In A Thrice-Ninth Kingdom

My budding study of folklore and fairy tales

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My Blog

I'm interested in folklore and fairy tales, but don't know much about them. I'm creating this blog as part of my goal to learn more about this topic. Here I'll post about things that interest me, research topics, and my progress.

Currently Reading:

"Morphology of the Folktale" by Vladimir Propp

"Аленький цветочек" Сергея Тимофеевича Аксакова ("The Scarlet Flower" by Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov)

"Tradiciones y leyendas panameñas" ("Panamanian Traditions and Legends") by Luisita Aguilera Patiño

Research Topics to Check Out:

Formulas in Russian fairy tales, the works of Aleksandr Afanasyev, the works of Vladimir Propp, the history of skomorokhs / скоморохи, East Slavic ditheism, perepekaniye / перепекание, the significance of bears in Russian folklore

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From An Introduction to the Russian Folktale by Jack V. Haney, pages 92-93:

"The wondertale is basically an oral story about a young man's, or less often a girl's, initial venture into the frightening adult world. As a quest, this venture may take spiritual, intellectual, or physical forms. Along the way, the hero or heroine is asked or required to perform various tasks that are in fact tests. The tasks range from the trivial to the breathtaking. The keys to passing these tests successfully are several, and they are all familiar: one must accept advice from others and receive a magic agent; one must obey an unseen but explicitly known code; one must understand and exhibit proper behavior even when in a foreign environment; one must be fearless and trusting, selfless and ready to die for a greater cause; finally, one must be willing to accept the rewards of life with grace and occupy one's station in this life."

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Just read a very short Panamanian story called "La Isla del Encanto" from Luisita Aguilera Patiño's Tradiciones y leyendas panameñas.

It began with an incredibly massive fish that got into the estuary of the Tuira River. The people living nearby marveled at the fish and tried to kill it, but it escaped before getting stuck in a very narrow point in the river near la Palma. Plants grew over the fish, and it became an island: la Isla del Encanto.

The story then tells of how an "Indian" ("indio" in Spanish) named Nicolás went swimming on Good Friday despite warnings that something bad would happen if he did so. He eventually can't move in the water and suffers incredible pain; after he returns to his senses, he finds that his legs have become a fish tail.

After this, he realizes that God has punished him, and swims to la Isla del Encanto, knowing that a mermaid is waiting for him there. He remembers the story of this mermaid sitting above the water by the river, brushing her hair with a golden comb. She sees a man staring at her, dumbfounded by her beauty, and asks: "Who have you fallen for?" The man responds: "The comb." She's unbothered by this response, and throws the comb to him, which he fails to catch and loses under the water.

The story ends by explaining that from then on, during Lent, people hear strange music coming from la Palma, and that this is the sound of Nicolás and the mermaid singing praise to God from the golden palace where they live.

I find two things about this story interesting from the face of it: what is the purpose of the story inside of the story where the mermaid throws a golden comb to the man? I wonder if there's a significance to the man claiming that he's fallen for the golden comb, perhaps something to do with cultural conceptions of greed. I don't know enough about this story's cultural context to say. I also find it interesting that, despite the story having many Christian elements and claiming that God punished Nicolás by transforming him after he did not properly observe Good Friday, it ends with Nicolás and the mermaid in a golden palace singing praise to the Christian God.

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Just started, and I mean JUST started, reading a book on Panamanian folktales. In the second paragraph of the first story I already came across a very particularly Latin American word: cuipo, which refers to Cavanillesia platanifolia, a kind of flowering tree. According to Wikipedia it grows in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Here's an image from the Wikipedia page:

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From "An Introduction to the Russian Folktale" by Jack V. Haney, page 80:

"(The 'little finger' in Russian is not actually called a finger. The thumbs along with the three middle fingers are referred to as fingers, pal'tsy. The little finger is apparently marked out because in pagan times it was disfigured as part of the rites of initiation of young warriors [Propp 1946; 1986:90-92].)"

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For clarity, all five fingers are considered fingers in Russia. But the fingers are named like this in Russian:

Thumb -> большой палец = big finger

Index finger -> указательный палец = indicatory finger

Middle finger -> средний палец = middle finger

Ring finger -> безымянный палец = nameless finger

Pinky finger -> мизинец = a term derived from an Old East Slavic word that meant “the youngest”

What’s being referred to in this quote is that all five fingers except for the pinky have “finger” in the name in Russian

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From "An Introduction to the Russian Folktale" by Jack V. Haney, page 80:

"(The 'little finger' in Russian is not actually called a finger. The thumbs along with the three middle fingers are referred to as fingers, pal'tsy. The little finger is apparently marked out because in pagan times it was disfigured as part of the rites of initiation of young warriors [Propp 1946; 1986:90-92].)"

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I'm slowly reading through "The Scarlet Flower" by Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov in Russian. The story is a retelling of "Beauty and the Beast". My Russian skills are still very much developing so it's a slow read involving a lot of new vocabulary. I noticed two interesting phrases in the story. Formulas, like the English "Once upon a time" and "far far away". In other words, phrases that are used in many fairy tales.

"В некотором царстве, в некотором говударстве..." = "In a certain kingdom, in a certain country..."

"...за тридевять земель, в тридевятое царство, в тридесятое государство..." = "...to the thrice-ninth land, to the thrice-ninth kingdom, to the thrice-tenth country..."

I need to finish reading the story, and I'd also like to learn more formulas from Russian fairy tales.

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I'm currently reading "An Introduction to the Russian Folktale" by Jack V. Haney. The book is, as you might think, a guide for a new learner of Russian folktales and their history. I'm about halfway through and have learned about certain important figures like Aleksandr Afanasyev and Vladimir Propp, whose works I'll have to read later on; skomorokhs / скоморохи, East Slavic performers and storytellers who existed from at latest the 11th century until partway through the 18th century, who I'd like to learn more about; and a bit about East Slavic ditheism, creation myths, and rituals, which I also want to learn more about.

The fun thing about research is that, when you're genuinely interested in what you're learning, you end up with more questions than answers sometimes, especially as a beginner.