trick: a
deceptive
expressive activity with minimal victimization or
harm intended, with "fun" as the motivating force.
harm intended, with "fun" as the motivating force.
Childens - Folklore
?
this Source Book, for their research of whatever kind and for the scholarly
merit they derive from the authenticity of their own research endeavors. It
is a scholarly "game" to engage one's fellows with a more adequate approach
to the scholarly subject matter than existed hitherto, as if there is only our
own new way of being authentic. But our editorial gamesmanship requires
that we suggest, on the contrary, that there are multiple ways of being au-
thentic about the authenticity of those we study. It is not a zero sum game.
We live, rather, in a world of multiple childhoods and multiple ways in which
these can be studied, to the credit of all parties. We say this despite our own
persistent rhetoric about child empowerment. We choose to finish, therefore,
selectively by asking the question how is it that our adult culture so typi-
cally suppresses the power-related aspects of children's lives so clearly rep-
resented in this present document? Is the "triviality barrier" (Sutton-Smith
1970a) in children's folklore only an adult reaction formation against the
dangers of recognizing that the world would be very different if we attended
to the neotony of children's struggles for power?
308 CONCLUSION: THE PAST IN THE PRESENT
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? ? GLOSSARY
AN AID FOR SOURCE BOOK READERS
This list of terms was created by Source Book contributors, who listed and
defined those words that they considered basic for readers' understanding
of their respective chapters. It is hoped that this glossary will be useful for
those who are new to the field of folklore and for students in the classroom.
analytical category: form of classification generated by analyst for the
purposes of comparison (see cultural category).
antithesis: a category in McMahon and Sutton-Smith's typology for
children's subversive folklore that represents expressive behaviors that pre-
suppose an oppositional tension and demystify the dominant culture through
parody, mirroring, or inversion.
block element: one or more features of a riddle proposition that in-
terferes with the proposition's facile solution.
bounded (or closed) society: homogeneous social group marked by
isolation from other groups; members rely on one another for subsistence
and social functions. Usually used to describe aboriginal and peasant com-
munities (see open society).
catch riddle: a type of riddle in which the surprise or victimization
of the respondent is a necessary element in the proposition.
childhood underground: a term used to describe the subculture of
children that exists apart from the culture dominated and controlled by
adults. In their book One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of
American Children (1976), Mary and Herbert Knapp explain this concept
in detail.
childlore: children's folklore.
children's folklore: shared expressive behaviors of children; more spe-
cifically, according to Bauman, ". . . the traditional formalized play activi-
ties of children, including forms of speech play and verbal art, that are en-
gaged in and maintained by the children themselves, within the peer group.
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? ? Familiar genres of children's folklore include riddles, games, jokes, taunts,
retorts, hand-claps, counting-out rhymes, catches, ring plays, and jump-rope
rhymes . . . distinguished on the one hand from nursery rhymes . . . It is
likewise distinguished from, though it may share items and genres and have
other continuities with, adult folklore" (1982, 172).
contentious fiddling: a type of riddling interaction during which par-
ticipants are verbally aggressive, take liberties with one another, and test each
other's social competence. See McDowell 1979, 122.
context: according to Duranti and Goodwin, the "notion of context
. . involves a fundamental juxtaposition of two entries: 1) a focal event;
and 2) a field of action within which that event is embedded" (1992, 3). The
relationship between focal event and context is "much like that between 'or-
ganism' and 'environment. '. . . 4) Contextual attributes most often attended
to in folkloristic and anthropological scholarship include: a) setting ("i. e. ,
the social and spatial framework within which encounters are situated"); b)
behavorial environment ("i. e. , the way that participants use their bodies and
behavior as a resource for framing and organizing their talk"); c) language
as context (the "way in which talk itself both invokes context and provides
context for other talk"); and d) extrasituational context (that is, the partici-
pants' "background knowledge") (pages 6-8).
cultural category: form of classification generated by members of a
cultural group to describe themselves (see analytical category).
descriptive routine: a madeup (that is, nontraditional) riddlelike rou-
tine depending solely or primarily on the technique of description. For an
alternate definition, see McDowell 1979.
dialogue riddle: a type of riddle in which the proposition contains a
quotation from characters in a fictitious interactional encounter. The riddle
answer identifies the speakers. See Abrahams and Dundes 1972, 135. For
an example, see riddle no. 14 in Roemer's chapter in this volume.
