Folk Tales Examined

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Folk Tales Examined
Trolls
The cosy story is inside a world of art
The viking giant stands up as a folk tale hero
Non-morbid congruence
Cosy fairy tales have been stories to learn from too, just as fables of Aesop.
Bruno Bettelheim's notions and others - a few suggestions
To satisfy the new "urban class" in clear-cut manners requires their interest and builds on top of already known items in the back street asfalt jungle or slum
The tall educational trick
Connecting well often pays later

Folk Tales Examined

A troll and princess.

THERE are many figurative lessons in good fairy tales. This comes in addition to: "A story is a story, a medley of words and phrases. Some carry connotations or perhaps they are symbolic through agreements that they are so." In part it depends on the mind of those who do. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."
Some endearing or scary wonder tales carry suggstions on how to make it through life. Certain essays below also offer suggestions that could help. Getting skilled by back-up ideas fit for cognitive development and mastery learning assets is involved in it. That doesn't sound all bad, does it?

We had better learn to interpret entertainments
before scoundrels play on too shortsighted desires
that can be in many a young frog
to some alarming future damage.

Getting well aligned with folkloric studies in new ways

The bulk of this material focuses on Norwegian folk tales. Jacob Grimm (1785-1863) wrote to Peter Chr. Asbjornsen that the Norwegian folk tales were "- die besten Märchen die es gibt. (The best fairy tales that exist)" [Nov 26]. But Grimm did not know all the fairy tales in the world, not even all European ones, for many were collected later. There are also many rich stories from Native Americans, where myths and fables intermingle, as they do in some folkloric traditions.
However, the award-winning US author Aaron Shephard decrees, much in harmony with Jacob Grimm: "No one tells a tale better than the Scandinavians. Storytelling doesn't get better than this (commenting Dasent's translation of many classic "Norse" tales)."
The opinions of authorities are not very unwelcome, but we should know the difference between being persuaded - such as by authorities - and , by fit evidence. I leave it to you not to let words by authorities sway you as you go for evidence that things are as they say - or that Norwegian tales are interesting, at least. Another thing is that almost no Norwegian folktale is purely Norwegian; most fairy tales are shared among peoples. We also need to know something if we want to evaluate fairy tales in this and that respect.

Tick Tack Tao Surveys

You may have heard about tick tack toe - which brings a solution in three steps. Tick tack tao is also for stepwise, constructive activity to reach some Tao (way, means, welcome, and so on). It is an all-round model. It does not reflect a toe theory (theory for everything), but a tao theory . . . There is a Tao-tact structure of some of the essays on this site. There's nothing odd about the systemic structure. It generally serves straight presentations, and on top of that: Tao implementations for thriving ad lib. The benefits of such a schemata-arranged presentation are many. One is simpler language without so much loss of meaning, because much meaning inheres in the way the presentation is structured. [LINK]
Tick tack tao scheming is into the structure of scientifically skilled presentation along general lines [LINK]. The mere the surface of a tick tack tao scheme also helps perusal.

As for plain language, many go for it:

Even for the physicist the description on plain language will be a criterion of the degree of understanding that has been reached. - Werner Heisenberg. [Thd 27]
If you cannot - in the long run - tell everyone what you have been doing, your doing has been worthless. - Erwin Schroedinger. [Ibid.]
Most of the fundamental ideas of science are essentially simple, and may, as a rule, be expressed in language comprehensible to everyone. - Albert Einstein. [Ibid.]

Plain and succinct language is good too: "Do not say a few things in many words, but much in a few words [Pythagorean]." Over and above that is a saying of Pythagoras: "Let no man entice you to say or to do what is not profitable for yourself."
At times you want your language to be expressive. Poetry may look plain, say much in many words, and give expression to things that are difficult to put into words otherwise. Poetic language may ignore many language conventions, and still make lots of sense. Such language may require more of the reader, though.

Fairy Tale Symbols

it is possible that there are ancient symbols in some fairy tales, or remnants. If so, they relate to a certain culture's way of expressing ideas. Such ideas may or may not be fit in today's society. Yet it may work well to interpret cosy folk tales by clever, artful skills in quite postmodern and fair symbol understanding.
We may look on fairy tales as outputs of man's deep, figure-forming capacities, or shared fantasies that reflect deep concerns, ardent wishes, and, indirectly, some living conditions, and linked to some nightly dreams. In both these cases we get material for deep pondering.
Also, it may be halfway guessed that much that was thought to be good for grandma, may never be good again.

Some moral standards made clear

MANY Nordic folk tales have significant allies in themes and topics from old folk songs of various kinds. So folk tales, fables, legends and folk ballads intertwine, and some ballads may be presented in prose or told of as legends and the like. The borders between the genres is not rigid.
Certain themes and various other elements of folk ballads and legends are as in folk tales, and some are derived from Norse myths. In the recent ATU Catalogue by Hans-Jörg Uther, such and other facts are pointed out in the introduction.

I don't advocate anything at all in this, but suggest some things that can be good to know of and put to use, more or less. The "reservations" on top of the pages and the disclaimer are against being persuasive - So when I promote general-looking, serialised statements, feel free to add "well, well, maybe and maybe not" as you go for evidence to found the good life on top of, if you can. Such a sound reserve is basically the same idea as Buddha spoke of 2 500 years ago [Kalama Sutta].
By adding something like "Here is how it seems to him" to the summary, you are showing proficiency.

Marry a realist (at any rate a breadwinner) and thrive on top of that, not just survive.
It is good to be linked up to prominent persons and ways of doing things - sanely - wheras fictitious concerns are to be abolished. It matters to link up well, and over and above books. Much can be mastered through fit practice and making use of one's opportunities.
You should find out of real concerns at work where you are or make you living, over and above ancient Greek concerns, fairy lore concerns and whatever. Recent developments need to be studied and mastered first, for the sake of accommodation that matters and fits in. it is an on-going process, too.

Trolls

"Forest troll" by Theodor Kittelsen, 1906

Trolls are figures of fancy, often grotesue ones. Much depends on what we mean by trolls. Children stand in awe of both trolls - but even more the troll fighters that appear in the steps of the Norse god Thor, the most popular god of the Vikings. Thor was a troll figher. [Ng]
Basically, trolls are heartless, and meetings with them may bring about sorrow and ruin to some, and great success to those who slay them, which may take much skill.
In the plays of the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, especially Peer Gynt (1867) and The Master Builder (1892), trolls are used as symbols of destructive instincts. They openly steal milk maidens or human maidens and good spirits . . . The vikings did the same in Europe for a couple of centuries.

