Talk:The Charwoman's Shadow

Latest comment: 6 years ago by AnonMoos in topic Connection with folklore

WikiProject class rating edit

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 13:48, 9 November 2007 (UTC)Reply

Connection with folklore edit

"Everett F. Bleiler found the novel to be an "excellent" example of "a traditional fairytale [with] many nice touches."[2]" -- from the article

In what are called 'Migratory Legends"[1], type 3000 is about people who have lost their shadow. In some cases, they have traded it as part of a deal with the Devil, although if I recall correctly, the Dunsany book has no explicit Christian content. In folktales about the "Black School" [2] the Devil (or magician) will take the student who is last to leave the school upon finishing the course, but he can be tricked into taking the student's shadow instead. Again, if I recall, the book does not explain how the charwoman lost her shadow. I am not sure how much Bleiler related this book to "a traditional fairytale" but it seems that much more could be written on it, and I offer this comment as "Original Research." 173.174.85.204 (talk) 19:34, 27 April 2017 (UTC) EricReply

A lot of those "motifs" are classified in the Aarne-Thompson classification systems and/or Motif-Index of Folk-Literature... AnonMoos (talk) 07:26, 9 May 2017 (UTC)Reply