disorder and anarchy: a category in McMahon and Sutton-Smith's ty-
pology for children's subversive folklore that represents expressive behav-
iors as types of appropriation that demystify the structure of the dominant
culture by demonstrating its ephemeral nature.
distraction: a category in Radner and Lanser's typology for women's
strategic coding, adapted by McMahon and Sutton-Smith to indicate the
forms of children's folklore that subvert authority by drowning out a mes-
sage.
double dutch: a style of children's jump rope utilizing two ropes or
one long rope doubled, turned egg beater fashion. Typically, two people turn,
one at each end, with a jumper performing specific rhythmic motions in the
310 GLOSSARY
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? ? middle while stepping over the cascading ropes.
emergence: the process whereby expressive forms take shape in the
crucible of social interaction.
ethnomethodology: a research perspective that studies the organiza-
tion and achievement of everyday life, including that of everyday talk. See
Sudnow 1972 and R. Turner 1974.
experiment: a research method for investigating cause and effect un-
der controlled conditions.
failure: a category in McMahon and Sutton-Smith's typology for sub-
versive forms of staged incompetent behaviors that resist dominant group
expectations.
folktale: a form of folk narrative told primarily for entertainment,
with an emphasis on action and adventure within a fictional framework.
While the folktale as delineated in Aarne and Thompson's Types of the
Folktale (1961) has both simple and complex forms, the folktales discussed
in Tucker's chapter in this volume are all Miirchen, or fairytales in which a
single hero encounters supernatural influences and tries to succeed at a quest.
Generally, in magic tales, the hero and other deserving characters live "hap-
pily ever after" while villains are severely punished.
function: that which folklore "does" for the people who employ it.
funny-scary story: a folktale with a "catch" or humorous ending.
Children use this term to indicate that, while a story of this kind may seem
frightening, its climax has no truly fearful elements.
gesunkenes Kulturgut: the theory that folklore is directed downward
in social hierarchies.
imitative objects: things made by children that resemble larger arti-
facts in the adult world. An example is a model hydroplane abstractly made
from clip-type clothespins.
in-depth interview: a series of questions administered personally by
a researcher to respondents, allowing the respondent to reply in detail.
indirection: a category from Radner's and Lanser's typology for
women's strategic coding used to indicate expressive behaviors such as hedg-
ing or leaving out key words; similar to the genre of children's folklore that
Dundes identified as the "evasive answer" (1967). Indirection is another
category adapted by McMahon and Sutton-Smith in their refashioned ty-
pology for children's subversive folklore.
induced performances: folklore performances set up and encouraged
by a researcher in a not fully natural situation.
informed consent: describing to a research subject the nature and goals
of the research in which she or he is involved.
3''
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? ? interreference: the dynamic process that operates between two or
more cultures: central to the idea of "ethnicity," which Fischer (1986) views
as "a deeply rooted component of identity. "
interrogative ludic routine: small-scale verbal exchanges making play-
ful use of the interrogative system in a language.
intraconversational narrative: a narrative embedded in the natural
flow of conversation. Folklorists usually give careful consideration to the
entire conversation when considering the meanings of this kind of narrative.
inventive or manipulative object: things made from natural resources
into a new, more technical shape. An example is sand sculpture made by
children on a beach.
joking riddle: a type of riddle in which the proposition serves prima-
rily as a setup for the punch-line answer. For examples, see Roemer's riddle
examples nos. 36-37 in this volume.
kinesics: the study of body movement and human communication,
as pioneered by Ray L. Birdwhistell.
legend: less formally structured than the folktale, the legend features
realistic characters and may be told as a true story. Two popular subtypes
of this genre are the supernatural legend or "ghost story" and the horror
legend in which monsters, maniacs, and other nonsupernatural forces pre-
dominate.