Trolls and Vikings

Norse Vikings at times behaved badly, and on such as the Shetland Islands some trolls are simply vikings buried in their grave mounds. On the Shetland and Orkney isles, settled by Norwegians, trolls are still called trows. Here they appear as small malign creatures who dwell in mounds or near the sea. Quite like some Norse forefathers.
Trolls are found to be regularly too fond of gold, jewels and silvers, just like the raiding pirates, Vikings.
Trolls can be man-catching neighbours: Viking Norwegians took even Swedes for slaves.

Trolls and nature's forces

Fantasy figures like demons and trolls have their roots and counterparts in tradition and myth. One may also speculate to what degree they reflect a shared mentality among people in a given setting. Norwegian trolls look in part like the landscape itself. In a good book by Professor P.A. Munch, one that covers Norse mythology, female trolls are called gygers - a term closely affinity with Greek gorgons - but the old Norwegian monster females represent nature's forces. They're most likely figurative, tells Munch [Ng, sv "Tor"].
This roundup covers traditional trolls too. But in later tales, trolls often are man-sized and hostile to men, quite destructive. Those trolls hinder, seduce and steal, or openly hinder traversing some bridge to some other side - or hinder further fair and fit advancements. [Hee. Tcc]. (4)
A Danish insight or hindsight is that a troll may look like a Danish farmer, and bad - even hideous - under the coating. In Norway trolls were thought of as inhabitant in rather far-away mountains.
A curious thing about trolls of the agrarian society is that they burst or turn to stone if exposed to sunlight. Trolls might be very hard to track down.

Proverbs and fables rooted in folklore classics

Freudian interpretations of ancient tales and recent dreams can be way too reductive or simplistic, and this was one reason that Carl G. Jung broke out of Freud's circle. There are many interpretations possible, and many ulterior lessons may be pointed out, quite as in proverbs. [LINK]
Folk tales may provide young ones with common frames of references in their culture. Aesop's fables have done so in Europe and elsewhere for centuries. There are hundreds of common proverbs that stem from fables of Aesop, and some are in Scandinavian languages too. The site contains bilingual pages of Swedish and other proverbs.
By classifying tales carefully we may eventually compare more of them far easier. The latest edition of international folktales does it. Giving numbers to types of folktales is for making the reading more comparative and the body of folktals easier to survey. [Tyno 14-5]. The basic unit in folktales is now recognised as motifs. [LINK]
What seems to be largely lacking in the world is figure-aided understanding to steer the technical development. Unrecognised to most people, there's bad affluence as well as all right affluence and something in the middle.

The cosy story is inside a world of art

THE GOOD folk tale may have an axis, or a predominant core, or lessons to extract - but many dozens of variations, or deviant take-offs, like the best Greek myths. The tale of Jason and his crew by one Appolonius Rhodius (is a fit example to compare with to begin with. [Nov 14]
Jason and his crew or heroes can be considered as culture bringers. It took their best efforts for years. They sailed off into unchartered waters, much like sailing vikings later - and the much later folk tales about exceptional or odd helpers link to that tale. This theme, odd or remarkable helpers, is a common part of cherished tales. We have exactly the same motif inside one of Baron Münchhaussen's funny tales as well, and this work, written by a certain Rudolf Raspe, may predate most Norwegian, Danish and Swedish folk tales - and Germans ones as well. [Raspe] Back to Jason: A few of Jason's best men were sons of the north wind. Another was Heracles, who had no easy life. Nor did Jason get an easy life; he sought advice from a centaur who had reared him - Cheiron - or he consulted the oracle -
Counsel that floats and sails on the operating wavelengths of some fable animal, hardly suits man, or am I mistaken? Likewise, fairy tale canon may contain secrets of the same sorts. Who is the worst or best killer, is it the werewolf or the king in command of armies, for example?
Anyway, Greek Jason was advised to assemble great helpers among the heroes of Hellas, and sail away to find a certain Golden Fleece. I often suspect the myth to cover basic astrology here, but rests my case. Still, let it be said as a matter of fact, that very many Greek odd tales link up with astrology. The names of gods, sun, moon, planets and star pictures, are identical, and it cannot be incidental.
The story about Jason and his men were told by many authors who differ. Orpheas mentions 49 men, Apollodorus 45, Apollonius 64 and Diodorus 54. In the folk tale gentre we find differing details, differing Leitmotifs, and a lot of variations, there too. It is as should be, I dare say.
Among those who assembled under Jason's wings was one who could steer it by watching the stars at night and the sun during the day. There was also the wise and widely travelled founder of Orphism - famous for his haunting music. And another, Lynceus, was believed to be clear sighted, and so on. Very parallel Scandinavian tales about a certain type figure, the Ashlad, with remarkably skilfull helpers on board to save him, is there.
Now, like the ancient tales from Greece, the most enigmatic folk tale we know best nowadays - call it "wonder tale" - takes off from some surrounding inside the world of sense experiences, but turns surreal - breaks loose. It can do so inside common bonds and conventions ever so often, or drop them for quite a bit, and often contains miraculous or fanciful happenings. Some fairy tales contain magic. The tale about Jason and his men does likewise, as so many other ancient stories about Greek men.
As we can see, very common folk tale literature owes much to that rich, energetic heritage. It was focused on deeds for most part. It allows interpretations of very many sorts. Sigmund Freud and his "school of thinkers" have launched certain sets of abstract notions that tie in with these tales. From much agreed-on interpretations we may derive meanings or gist that may be of some help. [11]
On top of central, ancient Greek and Roman heritage comes the later fairy tales with intermingled motivs of many kinds. We have good reasons to link up Danish, Swedish and Norwegian folk tales with themes and figures inside viking myths as well. Belief in fairies, as among Celts, come in addition, as does beliefs in apparitions.
Another possible source is likeable heroes long gone. For example, some of the travels and exploits of formidable vikings sound like fairy tales. Not everybody was willing to accept that rustic vikings discovered America a long time before Columbus, to name just one aspect of this. Their enterprise, brutal ways and winning sides are highlighted in lots of hard stories. Some centre around the viking hulk Rolv Ganger, also called Rollo. He is reckoned with as an ancestor of the British royal dynasty. He took over Normandy, and his descendants took over England and all that. Snorre Sturlason recounts it. And unlike the best of fairy tales, it might be true. Still it is a story that contains the gist of many "Ashlad recipes" that express this:

The first-class viking giant stands up as a folk tale hero

One of the secrets of Norway: The old schemes and some typical axploits of fairy tale heroes walk in the steps of great warriors since the Viking Age

GOOD folk tales comes in varied garbs on top of rather fixed schemes, the best interpreters have managed to document. Now, look at the viking Rolv Ganger, also called Rollo, and see how much of a fairy tale figure he is.

