Folklore as a Mirror of Culture

Author(s): Alan Dundes

Source: Elementary English , APRIL, 1969, Vol. 46, No. 4 (APRIL, 1969), pp. 471-482
Published by: National Council of Teachers of English

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/41386525

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 Alan Dundes

Professor of Anthropology and Folklore

University of California, Berkeley

Folklore as a Mirror of Culture

The various forms of folklore: myths,position of a social scientist or teacher.
Whether the other culture' is far from the
folktales, legends, folksongs, proverbs, rid-
dles, gestures, games, dances and manyborders of our country or whether the
others can provide a vital resource for a'other culture' is lodged within these bor-
teacher who seriously wishes to ( 1 ) under-ders, a world shrunk by modern techno-
stand his students better, and (2) teachlogical advances in transportation and com-
those students more effectively about themunications demands that education keep
world and about the human condition. For pace. We need to know more about Viet-
folklore is autobiographical ethnography- namese worldview; we need to know more
about American Negro values.
that is, it is a people's own description of
themselves. This is in contrast to other de- One of the greatest obstacles impeding
scriptions of that people, descriptions madea better understanding of Vietnamese,
by sociál workers, sociologists, politicalAmerican Negro or any other culture is
scientists or anthropologists. It may bewhat anthropologists term "ethnocentrism."
that there is distortion in a people's self
This is the notion, apparently held in some
image as it is expressed in that people'sform by all the peoples of the earth, that
songs, proverbs, and the like, but one the way we do things is "natural" and
must admit that there is often as much, if"right" whereas the way others do them is
not more, distortion in the supposedly ob-"strange," perhaps "unnatural" and maybe
jective descriptions made by professional even "wrong." The Greek historian Herod-
social scientists who in fact see the culture otus described ethnocentrism, without of
under study through the culturally relativecourse using the term, as follows:
and culturally determined categories of
their own culture. Moreover, even the dis- If one were to offer men to choose out
of all the customs in the world such as
tortion in a peoples self image can tell
the trained observer something about that seemed to them the best, they would
examine the whole number, and end by
people's values. Out of all the elements of
preferring their own; so convinced are
culture, which ones are singled out for they that their own usages surpass those
distortion, for special emphasis? of all others.
Folklore as a mirror of culture frequent-
ly reveals the areas of special concern. It One of the purposes of studying folk-
is for this reason that analyses of collec-lore is to realize the hypothetical premise.
tions of folklore can provide the individual Man cannot choose out of all the customs
who takes advantage of the opportunitiesin the world until he knows what these
afforded by the study of folklore a way of customs are. Traditional customs are part
seeing another culture from the inside out of folklore. Obviously the point in collect-
instead of from the outside in , the usual ing, classifying, and analyzing the customs
471

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 472 Elementary English

and other forms of folklore is not neces- collectors, rewrote the folklore they col-
lected. This retouching of oral tales con-
sarily to allow the investigator to choose
tinues today in the children's literature
a way of life other than his own. Rather
field where reconstructed, reconstituted
by identifying the similarities, the actual
stories written in accordance with written
historical cognates such as hundreds of
versions of Cinderella, a tale which folk-not oral conventions are palmed off as
lorists label as Aarne-Thompson tale type genuine folktales.
510 in the internationally known index ofOne can see that the basic mistrust of
Indo-European folktales first published infolk materials is part of a general am-
bivalence about the materials of oral tra-
1910, or by identifying the near-similarities,
the probably noncognate folkloristic par- dition, the materials of the folk. On the one
allels which seem to depend upon univer-hand, the folk and their products were cele-
brated as a national treasure of the past;
sal or quasi-universal human experiences
(such as the introduction of death into the
on the other hand, the folk were wrongly
world because of some unthinking or fool-identified with the illiterate in a literate
ish action on the part of a culture hero society and thus the folk as a concept was
or trickster figure), one has convincing identified exclusively with the vulgar and
the uneducated. (The folk to a modern folk-
data which can effectively be used to pro-
mote international understanding. If onlylorist is any group of people whatsoever
who share at least one common linking
the Turks and Greeks realized that they
had the same folktales and the same factor, e.g., religion, occupation, ethnicity,
lovable wise fool of a Hodja figure in geographical
many location, etc. which leads to
of these tales. The same holds for the Arabs Jewish folklore, lumberjack folklore, Negro
and the Jews. In this light, it is sad tofolklore, and California folklore. As an
think that folklore, instead of being used American I know American folklore; as a
as a constructive force for internationalism,professor I know campus folklore; as a
has all too frequently been the tool of member of a family, I know my own family
excessive nationalism. folklore.) The equation of folklore with
The history of folklore studies revealsignorance has continued. The word 'folk-
lore' itself considered as an item of folk
that folklorists in many different countries
have often been inspired by the desire to speech means fallacy, untruth, error. Think
preserve their national heritage. The of the phrase "That's folklore." It is similar
Grimms, for example, at the beginning ofto the meaning of myth' in such phrases as
the nineteenth century, imbued with na- "the myth of race." This is not , however,
tionalism and romanticism, and armed with what folklore and myth mean to the pro-
the fashionable methodology of historical fessional folklorist. A myth is but one form
reconstruction, collected folktales and leg-or genre of folklore, a form which consists
ends with the hope of rescuing somethingof a sacred narrative explaining how the
ur-German, that is, something truly Teu-world and man came to be in their present
tonic, before it faded from the scene al- form. Folklore consists of a variety of
together. The Grimms were surprised andgenres most of which are found among all
probably more than a little disappointedpeoples of the earth. Nevertheless, the as-
when they discovered that many of their sociation of folklore with error (consider
"Teutonic" tales had almost exact analogues'folk' medicine as opposed to 'scientific'
in other European countries. The Grimms medicine ) has made it difficult for the study
incidentally, like most nineteenth centuryof folklore as a discipline to gain academic