Miirchen: the traditional European tale of wonder and magic; syn-
onymous with "fairy tale" and "conte des f6es. "
material folk culture: interconnection of mental concept and tradi-
tional design shared within a social group. Includes objects and environments
that characterize traditions of the group made by its members.
media narraform: a term coined by Sylvia Grider to classify the
children's stories based on movies or TV shows (see Grider 1981). These
stories, often diffuse and imprecise, may be told collaboratively in an effort
to create the best possible synopsis of the original show.
move: sociologist Erving Goffman has written of "the move": "Now
when an individual is engaged in talk, some of his utterances and
nonlinguistic behavior will be taken to have a special temporal relevance,
being directed to others present as something he wants assessed, appreciated,
understood, now. I have spoken here of a move. Now it seems that some-
times the speaker and his hearers will understand this move to be primarily
a comment on what has just been said, in that degree allowing us to speak
of a response; at other times the move will be primarily seen as something
to which a response is called for, in which degree it can be called a state-
ment" (1981, 71-71).
31i2 GLOSSARY
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? ? mutation: an expressive item that has been altered through perfor-
mance.
narrative: prose utterances with a sequential plot that may be fictional
or nonfictional. Folktales, legends, and media narraforms are among the
most popular narrative told by children.
oicotypification: the adaptation of an expressive item to fit a specific
social and cultural environment.
open (or complex) society: heterogeneous social group marked by high
degree of individuation. Usually associated with urban, industrialized na-
tions.
parodic riddle: a type of joking riddle that extends the humor of the
answer to the realm of the fantastic or the absurd. What the riddle as a whole
proposes is nonsensical, given a conventional understanding of the "real"
world. See examples in this volume by Roemer, nos. 38-44.
participant observation: a method in which researchers systematically
observe people while participating in their routine activities.
psychoanalytic method: analysis of folk narratives that relies upon the
precepts of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and others. Sexual
symbolism that comes from the unconscious is a major focus in this school
of interpretation.
riddle act: a unit of social interaction that consists of all the interac-
tional moves involved in posing and responding to a single riddle proposi-
tion. The riddle act is the basic interactional unit of riddling. See Burns 1976,
142.
riddle session: a unit of social interaction during which a series of
riddle acts is produced. The riddles may be interspersed with other perfor-
mance material or with conversation. See Burns 1976, 142.
routine: a set of sequentially produced discourse acts (utterances, ges-
tures, strategic use of silence) that is organized beyond the level of the indi-
vidual sentence. A riddle act is a routine that is characteristically produced
by more than one participant. See Hymes 1971.
semantic field: in discourse study, a domain of content or meaning.
solicitation: a type of speech act whose function is to elicit a verbal
or physical response. See Bauman 1977b, 24.
story: synonym for narrative, defined above.
structuralism: analysis of the sequence of plot elements, called "func-
tions" in Propp's Morphology of the Folktale (1958). Propp attempted to
explain the structure of all Russian folktales, while Dundes further devel-
oped Propp's approach using the term "motifeme" in lieu of "function" in
his Morphology of North American Indian Folktales (1964a).
313
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? ? subversive folklore: mulifaceted expressions of a group that under-
mine the authority of the dominant culture; also, any folklore involving vic-
timization of others in the same group-such as children by more powerful
children-which in effect also subverts adult authority because it involves
taboo behavior.
survey research: a research method in which subjects respond to a
series of questions in a questionnaire or structured interview.
syndesis: term used by anthropologist Robert Plant Armstrong to
describe an object that grows from repetition of smaller units. Two examples
are an ordinary spot in the woods converted to a child's shrine and one's
fingers used to make a steeple (whose reverse is the people).
synthetic objects: things that are combined or built up from existing
objects. An example is a Halloween effigy.
taunt: a malicious verbal expressive activity involving a victim.
tease: a verbal expressive activity involving a minimal degree of vic-
timization, usually with "fun" rather than hurt as the motivation.
tenor: in a metaphoric construction, the subject word to which a meta-
phoric word (that is, the vehicle) is applied (M. Abrams 1957, 61).
transcription: the act of writing down verbatim actual interaction or
dialogue, usually recorded first on audio or videotape; can refer to the text,
conversation, or nonverbal communication or the written record of such
translation.
transformational objects: commercial or adult things altered to suit
children's needs and images. An example is a "half-ball" used for alley
stickball and made by slicing a whole rubber ball.
triangulation: a methodology for collecting folklore that does not rely
on any single method but instead is a combination of several techniques.
trick: a deceptive expressive activity with minimal victimization or
harm intended, with "fun" as the motivating force.
trivialization: a category in Radner's and Lanser's typology for
women's strategic coding, adapted here to indicate children's subversive ex-
pressions that play off dominant culture expectations about what is trivial.
