Subject Areas |
Art and Culture
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Anthropology |
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Folklore |
Literature and Language Arts
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Fiction |
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World |
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Time Required |
| Lesson 1: One class period
Lesson 2: One class period
Lesson 3: One class period
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Skills |
| Analyzing written and oral texts for elements of plot, theme, characterization, and conflict
Working collaboratively
Comparing and contrasting
Gathering, classifying and interpreting written and oral information
Making inferences and drawing conclusions
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Additional Data |
| Date Created: 06/04/02 |
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Date Posted |
| 6/4/2002 |
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Helpful Animals and Compassionate Humans in Folklore
"Animals
of all kinds feature in rituals, legends and folk tales throughout world culture,
reflecting the curiosity humans have always had about other species with which
they share the earth … and the desire to share the remarkable powers of other
species."
(David Pickering, "Animals." A Dictionary of Folklore.
New York: Facts On File, Inc., 1999. 10-11.) Introduction:
Unlike Aesop's fables, which involve strictly animal characters and illustrate
a particular moral truth, in folklore the relationship between humans and animals
is often a central theme. There are numerous helpful animal tale types, such as
animal nurses who rear great heroes after they have been abandoned as infants,
and beasts that lend supernatural aid to humans. Characteristic of these tales
is the animal characters' power of speech and the presence of other distinctly
human attributes. Often they are believed to possess great wisdom, which they
impart to a struggling human.
Through examining several examples of helpful
animal tales from around the world, students will learn about humans living in
cooperation with the land and sea and with the beasts that inhabit them. In many
helpful animal tales, the animal only offers its aid in return for a kindness
done by or promised by a human. The cooperation between humans and animals, then,
is seen to be mutually beneficial, as the animal's life is often spared, the human's
living situation is improved in some way and, in some cases, the animal is transformed
into a human as a result of kindness it has done or has received. Guiding
Questions:
What is a folktale? What are particular characteristics of
helpful animal folktales? What roles do the humans play in helpful animal stories
(human in distress, compassionate hunter, seeker/companion)? What are the conditions
for animal transformation?Learning Objectives:
After completing
the lessons in this unit, students will be able to: - Define folktales
and identify elements of helpful animal stories
- Recognize the animals'
various motivations for helping humans; sometimes aid is given selflessly, and
sometimes the animals offers aid only in return for a favor or service provided
by the human. Students should be able to provide textual examples of each case.
- Recognize the various types of aid animals give, and give specific textual
examples. Distinguish between an animal with natural abilities and an animal with
supernatural abilities.
- Discuss what happens if the human is grateful
for the animal's aid and the consequences for being ungrateful.
- Compare
and contrast themes, characters, conflicts, and outcomes of helpful animal tales
from different cultures by filling out the story charts and noticing similarities
in stories from different cultures.
Preparing to Teach this
Lesson: - Review each lesson in this unit and select the materials
you'd like to use in class. The resources included here can be used alone or in
combination with your own or your school's materials. When locating these resources
online, bookmark the materials, along with other useful websites; download and
print out selected documents and duplicate copies as necessary for student use.
If you teach in a laptop program or have access to a classroom computer with internet
access and a digital projector, consider creating a simple website that includes
links to all online materials, as well as your own notes and items of interest
for the students.
- For a general overview of folktales and tale types,
visit the site "Folktales:
What are they?" accessed through the online Merriam Webster Dictionary,
available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Internet
Public Library.
Suggested Activities:
Lesson One:
An Introduction to Helpful Animal Tales
Lesson Two: Animal Brides and Bridegrooms:
The Role of Transformation in Helpful Animal Tales
Lesson Three: Helpful
Animals and Ungrateful Humans
Lesson One:
An Introduction to Helpful Animal Tales
Begin by discussing with students the definition of a folktale and
list various tale types they will likely recognize, asking them to fill in examples
of each type: wicked stepmother tales (students might respond with "Cinderella"
and "Snow White"), brother and sister tales ("Hansel and Gretel"),
and helpful animal tales ("The Fisherman and His Wife"). You might ask
students if they remember any stories or movies in which animals provided aid
to humans. (Animal characters in many Disney movies still fill this role.)
One
possible definition of folktale comes from the Encarta
Online Encyclopedia, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed resource
Internet Public Library: - "A generic
term for the various kinds of narrative prose literature found in the oral traditions
of the world. One of the many forms of folklore, folktales are heard and remembered,
and they are subject to various alterations in the course of retellings. As they
are diffused (transmitted through a culture), some folktales may pass in and out
of written literature (for example, the "Rip Van Winkle" story), and some
stories of literary origin may cross over into oral tradition (for example, the
anecdote about George Washington and the cherry tree). Nevertheless, an essential
trait of folktales-and all folk literature-is their diffusion, and their passage
from one generation to another, by word of mouth" ("Folktales" at Encarta.com).
- Next, read aloud with the class the Inuit tale "Crow Brings Daylight". Using copies of the Story Elements
chart, provided in pdf format, or one of your own design, have students identify
characteristics of this story and use this list of elements to collaboratively
devise a working/preliminary definition of a "helpful animal tale" (a short narrative
in which clever animal characters with the ability to speak bring aid of some
type to humans). Students should also note that this type of animal tale explains
the presence of some natural phenomenon, in this case, daylight.
