What Are the Characteristics of Folktales?
Folktales are particularly well-suited to fostering adult/child interaction because these stories tend to focus attention on the relations among reality, beliefs, actions, and motives (Ratner & Olver, 1998). Folktales are also a resource for multicultural education because they are passed from one place to another across time, countries, and cultures (Burke, 1990). Additionally, many folktales attempt to explain some why characteristic of animals or nature exists, like the black iridescence of a crow s feathers and its raspy call in the Native American tale Rainbow Crow (Van Laan, 19 ) or its Mayan counterpart, Cuckoo/Cucu (Ehlert, 1997). These tales are called pourquoi (pronounced poor-QUAH) tales after the French word for why. Other common features of folktales include patterned openings and endings ( once upon a time… they lived happily ever after ), a quick presentation of the problem, uncomplicated characters, fast-paced plots, and punishment for villains (Glazer, 1997). Why Use
