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Folklore Transition Unit Buckler’s Mead Academy English Department: Transition Unit Welcome to English at Buckler’s Mead Academy. We are excited about teaching you and making you part of our community in September. We have put together a selection of short stories we would like you to read and some links to video clips that we would like you to watch. This will help you to be prepared for what we will be doing in English in September. There are some written challenges at the end for you to choose from. Characteristics of Folk Literature Watch this introductory video clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hps4nnNbLFc Folktales are prose narratives (stories) which are regarded as fiction, handed down by word of mouth. They reflect the culture of the society or town they describe. Purpose: They have been usually invented by common people for entertainment. Setting: They are generally timeless. “Once upon a time”, “Long, long ago”, “One morning” They are generally placeless. “In the great forest”, “In a far away mountain village”, “In a kingdom by the sea” Characters: Everyday people and/or animals are the characters in Folk Tales. They are generally flat, that is to say, they don’t change throughout the story. They are completely good or evil. Plot: Beginning: quickly presents place, character and conflict. Middle: climax, important actions take place in order to solve the problem. End: problem is solved, logical and happy ending. Style: Colloquial speech includes Proverbs of the country of origin Figurative language Imagery Onomatopoeic words Rhythm of dialect Theme: Values of the culture to which they belong. Virtues such as humility, patience, sympathy, hard work, sharing, courage are always rewarded. Other important characteristics: Three as the magic number: 3 characters, 3 tasks, or 3 events appear in Folktales. Phrases are repeated. For example: “Mirror, mirror, on the wall …”. Read the stories below. You could record notes or images to remind yourself what they are about. Story 1: Herne the Hunter During medieval times Herne the Hunter worked at Windsor Castle. His job was to find the deer in the Forest or the Park. Then he would help King Richard II chase them and shoot them with bows and arrows. The King would eat the delicious deer for his supper. One day they chased a very handsome white hart (a kind of deer). The hart turned to attack the King. Herne bravely stood in the way and was badly hurt. The other hunters killed the hart. Herne was taken to a famous wizard who promised to mend his wounds, if Herne would give him his hunting skills. He put the white hart's antlers on Herne's head and cast a spell on him. Immediately, Herne was better. The King showered him with presents for saving his life. The remaining huntsmen were envious. They made up terrible stories and vicious lies about Herne and told the King. Because of his bargain with the wizard, Herne was magically unable to find any deer for the King to hunt. King Richard thought he was ungrateful and began to believe the awful stories and sacked him. Herne was devastated. He tied the antlers back on his head and ran into the Park. The next day, his dead body was found hanging from an oak tree! Herne's ghost rides on his horse through Windsor Forest and across the sky every night! Watch out for his blue glow and the sound of his horn. Beware! If he catches you; you'll never be seen again. No-one really knows if the story is true. Some historians think it is much older than Medieval times. They think Herne was originally the Romano-British god, Cernunnos. His proper story has been forgotten over the years and has turned into the story of Herne. Watch this video explaining his background: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=96&v=5xIVUNPodKE&feature=emb_logo Images of Herne the Hunter: Story 2: Cernunnos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2sCerl-MJA Watch this video about Cernunnos. Can you spot any similarities between Cernunnos and Herne the Hunter? Images of Cernunnos: Story 3: The Green Man Once upon a time, there lived a rich and vain young squire. Servants prepared his favorite foods each day. His every wish was granted. One of the young man's favorite things to do was to ride through the woods that were part of his kingdom, hunting small animals for sport. He thought that the woods and all its creatures belonged to him and he could do as he pleased with them. The people in the village had a different idea about the woods. The woods provided a home to all the creatures that lived there: chipmunks, birds, squirrels, rabbits, deer, and wild pigs. They told their children a story about a Green Man who lived in the woods and cared for all of the small creatures. They said he even watched out for children in the woods. The villagers faithfully left out food on winter nights for the Green Man to eat. One autumn day, the squire decided to go on a hunt. He called to all of his servants to saddle up the horses and get on their riding clothes: they were going into his woods. They rode into the woods, trampling nests and dens as they went, sending dogs out ahead to chase small animals out of their homes so they could be easily hunted. After a time, the squire became separated from the rest of the hunting party. He was looking for them when he came to a pond — a beautiful, clear, cool pond. "How clever of me to have a pond in my woods to refresh myself!" he said. The young man began to remove all of his fine clothing — his shoes, his hat, his jacket, his shirt, his pants, and his socks. He laid his clothes neatly folded by the edge of the pond and jumped into the cool water. He swam back and forth, enjoying himself immensely. While he was swimming and splashing away, a hand reached out from behind a tree and took his clothing and led his horse away. When the squire got out of the water, he discovered that he had nothing left to wear save a piece of rope. He took the rope and fastened some leaves to it to make a cover up. When his hunting party came looking for him, he was embarrassed to be seen dressed in nothing but leaves. So, he hid. At night, the squire went looking for some shelter and he stumbled into a cave. He didn't sleep much that night. It was dark, and he was frightened, and he kept hearing animal noises all night. In the morning, when the daylight came, he saw that he was not alone in the cave. There was a goat there, and a chicken, and a gourd for holding water. Someone had been living in that cave! He found some grass for the goat and feed for the chicken. He discovered some grain that he could eat as well. Over time, the squire settled into life in the cave. He fashioned a whole garment out of leaves. He ate eggs from the hen and drank milk from the goat. He covered his hand with mud to prevent stings and reached into a beehive for honey to eat. He became acquainted with all the small woodland creatures, and he cared for them, helping them over swollen streams when heavy rains fell, making sure they had food and water, and sheltering them in the cave on the chilly nights. One day he came upon two small children trapped by a wild pig threatening to bite. When he had chased the pig off, they looked at him. There he was, covered head to toe with leaves and mud, with a wild-Iooking beard and hair. "Are you the Green Man?" they asked. "I guess I am," said the man, who no longer looked anything like a squire. When winter came, the Green Man was happy to go into the village at night and to take the food that the villagers left out for him, sharing it with all his animal friends. A year passed peacefully, until one warm day when a hunting party came into the woods. The Green Man hid behind a tree to watch. A rich young man, a squire perhaps, became separated from his hunting group and decided to take a swim in the clear, cool pond. He took off his clothes, folded them, and left them under a tree. The Green Man reached out a hand and took the clothes and the horse, leaving behind his garment of leaves and a coil of rope. He used a sharp stick to trim his hair and beard, and rode into town, back to his parents' castle. Remember that there can be many different versions of folktales. Read some of what is known about the Green Man below. Many artists make great sculptures of the Green Man. Perhaps you could try to create one? Images of the Green Man: Story 4: Brother and Sister by the Grimm Brothers Little brother took his little sister by the hand and said, "Since our mother died we have not had a single good hour. Our stepmother beats us every day, and whenever we come near her she kicks us away with her feet. Hard leftover crusts of bread are our food . The little dog under the table is better off, for she often throws it a good morsel. God have mercy, if our mother were to know about this.
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