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 Folklore as a Mirror of Culture 473

the "dozens"
respectability and has generallyand the epic
dis- toast are ex-
tremely
couraged the use and study ofviable forms of American
folklore by Negro
educators. folklore and they encapsulate the critical
It is still mistakenly thought that thepoints and problems in Negro family struc-
only people who study folklore are anti-ture and in Negro-white relations. One
quarian types, devotees of ballads whichcould teach both literature and social
are no longer sung and collectors of quaintstudies from such folkloristic texts (were
customs which are no longer practiced.they not obscene' by our standards) wit
Folklore in this false view is equated with the advantage that these texts would b
survivals from an age past, survivals which known by the students from their ow
are doomed not to survive. Folklore is lives and experience.
Why not teach children about the na-
gradually dying out, we are told. More-
ture
over, since folklore is defined as error, it of poetry by examining their ow
folk poetry: nursery rhymes, jump rop
is thought by some educators to be a good
thing that folklore is dying out. In rhymes,
fact, hand clap rhymes, ball bouncin
it has been argued that one of the rhymes,
pur- dandling rhymes, and autograp
poses of education is to help stampbook
out verse among others. There is almos
folklore. As man evolves, he leaves folk-
no method or approach found in the study
of literature which could not also be ap
lore behind such that the truly civilized
plied to folk materials. One could discus
man is conceived to be folkloreless. From
formal features such as metrics, rhyme, al
this kind of thinking, one can understand
why education and folklore have been literation;
on one could discuss content fea
tures such as characterization, motivation
opposite sides and also why when well
meaning educators move into other cul- themes. By using the materials of folklor
as a point of departure, the educationa
tures, e. g., in Africa or in a ghetto school,
they actually believe they are doing their process may be comprehended as dealin
with the real world rather than with a
students a service by helping to suppress
local customs, superstitions, folk speech, world apart from the world in which the
and other folkloristic traditions. So it is students live. With folklore, the classroom
becomes a laboratory or forum for a con-
that African students are taught Shake-
sideration of "real life" as it is experienced
speare and Chaucer as great literature
while their own superb oral literatureand
is perceived by those being educated.
not deemed worthy of classroom treatment, Let me briefly provide just a few examples
assuming that the western educated teach- of folklore and try to illustrate how they
er even knows of its existence. How many might be used to enliven and stimulate
classroom discussions.
teachers of literature, of the epic in partic-
One technique which can immediately
ular, are aware of the fact that the epic
show
is a living oral form and that epics up to children something important about
the nature of oral tradition is to select
13,000 lines are now being sung in Yugo-
one item of folklore and ask each child to
slavia, among other places? How many
tell the other members of the class his
teachers of American Negro children have
version of the item. It doesn't matter what
ever heard of the "dozens" (or "rapping
and capping" or "sounding" etc. ) or of the
the item is: when Christmas presents are
opened (Christmas Eve, Christmas morn-
"toast", an important Negro folklore genre
in rhyme reminiscent of epic form? ing, Yet one on Christmas Eve and the rest on
the technique of verbal dueling known Christmas
as day, etc. ) or what one says near