true riddle: a type of riddle that involves "a comparison between the
unstated answer and something else that is described in the question"
(Brunvand 1986, 90). The answer to a true riddle can be reasoned out based
on information supplied in the riddle proposition and the respondent's ad-
equate experience with and recall of tropes, symbols, and other relevant con-
ventions shared within the particular culture. See Taylor 1951 and examples
by Roemer in this volume (riddle nos. 1, 2, 4-8, 32-35).
vehicle: in a metaphoric construction, the metaphoric word itself. In
314 GLOSSARY
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? ? the sentence "John, the pawnshop owner is a shark," the word shark func-
tions as the metaphoric vehicle.
video ethnography: the use of video in ethnographic or qualitative re-
search, where the examination of video records serves as the main documen-
tation for a specific social phenomenon.
visual descriptive riddle: a type of riddle in which the proposition
consists of a sketch and some version of the question "What is it? " The an-
swer consists of a sketch in representational terms, for example "a popcorn
lid seen from the inside. " For examples in this volume, see nos. 28-31 by
Roemer.
Wellerism: a type of proverb "in the form of a quotation followed
by a phrase ascribing the quotation to someone who has done something
humorous and appropriate" (Brunvand 1986, 77).
word charade: a type of riddle in which the proposition divides the
answer word into syllables and provides a description of each. The riddle
answer supplies a referent word (or morpheme) for each of the descriptions
in the proposition in the order in which those descriptions were given. The
resulting series of referent words forms the answer word. See Abrahams and
Dundes 1972, 135. In this volume, see Roemer's example, riddle no. 5.
315
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? ?
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? ? BIBLIOGRAPHY OF
CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Thomas W. Johnson
(supplemental entries by Felicia R. McMahon)
A comprehensive bibliography of works on folklore of and for children has
yet to be compiled. It would certainly consist of a book far thicker than this
entire Source Book. What follows here is a combined bibliography for all
of the articles in this volume, plus a number of important additional works
on children's folklore that did not happen to be cited by any of the authors
included here. For these additional items, I have tried to select those I deemed
to be most important to the field and likely to be readily available in any
medium-size college library or through interlibrary loan. Each citation lists
the most recent reprint I could find, rather than a possibly obscure first print-
ing. Recent scholarship has been emphasized, and early works are listed only
when they are especially significant or are excellent examples of a type of
approach. There is also an emphasis on the folklore of American children,
although a few works on children's folklore from other regions are included
where there were especially good collections. The emphasis, as in this en-
tire work, is on the folklore of children, rather than folklore for children,
although a few significant works for children have also been included.
In addition to the somewhat limited listing which follows, there are
a number of other sources that should be pursued by the dedicated scholar.
Several bibliographies of children's folklore appear in this listing, all of them
as well as a large number of additional sources that could not be added here
for reasons of space. The reader is referred especially to Grider (1980b),
whose excellent bibliography has been so thoroughly incorporated into my
personal listing that it is impossible for me to separate it from items I dis-
covered through other sources. It forms a significant part of the base of all
that follows, although it also contains many items that were omitted here.
Halpert (1982) has provided a supplement to Grider that is especially use-
ful for European materials. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1976a), Mergen (1982),
and Schwartzman (1976 and 1978) have compiled excellent bibliographies
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? ? on children's toys, games, play, and speech play. Dundes (1976b) provides
access to the many M. A. theses and Ph. D. dissertations on children's folk-
lore. Though generally difficult to access, these are an important and an of-
ten neglected resource in the field.
The Journal of American Folklore and Western Folklore seem to de-
vote the greatest space to children's folklore of any of the many journals in
the field, although other journals in folklore and in many related disciplines
(such as anthropology, education, psychology, and sociology) frequently pub-
lish interesting articles as well. The Newsletter of the Children's Folklore Sec-
tion of the American Folklore Society (which is the organizational sponsor
of this volume) carries news of recent developments, as well as some brief
articles and commentary. This has become the Children's Folklore Review
since 1990, under the editorship of C. W. Sullivan III. The Australian
Children's Folklore Newsletter and the Newsletter of the Association for the
Anthropological Study of Play (TAASP) are also excellent resources, con-
taining useful articles as well as news of the associations. TASP (formerly
TAASP) has also produced a series of volumes of papers presented at their
annual meetings (beginning in 1975), many of the articles being about
children's play (see Lancy and Tindall 1976; Stevens 1977; Salter 1978;
Schwartzman 1978; Cheska 1981; Loy 1982; Manning 1983; Sutton-Smith
and Kelly-Byrne 1984; Blanchard 1986; Mergen 1986; and Fine 1987. )
Thereafter the articles of this society appeared in the journal Play and Cul-
ture, 1988-92; and in the journal Play Theory and Research, 1993. Volumes
on the folklore of a place often contain a chapter on children's folklore and
are another resource to be checked. Welsch (1966b) is included in this bib-
liography, not only because it has significant data on children's folklore but
also to serve as an excellent example of this type of work and a reminder of
its importance.