After once being shooed back in Norway, the giant warrior Rollo had to make it far away from home.
After much turmoil he won a district large enough to feed him, he got Normandy in three strides by "impressing" a king in the Norse way - and married a duke's or the French king's daughter - something like that. The king was Charles the Simple.
Now Rolv Ganger and his family after him could rule what was to be the best part of France for a long time, without becoming martyrs. They were too cruel for that - the secret was let out here.

This story contains major folk tale parts, in essence. It might be real, too. According to viking sagas the story of Rollo is fact, not fiction. The material was put down in writing in the 1200s, and is thus very much older than the more recently collected folk tales of Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
The story of Rolv Ganger surpasses lots of fabricated fairy tales, but is fundamentally not different in shape, over-all structure and fantastic perspectives.
As historians have uncovered, some of his able descendants in France, Italy and further south-east, ruled in near-incredible splendour, like Oriental potentats. The historian R. Brown furnishes excellent briefings into that part of the viking enterprise.
So maybe brutal fact is better than folk tale art in some major ways - for fact rather often counts more that fiction in the real world we're parts of.
Maybe historical tales help, if you seek helping nudges or recipes for making it in the footsteps of forefathers, aligned with something that once was allowed, and so on. I stand for that, a lot.
Now, what is a good tale?
The historical Rollo story is hardly presented as fiction, but may be somewhat unresolved anyway. The folk tale genre also contains stories on how to make it. Many German theorists conclude that this function - how to make it - may be the neat one to get to grips with. I agree.
One hardly knows how a good folk tale is to be defined. Maybe it cannot be done, because the rim is diffuse, changing, and many central elements are interchangeable. Anyway, researchers have given their best shots for centuries thus far, and Norwegian professor Olav Bö and his colleagues sum up the gist of a lot of tries and angles in a very good introduction to Norwegian folk tales. The work is called "Norwegian Folk Tales". [Nov]
This has to be taken as a fact: In the Medieval Age various genres could be intermingled in Northern Europe. [Nov 13]
Before that, rustic folk tale motifs abounded in Norse literature, and it could seem that the folk tale influenced myth in part. [Nov 13]
What is more, the fairy tale genre allows for wide range of adaptations and professional hammering into shape both locally and otherwise. [Cf. Nov 11]

The medieaval Icelandic story-writer Snorre Sturlason and the author of the just as old Saga of the Orkney Earls agree that Rolv Ganger existed

DR. BÖ and his three fellow-writers: The folk tale is a prose story inside the grouping called fiction. It can be a certain genre of fiction narratives, as I would call it. It has lived for some time orally, and its contents is fictitious, or so we are to think. The surreal of fictitious elements may be due to deft or metaphoric presentation, for most part. [Nov 11]
Classic tales entered the Norwegian mainstream through translated literature, or through renditions that were coloured by local set-ups, more or less. Odd stories about fighting dragons, persons who slept terribly long, and much else entered with Catholicism and its concomitant impulses. [Nov 13]
Folk tales are found to have travelled and can have changed during some travels. [Nov 12] (4)
The well-built hulk Rollo stemmed from the area around the trade centre Borgund - it's a place midway between Bergen and Trondheim, roughly said. The saga writer Snorre mentions that the hulk grew so big that viking horses were unable to carry him. Those horses were much smaller than Arab horses, it is granted. In many folk tales the hero is a man that grows rich, or grows alarmingly big, or both.
The Moring Rollo did both these things, just as the typified hero in folk tales.
Inside this allegory comparison, the non-freak moral could be: If you get big, try to get rich too. That counsel could speak to all of us.
As for our "culture heroes", not few folk tales have really been taken out of ancient Semitic heritage, and parts from literary tales from such as the Latin world, that in turn imported some stories from ancient Greece, where such stories had a halfway religious occupation or astrological counterpart. Even in the Semittic heritage, animals could talk. We find it in Numbers 22, where a harshly ridden donkey paused and spoke up - contrary to how it works for human organs.
Be that as it may. In both Latin and Greek culture, oral and written strains blended, and only a meagre part of the written ones are now extant. Talking animals and fable animals appeared in both strains.
It indicates that it may pay to "write down the lovely stories" right now.

Penetrating symbols of folklore from many countries can reflect vital parts of the running history and some of its main lessons

THE "LOVELY story" inside art is the one we talk of here; it is a sort of pregnant poetics, they say. Yes, some eminent critics consider folk tales as poetry. Professor Max Lüthi is of that opinion, and I share it. You may say "semi-poetry" if you like that more. My point is that folk tales are texts. They very often contain terse embodiment of cardinal main-points, even metaphors, symbols and pregnant fun. [See Nov 55]
Many folk tales come to us from Asia or Asia Minor, like fables attributed to the slave Aesop. [Nov 12]
Like hit folk tales, his sort of "good poetry" often borders on jokes. Further, the very good folk tale can be marked by an off-hand or vivid style that none takes offence by till next day - To let animals enact human roles and talk like us, often serves to say something much unwelcome about those in power. Such features found inside heart-warming old fables are there in many Norwegian tales as well. Master tellers accomplish those sorts of things.
In addition, very dominant motifs inside myths and folk tales could mix and mingle with imported stuff. [Nov 13-14]
Speaking of Norwegian tales, not all of them contain good stuff or best shots. Some are tedious, others mediocre, and the moral inside many of them is indeed dubious, as the "hero" or identification figure in question sets out to steal and swindle in many of them. Christian ethics is not for that. (6)
Mixture mass is the term that clarifies what Norwegian tales are. Some are very good, and they are not the majority. Some have been edited to be called okay. Much editing went on in the 1800s, and it is much underestimated still. [Nov 15]
Also, foreign motifs and genres came in through translated literature - parts stemmed from Greece and Asia Minor in those days. Aesop came from that part of the planet, and Roman authors like Ovid became influential on the great Medieval poets like Dante and Boccacchio, and later on Chaucer, even William Shakespeare. This is well known.
Over many centuries, after "local translations" of the Arab masterpiece Arabian Nights into Latin, French, German and so on, influential motifs from the Orient crept in all over Europe, and maybe just a few from India's remarkable fairy tale reservoirs, including the fairy tale collection Panchatantra of 90 tales.
Yet the formidable Indian heritage got only a minor influence. it is predominant style features differ from ours, many common motifs differ from ours, so that we hardly feel completely at home with them, riddled. As it is, almost none of these fairy tale motifs are discerned inside the European mainstream, as shown in the international fairy tale catalogue. [Nov 13]
Olav Bö and others estimate that perhaps not more that 6 out of nearly 2500 "folk tale types" in that predominantly European-based catalogue" are included in the Panchatantra. [Nov 28]
Psychological studies reveal that little children easily identify and get highly amused by talking animals that embody moral in crude, yet exemplary fashion - it is fit for the minor ones, as their evolving mind is more or less resonant on that wavelength for the time being.
Further, the distancing elements that fables and folk tales abound in, can help overcoming gross fears in the vicinity, because apt distancing helps sobering up from emotional engulfment, it seems clear to me. Present-day science deals in that by other kinds of skilful manoeuvres and rigid training, on top of classifications of many sorts. We speak of its forerunner with Albert Einstein. When asked how a boy should develop his mind to become a good scientist, the counsel of Einstein was to let his mom read lots of folk tales for him. That should help. Very few people understand why, very few understand Einstein. These things link up to each other - [Brms 1]
There can be very many sound reasons why it really is that way. Traditional, handed over and rich folk tales contain figurative elements that may be called treasures handed over. In fact, our mind is so devised that it thinks by internal figures of many sorts. Folk tales help us to evolve some pictures, scenes and settings for culture-shared understanding. Proverbs tie in to the same heritage ever so often.
The figurative prowess (Sanskrit: maya) that is still harnessed by fables, folk tales and attached proverbial counsels to help naive ones get a primitive grip on life, can be studied and trained. Okay education is for that, for most part. There is much more we could learn through folklore, as endearing folk tales and cunning extracts tied in with them, could be poignantly explored further or later. There is a lesson or a hundred of them that could be attached to any good fable. it is not impossible to do it. I have done it. On Internet untrained youngsters have been up to similar things, both inside Zen canon and the Western fable tradition, as steered by The Comenus Group of New York.
In fables attributed to Aesop, some figments of moral counsel stands at the back of the story. In many folk tales, that moral, or cream instruction, is not revealed, but may be found by deft interpretations. That is what folk tale experts inside education are for. they come on top of psychological, fragmented understandings or guesses, and make some workable, integrated synthesis out of some of the materials at hand, and work on it till the bitter end. I find professor Bruno Bettelheim of Chicago University was that sort of fellow, even though I may not share all Semittic notions around penis circumcision as a positive rite, and such things. He has written a classic in the field of folk tale interpretation, and we should all welcome his efforts, even if we disagree a lot, like professor Jack Zipes in the United States. [1 og 2]