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474 Elementary English

the end of Hide and Seek to summon all be one of the most important lessons they
the other players: Oily, oily oxen free,are ever likely to learn.
Having illustrated the nature of vari-
Oily Oily Ocean free, (All ye, all ye 'outs'
in free?????), Home free all, etc. After a in folklore, the teacher might wish
ation
number of versions have been elicited, the
to discuss why there is variation. Here the
students should be able to see that al-
difference between oral and written (or
printed) traditions is crucial. Folklore is
though there is considerable diversity,
passed
there is also considerable uniformity. If on by means of person to person
there are differences-such as how contact.
many And an item of folklore may be
candles are placed on the birthdaychanged
cake by different individuals in ac-
(some have the number of candles cordance
equal with their own individual needs,
the demands of a particular social con-
to the number of years old while others
have that number plus one with the text-the
extra make-up of the audience- is it
boys
grow on, etc.), even these differences are and girls, just boys, children and
grown-ups,
traditional. How many children believe that etc. or the requirements of a
the number of candles left burning new
afterage. So it is that each item of folk-
the attempt to blow them out signifies lorethe
is passed on through time, sometimes
number of children one will have? How remaining the same, sometimes changing.
many believe the number left burningThissig- is why the task of collecting and
nifies the number of years to pass before
analyzing folklore can never be completed.
Tomorrow's version of a folksong may or
one's wish (made right before the blowing
attempt) comes true? Through suchmay de-not be the same as the one we know
vices, the children can learn that there are which in turn may or may not be
today
frequently subtraditions within traditions.the same as the one which was known in
Then the teacher may ask the children the past. This is in marked contrast to the
"Which version is correct?" "Which version products of written tradition. If one reads
is the right one?" Normally, there will be a play of Shakespeare or a novel of James
extended debate on this, individual studentsJoyce today, one can be reasonably sure
championing their own individual versions,that one hundred years from now, the
perhaps pointing to the statistical evidenceidentical text will be read by others.
available within the classroom to support There is a tendency to underestimate
one version over another. Gradually, thethe differences between a visual/written
children will come to realize that in folk- record and an aural/oral record. It has only
lore as in life, there is often no one correct
recently been suggested that the mass
or right version. One traditional version media,
is radio, television, motion pictures,
just as traditional as another version. A's
etc. have, by discouraging or impinging
way of observing Christmas or birthday upon time formerly spent in reading, made
rituals is no better and no worse than B's. us an oral rather than a written culture.
Isn't this a marvelous way of showing whatActually, one should say, has made us an
ethnocentrism is: people insisting that theoral culture again . In evolutionary terms,
way they know is best and proper while the pre-literate society which was orally orient-
strange unfamiliar way is wrong? And isn't ed became literate, but now we have 'post-
this a marvelous way of teaching tolerance?literate' man who is influenced by oral
If children can learn that their fellows' ways communication once more. Yet the educa-
are not "wrong" but "alternative, equally tion system has not always kept pace. The
traditional" ways of doing things, this could
traditional emphasis has been upon "read-

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 Folklore as a Mirror of Culture 475

ing and writing." Whatedabout

page, but "speaking"?
they may sound stilted when
Oratory, valued so much by oralAcultures
heard in speech. word or phrase may
around the world, haslook
become
right, but almost a But by the
sound wrong.
same token,
lost art in literate societies. a word or phrase which
Interestingly
enough, in American Negrosounds fine, may lookthere
culture terrible in print. In
oral speech,
is tremendous value placed one canrhetoric
upon use slang, folk similes
(as cool
as one aspect of style. The as a cucumber)
"man of words" and folk meta-
phors
is highly esteemed and (to fly off who
anyone the handle).
has In written
heard American Negro tradition,
preachers these are
usebranded
theiras "clichés" by
voices surely recognizes the eloquent
diligent teachers of English composition.
power of that oral style. Such teachers are wont to warn their stu-
dents to "avoid clichés."
It is a pity that our educational The folklorist
philos-
would urge the
ophy continues to worship that children
written not be told never
to use cliches but
word. Note that "literacy" is still thoughtrather that they be
taughtnon
by some to be a sine qua the difference
for an between
in- oral and
dividual to be able to vote. The fact that written traditions and not to confuse the
conventions of each. In oral tradition, orig-
intelligent peoples all over the world are
inality is neither desired or expected. The
capable of reaching decisions without any-
thing more than oral communication seemsmore traditional ( =unoriginal ) the better.
to be overlooked. We tend to trust what
However, in our written tradition, orig-
is "down in black and white". "Put it in
inality is essential. But children can not
writing" we say; we tend to distrustavoid
oral cliches. Do they not learn to speak
before
testimony, regarding it as unreliable. We they learn to read and write? The
point is simply that children should not
forget that much of what is written down-
in newspaper, in books, circulated asbeoral
taught to write as they speak and they
communication first. Even the Bible was should not be taught to speak as they
in oral tradition before it was committed write. The unfortunate confusion of oral
to written form! With such bias in favor and written conventions is one reason why
of written tradition, it is easy to see why most printed collections of folklore are
there has been relatively little interest inspurious. They have been edited and re-
the study of oral tradition. But by failing written to conform to written rather than
to recognize the differences between oraloral style. The expletives, meaningful
and written traditions, we do a disservicepauses, the stammers, not to mention the
to ourselves as well as our students. Who eye expressions, the hand movements and
has never heard someone give orally all anthe other body gestural signals are to-
address which was written out in advance? tally lost in the translation from oral to
Yet relatively few written works read wellwritten tradition. This is why it is impos-
sible to learn what folklore is by reading
aloud. Similarly, students taking written
notes from an instructor's free-flowing oralbooks. If one is interested in learning about
classroom delivery are often dismayed byfolklore, one must elicit oral tradition. A
the sentence fragments, the agreement er- useful class exercise might be to have a
child tell a joke or legend to his class-
rors, etc. There are major lexical and stylis-
tic differences between oral and written mates whose task it becomes to write it
tradition. "Indeed, Moreover, One cannot
down. One could then discuss at length
escape the conclusion. . ." are acceptable what was "left out" in the written ver-
just
sion that had been in the oral version.
written conventions, when seen on a print-