In the listing that follows, I have placed an asterisk (*) before items I
consider not only the most interesting but the most basic to the study of
children's folklore. This is a purely idiosyncratic listing, and one that I am
certain each of the authors in this volume would dispute. It is included to
provide a starting point for beginners in the field. The square brackets [ ]
enclose brief annotations of some of the works, providing some indication
of their content and significance beyond what their titles convey.
This bibliography, like any, should be viewed as a work in progress.
While I was on sabbatical leave in Japan in 1993-95, Felicia McMahon con-
tinued to keep the bibliography up to date. In spite of our efforts, it is hope-
lessly incomplete, although a good beginning for research in a fascinating
but understudied field.
318 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
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? ? Aarne, Antti, and Stith Thompson
1961 The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography. Helsinki, Fin-
land: EE Communications #184, Scientific Finnish Academy.
Aaron, David
1965 Child's Play: A Creative Appeal to Play Spaces for Today's Children. New
York: Harper and Row.
Abernethy, Francis Edward (ed. )
1989 Texas Toys and Games. Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, no. 48.
Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.
Abrahams, Roger D.
1963 "Some Jump-Rope Rimes from South Philadelphia. " Journal of American
Folklore 8 (January): 3-5.
1969 Jump-Rope Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press.
1980 Counting-Out Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press.
1981 "Shouting Match at the Border: The Folklore of Display Events. " In And
Other Neighborly Names, edited by R. Bauman and R. Abrahams, 303-21.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
Abrahams, Roger D. , and Alan Dundes
1972 "Riddles. " In Richard Dorson (ed. ), Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Abrahams, Roger D. , and Lois Rankin
1980 Counting Out Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Abrams, David M. , and Brian Sutton-Smith
1977 "The Development of the Trickster in Children's Narratives. " Journal of
American Folklore 90:29-47.
Abrams, M. H.
1957 A Glossary of Literary Terms. 3d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Win-
ston.
Adams, G. B.
1965 "Counting Rhymes and Systems of Numerations. " Ulster Folklife 2:87-97.
Adams, Henry
1918 The Education of Henry Adams. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society.
Adams, M. A.
1976 "Hospital Play Programs: Helping Children with Serious Illness. " Ameri-
can Journal of Orthopsychiatry 46:416-24.
Addams, Jane
1907 "Public Recreation and Social Morality. " Charities and the Commons. Au-
gust 22-24.
Adler, Elizabeth Mosby
1981 "Creative Eating: The Oreo Syndrome. " Western Folklore 40:4-10.
Ager, Lynn P.
1975 "Storyknifing: An Alaskan Eskimo Girl's Game. " Journal of the Folklore
Institute 11:187-98.
Ainsworth, Catherine Harris
1961 "Jump Rope Verses Around the United States. " Western Folklore 20:179-
99. [Results of a mail questionnaire to seventh-grade teachers; 152 verses from
nine schools in as many states. ]
1962 "Black and White and Said All Over. " Southern Folklore Quarterly 26:263-
95. [Collection of 535 riddles from ninth-grade students in six states. ]
1973 "Hallowe'en. " New York Folklore Quarterly 29:163-93.
Alcott, Louisa May
1963 Little Men. New York: Macmillan.
Allen, Patricia R. Boyd
1969 An Annotated Bibliography of Play Environments: Planning, Design
and Evaluation. Chicago: Council of Planning Librarians, Exchange.
319
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? ? Bibliography no. 1184.
Altman, Terry
1978 "Folklore and Education: A Selected Annotated Bibliography of Periodical
Literature. " Keystone Folklore Quarterly 22:53-85.
