Blog Entry 12

Arabic Folk and Fairy Tales

            Professor Zaru spoke to my class and me about Arabic culture, traditions, and the connection to folk and fairy tales. It was a captivating presentation, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her speak. She spoke about the connection to the language, early ancient folk tales, characteristics of Arabic folk tales, and some specific stories.

            Arabic is an ancient language that is still alive, and vibrant. It begin as an oral language, and started in the Arabian Peninsula. Storytelling emerged to the illiterate masses by oral language. The stories soon added music, dance, and people eventually even got paid to tell stories to the people. Storytellers were mostly men, due to the conservative culture. Also due to this type of culture, the stories had no sexual meaning at all.

            There are many characteristics to Arabic folk and fairy tales. Some of these characteristics are similar to the fairy tales that we have studied this semester, but some are unique to the Arabic culture. These characteristics include, entertainment, frame story, typically starting with “Kan ya ma,” which is like “Once upon a time.” Also stories include, longer introductions called “farsheh,” stories may have a moral (not always), varies in style, characters range from ghouls, princes, princesses, animals that speak, etc., and may include tribal/national heroes. Lastly, many stories have the reoccurring theme of the struggle of the underdog.

            Professor Zaru spoke about multiple different stories. These stories included, “Kalila wa Dimma.” This story is an animal fable with two jackals who offer advice. This is a very beautiful and respected story. This story has been passed on, and changed a bit by adding new details, or taking different parts away. The next story Professor Zaru talked about was, “Joha.” “Joha” is a made up character in the Arab world, and beyond. This story has also been translated for different cultures, but varies in exact details. These stories are usually short, humorous, and are considered jokes. He was known as a peasant orphan child. Professor Zaru told the class one example of “Joha” dealing with his donkey.

            Professor Zaru continued to discuss multiple stories including, “Sirat,” “Ben Hilal,” and of course, “Arabian Nights.” All of these stories beautifully contributed to the Arabian culture, traditions, and way of life. Professor Zaru was eager, and excited to share information regarding these stories, and her culture. She was very insightful, and helped me understand Arabic Folk and Fairy Tales very much.

Photo source: Google Images