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Paper short abstract

We examine the nature of transition areas between animal tales and songs, paying attention to poetic devices and lexical particularities as well as the conceptualization of animals. We explore the position of the animal lore within the folkloristic systematics, also its functionality and reception.

Paper long abstract

Animal tales (ATU 1–299) are stories whose characters are animals that behave and act like humans. Anthropomorphism of animals is one of the main features of this fairy tale type. The setting of these stories reflects human society and interpersonal relationships.

Estonian runosong tradition includes various lyrical songs describing poetically or symbolically animals or their traits, (semi)narrative songs in which animals appear as agents or anthropomorphized dialogue partners, as well as songs imitating natural sounds, especially bird calls (known as naturlaut).

In Estonian folklore, animal tales and songs form the area where two completely opposite genres of oral self-expression—prose and poetry—meet and intertwine. There are many instances where the same narrative plot appears both as a song and as a tale. Formulaic fairy tales (ATU 850–999) tended to develop into songs because their structure is based on the repetition of the same elements facilitating the transformation. Several animal tales include songs, for example, dialogues are performed in verse, using the poetic devices of runosong such as alliteration and parallelism. Animal songs performed separately from tales are a symptom of the decline of the storytelling tradition

In this presentation, we examine the nature of these transition areas between songs and tales, paying attention to poetic devices and lexical particularities. We are especially interested in the depiction and conceptualization of animals across different genres. We are also interested in the position of animal lore within folkloristic systematics and the ideological hierarchy, as well as its functionality and reception.