Non-morbid congruence

THROUGH the following series, we talk of some sort of congruence between the hard viking tale of Rolv Ganger from South More, and the typical folk tale according to Max Lüthi, Kurt Ranke and Lutz Röhrich - all eminent men somehow, one way or the other.

Max Lüthi and Rolv Ganger brought together

Professor Max Lüthi points out much, and only a few parts of his shots are presented here:

The hero has to leave home at the start

A SORT of ascent is much spoken of. Max Lüthi hardly guesses that the social climb is foremost, he prefers to interpret folk tales deeper than that, but interpretative endeavours like his have to be arbitrary, according to Norwegian professor Olav Bö and colleagues. [Nov 58]
One of the common motifs is "being shooed" [Nov 58] (2)

Next, winning actions stand out a lot

LIKE Norse, terse style, common folk tales are focused on actions, and they can be remote. [Nov 57]

Very sketchy and suave contours allow little listeners to listen in without much alarm, despite possibly freakish actions of the story

ONLY gross contours of the heroes are included. [Nov 57]
Professor Lüthi also asks what the folk tales gives the listeners. [Nov 58]
One hardly knows.

Kurt Ranke and the ascent tale of Rolv Ganger and his men

The thorny hero route of striving is taken due to harsh surroundings and predominant, often typified figures in it

THE BASIC feats of fairy tale main figures are heroic-active ever so often, and their fights are crowned by victory - or they die. The hero's action route counts the most. It can be a thorny route as well. [Nov 59]
Like good jokes, fine stories from fact and fiction can have a secret, much common function: to lift a bit from trivial surroundings. [Nov 60]
Much can be had by sturdy identification with the well portrayed figures inside the stories on prose and verse. (2)

Former culture's heroes typify the progress they saw as essential or worthy - more than typified positioning can be reflected in a folk tale as well

THE MAIN theme of the solid folk tale can be the route of the hero's progress. [Nov 59]
The folk tale hero presents things many people yearn for for themselves or dear ones. Folk tales contain messages about the common or former culture, and can be of interest to professional educators. [Nov 59]

What remote stories help today's predominant needs to get handy and successful, is an open question so far

WHAT sort of underlying, possibly primal drives that could have created the story in question, concerns the culture-psychologist Kurt Ranke. [Nov 60]

Professor Lutz Röhrich considers much that fits in with our notes on Rollo here

Dwarfing ones and sleek strangers of pretences mar good enough living

ALL FOLK tales connect with some sides inside reality, one way or other. [Nov 60]
Very coarse, brutish elements of many folk tales can be understood in part as stemming from a certain historical, social reality. For example, the gruesome wolf in "Red Riding Hood" found in the Grimm collection, might as well be a werewolf - that is a sociopath that killed and ate victims, such as children.
The wolf is a werewolf in seven French variants, and the French may be the older one. So this tale has probably served to warn young, inexperienced children against sleek strangers and others wearing "masks", says Drs. Bö and others. [See Nov 61]
The basic folk tales dives into customs that are now obsolete or dead to us. The good folk tale may even contain a critical strain of a social sort. [Nov 61] (2)
According to professor Röhrich, the fairy tale may mirror the real world or a social niche inside reality, more or less. [Nov 61]

Horary, real persons show what has been allowed to happen, and at what price: some can be identified with to one's profit

THE BEST tale can contain features included in real, historical personages - like our Rolv Ganger. [See Nov 61]

Much solid or at least plausible linking of the real historical forerunner of "fantastic-realistic" (i.e. figurative-looking) art of folk tales allows new outlooks - not all may be welcomed at once

THE FOLK tale is fantastic and realistic at the same time. [Nov 60]
The very possible metaphor involved in "Red Riding Hood" can be old: The gospel warns against false leaders as wolves in sheep's clothing, and the wicked king Herod is called a fox. Interestingly, the major part of 1 Samuel 8 expressly warns against the best of kings. Thus, wolves and kings can be the worst sort of bedfellows, it stands out. Few people believe it nowadays, and forget such as the viking descendant Henry 8 of England. He beheaded his wives.
What can the reason be? (6)

Fairy tales and international multi-media industry - a needed light

Fairy tales help ideation - the ability ot figure this and that in one's head is all-important for intellectual development

DR. JACK Zipes of the University of Minnesota discusses the value of fairy tales in a good book that is called Breaking the Magic Spell. On the one hand some of them can serve fantasy or give some ideas in image-form. ¤Cf. Brms 93-129. (1)

To be sacked by imperialistic big business is tragic, and can slowly dwarf self-processed, good imagination activity. There is that danger

IN our days fairy tales have been taken by multi-media industry - or bizarre culture industry. They are very often modulated and changed - as in the much imperialistic Disney industry - on top of hidden ideology of at least two sorts: (a) possible deep and cogent thinking at the core of the traditional tale; (b) the new ideology that often "murders" cogent deep reflection by the new, tragically pushy form. These two modulations blend and interchange a lot. ¤11, 112. (4)

Social deals and man's social history dwindle or atrophy if the basic impetus for improvements go away

ON the other hand, Dr. Zipes hold that folk tales are known to have inspired revolutions in European art forms and social history through lots of romantic inspirations. And that is a fact. ¤Cf. 47-93. (5) (#1.1)

Gist

IT should help to go into the good books demanded for the career and give the bad ones to trolls so that they waste their time and drop out of the severe competition.
TO be deep is to have roots and gain rapport inside the traditional. But let there also be room for novel modulations that can blend and interchange a lot.
THE BEST tales can bulwark against tyranny, or instigate better conditions by helping common people so that they are not so easily taken in by surface means and measures. The best ones have inspired revolutions in art and social conditions through lots of romantic inspirations, for a fact.

