Performance, content, and distribution

In oral cultures the genres described above are not simply categories in a library catalog but are part of an ensemble of actions that constitute the setting, often the ritual, and sometimes the music and dance of the performers; these actions also guide the voice and gestures and the intentions of the performers, as well as the audience and its expectations. Each genre has its characteristic context of performance, its own place, its own time, its own performers, and its own aims. Myths, in the concrete sense, are unlikely to be recited by “ordinary” people but instead by specialists in special ritual contexts. Folktales may be told by adults who have built up a reputation for doing so, but they are more likely to make the rounds within families or among groups of children.

Given the variety of genres of oral literature, it is difficult to generalize about their content as a whole, but it is (perhaps misleadingly) easy to generalize within each genre. Mythology deals with gods, deities, and supernatural agencies in their relationship—whether distant or close—with humankind. Epics often deal with human as well as half-divine heroes and monsters. Folktales show a nearly universal concern with animals, and they introduce as actors humans, gods, and sometimes monsters. The widespread inclusion of animals, in turn, may indicate a recognition of a continuity between living things; animals often reenact the lives of humans, not only by speaking but in their roles and actions. A continuity between living things is also expressed in tales of humans born of animals, being cared for by them (as in the case of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome), or being looked after by them in a more mystical sense (as with the North American Indian notion of the guardian spirit or in versions of totemism where humankind is aided by or even descended from an animal). Yet animals recur across many of the genres that can be classed as oral literature, where they take on multiple meanings and stand for many concepts. It is, again, difficult to generalize in good faith about the content of oral literature.

While similar genres are found widely distributed in oral cultures and in oral traditions, they do not occur equally in all contexts. Long recitations defined above as myths are very unequally distributed even in neighbouring societies that otherwise display rather similar practices and beliefs, for they occur only under very restricted conditions. Epics and histories tend to be associated with warrior and chiefly societies, respectively. Some researchers have argued that there appears to be little use of proverbs and riddles in America, a situation they contrast with Africa, where collections of proverbs (such as those made in Asante by the Swiss missionary J.G. Christaller) were considered very common. (Other researchers disagree and question the historical and geographical generalizations embodied in such characterizations of “America” and “Africa.”)

The content of myths and legends is considered by many in oral societies to be true; by contrast, the content of folktales and fables is believed to be fictional. While the first are often tied to particular societies (and later to written religions), the latter travel relatively freely between groups, including linguistic groups. That ability to travel reaffirms the fact that both have a different “truth” status, with folktales rarely tied to specific cosmologies but instead showing a more universal appeal, especially to children. Märchen (folktales with an element of the magical or supernatural) and ghost stories have a wider appeal and are widespread features of both oral literature and written literature told orally; monsters are found in many societies, and even specific types, such as dragons, turn up over large areas. Fairies and trolls are found yet more frequently as characters in folktales and cosmologies, operating as intermediaries between humankind and the higher deities and either helping or hindering their activities. Attempts to explain “rationally” and “historically” (which are nothing but speculation) the contents of oral literature have led the enquiry down false paths. As with oral literature in general, it is essential, wherever possible, to consider the context of performance and of transmission.