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 476 Elementary English

In order to more spin of the bottle or

fully some other act of
understand
utilize folklore, chance one must
(such as seeing have som
a car with only
of the functions of folklore. Folklore re- one headlight working) which dictates the
flects (and thereby reinforces) the value sexual behavior. In children's games, the
drama of real ( adult ) life is often enacted.
configurations of the folk, but at the same
time folklore provides a sanctioned form Yet neither teacher nor student may be
of escape from these very same values. fully aware of just what is involved in a
In fairy tales, the hero or heroine is in-
particular game. In much the same way,
evitably told not to do something; dont folk- and social- dances allow for hetero-
look in the secret chamber, don't answersexual body contact in a society which true
the door, etc. Of course, the protagonist to its Puritan heritage has consistently con-
violates the interdiction. He may be pun-demned the body and its domain. The
ished for his disobedience, but usually hefact that boys can dance with girls, girls
comes out ahead in the end. For example, can dance with girls, but boys cannot
the hero marries the princess. The escape dance with boys in American culture re-
mechanism is equally obvious in traditional
flects our great fear of homosexuality. This
games. On the one hand, educators urge is striking when one recalls that most so-
that games be played to teach "teamwork," cieties even have men's dances from which
women are excluded. Americans remain
"cooperation," and "fair play." On the other
hand, once in the game, children can com- slaves to a tradition in which the body is
pete and they can compete aggressively. seen as dirty, as something to be denied
or repressed. Note that we still insist on
One can "steal" the bacon or "capture" the
flag of the opposing team. In "King of the physical (corporal) punishments for intel-
Mountain," boys can push rivals off the lectual/mental lapses. The body is punished,
raft. In adolescent games such as "Spin not the mind, every time a child is struck
the Bottle" "Post Office," or "Padiddle," the
or spanked!
rules require the participants to do thatAs a specific example of how folklore
which they would very much like to do functions, let me cite one riddle text. A
but which they might not otherwise do. child comes home from school and at the
Folklore provides socially sanctioned forms
dinner table asks his parents: "What is
of behavior in which a person may black
do and white and red all over?" The
what can't be done in 'real life/ One is
parent, if he's alert and has a good memory,
not supposed to push anyone around in
replies: "A newspaper" which in fact is
real life- at least if one believes the "Golden
one of the older traditional answers to this
Rule," but in games one is supposed to riddle. But there are other modern tra-
take a chair and leave someone else with- ditional answers. Some of these are: a sun-
out one to sit on (in "Musical Chairs"). As
burned zebra, an embarrassed zebra, a
a young adolescent, one cannot kiss a with measles, a wounded nun, a
zebra
casual acquaintance without feelings bloody
of integration march, and for the so-
guilt or hearing cries of derision. Yetphistocate:
in Pravda , the Daily Worker , or
kissing games, one must do so. The folk- the New York Times which involves an
loristic frame not only permits, but re- interesting play on the original 'newspaper'
quires the taboo action and it also thereby
answer. Now what precisely is going on?
relieves the individual from assuming the
What function, if any, does this riddle or
the hundreds like it serve? I believe that
responsibility (and guilt) for his actions.
The individual has no choice; it is a mere
this kind of riddle provides an effective

