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Magic tales are one type of folktale within folklore.
They are characterized by their optimistic ending. Magic
tales, as part of the folk tradition, are told orally
and NOT read from written texts. Once they are written,
they are records of folklore, but not folklore
itself. It is the performance aspect that make a magic
tale part of the folk tradition. However, a magic tale
may be imitated in literature, which is what Hans Christian
Andersen occasionally does when he writes or reads his
own stories.
 Variants of
the story are due to the fact that every performance
is an event that is unique from telling to telling. The
the core of the story is always the same, the local
culture and when the performance takes place change
the details of the tale. For example, 19th century details
and vocabulary no longer make sense to us today and cause
the tale to seem stale or stilted. Further, each performance
even by the same performer will vary depending on the individual
story tellers mood, or the reactions of the audience.
In a magic tale, the protagonist often starts from a
position of disadvantage and by the end of the story,
he or she wins a great fortune or "princess and
half the kingdom." All magic tales have a similar
structure. Vladimir Propp devised
a 31 point model outlining the structure of the magic
tale.
S. Mellor |