Cosy fairy tales have been stories to learn from too, just as from fables of Aesop.

Most references below are to Dr. Zipes' book Breaking the Magic Spell (¤Brms) in short).

The blessings of mammon (wealth) are blessings to enjoy - according to the Old Testament

COSY FAIRY tales today have become literature. It allows rich variations. The former dramatic performance of folk tales and similar material, has been diffused, more or less. Folklore in art and literature has been marked in that way. ¤Brms 11.
We should assent that the Jungian "plunges" into traditional tales can be of much value. ¤144. (2)
Today they are found inside the unchangeable Materialismus here in the West. You risk a lot if you break with it. ¤45, 95.
Lots of fairy tales take up themes and point at old ways out of them - and by congruence or similarity of solutions some may give excellent hints for nearly all youngsters today, because they are much figurative and polished, and hence can address most of us.

Tales can help innocent ones so that they don't give away fair assets to "immaterialists" or cunning indoctrinators

GOOD FAIRY tales have been didactic stories of many sorts. There are many kinds of savoury tales. ¤8. (4)

Not a few shared standards or ethical codes that help class members onwards through life

THE NON-BOSSY transmission depended vastly on the memory of gifted story-tellers. The ownership was more or less culturally shared. They were more or less free shareware. And quite collective representations were made use of. Also, quite dramatic performance and diffusion was typical for this sort of art as part of that tradition. ¤11.
Their genuine straightforwardness or standard design (scheme) allows plenty of wit and fit humour. ¤85. (6)
I should say they at best can manifest cosy entertainment in the face of alienation, thanks to imaginative writing and big enough narrative art. ¤67, 95. (7)
Today, on top of forging folk tales and folklore into semi-literature or materials for folklorists, it can still has the basic capacity to open up for new art forms. Folklore and tradition did before. I'm reminded of classic Greek art here. it is basis is much the same. Tales before often took up severe social problems of the lower class or farmers, and imbued many themes with a mythical fervour, so to speak. ¤Cf. 80, 31, 144 and Gh. (#1.3)

Gist

THE RATHER Jungian "plunges" into traditional tales can be of much value. It helps to discover that lots of fairy tales take up themes and point at old ways out of problems among men rather often. Many facets of personal encounters and interactions have hardly changed since the stone age, and that holds good for the body chemistry and its instinctual, coping reaction repertory as well.
GOOD FAIRY tales have been didactic stories - and some fit even today, maybe with a little non-bossy straightening up.
MASTERING the aspects of the fairy tale art, we have the means to shape suggestive New Deal poems or new sorts of folk tales on top of or conform to folklore-given ones. One outlet can be to open up novel, daring art forms - in part suggestive ones. I think that could be good.

Bruno Bettelheim's notions and others - a few suggestions

DR JACK ZIPES spends the bigger part of chapter 6 in his book, Breaking the Magic Spell, on use and abuse of folk and fairy tales - including Dr. Bruno Bettelheim's moralistic notions. They are many. Let's quote. Bruno Bettelheim thought:

"More can be learned from (folk tales) about the inner problems of human beings, and of the right solutions to their predicaments in any society, than from any other type of story within a child's comprehension." ¤Brms 160.

He could be right on that one.

Professor Zipes doesn't agree perfectly with Dr. Bettelheim's exegetic notions

All references are to Dr. Zipes' book Breaking the Magic Spell (¤Brms) in short).

Development needs neat structuring to become a success

THE MANNER in which Bettelheim would impose meaning onto child development through the therapeutic use of the folk tale (is) authoritarian and unscientific. ... This is, indeed, a grand statement on behalf of the folk tale's powers. ¤Brms 160.
Bettelheim's major thesis is: "The form and structure of fairy tales suggest images to the child by which he can structure his daydreams and with them give better direction to his life" ...
This is, indeed, a grand statement on behalf of the folk tale's powers. ¤161, 160. (2)

To have one's own identity is good for fairies too, not just for young lads and ladies

CHARACTERISTIC of Bettelheim's approach is arbitrary claims for the therapeutic power of the folk tale, and then (he) diagnoses the power to fit his strait-jacket theory about neurosis and the family. For instance, he unabashedly asserts that "unlike any other form of literature, they [folk tales] direct the child to discover his identity and calling" ... Then he narrows the psychological meaning in a reductionist manner ... Such flat assertions, common throughout the book, rest on shaky grounds. Bettelheim provides no documentation to prove that the folk tale is better than any other imaginative or non-fiction literature for helping children develop their character. ¤161-2. (4)
This is, indeed, a grand statement ... ¤160.
it is the authority, Bettelheim, who claims to know how children subconsciously view the tales and who imposes [his interpretations]. ¤162.
This is, indeed ... of the folk tale's powers. ¤160.

If possible outlets are regularly prevented, that happens to mean prevented character development too - which is not good

EVERYTHING remains in Bettelheim's ... reified ... formulas which restrain the possibilities ... ¤162.
The categorical imperative used by Bettelheim constantly prevents him from achieving his purpose of uncovering the significance of folk tales for child development. ¤162. (#3.1)

Gist

WE can structure good imaginations - good figure-formations aiding present-day solutions - in the child's head and he may cope better, well aligned to the best or most fit of the proficiency-suggestive folk tales.
GOOD tales - there are many others - should help identity and possibly calling a long way off.
Rich, suggestive figurative language is an age-old method for helping children develop traits along with conform enough character - and found in great proverbs as well.
It helps to know what the various tales most likely are about if sensibly interpreted or re-interpreted in different lights. There are various schools for that - Freudians have one.
IT can be much good to dig up likely significance of folk tales for urban child development.