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 Folklore as a Mirror of Culture 477

folklore
mechanism for reversing the could help anyone
normal adult- seriously in-
child relationship in our society. In our
terested in understanding children. I refer
society, it is the parent or to
specifically teacher
that portion who
of children's folk-
knows all the answers and who insists
lore which is performed by children for
other children. This is distinct from that
upon proposing difficult if not 'impossible'
questions to children. However, in the portion
rid- of children's folklore which con-
dle context, either the parent doesn't sists
know of materials imposed upon children
by parents and teachers. The analysis of
the answer to the elephant or little moron
joking question- in which case thethe latter kind of children's folklore would
child
can have the great pleasure of tellingprobably
him give more of an insight into par-
what the answer is or the parent ents
givesand teachers' worldview than the
worldview of children. I suspect that in
the 'wrong' answer (e.g., 'newspaper'
would be considered 'wrong' by the child dealing with children's literature,
courses
who has another answer in mind- and it is this latter category which receives
most
aren't there plenty of instances where theof the attention. In other words, the
emphasis is on 'literature for children'
child answers an adult's question perfect-
rather
ly well but fails because his answer was than 'literature of children'! ( By
'literature
not the particular answer the adult de- of children' I mean their oral
literature, their folklore, their traditions,
sired? This is also what happens whenever
an unthinking adult asks the kind ofnot their little individual written compo-
ques-
sitions or poems.) This is, in my opinion,
tions which can be labelled as being "Guess
what's in my mind" questions. In this the in-
same kind of thinking that makes
stance where the parent has givenPeace
the Corps teachers teach Shakespeare
'wrong' answer, the child has the and Chaucer to African students instead
even
more exquisite pleasure of correcting of utilizing African folktales and proverbs,
rather
than merely informing the parent.) thatChil-is, using some of the native' liter-
dren also use riddles with their peers ature
whereas the basis for an understanding of
the
a similar function is evident. A child goesnature of prose and poetry. Education-
al, as awell as foreign, policy is invariably
one up if he has a riddle which stumps
made
friend. I should perhaps mention that rid-in accordance with the value system
of us, the teacher or the American. Such
dles or joking questions are by no means
confined to children's usage. Many decisions
adults may be rational from our point
of view; they may even prove to be 'cor-
use such devices in daily interpersonal
rect,' but in the majority of cases, these
rituals. Some of these riddling questions
decisions are probably all too often made
provide serious reflections of our culture.
Do you remember the 'knock-knock' without
cycle? sufficient knowledge of the groups
Well, have you heard the World War III
we honestly want to help. We tend to think
of the 'other' people be they inhabitants
knock-knock joke? No? Okay, "Knock-
knock" ( audience ) : "Who's there?- (of villages in Asia or children in our class-
long
room as poor little sponges who need to
silent pause- signifying that no one would
be left to answer in the event of total soak up as much of our material as they
nuclear world war. ) possibly can.
The phrase "culturally deprived" is a
Literature for Children
prime example of this faulty kind of think-
or Literature of Children
ing. From an anthropological perspective,
of course, there can be no such thing as
The analysis of the content of children's

