...8 SOUTHERN THAILAND FOLK TALES Foreword… It all started a few years ago in a discussion with our English Major Students. We were talking about regional differences; how perceptions of people differ. I explained how people in the north of England view the folks from London and the south, and vice-versa. “It’s the same here in Thailand” one bright student chimed, “the folks in Bangkok and the north think everyone down here in the south are stupid, ignorant and to be viewed with extreme suspicion. But we have a very rich cultural heritage” she went on to explain. “We have history and stories that have been passed from father to son, from mother to daughter, for centuries.” So, it was agreed, the students would mine the Southern Thai Culture for the myths and legends that go to make folk tales. These would be documented and translated into English. This was to be a useful extra-curricular activity in the student’s quest for better English usage and understanding. The project ‘grew like Topsy’ and before long we had plans afoot to publish a small book that could, with a bit of luck, help to narrow the cultural divide between north and south Thailand. And, of course, educate and amuse us poor, ignorant, foreigners! Together with my friend and former colleague, Ajarn Kevin Marshall, we agreed to edit the student’s submissions, bring the often-archaic language up-to-date and inject modern usage and idioms whilst retaining the spirit of the original. It was a big idea but one that...
Words: 6614 - Pages: 27
...Visual 1 This visual message is not clear at all. This visual does not tell a story about the overall pyramid. The sections in the pyramid was properly labeled accordingly. The visual was from a credit source being the United States Department of Agriculture. The visual was designed properly and the colors was used properly. The visual was free of any form of chart junk. The visual was misleading because it did not tell a story about the pyramid. The pyramid just stated food groups and servings but not real overall picture. Visual 2 This visual message was real in this pyramid. The stories in this visual was determined in thorough sentences what occurred in this pyramid. Business Training Center (2013), “When pre-senting important information, a visual – such as a chart or graph – is worth a thousand lines of da-ta”. The sections in the pyramid was properly labeled accordingly. The visual was from a credit source being the United States Department of Agriculture. The visual was designed properly and the colors was used properly throughout he visual. The visual was free of any form of chart junk. This visual was easy for the readier to follow and was well organized. The colors were used great according to the information in the pyramid. This was a well put together visual. Visual 3 This visual message was not clear. The visual did not tell an overall story of the bar chart. This visual could have told more information about malaria mortalities...
Words: 925 - Pages: 4
...Tales of Woe, Concord Bookshop Kathleen E. Haertel HCS587 September 23, 2013 Virginia Weatherston Tales of Woe, Concord Bookshop With today’s ever advancing technology, a company needs to have a competitive edge to make a profit, thus making change inevitable. The Concord bookshop was a small New England bookstore that were feeling the financial strains in today’s aggressive market, because of this the owners felt the need to restructure the company for it to remain a viable and profitable company .A new organizational model is necessary for a business to gain profit and survive in the market, Spector (2010) unfortunately there were some areas that were not handled correctly or effectively in the restructuring of the company that led to its failure. The first phase that failed was for the owners to come in and announce that changes were going to happen without notifying the employees of their areas of concern, this was the financial aspect of the company, the managers did state that “things are not so bad.” The owners response was very matter of fact that they wanted to move in another direction. One thing that may have helped in this phase would have been for the owners to have had meetings with the employees and discuss areas that the owners felt needed to be addressed; these long- term employees were blind-sided regarding as to what was to come. The second area of...
