Provides entries on themes and motifs, individuals, characters and character types, national traditions, and genres of folk and fairy tales from around the world.
An absorbing and entertaining guide to English folklore and an authoritative reference source on such legendary characters as Cinderella, Jack the Giant Killer, and Robin Hood.
This multicultural reference work on Jewish folklore, legends, customs, and other elements of folklife includes over 250 A-Z original, signed articles that cover major themes, beliefs, traditions, and folkways of Jewish groups around the world, both contemporary and historical.
Full-text version of : Thompson, Stith. Motif-index of folk-literature: a classification of narrative elements in folktales, ballads, myths, fables, mediaeval romances, exempla, fabliaux, jest-books, and local legends. Revised and enlarged edition. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1955-1958. This venerable reference work is a subject index to folktales from around the world. Sources come from thousands of books and periodicals (see Bibliography). Indexed are the "folktale, the myth, the ballad, the fable, the mediaeval romance, the fabliau, the jest, the exemplum, and the local tradition" (Introduction, p. 11) from both literatry and oral traditions. Excluded are "superstitions, customs, religious beliefs, riddles, or proverbs, except as they happen to form an organic part of a narrative" (Introduction, p. 11). One can use the left-hand facets to navigate through the book alphabetically by subject from Volume 1 through Volume 6. One also can use the Search box at the top of the page to word-search the entire six-volume work. Hyperlink crossreferences are provided to similar myths (e.g., "Animals have second sight" is crossreferenced to "Dwarfs predict"). Additionally, motif-index entries (e.g., "Dwarfs predict") provide references to source literature (e.g., "Irish myth: Cross; Icelandic: *Boberg; German: Pröhle Harzsagen No. 155, Bindewald 188"). Note: There also is a digital copy of the original six-volume set in HathiTrust: http://mirlyn.lib.umich.edu/Record/001276245
Approximately 8,000 works of short fiction produced by writers from Africa and the African Diaspora from the earliest times to the present.
Black Short Fiction and Folklore brings together 50,000 pages and an estimated 8,000 works of short fiction produced by writers from Africa and the African Diaspora from the earliest times to the present. The materials have been compiled from early literary magazines, archives, and the personal collections of the authors. Some 30 percent of the collection is fugitive or ephemeral, or has never been published before. The project unifies an astounding variety of traditions ranging from early African oral traditions to today’s hip-hop. It covers fables, parables, ballads, folk-tales, short story cycles, and novellas—all the writings included will have fewer than 10,000 words.