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 478 Elementary English

The child finds

culturally deprived. it difficult to accept
Culture in the anth
logical usage refers to the total wa
adult's apparent rejection of the body and
life of a people,its and
natural functions.
not Consider
to the a
follow-
very
group of elitist ing
materials
jump rope rhyme: such as o
the great books, etc. All human be
have culture in general;
Cinderella, dressedsome
in yellow people s
Went downtown to see her fellow.
one culture rather than another. Hop
ture is different from Vietnamese culture. On the way her girdle busted.
How many people were disgusted? 1, 2,
So it is impossible in this sense for any 3, etc.
individual to be "culturally deprived"; our
minority groups have just as much culture Clearly, children, in this instance little
as anybody else. The point is simply that girls, are fascinated by a particular under-
it is another culture, a different culture.
garment, the girdle. Note that the girdle
To call a minority group 'culturally de-
busts while Cinderella is on the way to
prived' is a kind of survival of nineteenthsee, or in some versions to kiss, her fellow.
century white man's burden thinking. The Do children really know what they are
real question is: Do we want "them"-- and
saying?
'them' could be American Negroes, South
Vietnamese, children in our classrooms, etc.
Folklore and Sibling Rivalry
to give up their culture and accept our
culture in its place or do we not insist on
Less symbolic, but equally important
a melting pot metaphor with the pot to
are the sentiments underlying these familiar
take on the consistency of the dominant
jump rope verses:
ethos? In my opinion, the 'unmelting poť
might be a more apt metaphor. If so, then
Fudge, fudge, tell the judge
perhaps we should allow or better yet,
Mama's got a new born baby.
encourage 'them' to enjoy, understand, and It ain't no girl, it ain't no boy
take pride in their own culture. Obviously, Just a newborn (or 'common,' or plain ol'
the culture of our children is closer to our or 'ordinary') baby
adult culture than the culture of a distinct Wrap it up in tissue paper
Throw (send) it down the elevator.
ethnic minority or some foreign popula- First floor, miss
tion to our culture in general. Neverthe- Second floor, miss, etc. (until the jumper
less, the principle in terms of educational misses )
philosophy is the same.
What kinds of things do we see in our This is really an extraordinarily reveal-
children's own folklore?
ing rhyme. First of all, why is the judge
informed about the newborn baby? Is the
Teacher, teacher, I declare judge the person who can take away chil-
I see so and so's underwear.
dren from parents or the person who has
Charlie Chaplin went to France the power to punish parents for mistreat-
To see the ladies' underpants. . . ing children? In any case, here is explicit
I see London; I see France sibling rivalry. What child does not resent
I see so and so's underpants. the arrival upon the scene of the new-
born child who threatens the previously
We see the child's curiosity about theexisting relationship between the older
body and the immediate body covering. children and the mother? Notice how the

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 Folklore as a Mirror of Culture 479

poor baby is demeaned. tub? HeIttries

is tosexless. It's
eat everything. Babies are
not a girl, not a boy, in
infact other words, iťs
orally inclined as it is this body
zone which
nothing. Iťs just- and that word provides
ťjusť the tells
initial point of
all- an ordinary baby, nothing
contact with theexceptional,
world, a body zone which
nothing to make a fuss about.
operates And what
by incorporating what is needed,
does the jumper-reciter i. е., mothers milk. From
recommend the older child's
should
be done with the baby?pointThrowof view,it
thedown
baby is always
the being
elevator. The jumper then
fed- hence
jumps
it appears
as tomany
have an insatiable
appetite.
floors as she can without What thenThus
missing. is more by
appropriate
being a skillful jumper,from thea girl can
older child's send than to
perspective
have his
her baby sibling far away. Thebaby more
brother choke to death from
jumps
eating something
without misses, the further the hebaby
shouldn'tisbe eating,
sent away. Thus through from jumping
trying to eat too rope,much,athat is,
young girl is able to do something
symbolically speaking, from 'con-
trying to take
structive' about getting too
ridmuch,
of more
herthan his share of their
inevitable
aggression against thecommon
newparent's
siblingbounty.rival.
Of course, chil-
This inter-sibling hostility, I submit, is an
dren hate their parents too:
integral part of American children's world-
Step on a crack
view. Look at the following ( line ) rope
jump
Break your mother's back (spine)
rhyme:
Symbolism in Folklore
I had a baby brother
His name was Tiny Tim.
I put him in the bathtub No doubt many people who are un-
To teach him how to swim. sympathetic to psychology and symbolism
He drank up all the water; may doubt the validity of the above in-
He ate up all the soap. terpretations of children's folklore. Such in-
He tried to eat the bathtub
terpretations, they would argue, are being
But it wouldn't go down his throat.
read into innocent folklore rather than
He died last night
With a bubble in his throat. being read out of the folklore. Yet the
astonishing thing is that much the same
This is an equally blatant example of symbolism is contained in the folklore for
an expression of sibling rivalry. Note the children as communicated by parents and
tense of the verb in the first line. I "had" teachers. It has long been wrongly assumed
a baby brother. Here is wishful thinking,that folktales- e.g., Grimms' Kinder und
a common element in all folklore. The baby Hausmärchen and nursery rhymes are
rival is gone, and before the rhyme really strictly children's fare. This is not true.
These materials were related by adults to
gets started. What of the rest of the rhyme's
content? Precisely where is it that the other adults as well as children. If adult
newborn baby gets so much obvious phys- males have Oedipus complexes, then it is
ical attention? In American culture, it is clear why it is they who relate the story
of Jack and the Beanstalk. A boy lives
the bath. It is during and after bathing
alone with his mother, throws beans out
that the baby is fondled, powdered, played
of a window at his mother's request, climbs
with, etc. So the older child takes things
a tall magic beanstalk, hides from the
into his own hands. He puts the baby
threatening giant in the friendly giant's
into the tub pretending to teach him how
to swim. What does the baby do in the wife's oven, kills the giant by cutting the

