Arabian Folktales
Arabic stories are very special in their own way. They are read from left to right and they use dialect. The oral tradition became a profession over time. The men became the storytellers in the open and the women told the stories in private. The Arabian folktales have a focus on entertainment purposes. They are framework stories, meaning they have a set start but they tend to go every which way. “Kan ya ma Kan” means “it was or it wasn't” and it starts the folktales off. They also have a longer introduction called “farchen.” They may include a lesson but it does no always have one. They shed insight to human behavior and varies in style. Personal aspirations cedes before family demands welfare and honor. The characters in the story range and there is a universal theme throughout them all: struggle of the underdog and triumph against adversity. Lastly, they have the 5 categories of folktales.
They are different from the tales we have studied because most of the American tales have some kind of background message and they can be told by anyone. There is not an idea around that says that women have to promote in private. Anyone is eligible to tell the story and anyone is able to replicate the story. The start of the story is usually “once upon a time…” There is no main identification for whom the story is about. It is also not necessarily dedicated to the idea of entertainment. They have different attributes and they can name certain people they read the stories for. They also have the idea of telling the story for the universal message.
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