Are

prose narratives primarily told for amusement and individual entertainment and instructional value, dealing with events set in an indefinite time and place. Bascom They are not considered as dogma or history, they may or may not have happened, and they are not to be taken seriously. Classified into animal tales or fables, magic tales or (numskull tales and trickster tales), novelistic tales, religious and didactic tales.

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Fables or Animal tales- are short tales generally involving animals which convey a message of virtue. Magic tales- also called fairy tales or marchen are stories of fantasy and wonder. - these are told mainly to entertain, may also teach a lesson, the most universal one, the idea of the all- pervading power of love and the reward for kindness and the punishment for wickedness. Humorous tales- are subdivided into numskull or noodle- head tales and trickster tales.

a. Numskull tales- recount the funny, amusing, odd occasionally heart- rending, clumsy acts of a ridiculous person. - The crowd is usually moved to sympathy or annoyance or both over the anti heros misfortunes and follies, which bring disaster upon himself. - a flat or static character in numskull tales presents the fool who takes things to the letter. - sometimes it may also prove himself to be a smart or shrewd character, or a trickster. b. Trickster tales- may narrate the foolishness of a central character who cheats or plays tricks on the other people.

- the trickster may be a human or an animal. To come out victorious in every adventure, he may use sweet talk, subterfuge, substitution, or sleigh-of-hand. 4. Novelistic tales- also called NOVELLAS are a subtype of the folktale. Unlike magic tales or fairy tales, human wit and common sense, rather than magic powers make for the male or female hero. 5. Religious and didactic tales- are called miracles tales. They are mainly told to illustrate the rewards of goodness and the punishment for evil.

One day Juan's father sent him to get some ripe guavas, for a number of the neighbors had come in and he wanted to give them something to eat. Juan went to the guava bushes and ate all the fruit he could hold, and then he decided to play a joke on his father's guests instead of giving them a feast of guavas. A wasp's nest hung near by. With some difficulty he succeeded in taking it down and putting it into a tight basket that he had brought for the fruit. He hastened home and gave the basket to his father, and then as he left the room where the guests were seated he closed the door and fastened it.

As soon as Juan's father opened the basket the wasps flew over the room; and when the people found the door locked they fought to get out of the windows. After a while Juan opened the door, and when he saw the swollen faces of the people, he cried. "What fine, rich guavas you must have had! They have made you all so fat!"

One day when a monkey was climbing a tree in the forest in which he lived, he ran a thorn into his tail. Try as he would, he could not get it out, so he went to a barber in the town and said: "Friend Barber, I have a thorn in the end of my tail. Pull it out, and I will pay you well." The barber tried to pull out the thorn with his razor, but in doing so he cut off the end of the tail. The monkey was very angry and cried: "Barber, Barber, give me back my tail, or give me your razor!" The barber could not put back the end of the monkey's tail, so he gave him his razor. On the way home the monkey met an old woman who was cutting wood for fuel, and he said to her:

"Grandmother, Grandmother, that is very hard. Use this razor and then it will cut easily." The old woman was very pleased with the offer and began to cut with the razor, but before she had used it long it broke. Then the monkey cried: "Grandmother, Grandmother, you have broken my razor! You must get a new one for me or else give me all the firewood." The old woman could not get a new razor so she gave him the firewood. The monkey took the wood and was going back to town to sell it, when he saw a woman sitting beside the road making cakes. "Grandmother, Grandmother," said he, "your wood is most gone; take this of mine and bake more cakes."

The woman took the wood and thanked him for his kindness, but when the last stick was burned, the monkey cried out: "Grandmother, Grandmother, you have burned up all my wood! Now you must give me all your cakes to pay for it." The old woman could not cut more dry wood at once, so she gave him all the cakes. The monkey took the cakes and started for the town, but on the way he met a dog which bit him so that he died. And the dog ate all the cakes.