Ready to help the new "urban class" somehow

TO SATISFY the new "urban class" in clear-cut manners requires their interest and builds on top of already known items in the back street asfalt jungle or slum, is one fair conclusion.
Below I'm referring to Dr. Zipes' book Breaking the Magic Spell all along. I want to add: Most people on earth live in slums, and most people in the industrial society live in urban settings - maybe eighty per cent. Fairy tales should accommodate to them and hardly the other way round to work fairly well: They had better be remodelled for an urban child to ride. I formed a principle program for that sort of difficult work back in the first 80s.

Good quality throughout is often a needed prerequisite for further development

ADULTS should tell the tales because that shows approval of children's imaginative play. ¤Brms 161.
Austria-born Bruno Bettelheim - professor at the University of Chicago in both psychiatry and education and concentration camp prisoner before that - argues against true-to-life stories for child development because they impinge upon the imagination of the child and act repressively as ... an adult. ¤163.
The creative purpose and major themes of the folk tales did not concern harmony, but the depiction of changing social structures and alternative forms of behaviour so that new developments and connections between humans and things could be better grasped, according to August Nitschke. ¤169-70.
In this we don't talk of the artlike, literary quality of folk tales, except for themes and motifs. ¤160.
In stark contrast to Bruno Bettelheim, Basil Bernstein discusses the ramifications of language for the psycho-social development of children, and he makes careful, empirically based distinctions. He investigated why working-class children respond differently and often negatively to the socialisation process which has been developed to satisfy middle-class needs. Working-class children have a rather more restricted code that is different and reflects limited, more authoritarian margins to get well socialised inside. That class-ridden code can be more brutal and far less frivolous more often, as well; I dare say. ¤168. (2)
According to Bettelheim, folk tales present existential dilemmas in a clear-cut manner ... the child can easily grasp the underlying meanings of the conflicts. ¤161.

It may pay to steer away from many of "mechanical" or automated, built-in accusations. They may be ill inside.

THE ORIGINAL intent of Freudian psychoanalytic theory is based on: you have to surmise a lot, quite like in chess. There can be gambits and baits and pawns all around, also inside men and animals. We don't know, still surmising is great help. ¤160.
Bettelheim is all the same accused of using the discoveries of Jean Piaget indiscriminately. Here's much of the why: (4)
"Any psychological approach to the folk tales would first have to investigate the socialisation processes of primitive societies in a given historical era in order to provide an appropriate interpretation." - Dr. Jack Zipes. ¤163, 169.
Further, some moral concerns in the welfare of children seem to be class-ridden. Dr. Bettelheim seems to avoid that issue. ... Bettelheim is likewise criticised for mechanical repetition of Freud's thought. ¤160, 165.

Many lessons inside the body of psychoanalysis tend to help finer guesses and better accommodations throughout "the universe"

AUGUST Nitschke has demonstrated that Cinderella originated toward the end of the Ice Age ... Nitschke's explanation of the historical origins and meaning of Cinderella obviously cannot be grasped by children. ¤172.
Using Erik Erikson's model of the human life cycle, Bettelheim talks of cultural crises or stages an individual has to go through. ... it is almost as though the folk tale could be considered a psychoanalyst in the manner in which it operates with a child - it opens up unexplored realms - has signposts on such as how to become ruler of a kingdom. It can be ruler of the self. ... Who wields the power is the central concern ever so often. ¤Cf. 172, 171, 161
The fit folktale may liberate the child's subconscious ... and perhaps cause psychological disturbances. - Dr. Zipes. ¤161.
Good, warm tales can be liberating and suggestive through imaginary depiction of such as healthy human rebellion, moral maturity and ... overwhelming importance. ¤Cf. 161.
"Folk and fairy tales remain an essential force in our cultural heritage." - Dr. Jack Zipes. ¤177. (6)

Gist

One should recount to dominate well. It tends to pay.

Adults should train themselves to recount in artful manners or very clear-cut, candid and proficient ways.
Embroider little. This too may assist a guy that must learn to give better orders to others than mom and dad.
Artful, demanding stands goes even into gesturing and dominance tackling. Let that understanding be called central nowadays.

The tall educational tricks

Loosen up!

Fairy tales are helps to loosen up. Some seem to hint at dynamics by conventionalised drama plots - they are programs that are evolved, an often cryptic. Some old fairy tales seem to teem with pertinent old symbols - and to get to grips with them we may learn to ask:
"Just what does a god represent deep in me? What does a king in his castle stand for in the firm, good guy?" And so on. One tiny hint: "My home is my castle." - British proverb.

Structuralist philosophers

Greimas, A.-J.: Structural semantics: an attempt at a method. University of Nebraska. Lincoln, Neb., c1983. 325 p etc.

There's a Danish translation also. If sorely pressed, I use that one. The French original's title is Sémantique structurale. I prefer the former French minister of education - Algirdas J. Greimas - to the former Russian Vladimir Propp: Greimas' views are shorter - and Propp's detailed chains of events and roles for agrarian folk tale characters, simply does not suit us very well either. His tedious schematism is too cumbersome to be serve us in daily living. Both men are called structuralists, none are called rabid.
They survey the internal, dynamic network or structure - it means basic layout, fabric, and building-up - of a variety of European tales. Some of the Greimas notions are useful. Now, the basic and simplified tick-tack-toe surveysurpass the folk tale way of Greimas in a variety of ways. Simple tings may not be as simple as they look: very calm water may cover lots of depth at some places.

One quasi-educationalist

Bettelheim, Bruno: The uses of enchantment: the meaning and importance of fairy tales. Penguin. Harmondsworth, 1978. 328 pages with additions.

Dr. Bettelheim's wide and Semittic notions are not always liked. But he is world-famous. I recall that Professor Olav Bö commented this book in the seventies in a Norwegian newspaper, and thought some of Bettelheim's exegetic notions to be crank and weird, to say the least. Opinions can vary. The sensible man stays put. As for Bruno Bettelheim, he has later been caught in a bad academic swindle as to his own credentials. You may need to know that.

Some annotated books

Look deeper - maybe existentially and all-round fit.

Asbjörnsen, P. Chr. And Jörgen Moe: A time for trolls: Fairy tales from Norway told by Asbjörnsen and Moe; selected and translated with an introduction by Joan Roll-Hansen - 3rd ed. Aschehoug. Oslo, 1988 (82 pages).

Here's a tourist-adapted little selection to browse in on a rainy day - it is very good, and also contains a tale about the big hulk Rumble-Mumble Goose-Egg. It is a giant folk tale collected by Asbjörnsen and Moe, but Dasent's very good work lacks it. (1)

Asbjörnsen, P. Chr. and Moe, Jörgen: Samlede eventyr - med alle de originale tegningene. 2 Vols. Gyldendal. Oslo, c1989. "Norske kunstneres billedutgave" - i.e. well illustrated. This is the same as Samlede eventyr - P. Chr. Asbjörnsen og Jörgen Moe. 3 Vols. Gyldendal. Oslo, 1965.