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480 Elementary English

There was an old woman who lived in

giant stalk with an axe which is oft
a shoe.
helpfully provided by his mother wait
She had so many children she didn't know
at the foot of thewhatstalk,
to do. and finally
happily ever after with his mother! (P
ents, of course, to the
A literal, infant's
historical eye
interpretation would v
of the world appear
have to locate ato be women
place where giants!)
once
women with Electra complexes,
lived in actual shoes. But how would one it is
mally a girl versus a wicked
explain the stated connection stepmo
between
or witch. Whereas the
"living in a donor figure
shoe" and "having lots of chil-in
folktales may be
dren". a female
Fortunately, (cf.
another verse Ja
to this
mother, the gianťs wife); in female
rhyme reported in the Ozarks in the 1890's f
tales, the helpermakes
may be a male
the symbolism even more overt: (cf.
woodsman in "Little Red Riding Ho
although to be sureTheresometimes
was another old woman whokind
lived fa
figures help boys and
in a shoe. kind mother fig
She didn't have any children;
(e.g., fairy god-mothers) help shegirls
knew
what to do.
Hansel and Gretei, the children are tem
ed orally and they nibble at the wi
With symbolic systems, it is never a mat-
house. (The children were not given
ter of one isolated instance. Within a given
by their parents. ) The witch, like so m
culture, there are whole consistent patterns
cannibalistic villains in fairy tales, int
of symbolism. The symbolism of a culture
to employ the infant's first weapon
will be manifested in the folklore of that
ing, sucking, biting) by devouring
children. In this tale, culture. Sothe we should not be surprised to
heroine, Gre
find other nursery rhymes:
succeeds in duping the witch into be
burned up in her Cock own oven. The fem
a doodle doo
oven symbolism is consistent. In Jack
My dame has lost her shoe
the Beanstalk, the Her boymaster'shides in
lost his fiddling stick the gia
wife's oven to escape They don'ttheknow what giant;
to do. in Ha
and Gretei, a tale featuring a girl's p
of view, the heroine Remember these are part of the
eliminates the chil-fe
villain by making dren's folklore enter
her which is transmitted
her to chil-
own
oven! And what of Cinderella who we dren by parents and teachers. I do not
noticed in jump rope rhymes? What necessarily
is the believe that parents are aware
significance of the story of a girl of thewho symbolic content of folklore any
marries a prince because of a perfect more thanfitI believe that children are con-
between a foot and a glass slipper? sciously
What aware of all the symbolism. Clear-
has the ideal marriage to do with ly,a folklore
foot could not function successfully
fitting into a slipper? And whyasdo an outlet
we if there were conscious aware-
still tie old shoes on the bumpersness of ofcarsits being so used. Folklore is col-
carrying newlyweds off on theirlective honey- fantasy and as fantasy, it depends
moon? upon the symbolic system of a given cul-
One clue to the symbolism of slippers ture. I should be remiss if I did not state
and shoes comes right from Mother Goose. my conviction that the communication of
One of the rhymes which parents read to collective fantasy and symbols is a healthy
children is : thing and I would strongly oppose those

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 Folklore as a Mirror of Culture 481

educators who advocate placing

a little Mother
boy says, "ОК., I'm finished." The
Goose and fairy tales teacher,
on a surprised
high at shelf
the speedorof the boy's
composition,
locked case in the library. asks him is
Folklore to read
one his short
way for both adults andstory children
aloud to the class.to
"Mydeal
God," said the
duchess, "I'm
with the crucial problems in pregnant!
their Who did it?" There
lives.
If our folklore sometimes deals with sexu- are also commentaries on teachers who run
ality and the interrelationships between
their classes without any regard for what
their students might like or think. A pro-
members of a family, then this is obviously
fessor gives an advanced seminar in alge-
something of a problem area in our daily
lives. We know that folklore in all cul-
braic functions. Only one student shows
tures tends to cluster around the critical up. However, he strides to the lectern
and reads his hour-long lecture. Each day,
points in the life cycle of the individual
(e.g., birth, initiation, marriage, death) the
and professor does the same thing. He sets
the calendrical cycle of the communityhis notes and reads his lecture. One day,
up
(e.g., sowing, harvesting, etc.) In fact, while
if at the blackboard writing a long
one collects the folklore of a people and of equations and formulas, the pro-
series
then does a content analysis of that folk- fessor sees the one student's hand raised.