Words: 415 - Pages: 2
...art, any tale reflects the social order and worldview of those who create it and makes a statement about their goals for telling it. The distinction between a fairy tale and another kind of story, however, lies in the cultural significance of the fairy tale as a form of folklore. In his essay “The Four Functions of Folklore,” William Bascom indicates that those functions are amusement, validation of culture, education, and enforcement of cultural mores; folklore is “a means of applying social pressure and exercising social control” (346). Fairy tales reflect society’s perception of itself and the desires of the portion of society in which the fairy tale originated. Many fairy tales reinforce stereotypes, as well, providing dire predictions of doom for straying from the prescribed path, particularly for personal gain. Zipes argues that, as folk tales moved from oral to literary at the end of the 17th century, they were appropriated: these “products of the imagination are set in a socio-economic context and are used ultimately to impose limitations on the imagination of the producers and receivers” (9). This presumes that there was a change in folk tales which resulted in their being used to perpetrate the value system of the upper class upon the peasantry. This seems like a very difficult assumption to prove, given that the majority of folk tales, in all their multiplicity of forms, reinforce long-standing cultural beliefs; additionally, Zipes implies that folk tales belong to...
Words: 294 - Pages: 2
...The Pardoner’s Tale provides a moral story told by a corrupt and greedy Pardoner. His tale sends the message that greed is the root of all evil, and that it would only bring death upon anyone who is guilty of that sin. However, the Pardoner tells the pilgrims that he only preaches for his own gain, and that he would take money from anybody. Although his story is morally sound, the Pardoner’s immoral views and tactics of earning money deny any possibility of the tale sending a moral message. The Pardoner’s Tale cannot send a moral message, as the Pardoner himself is guilty of being corrupt and greedy. The Pardoner preaches about the evils of avarice, yet he himself partakes in the sin. His greed shows no bounds, as the Pardoner said, “I...
Words: 671 - Pages: 3
...particular person and his faults. Well in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales that role is filled by the Miller. He is rude and disrespectful drunk who aggravates the rest of the pilgrims. Throughout Chaucer’s frame tell narrative, the Miller is never seen in a good light. He invokes crude humor into his tale which distinguishes it from all other tales. The Miller is a multifaceted character in this tale, who begets conflict on the pilgrimage to Canterbury. The Miller’s physical appearance deeply reflects his personality. His fiery red hair is much like his outlandish personality. Much like his hair, he is a very noticeable member of the pilgrimage, but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. The Miller does not hold back in conversation and speaks his mind to the point of cruelty. He has a brawny physic that parallels to his intense and over-bearing persona. The Miller overwhelms conversations and stories told throughout the pilgrimage. He consistently interrupts others and takes advantage of those not willing to stand up to him. An obscene wart on his nose with red hairs protruding out of it, demonstrates the Miller’s human characteristic of annoyance. His wart was so repugnant that one could not stop staring at it. His personality has connection to this thought by the way that the Miller was so out there that one was forced to be aware of his presence. He is constantly harassing people by way of story telling, snotty comments, and theft. The Miller played the bagpipes which...
Words: 1197 - Pages: 5
...something to think about for the next paper. One of the best tools for revising for paragraph to paragraph organization is a reverse outline, which you can read about here: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/689/1/ . The other thing to work on is making sure your main claim is as specific as possible, or at least as specific as the paper that follows. Most of your claims center around a child’s identification with the prince as a way of learning self-acceptance, and some specific information about that to clarify early on for a reader the kind of argument you are making about the tale will greatly help that reader follow the logic of your argument. Comments on draft: Tascha, you have a strong voice and some great analysis of PP here. You really seem to have taken to B’s approach, and are able to bring out the ways the tale could help reassure a child in ways that generate new insight about the tale. My main concern right now is that your organization is getting in the way of some of this analysis, particularly in the first half of your paper. I recommend in a marginal comment, but I’ll repeat it here, that instead of doing a plot summary and analysis simultaneously over the course of the paper, you begin with a simple plot summary and then organize the analysis in terms of ideas rather than narrative sequence. This will help you lead a reader through your ideas, and give you more flexibility to relate your different ideas to one another. The other thing that would help bring...
Words: 2504 - Pages: 11
...the Merchant is a cheat or that January, the main character in the tale is a reflection of his own character. However, both the Merchant and January have cynical views and experiences regarding marriage that make the reader question how similar the two really are. The Merchant in the fourteenth century, as Chaucer has described him was a very familiar and popular figure. In the general prologue, the character was described as, A Marchant was ther with a forked berd In mottelee, and hye on horse he sat;...
