How the Killing of the Old Men Was Stopped is a Serbian fairy tale that first appeared in Kazadzic, a journal of Serbian folklore, having been submitted by Mr. I. L. Szeckovic from Paracin.[1] It is Aarne-Thompson type 981, "Wisdom of Hidden Old Man Saves Kingdom."[2]
Synopsis edit
A man hid his father in a land where everyone was supposed to be put to death at fifty. He won a bet about first seeing the sunrise by following his father's advice and looking west, so he saw it on a mountaintop. People concluded that the old should no longer be put to death.
Motifs edit
This story type is known the world over, and although the precise problem solved by the old man differs, the lesson is invariably the same: to cherish the old as a source of wisdom.[3]
Variants edit
Antiquity edit
Justin's Historia Philippicae contains a variant in chapter XVIII,3,1.[4]
Europe edit
A Maltese variant titled "The Kaukama and the Kaukam" was included by Margaret Murray and L. Galea in Maltese Folk-Tales.[5]
Africa edit
A variant was collected from the Wala people of Ghana by Mona Fikry-Atallah.[6]
"Impossible Against Impossible" is a Liberian variant.[7]
Asia edit
In Japan, there is a legend called Ubasute or Ubasute-yama. Uba means old woman. However, in the story, sometimes be an old father type. There are two types of stories: The unreasonable question type and the branch-and-fold type.
Keigo Seki's Folktales of Japan includes a variant, "The Mountain Where Old People Were Abandoned".[8]
References edit
- ^ D. L. Ashliman, "Killing of Old Men: folktales of Aarne-Thompson type 981 and other legends about geronticide"
- ^ Uther, Hans-Jorg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia Academia Scientiarum Fennica. p. 612.
- ^ D. L. Ashliman, Why old people are no longer put to death
- ^ Uther, Hans-Jorg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia Academia Scientiarum Fennica. p. 612.
- ^ Murray, Margaret; Galea, L. (1932). Maltese Folk-Tales. Empire Press.
- ^ Dorson, Richard (1972). African Folklore. New York: Anchor Books. pp. 403–404.
- ^ Bundy, Richard (1919). "Folk-Tales from Liberia (In Abstract)". Journal of American Folk-Lore. 32 (125): 415. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ Seki, Keigo (1963). Folktales of Japan. University of Chicago Press. pp. 183–186.