Trickster Tales Vocab

bestiary

A medieval treatise listing, naming, and describing various animals and their attributes, often using an elaborate allegory to explain the spiritual significance in terms of Christian doctrine.

antihero

A protagonist who is a non-hero or the antithesis of a traditional hero. While the traditional hero may be dashing, strong, brave, resourceful, or handsome, the antihero may be incompetent, unlucky, clumsy, dumb, ugly, or clownish.

composite monster

(in architecture, often called a "chimera" after the Greek monster): The term is one mythologists use to describe the fantastical creatures in Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and medieval European legends in which the beast is composed of the body- parts of various animals. For instance, in Greek mythology, the chimera has the body of a lion, tale of a serpent, wings of a bat, and a goat-head, a lion head, and a serpent head. Likewise, the sphinx has a lion's body and a woman's head and breasts; the Centaur has a horses body and a man's body and human torso and a human head where the horse head should be; the minotaur has a bills head and a mans body; and the harpy has an avian body and a woman's head, breasts, and arms. Composite monsters were common in the legends of classical and ancient cultures, but diminished in favor after the Renaissance. Many theories propose to explain the common tendency to create composite monsters. An example in 2oth century films includes The Fly. In this 1950s horror classic, a fly and a human trade bodies and heads.

beast fable

A short, simple narrative with speaking animals as characters designed to teach a moral or social truth. Examples include the fables of Aesop and Marie de France, Kipling's Jungle Books and Just So Stories, George Orwells Animal Farm, Richard Adams' Watership Down, and Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.

fantasy literature

Any literature that is removed from reality-- especially poems, books, or short narratives set in nonexistent worlds, such as an elfish kingdom, on the moon, in Pellucidar (the hollow center of the Earth), or in alternate versions of the historic world-- such as a version of London where vampires or sorcerers have seized control over parliament. The characters are often something other than humans, or human characteristics may interact with nonhuman characters such as trolls, dragons, munchkins, kelpies, etc. Examples include J. R. R. Tolkien's synthetic histories in The Silmarilion.

Folklore

Saying, verbal compositions, stories, social rituals passed along by word of mouth rather than written down in a text. Folklore includes superstitions: modern urban legends: programs: little: spells: nursery rhymes: song: legends or more about the weather, animals, and plan: jokes and anecdotes: ritual at births, deaths, marriages, and yearly celebrations: and traditional dance and plays performed during holidays or at communal gatherings. Many works of literature originated in folktales before the narratives were written down. Examples in American culture include the story of George Washington chopping me down the cherry tree; Paul Bunyon cutting lumber with his blue ox, Babe; Pecos Bill roping a twister; and Johnny Appleseed planting apples across the west over a 120-year period. Many fairy tales in Europe originate in folklore, such as "Snow White" and "Jack and the Beanstalk."

berserker

The Icelandic, Scandinavian, and Norwegian sagas give accounts of fearsome Viking warrior-shamans who could entrance themselves and enter a frenzied hypnagogic state. During this period of rabid ferocity, the berserker no longer felt the pains of cold, injury, or fear. The berserkers simply became immune to such effects in their altered state of consciousness. In the Yngling Saga and other legends, they would enter combat either naked or wearing nothing but bear-skins, howling and roaring, biting the edges of their shield until blood flowed from their teeth and gums. (Thus we get the modern term "going berserk" to describe an insane frenzy.) In combat, they were apparently equally likely to attack both friend and foe, so the other Vikings kept their distance from them. The name berserker comes from the bearskin garments worn by these shamans, who believed that through the magic they absorbed the spirit, stamina, and strength of the bear into their own bodies, being effectively possessed by the soul of the bear. At the end of their trance, they were not expected to be able to recall their actions, since it was the bear-spirit fighting rather than the Viking himself.

saga

The word comes from the Old Norse term for a "saw" or a "saying". Saga's are Scandinavian and Icelandic prose narratives about famous historical heroes, notable families, or the exploits of kings and warriors. Until the 12th century, most sagas were folklore, and they passed from person to person by oral transmission. Thereafter, scribes wrote them down. The Icelandic sagas take place when Iceland was first settled by Vikings (930-1030 AD) The saga is marked by literary and social conventions including warriors who stop in the midst of combat to recite extemporaneous poetry, individuals wearing dark blue cloaks when they are about to kill someone, elaborate genealogies and "back-story" before the main plot, casual violence, and recitations of the names and features of magical swords and weapons. Later sagas show signs of being influenced by continental literature-- particularly French tales of chivalry and knighthood. For modern readers, the appearance of these traits often seems to sit uneasily with the surrounding material. In common usage, the term saga has been erroneously applied to any exciting, long narrative.

