Cumulative tale explained

In a cumulative tale, sometimes also called a chain tale, action or dialogue repeats and builds up in some way as the tale progresses. With only the sparest of plots, these tales often depend upon repetition and rhythm for their effect, and can require a skilled storyteller to negotiate their tongue-twisting repetitions in performance.[1] The climax is sometimes abrupt and sobering as in "The Gingerbread Man." The device often takes the form of a cumulative song or nursery rhyme. Many cumulative tales feature a series of animals or forces of nature each more powerful than the last.

History

Cumulative tales have a long pedigree. In an early Jewish Midrash, considered to date from the sixth century AD, Abraham is brought before King Nimrod, who commands him to worship fire.[2] Abraham replies that it would be more reasonable to worship water, which can quench fire and is therefore more powerful. When this premise is granted, he points out that the clouds, as sustainers of water, are more worthy of worship, and then that the wind that disperses them is more powerful still. Finally he confronts Nimrod with the observation that "man can stand up against the wind or shield himself behind the walls of his house" (Genesis Rabba xxxviii).

There is a similar tale, The Mouse Turned into a Maid, in the Panchatantra, in which the mouse-maid is successively introduced to the sun, the cloud, the wind and the mountain. She prefers each in turn as stronger than the last, but finally a mouse is found to be stronger than even the mountain, and so she marries the mouse. Stories of this type, such as the Japanese The Husband of the Rat's Daughter, are widely diffused.[3]

Classification

In the Aarne-Thompson classification system, types 2000–2100 are all cumulative tales, including:[4]

How the rich man paid his servant 2010

The house is burned down 2014

The goat that would not go home 2015

Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie 2019

The cock and the hen 2021

An Animal Mourns the Death of a Spouse 2022

The Fleeing Pancake 2025

The fat cat 2027

The Old Woman and Her Pig 2030[5]

The Sky Is Falling 2033

This Is the House That Jack Built 2035

The Mouse Who Was to Marry the Sun 2031C (Japanese, Indian)

Pulling up the turnip 2044

Tales in which animals talk 2075

Other examples of cumulative tales

See also

Notes

  1. Encyclopedia: Ashliman. D.L.. D. L. Ashliman. Donald. Haase. The Greenwood encyclopedia of folktales and fairy tales . Chain Tale. 30 December 2007. Greenwood Press. 978-0-313-33441-2. 176.
  2. See the Text of the Midrash Rabba version. This is not itself a cumulative tale, though many cumulative tales seem to echo its theme.
  3. [D. L. Ashliman]
  4. http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html D. L. Ashliman's page of story types
  5. http://www.authorama.com/english-fairy-tales-6.html The Old Woman and Her Pig
  6. The first part of this tale is cumulative. Collected by the Brothers Grimm; given in Wikisource.
  7. Voorhoeve, C. L. 2010. 408-415. A Remarkable Chain Tale from New Guinea. In Kenneth A. McElhanon and Ger Reesink. A mosaic of languages and cultures: Studies celebrating the career of Karl J. Franklin. SIL International.
  8. Claudel, Calvin, and Jo Chartois. "A French Cumulative Tale." The Journal of American Folklore 62, no. 243 (1949): 42-47.

Relevant literature

External links