Words: 1330 - Pages: 6
...Storytelling and Fairy Tales,” Jack Zipes explains: “The memetic crystallization of certain fairy tales as classical does not make them static for they are constantly re-created and re-formed and yet remain memetic because of their relevant articulation of problematic issues in our lives. Fairy tales, like our lives, were born out of conflict […] “Fairy tales were not created or intended for children. Yet they resonate with them, and children recall them as they grow to confront the injustices and contradictions of so-called real worlds” (20). After reading about the changes in fairy tales over time, what do you think these changes in fairy tales reveal in the changing definition of childhood? Do you think...
Words: 594 - Pages: 3
...Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale" is a very humorous tale which accounts the story of a rich older carpenter who marries a much younger women only to be cuckolded and deemed crazy by his peers due to the trickery that he fell victim to at the hands of his wife’s younger lover. As told by Miller a drunkard this tale I believe utilizes multiple forms of humor to include crude and dark humor. And the lighter sides of the tale can be found in the slapstick way in which the carpenter’s wife’s male pursuers find themselves the victim of both physical and somewhat emotional pain as a result of their individual pursuits of a lawfully married woman. The crude aspects of Chaucer's tale can clearly be seen very shortly into the tale during Nicholas pursuit of the carpenter’s wife Alison and in the way in which Alison a seemingly very dainty woman shows her other pursuer Absalom that she is not interested. Nicholas’s initial pursuit of the carpenter’s wife in which Chaucer wrote Nicholas “caught her by the puss” (Chaucer 49-55) and the part in which Alison illustrates her lack of affection for Absalom by as Chaucer wrote tricking him into kissing her naked arse (Chaucer 49-55) are perfect examples of "The Miller's Tale" crude humor . I believe the humor in this crudeness lies in the way in which Chaucer describes the two brokers of these crude acts Nicholas and Alison prior to these acts. As Chaucer describes Nicholas a man learned in the arts, theorems, and various stratagems...
Words: 604 - Pages: 3
...Introduction Fairy tales come from all parts of the world. Many are similar in content, with the same under lying moral or message, but with different characters and situations. Fairy tales tell a lot about a culture and how it views the world. Folklore helps to define how a culture thinks and reacts, Fairy tales are an important part of that. Fairy tales and similar stories are an integral part of human tradition. Few stories have changed very little since there original telling, while many have grown more fanciful over time as they were elaborated on. Fairy tales have been around for millennia, and were originally handed from one generation to the next by storytelling. The oral tradition of storytelling allowed each teller to make adaptations that pertained to current conditions, or to add different morals depending on the audience. The most common fairy tales were not originally written for children. They were later adapted by different writers or edited to make them acceptable for the younger generations. In 1697 Charles Perrault wrote fairy tales intended to be presented at the court of Versailles, each story was followed by a verse with a moral (Fairy Tales). His work was published and includes modern classics like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. Fairy tales were originally told by women, and were often more inventive and nastier, then the tales first put into print. The title Fairy Tales first appeared in the Oxford dictionary in 1749. The term actually arose from...
Words: 304 - Pages: 2
...Miranda Coker Mrs. Ashley Coker English IV Honors 9 January 2015 The Corruption of the Medieval Catholic Church in The Canterbury Tales In the Fourteenth Century, the Catholic Church took over Ireland, England, and almost all of Europe. Through a number of Crusades, which spanned about two hundred years, the church acquired a great amount of wealth. As a result of this tremendous accumulation of wealth, as well as an over emphasis on lavish places of worship, cathedrals were built in all of the larger cities. However, the communities of the middle and lower class in society suffered from poverty, resulting in sickness and death (“Greed and Corruption in The Canterbury Tales” 1). Why sit back, turn a deaf ear, and watch the people suffer and die while spending a fortune on places of worship? This is most likely the reason why Geoffrey Chaucer portrays some characters in The Canterbury Tales, such as the Pardoner, Friar, and Monk, as being greedy and often hypocritical. The Pardoner is a perfect example of this corruption. His work in the church is to hear the confessions of wrong-doers and pardon them of their sins. As he travels, he confesses to using a particular tale to manipulate his audiences. The Pardoner explains that he pushes guilt into the people by telling them that greed is the root of all evil, in order to coax them into giving him offerings. These offerings go directly into his greedy hands. Hardly a man of God, he demonstrates or reveals his self-centered...