- Ask students
why they think Crow brought daylight to the Inuit people. Responses will indicate
that Crow has some of the same personality traits as humans, even though he is
not human himself. From this discussion, introduce students to the definition
of personification.
- If you teach in a laptop program, students can fill
out the story elements chart on their laptops alone or in pairs.
- After
completing the story chart for "Crow Brings Daylight," break the class
into two groups. One group should read "Coyote Brings Fire"
(Native American) while the other reads "The Four Dragons"
(Chinese). Each group should work together to list the important elements of the
story on their story charts, just as they did with "Crow Brings Daylight."
- Ask each group to work together to retell their story to the other group,
emphasizing the important elements on the story chart. Once all squares on the
story chart have been filled in, use these elements to write a definition of a
helpful animal tale.
The
following questions can be answered as a class, in small groups, or assigned for
homework. Note that students must use the story chart to help them complete the
questions.
Once the students have completed the chart for all three stories,
have them answer the following questions: - Although these stories come
from three very different cultures, how are the problems that the humans (in the
case of "Coyote Brings Fire," other animals) face similar?
- How are the
animals' reasons for helping the humans similar? In other words, what motivates
the animals to be helpful in these stories?
- Which animal uses the most
realistic way to solve the humans' problem? Explain what you find realistic about
the solution.
- Which of these stories did you like best and why?
Lesson
Two: Animal Brides and Bridegrooms: The Role of Transformation in Helpful Animal Tales
- Begin by reviewing terms from the previous lesson: folktale,
helpful animal tale, personification. Introduce the term "transformation" as a
way of presenting the next set of stories.
- These tales are longer and
more complex than the first set of tales. As they read and discuss them, students
should notice that the characters are more complex, as are the relationships between
the humans and the animals involved in each story. Each of these stories also
involves the transformation of a character at the end of the story, which implies
a lesson to be learned about the benefits of a cooperative relationship between
humans and animals.
- Read aloud with the students the Brothers Grimm folktale
"The Frog King", and identify
the important story elements of "The Frog King" using the Story Elements Chart
#2, provided in pdf format. Ask students to compare this story to the animal tales
of the previous lesson. How is this tale more complex?
- Break students into small
groups to read "The Girl Who Married a Bear"
and to fill out the second story elements chart. They should note several contrasts
with "The Frog King." As they begin to puzzle through the similarities and differences
between the two tales, it might be useful to have them plot the points of comparison
and contrast on a Venn Diagram, provided in pdf format.
- The following questions can be answered as a class, in small groups,
or assigned for homework. Note that students must use the story chart to help
them complete the questions.
Once the students have completed the
chart for all three stories, present them with the following questions:- At
the beginning of each story, what personality traits do the two girls have in
common? Why do you think the storytellers chose to start their stories in this
way?
- How are the conditions for the animal's aid similar in both stories?
In what ways are these conditions slightly different?
- What must each girl
learn about animals and about herself before the transformation can occur at the
end of the story? Would you say that both girls are better people by the end of
the stories?
- Why do you think the Native American storyteller chose to
end the story the way he did-with the bear-husband dying and the girl being the
one to transform? Do you like this ending more or less than the ending of "The
Frog King"?
Once students have had time to think about these questions,
come back together as a whole class to arrive at a theme for this type of helpful
animal tale. Ask the students what makes transformation possible for the frog
and for the girl. You might arrive at something like: Cooperation and respect
between humans and animals leads to the miraculous transformation of one and the
happiness of both parties.
Based on the elements of the second story chart,
ask students to construct a definition of a helpful animal transformation tale.
If more reinforcement is desired, assign the students to read "The Princess
and the Mouse".
Lesson
Three: Helpful Animals and Ungrateful Humans
- Review the theme from
lesson two: Cooperation and respect between humans and animals leads to the miraculous
transformation of one and the happiness of both parties. Ask the students what
might happen if that cooperation and respect never occurs. What might be the consequences
for ungrateful humans?
- Read aloud with the class "The Fisherman and His
Wife", "The Bachelors and
the Python", and
- "The
Kaha Bird". This time, give
students a blank story chart, provided in pdf format, and ask them to identify
the important elements of "helpful animal/ungrateful human stories." You may want
to allow the students to do this work in groups.
- Once the students
have finished this story chart, as a class discuss how these stories differ from
the previous two sets. Students will need all three of their story charts to do
this. To summarize, ask students what types of behaviors lead to what types of
endings in these stories?
Extending the Lesson- To see
how folktales teach universal lessons about human and animal relationships, try
another lesson on this site: Folklore and Ecology: Animals and Humans in Conflict
and Cooperation (Grades 3-5).
- Have students write their own helpful animal
tales using their story charts as a guideline. The story charts remind the students
which elements they should include in their stories.
- Assign other helpful
animal tales for outside reading and analysis, using the websites listed below
as sources for more tales. "Tales of Wonder" is a particularly fine resource
for tales from many cultures.
Selected EDSITEment Websites
Standards Alignment
View your state’s standards
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