lore, one is very likely to be able to de- "Excuse me, professor, but I don't see why
lineate the principal topics of crisis and X cubed equals у cubed. Why wouldn't x
anxiety among that people. So if Ameri- cubed equal у cubed plus z cubed?" The
can folklore, both adult and children's folk-professor replied, "That's a very interest-
lore has a sexual element, then we must ing question but I don't want to take up
face the problem which is reflected in the valuable class time with it. See me at the
folklore. Squelching folklore as if such a end of the hour." In a variant of this joke,
thing were really possible- it is impossible it is a professor of art history who offers
to censor oral tradition as opposed to print a seminar in advanced Burmese vase paint-
-would not help in solving the original ing. Again there is one student and again
problems which generated the collective the professor reads his lecture. This time,
fantasies in the first place. the professor is at the faculty club talking
to his colleagues. When they discover that
Folklore About Teachers he has only one student for the seminar,
they ask him what he is doing in the class.
There can be no doubt that folklore re- He tells them that he reads his lecture
flects culture and as a final example, just
I as he always has. "Good heavens," one
colleague exclaims, "with just one student
will briefly mention teacher folklore. The
folklore of and about teachers reflects both why don't you run the class as a discus-
teachers' attitudes about themselves and sion?" whereupon the professor replied,
"What is there to discuss?" Of course, I
students' attitudes about teachers. There is
the resentment of administrators as illus- don't have to say how distasteful modern
trated in the numerous dean stories, e.g., students find this philosophy of education.
"Old deans never die; they just lose theirThe folklore of teaching includes ele-
mentary school teachers too. For example,
faculties." There are the parodies of teach-
ing methods. An English teacher is ex- there's the story of the elementary school
plaining to her class how to write a short teacher who taught look-say reading. One
day in backing her car out of a parking
story: It should have religion, high society,
sex, and mystery. Within a few moments, place on the street, she banged into the

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 482 Elementary English

car parked form in the

behind folk translation:
her. She tell 'em what
immedi
got out to surveyyou're
thegoing possible
to tell 'em; tell 'emdamag
and tell
looking at her rear fender
'em what you told 'em. she said
oh, oh, look,look, look,
Folklore as a subjectDamn,
of study can be Dam
a most
Damn!" Notice the rewarding one. It does
threefold serve as a
repetitio
the punchline. mirror of culture
There are and three
it is a mirror well
words
of which is repeated
worth lookingthree times.
into. The teacher who en- I
unusual? Certainly
couragesnot. Three
his class to examine theiris
ownth
ual number in American folklore. Whether folklore or better yet sends them out with
it's three brothers in folktales, three wishes, collecting projects, such as collecting the
a minister, a priest, and a rabbi, or the folklore of a group from another 'culture'
can give his students as well as himself
fact that there are frequently three action
sequences in jokes and three repetitions an educational experience of immeasurable
of lines in folksongs: John Brown's body value. We need to use every available
lies a moulderin' in the grave, Polly putmeans to better understand ourselves and
the kettle on, Lost my partner whaťll our I fellow men. Folklore is one such
do?, etc., the pattern is the same. Thismeans, one available for the asking. W
pattern is not universal; most Americanare all folk. All one needs to begin such
Indian peoples have the ritual number four.work is people, people to ask and peopl
Here is yet another illustration of how byto listen. Whether an individual asks about
analyzing the folklore we gain insight into his own folklore or asks others about their
the culture which it mirrors. Three is a rit- folklore, if he listens, he will learn.
ual number not just in American folklore,
but in all aspects of American culture: time SUGGESTED READINGS

-past, present, future; space- length, width, Those interested in general folklore theory
depth; and language- good, better, best, should consult Alan Dundes, ed., The Study of
etc. This is why we have the three R's Folklore (Englewood Cliffs : Prentice-Hall, 1965).
For American folklore in particular, one may
(Reading, 'Riting and 'Rithmetic), Pri- look at Jan Harold Brunvand, The Study of
mary, Secondary, and Higher Education,American Folklore: An Introduction (New York :
the latter with its three degrees B.A., M.W. W. Norton, 1968) and Richard M. Dorson,
American Folklore (Chicago: University of Chi-
A. and PhD., the first of which can be cago Press, 1959). Those curious about the num-
cum laude, magna cum laude, and sum-ber three may enjoy Alan Dundes, "The Number
ma cum laude. This is why we have suchThree in American Culture/' in Every Man His
Way : Readings in Cultural Anthropology (edited
pedagogical principles as: "Preview, Teach, by Alan Dundes) Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-
and Review" which retains its tripartiteHall, 1968), p. 401-424.

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