Here's the complete folk tale collection in a bit decadent Norwegian. The son of the minister Jörgen Moe, professor Molkte Moe, wanted to amend the dedadent style by bringing these text back to New Norwegian. He died after that. This is also shown in the inserted material in the 12 Volume series. There are still other editions. (2)

Ramlöv, Preben: Danske folkeeventyr. Gyldendal. Copenhagen, 1964.

Here's a good Danish fairy tale collection, it is nice to compare with. Many Danish folk tales are like ours, both in structure and layout. This is not surprising; Danes and Swedes are our sister nations. Icelenders too. With Finns it is a bit different - They share much folklore with Swedes and us, though, but in a very different language - it is Finnish. Swedish, Danish and Norwegian are North Germanic languages. (3)

Dal, Erik, ed: Dansk folkedigtning. Gyldendal. Copenhagen, 1965.

Here's an excellent collection of formidable, Danish folk tales (many dating as far back as 1823). They are well en par with the best Norwegian ones, I should say. It shares some tales with the collection by the Brothers Grimm, and some with Norwegian ones that apparently were collected much later and may be derived from good Danish ones, in part. This outlook is in line with conditions in Scandinavia before Asbjörnsen and Moe travelled about and collected their stuff. Norway and Denmark were in union like serf and lord - Norway was underdog [n] during many hundred years. it is a sad story of tyranny. The Swedes broke of of Danish rule by long, bitter gun-fighting, but Norwegians did not attain it. The union broke in 1814, but Norwegian territory, such as Greenland, Iceland, The Faroe Islands, The Shetland Islands and a large part of Sweden, were not given back - Clever and not very courteous Danes fooled "us".
Be that as it may. From being the tall part of an old union dating back to the 1200s, Norway declined under Danish bossing. Norwegian culture was demolished by steps, much self-inflicted it was -
From being a land of bullies - gruff but handsome Vikings - Norway became the home of the paupers of the North for many long centuries. No wonder the typical folk tale hero starts out very poor. He is no upper class figure to begin with, but the self-made guy in a nutshell - just the one Americans identify with - old tricks of conventionalised role model portrayal sees to that. The Ashlad is nearly a totem figure among us still. But to be cultural is much different, to be frank. (3)

Gidlunds: Svenska folksagor, Vol 1-4. Gidlunds. Stockholm, 1981.

Swedish folk tales are among the best. The could be compressed more, some of them. This is an all right all-round Swedish collection in rather stilted language, but with neat themes underneath that decadent cover. Its main value is that it is authentic. Furthermore, many of its folk tales were gathered before those of Asbjörnsen and Moe. (3)

Bö, Olav et al, eds: Norske eventyr med innleiing og kommentarar ved Olav Bö [et al.]. Samlaget. Oslo, 1982.

This is very good in easily understandable New Norwegian. Lots of difficult dialect terms have been replaced. It contains many of the very best folk tales from the 12 volume series, and some from the works of couple Asbjörnsen and Moe. The introduction is superb. It would be my first choice as beginner; Kvideland's collection could come next, perhaps. (3)

Kvideland, Reimund, ed: Norske eventyr The University Press. Bergen, 1972. (275 pages).

Fine. But the jumbled stories don't show you how to take care of your outfit, or gear, that most often helps a lot. (3)

The excellent series Norsk eventyrbibliotek (Norwegian Folk Tale Collection) edited by B. Alver (et. al) was published by Samlaget in Oslo 1967-1981, and contains 12 volumes. The stories revolve around lots of eccentrics from what was an underdog nation in the northern part of Europe - Dates given at the back of each book here.

Prinsessene som dansa i åkeren: eventyr frå Rogaland. 1967. - 206 p.
Guten som tente i tri år for tri skilling: eventyr frå Telemark; Vol 2. 1975. - 216 p.
Guten som snudde på halvskillingen: eventyr frå Hedmark og Oppland (Olav Bö, ed.). 1981.
Jomfru Marias gudmorsgåve: eventyr frå Hordaland. 1972. - 215 p.
Sunnafor sör og nordafor nord: eventyr frå Akershus, Vestfold og Östfold (Brynjulf Alver, ed). 1976.
Kongsdottera i koppartårnet: eventyr frå Tröndelag. 1970. - 287 s.
Dei tri blå tårni: eventyr frå Telemark; Vol 1. 1974. - 251 p.
Dyret i hagjen : eventyr frå Agder (Olav Bö, ed). 1978. - 203 s.
Ridder Skau og jomfru Dame: eventyr frå Ringerike. 1969. - 242 p.
Lita-Frid-Kirsti: eventyr frå Valdres, Numedal, Hallingdal og nedre Buskerud (Reimund Kvideland, ed). 1979.
Guten i gadden: eventyr frå Sogn og Fjordane, Möre og Romsdal (Brynjulf Alver, ed). - 1980. - 250 p.
Glunten og riddar rev: eventyr frå Nord-Norge (Reimund Kvideland, ed). 1977. - 234 s.

This all-round collection is very well annotated. But for people who don't understand New Norwegian (one of Norway's two official written languages) and a lot of dialect terms, the purchase of this great collection is hardly likely to be a success. But it's there. (4)

Allied: Bö, Olav, ed: Segner. Innleiing og merknader av (professor) Knut Liestöl. 3rd ed. Samlaget. Oslo, 1977. 195 p.

Folk tales and what Germans call Sagen, i.e. legends, may glide into each other or overlap. At times it is hard to tell what is a tale and what is a historical legend - sometimes a text can be both, depending on what way you look at it or what you like. (4)

The original folklore to study

Norsk folkedikting: Eventyr1 ved P.Chr. Asbjörnsen, Jörgen Moe og Moltke Moe. Samlaget. Oslo, 1960. 252 p.

Norsk folkedikting: Eventyr 2 ved P.Chr. Asbjörnsen [et al.]; edition by former professor Knut Liestöl. 2nd utgave by (assistant professor) Olav Bö og S. Solheim. Samlaget. Oslo, 1961. 244 p.

Both books are good. (5)

The longwinded, but very good translation

Dasent, Sir George Webbe, tr: East o' the sun and west o' the moon. With an introduction by Naomi Lewis. - 1st U.S. ed. Candlewick Press. Cambridge, Mass., 1992.

It can be more than a bit locatious and annoyingly frivolous to some. Still very good. His style is a bit long-winded and amassing, and marked by pleonasms such as a repeated "Well, ...". (5)

Connecting well

I suggest Freudian dream interpretations along with many of these alternate inlets and inroads into the deep, figure-forming central mind and its various outlets. (4)

Getting basic surveys as digested by others

Ashliman, D.: A Guide to Folktales in the English Language. Greenwood. New York, 1987.