Words: 661 - Pages: 3
...folklorists, anthropologists, and psychologists. • Folktales are also of special interest to scholars of narrative theory because of the way the tales are honed by many generations of telling; only the most important elements of the story survive. The Value of Folk Literature for Children • When Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of their Household Stories in 1812, they did not intend it for children. • Originally folklore was the literature of the people; stories were told to young and old alike. • Traditional literature is a rightful part of a child’s literature heritage and lays the groundwork for understanding all literature. Folktales • Folktales have been defined as “all forms of narrative, written or oral, which have come to be handed down through the years.” • Questions often arise about which of the available print versions of a tale is the “correct” or authentic text. Types of Folktales • There will be features of these stories that are unique to each culture, but children will also find particular aspects of plot or characterization that occur across cultures. • Probably the favorite folktales of young children are beast tales in which animal’s act and talk like human beings. • Surprisingly, there are a few realistic tales included in folklore. The story in Marcia Brown’s Dick Whittington and His Cat could have happened; in...
Words: 1828 - Pages: 8
...some examples of work and describing in more detail the process and influence of the Bardic Tradition on contemporary arts practices and how this is narrated and interpreted today. The examples of work that this essay will look at are The Brothers Grimm and Fairy tales, Pantomime and how stories are told through re-enactment and Paula Rego’s art exhibition of 30 Rhymes and Tales. With these examples we will explore how the Bardic Tradition has stood the change of time and progression of technology and aims to achieve to show if and where it still exists and is relevant in today’s society. The routes of the Bardic Tradition travel back to Stonehenge and the Bronze Age originating in middle England, Ireland and Wales. Bardic Tradition is a Celtic culture which incorporates Gaelic tradition and is an oral tradition of preserving and sharing culture and histories. Amy Wright P11248462 “The earliest historical records of it were made by the Romans who invaded Britain just over 2000 years ago, but the British Celtic culture which they describe, and within which the Bards assumed great importance, was at that time already ancient”. (Skea, 1994, P1). Bardic traditions embrace such things as Fairy Tales, Folklore, and Fantasy worlds. Great story tellers of...
Words: 1750 - Pages: 7
...The Transformation of Language and The Pardoner’s Tale Summary: The Pardoner’s Tale is a moral story of greed and treachery, in which three young hooligans go on a quest to find Death so they can kill him. Instead of finding Death, they find a golden treasure, and their scheming over the hoard leads them to murder each other, so that their original purpose is fulfilled. Although this is a solemn tale teaching that “greed is the root of all evil,” the Pardoner is a con artist of the highest degree, a rap artist who preaches morality strictly for his own profit, merchandising and scamming his way to a fortune at the expense of his poor fans. Baba Brinkman’s solo performance, “The Rap Canterbury Tales,” first appeared at the Edinburgh Festival in 2004. It is a re-creation of Chaucer’s fourteenth century poem, in which a group of pilgrims traveling from London to Canterbury enter into a tale-telling contest. Every element of the performance closely parallels Chaucer’s original text, but in a contemporary setting. Baba Brinkman plays Chaucer, who is both the narrator and a participant in the pilgrimage. In this case, he is a hip-hop fan who goes to a rap concert and manages to stow away on the tour bus after the show. The rappers, to his surprise, decide to stage a storytelling battle to help pass time on the road between gigs, and each of the Tales is an exact retelling of one of the pilgrim stories. As the narrator, Brinkman/Chaucer attempts to recount the exact experience...
Words: 689 - Pages: 3