fable

a brief story illustrating a moral. Unlike the parables, fables often include talking animals or animated objects as the principal characters. The interaction of these animals or inanimate things reveals the general truths about human nature, i.e., a person can learn practical lessons from the fictional antics in a fable. However, the lesson learned is not allegorical. Each animal is not necessarily a symbol for something else. Instead, the reader learns the lesson as an exemplum-- an example of what one should or should not do.

epilogue

a conclusion added to a literary work such as a novel, play, or long poem. It is the opposite of a prologue. Often, the epilogue refers to the moral of a fable. Sometimes, it is a speech made by one of the actors at the end of a play asking for the indulgence of the critics and the audience. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream contains one of the most famous epilogues. Contrast with prologue. DO not confuse the term with eclogue.

chronicle

a history or record of events. It refers to any systematic account or narration of events that makes minimal attempt to interpret, question, or analyze that history. Because of this, chronicles often contain large amounts of folklore or other word-of-mouth legends the write has heard. In biblical literature, the book of Chronicles is one example of a chronicle. Medieval chronicles include Joinville's account of the Crusades and Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, a source for much Arthurian legend.

omen

a miraculous sign, a natural disaster, or a disturbance in nature that reveals the will of gods in the arena of politics or social behavior or predicts a coming change in human history. Greek culture held that if the gods were upset, they might visit the lands with monsters, ghosts, floods, storms, and grotesque miracles to reveal their displeasure. Comets might appear in the heavens-- or phantom armies might fight in the clouds.

other world, the

a motif in folklore and mythology in which an alternative world exists in conjunction with the physical world. This world is typically occupied by mysterious or unknowable beings that resemble humanity but who are alien in their motivations and concerns, often toying or playing with mortals for their own amusement in one moment, or showering them with gifts and benefits the next. In Old Irish myths, for instance, a tall and frightening race of Elves ( the Sidh, pronounces like the modern day English word she) lived underneath the hills.

mythology

a system of stories about the gods, often explicitly religious in nature, that were once believed to be true by a scientific cultural group, but may no longer be believed as literally true by their descendants. Like religions everywhere, mythology often provided stories to help explain why the world works the way it does, to provide a rationale for customs and observances, to establish set rituals for sacred ceremonies, and to predict what happens to individuals after death. if the protagonist is a normal human rather than a supernatural being, the traditional story is usually called a legend rather than a myth. If the story concerns supernatural beings who are not deities, but rather spirits, ghosts, fairies, and other creatures, it is usually called a folktale rather than a myth. Samples of myths appear in the writings of Homer, Virgil, and Ovid.

fairy tale

a tale about elves, dragons, hobgoblins, sprites, and other fantastic magical beings set vaguely in the distant past ("once upon a time"), often in a pseudo-medieval world. Fairy tales includes shape shifting spirits with mischievous temperaments, superhuman knowledge, and far reaching power to interfere with the normal affairs of humanity. Other conventions include magic, charms, disguises, talking animals, and a hero or heroine who overcomes obstacles to "live happily ever after". The most famous compilers include Hans Christian Anderson (Denmark), the Grimm brothers (Germany), and Charles Perrault (France). Fairy tales grew out of the oral tradition of folktales, and later were transcribed as prose narratives.

epic

an epic in its most specific sense is a genre of classical poetry. It is a poem that is (A) a long narrative about a serious project, (B) told in an elevated style of language, (C) focused on the exploits of a hero or demi-god who represents the cultural values of a race, nation, or religious group (D) in which the hero's success or failure will determine the fate of that people or nation. Usually, the epic has (E) a vast setting, and covers a wide geographic area, (F) in contains superhuman feats and strength or military prowess, and gods or supernatural beings frequently take part in action. The poem begins with (G) the invocation of a muse to inspire the poet.

folktale

folktales are stories passed along from one generation to the next by word-of-mouth rather than by a written text.

