection, in which stories from Africa, Canada, Australia and Wales are included, Tales of Wonder and Magic (1997). Mary Steele’s Bookguide also has an annotated list of traditional tales, including folk tales.
Books go out of print quickly and it is always a good idea to check publishers’ catalogues and sites such as Book-trust: www.booktrust.org.uk for lists of what is currently available.
If you want both to increase your knowledge of folk tale as a genre and gain helpful advice about using it in English and across the curriculum, Tales for the Telling is a most stimulating and helpful resource. The annotated lists are well organised, often under intriguing headings, for example, ‘Stories about a land in the sky’, ‘Stories in which somebody has a secret name’ and ‘Stories with an unusual mode of transport’. Another source of insight is Ruth Bottigheimer’s account exploring the traditional tales of different countries (Bottigheimer, 2004).
Bottigheimer, R. (2004) ‘Fairy tales and folk tales’, in Hunt, P. International Companion Encyclopedia of Children’s Literature. London & New York: Routledge.
Hallford, D. and Zaghini, E. (2004) Folk and Fairy Tales: A Book Guide London: The Booktrust.
Steele, Mary (compiler) (1989) Traditional Tales Stroud: Signal Bookguide, edited by Nancy Chambers.
Stones, Rosemary (ed.) (1999) A Multicultural Guideto Children’s Books 0–16+ Co-published by Books for Keeps and The Reading and Language Information Centre, Reading.
Townsend, J. R. (1995) Written for Children London: The Bodley Head.
Tales for the Telling: a journey through the world of folk-tales (2000) a publication of Seven Sisters: Centre for the Children’s Book (www.childrensbooks.org.uk). (This Education Pack is an exciting guide through the folk tale world which suggests many language activities round folk tales. The Centre for the Children’s Book houses its collection of children’s books in a seven-storey former flour mill in Gateshead.)
This is the complete article, containing 540 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