Here's a survey over structural themes formatted into a catalog. It helps us to compare versions from European countries. Dominant themes are grouped and numbered (the updated and a bit upgraded comparative "AT number" is what Professor Ashliman gives. Lots of folk tales are not classified yet. The survey is hobbling - but the best we have. Some extracts give the essence so artfully that they in part compete with the original. The story from the medieval Italian Decameron about the monk Rustico and the naive girl he met with, is so elegant that I retell it here and now.
A monk, Rustico, told an innocent girl that he had a devil in his trousers, and she a warm hell, and the devil should go to hell. He taught her how to, and together they took great pleasure again and again in bringing the devil into hell, where he belonged. (4)

Thinking out proverb-like extracts should fit the basic plots or main topics - Here are three books filled with peculiar proverbs

Villum, Erik: Andres köer har större yver. Gyldendal. Köbenhavn, 1985.

Short, stout and handsome, this book gives a beginner's impression by terse insights that may be ambiguous, as some proverbs often are.

Holm, Pelle: Ordspråk och talesätt. Bonniers. Stockholm, 1973.

This collection by the Swedish professor P. Holm may be the best one among Scandinavian books.

Aasen, Ivar: Norske ordsprog. 3rd ed. Vestanbok. Voss, 1982.

The language is old-fashioned, much difficult to understand even for many Norwegians, but the contents is astonishing. Somewhere else I've straightened this book up and rephrased most of the sentences. (unedited) (4)

Eclective (selective) dream understanding as a help to become less airy and topdog-submissive

Boss, Medard: "I dreamt last night ..." Gardner. New York, 1977.

The Swiss Professor Medard boss has surveyed thousands of dreams for the sake of seeking common denominators or wise enough general patterns developed in the deep mind.

Hall, Calvin: The Meaning of Dreams. McGraw-Hill. New York, 1966.

Professor Calvin Hall is an US Freudian and fair dream researcher. This book is excellent.

Hark, Helmut: Religiöse Traumsymbolik. Lang. Frankfurt am Main, 1980.

Here's a very good German study of dreams in the tracks of Dr Jung. This book shares basic illustrations with the next one, by Dr. Jacobi.

Jacobi, Jolande: The psychology of C. G. Jung: An introduction with illustrations. 6th rev. ed. Routledge and Kegan Paul. London, 1962. Xiv, and 192 p. Norwegian edition: Jungs psykologi. Gyldendal. Oslo, 1968.

The eminent Dr. Carl Gustav Jung himself vouch for this brilliant summary made by his disciple, Dr Jacobi.

Ullman, Montague & Zimmerman, Nan: Bruk dine drömmer. Aventura. Oslo, 1982. - 311 p. (The US original: Working with dreams.)

This book is much translated. The senior writer is an American dream interpreter and Professor also. (5)

Good myths can be a help to be not sure

Congenial myths are to look into ad libidem
Davidson, Hilda Ellis: The Lost Beliefs of Northern Europe. Routledge. London, 1993.

This book is only barely related to this material - for beginners.

Davidson, H. R. Ellis: Scandinavian mythology. Hamlyn. London, 1982. 144 p: illustrated. - the same as Davidson, H.: Nordisk mytologi. Bokklubben. Oslo, 1984.

Here's the very good one.

Davidson, H.R. Ellis: Gods and myths of northern Europe. Harmondsworth, 1984.

This one is more subsidiary, all in all.

Munch, P. A.: Norröne gude- og heltesagn. Rev. ed. Universitets-. Oslo, 1981.

Here's a recently upgraded Norwegian classic stemming from Professor P. A. Munch of the 1800s. it is at times rather enjoyable, at times penetrating. Many funny stories from the Viking Age are condensed very well. I enjoy this excellent survey of "Norse stories of gods and heroes". (5)

Basic literature understanding often comes in handy -

Here's not too cumbersome academic reading by noted Americans. Both these works are for university studies.

Dickinson, Leon: A Guide to Literary Study. Holt, Rinehart and Wilson. New York, 1959.

Abrams, M.: A Glossary of Literary Terms. 3rd ed. Holt. New York, 1971. (5)

Being artful

It should help to be as musical and artful as you can when you blend, combine and select tones, topics, themes and other facets from traditional, figurative outputs and later make use of the best of them in perhaps novel ways and channels as seems fit. Tact helps. Being tonal helps too, but not always, none of them. These are generalities.(7)

Literature
The excellent, annotated series Norsk eventyrbibliotek (Norwegian Folk Tale Collection) edited by B. Alver (et. al) was published by Det norske Samlaget in Oslo 1967-1981, and contains 12 volumes. They are:

Bø, Olav og Hodne, Bjarne eds: Dei tri blå tårni. Eventyr frå Telemark 1. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1974. - 251 p.
Bø, Olav, red: Dyret i hagjen: Eventyr frå Agder. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1978. - 203 p.
Alver, Brynjulf, red: Guten i gadden: Eventyr frå Sogn og Fjordane, Møre og Romsdal. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1980. - 250 p.
Bø, Olav, red: Guten som snudde på halvskillingen: Eventyr frå Hedmark og Oppland. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1981.
Kvideland, Reimund, red: Glunten og riddar rev: Eventyr frå Nord-Norge. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1977. - 234 p.
Bø, Olav ed: Guten som tente i tri år for tri skilling. Eventyr frå Telemark 2. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1975. - 216 p.
Alver, Brynjulf, ed: Jomfru Marias gudmorsgåve: Eventyr frå Hordaland. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget 1972. - 215 p.
Alver, Brynjulf, red: Kongsdottera i koppartårnet: Eventyr frå Trøndelag. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1970. - 287 p.
Kvideland, Reimund, red: Lita-Frid-Kirsti: Eventyr frå Valdres, Numedal, Hallingdal og nedre Buskerud. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1979.
Alver, Brynjulf, red: Prinsessene som dansa i åkeren: Eventyr frå Rogaland. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1967. - 206 p.
Alver, Brynjulf ed: Ridder Skau og jomfru Dame: Eventyr frå Ringerike. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1969. - 242 p.
Alver, Brynjulv, ed: Sunnafor sør og nordafor nord: Eventyr frå Akershus, Vestfold og Østfold. Oslo: Det norske Samlaget, 1976.

Agha: Ashliman, D.: A Guide to Folktales in the English Language. Greenwood. New York, 1987.
Ttf: Aarne, Antti. The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography. Translated and Enlarged by Stith Thompson. 2nd rev. ed. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia / FF Communications, 1961.
Ti: Uther, Hans-Jörg. The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Vols 1-3. FF Communications No. 284-86, Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 2004.
Tyno: Hodne, Ørnulf: The Types of the Norwegian Folktale. Universitetsforlaget. Bergen, 1984.

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