archetype

an original model or pattern from which other later copies were made, especially a character, an action, or situation that seems to represent common patterns of human life. Examples of archetypes found cross-culturally include the following: (1) recurring symbolic situations (such as the orphaned prince or the lost chieftain's son raised ignorant of his heritage until he is rediscovered y his parents, or the damsel in distress rescued from a hideous monster by a handsome young man who later marries the girl.) (2) recurring themes (such as pride preceded to fall; the inevitable nature of death, fate, or punishment; blindness; madness; taboos such as forbidden love.) (3) recurring characters (such as witches as ugly as crones that cannibalize children, lame blacksmiths of preternatural skill, womanizing Don Juans, the hunted man, the femme fatale, the snob, the social climber, the wise old man as mentor or teacher, star-crossed lovers; the caring mother figure, the helpless old lady, the stern father figure, the guilt ridden figure searching for redemption, the braggart, the young star-crossed lovers, the bully, the villain in black, the oracle or prophet, the mourning widow in lamentation.) (4) symbolic colors (green as a symbol for life or summer; blue as a symbol for water or tranquility; white or black as a symbol or purity; or red as a symbol of blood, fire, passion) and so on. (5) recurring images (such as blood, water, pregnancy, ashes, cleanness, dirtiness, caverns, the ruined tower, the rose, the lion, the snake, the eagle, the hanged man, the dying god that rises again, the feast or banquet, the fall from the great height). The study of these archetypes are also called universal symbols.

fantasy novel

any novel that is removes from reality--especially those novels set in nonexistent worlds, such as an elvish kingdom, on the moon, in Pellucidar (the hollow center of the Earth),or in alternative versions of the historical world-- such as a version of London where vampires or sorcerers have seized control of parliament. The characters are often something other than humans, or human characters may interact with nonhuman characters such as trolls, dragons, munchkins, kelpies, etc.

additive monster

in contrast with the composite monster, mythologists and folklorists use the label additive monster to describe a creature from mythology or legend that has an altered number of body parts from multiple animals added together. For instance, the Scandinavian Ettin, a troll or giant with two-heads, in an additive monster. Sleipnir, the magical horse in Norse mythology, is regular horse, except it has eight legs.

folkloric motifs

recurring patterns of imagery or narrative that appear in folklore and folktales. Common folkloric motifs include the wise old man mentoring the young warrior, the handsome prince rescuing the damsel in distress, the "bed trick," and the "trickster tricked"

Arthurian

related to the legends of King Arthur and his knights. A large body of ancient and recent literature is Arthurian in whole or part.

ballad

song hits, folk music, and folktales or any song that tells a story are loosely called ballads. In more exact literary terminology, a ballad is a narrative poem consisting of quatrains of iambic tetrameter alternating with iambic trimester. Common traits of the ballad are that (A) the beginning is often abrupt, (B) the story is told through dialogue and action, (C) the language is simple or "folksy", (D) the theme is often tragic-- though comic ballads do exist, and (E) the ballad contains a refrain repeated several times. One of the most important anthologies of ballads is F.J. Child's The English and Scottish Popular Ballads.

muses

the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who had the power to inspire artists, poets, singers, and writers. The are listed below along with their spheres of influence: Calliope (epic poetry) Clio (history) Euterpe (lyric poetry) Melpomene (tragedy) Terpsichore (choral dance) Erato (love poetry) Polyhymnia (hymns and sacred poems) Urania (astronomy) Thalia (comedy)

polygenesis

the theory that, if two similar stories, words, or images appear in two different geographic regions or languages, they are actually unrelated to each other. Each one arose independently. For an analogy, in both early Mayan architecture and in Egyptian architecture, pyramids are striking engineering features. However, since no contact took place between the two cultures, archeologists believe each group invented the design independently rather than adopting it from a single source ( such as one group borrowing it from the other). Circumstances such as the lack of mortar, concrete, or flying buttresses ensured that both Mayans and Egyptians would come up with a wide-base structure to support any large or tall edifice-- leading to pyramid designs. In the same way, similar legends appear across the world even when each group has no contacts with others. Many cultures that master metallurgy create legends or myths about crippled smiths (witness Hephaestus or Vulcan in Greco-Roman myth). Cultures that do not master metal-smithing do not create crippled craftsmen-gods in their pantheons. This can be explained by theory of polygenesis. Men who are crippled cannot join the hunters in gathering food or join the farmers in digging irrigation ditches, so they tend to stay in the village and work as craftsmen, developing skills that ultimately seem magical to the untrained without these years of experience. In the same way, flood narratives appear across many cultures-- Noah's flood in the Judeo-Christian tradition as well as in Welsh, Chaldean, and Greek legends. Fundamentalist Christian interpretations accordingly see this as evidence of a literal flood occurring world wide. Scholars of myth would argue that myths of a universal flood appear in only cultures that experience flooding regularly as a natural disaster. Aborigines in the Australian outbreak or desert-dwelling tribesmen do not necessarily share such a legend. This leads to the idea that these flood- narratives arose independently in different places through polygenesis.