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The Spinning-Woman By The Spring
The Spinning-Woman by the Spring or The Kind and the Unkind Girls is a widespread, traditional folk tale, known throughout Europe and in certain regions of Asia, including Indonesia. The tale is cataloged as AT 480 in the international Folktale catalog. Synopsis Two stepsisters are, one after another, sent out to serve in the house of a witch where they are assigned what appear to be difficult or impossible tasks. For instance, they are tasked to carry water with a sieve. The kind girl, however, obeys requests from grateful animals and learns from the birds' song that she must line the sieve with clay to complete her task. Other chores they are assigned include washing black wool white, and gathering flowers at midwinter. As payment for her household work she can choose one of three caskets, an attractive red, a common yellow or an ugly blue casket. Again, she receives advice from the animals and makes the modest choice and becomes richly rewarded. Even though the unkind gir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging from traditional building styles common to the group. Folklore also includes Tradition, customary lore, taking actions for folk beliefs, the forms and rituals of celebrations such as Christmas and weddings, folk dances and Rite of passage, initiation rites. Each one of these, either singly or in combination, is considered a Cultural artifact, folklore artifact or Cultural expressions, traditional cultural expression. Just as essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Folklore is not something one can typically gain in a formal school curriculum or study in the fine arts. Instead, these traditions are passed along informally from o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Household Stories From The Collection Of The Bros
A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is important to economics and inheritance. Household models include families, blended families, shared housing, group homes, boarding houses, houses of multiple occupancy (UK), and single room occupancy (US). In feudal societies, the royal household and medieval households of the wealthy included servants and other retainers. Government definitions For statistical purposes in the United Kingdom, a household is defined as "one person or a group of people who have the accommodation as their only or main residence and for a group, either share at least one meal a day or share the living accommodation, that is, a living room or sitting room". The introduction of legislation to control houses of multiple occupations in the UK Housing Act (2004) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Portia (The Merchant Of Venice)
Portia is a female protagonist of William Shakespeare's '' The Merchant of Venice''. A rich, beautiful, intelligent heiress of Belmont, she is bound by the lottery set forth in her father's will, which gives potential suitors the chance to choose among three caskets. If he chooses the right casket, he wins Portia's hand in marriage. If he chooses the incorrect casket, he must leave and never woo any other woman in marriage. She is shown to think little of various foreign noblemen of similar rank who are most likely to seek her hand in marriage and still less of two suitors who seem to attempt her father's assigned task. Instead she favours a young but impoverished Venetian noble, Bassanio, who is also a soldier and a scholar. Bassanio goes on to choose the right casket. Portia is also fond of wordplay and proverbs, frequently quoting and coining them, which was considered a sign of wisdom and sharp wit in Elizabethan era. Some suggest that the character of Portia was based on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riddle
A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and ''conundra'', which are questions relying for their effects on punning in either the question or the answer. Archer Taylor says that "we can probably say that riddling is a universal art" and cites riddles from hundreds of different cultures including Finnish, Hungarian, American Indian, Chinese, Russian, Dutch and Filipino sources amongst many others. Many riddles and riddle-themes are internationally widespread. In the assessment of Elli Köngäs-Maranda (originally writing about Malaitian riddles, but with an insight that has been taken up more widely), whereas myths serve to encode and establish social norms, "riddles make a point of playing with conceptual boundaries and cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Merchant Of Venice
''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for the character Shylock and his famous demand for a "pound of flesh" in retribution. The play contains two famous speeches, that of Shylock, "Hath not a Jew eyes?" on the subject of humanity, and that of Portia on " the quality of mercy". Debate exists on whether the play is anti-Semitic, with Shylock's insistence on his legal right to the pound of flesh being in opposition to Shylock's seemingly universal plea for the rights of all people suffering discrimination. Characters * Antonio – a prominent merchant of Venice in a melancholic mood. * Bassanio – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the " Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. He remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted. Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motif (folkloristics)
The ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'' is a six volume catalogue of motifs, granular elements of folklore, composed by American folklorist Stith Thompson (1932–1936, revised and expanded 1955–1958). Often referred to as Thompson's motif-index, the catalogue has been extensively used in folklore studies, where folklorists commonly use it in tandem with the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, an index used for folktale type analysis. As standard tools The motif-index and the AT or ATU indices are regarded as standard tools in the study of folklore. For example, folklorist Mary Beth Stein says, "Together with Thompson's six-volume ''Motif-Index of Folk-Literature'', with which it is cross-indexed, ''The Types of Folktale'' constitutes the most important reference work and research tool for comparative folk-tale analysis. Alan Dundes who was an outspoken critic also said substantially the same thing, without confining the application to comparative studies: " he indicesindex const ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tongue-Cut Sparrow
, translated literally into "Tongue-Cut Sparrow", is a traditional Japanese fable telling of a kind old man, his avaricious wife and an injured sparrow. The story explores the effects of greed, friendship and jealousy on the characters. Andrew Lang included it as The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue in '' The Pink Fairy Book''. The basic form of the tale is common throughout the world. Plot Once upon a time there lived a poor old woodcutter with his wife, who earned their living by cutting wood and fishing. The old man was honest and kind but his wife was arrogant and greedy. One morning, the old man went into the mountains to cut timber and saw an injured sparrow crying out for help. Feeling sorry for the bird, the man took it back to his home and fed it some rice to try to help it recover. His wife, being very greedy and rude, was annoyed that he would waste precious food on such a small and insignificant little thing as a sparrow. The old man, however, continued caring for the bir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japanese Folklore
Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study of folklore is known as . Folklorists also employ the term or to refer to the objects and arts they study. Folk religion Men dressed as namahage, wearing ogre-like masks and traditional straw capes ('' mino'') make rounds of homes, in an annual ritual of the Oga Peninsula area of the Northeast region. These ogre-men masquerade as kami looking to instill fear in the children who are lazily idling around the fire. This is a particularly colorful example of folk practice still kept alive. A parallel custom is the secretive ritual of the Yaeyama Islands, Okinawa which does not allow itself to be photographed. Many, though increasingly fewer households maintain a kamidana or a small Shinto altar shelf. The Shinto version of the kitc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Halpert
Herbert Halpert (August 23, 1911 – December 29, 2000) was an American anthropologist and folklorist, specialised in the collection and study of both folk song and narrative. Biography Herbert Norman Halpert's interest in folklore emerged in his adolescence and remained throughout his life. Consistent with his choice, he earned an M.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University, where he studied with Ruth Benedict and George Herzog, and a Ph.D. in English from Indiana University, under the guidance of Stith Thompson. Both of his dissertations were based on field studies of American folklore. During World War II, Halpert served in the Alaskan Division of the Air Transport Command of the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the conflict, he became Professor and Head of the Department of English at Murray State College, in Kentucky, where he encouraged his students to collect local traditions. Between 1956-1960, he became Dean and Professor of English and Sociology at Blackburn Coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treatment Of Human Lice
The treatment of human lice is the removal of head lice parasites from human hair. It has been debated and studied for centuries. However, the number of cases of human louse infestations (or pediculosis) has increased worldwide since the mid-1960s, reaching hundreds of millions annually. There is no product or method that assures 100% destruction of the eggs and hatched lice after a single treatment. However, there are a number of treatment modalities that can be employed with varying degrees of success. These methods include chemical treatments, natural products, combs, shaving, hot air, and silicone-based lotions. Treatment is recommended only after a clear diagnosis since all treatments have potential side effects. Louse eggs hatch 6–9 days after oviposition. Therefore, a common recommendation is to repeat treatment with a pediculicide at least once after 10 days, when all lice have hatched. Between the two treatments (Days 2–9) the person will still be infested with lic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African Studies
African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's history (pre-colonial, colonial, post-colonial), demography (ethnic groups), culture, politics, economy, languages, and religion ( Islam, Christianity, traditional religions). A specialist in African studies is often referred to as an "africanist". A key focus of the discipline is to interrogate epistemological approaches, theories and methods in traditional disciplines using a critical lens that inserts African-centred “ways of knowing” and references. Africanists argue that there is a need to "deexoticize" Africa and banalise it, rather than understand Africa as exceptionalized and exoticized.Mamdani, M. (1996), Chapter 1 from Mamdani, M., ''Citizen and Subject: contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism''. African scholars, in recent times, have focused on decolonizing African ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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