American Playground Device Company
1974 Catalog. Anderson, Indiana.
Ames, Kenneth L.
1980 "Folk Art: The Challenge and the Promise. " In Perspectives on American
Folk Art, edited by I. M. G. Quimby and S. T. Swank, 293-324.
merit they derive from the authenticity of their own research endeavors. It
is a scholarly "game" to engage one's fellows with a more adequate approach
to the scholarly subject matter than existed hitherto, as if there is only our
own new way of being authentic. But our editorial gamesmanship requires
that we suggest, on the contrary, that there are multiple ways of being au-
thentic about the authenticity of those we study. It is not a zero sum game.
We live, rather, in a world of multiple childhoods and multiple ways in which
these can be studied, to the credit of all parties. We say this despite our own
persistent rhetoric about child empowerment. We choose to finish, therefore,
selectively by asking the question how is it that our adult culture so typi-
cally suppresses the power-related aspects of children's lives so clearly rep-
resented in this present document? Is the "triviality barrier" (Sutton-Smith
1970a) in children's folklore only an adult reaction formation against the
dangers of recognizing that the world would be very different if we attended
to the neotony of children's struggles for power?
308 CONCLUSION: THE PAST IN THE PRESENT
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? ? GLOSSARY
AN AID FOR SOURCE BOOK READERS
This list of terms was created by Source Book contributors, who listed and
defined those words that they considered basic for readers' understanding
of their respective chapters. It is hoped that this glossary will be useful for
those who are new to the field of folklore and for students in the classroom.
analytical category: form of classification generated by analyst for the
purposes of comparison (see cultural category).
antithesis: a category in McMahon and Sutton-Smith's typology for
children's subversive folklore that represents expressive behaviors that pre-
suppose an oppositional tension and demystify the dominant culture through
parody, mirroring, or inversion.
block element: one or more features of a riddle proposition that in-
terferes with the proposition's facile solution.
bounded (or closed) society: homogeneous social group marked by
isolation from other groups; members rely on one another for subsistence
and social functions. Usually used to describe aboriginal and peasant com-
munities (see open society).
catch riddle: a type of riddle in which the surprise or victimization
of the respondent is a necessary element in the proposition.
childhood underground: a term used to describe the subculture of
children that exists apart from the culture dominated and controlled by
adults. In their book One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of
American Children (1976), Mary and Herbert Knapp explain this concept
in detail.
childlore: children's folklore.
children's folklore: shared expressive behaviors of children; more spe-
cifically, according to Bauman, ". . . the traditional formalized play activi-
ties of children, including forms of speech play and verbal art, that are en-
gaged in and maintained by the children themselves, within the peer group.
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? ? Familiar genres of children's folklore include riddles, games, jokes, taunts,
retorts, hand-claps, counting-out rhymes, catches, ring plays, and jump-rope
rhymes . . . distinguished on the one hand from nursery rhymes . . . It is
likewise distinguished from, though it may share items and genres and have
other continuities with, adult folklore" (1982, 172).
contentious fiddling: a type of riddling interaction during which par-
ticipants are verbally aggressive, take liberties with one another, and test each
other's social competence. See McDowell 1979, 122.
context: according to Duranti and Goodwin, the "notion of context
. . involves a fundamental juxtaposition of two entries: 1) a focal event;
and 2) a field of action within which that event is embedded" (1992, 3). The
relationship between focal event and context is "much like that between 'or-
ganism' and 'environment. '. . . 4) Contextual attributes most often attended
to in folkloristic and anthropological scholarship include: a) setting ("i. e. ,
the social and spatial framework within which encounters are situated"); b)
behavorial environment ("i. e. , the way that participants use their bodies and
behavior as a resource for framing and organizing their talk"); c) language
as context (the "way in which talk itself both invokes context and provides
context for other talk"); and d) extrasituational context (that is, the partici-
pants' "background knowledge") (pages 6-8).
cultural category: form of classification generated by members of a
cultural group to describe themselves (see analytical category).
descriptive routine: a madeup (that is, nontraditional) riddlelike rou-
tine depending solely or primarily on the technique of description. For an
alternate definition, see McDowell 1979.
dialogue riddle: a type of riddle in which the proposition contains a
quotation from characters in a fictitious interactional encounter. The riddle
answer identifies the speakers. See Abrahams and Dundes 1972, 135. For
an example, see riddle no. 14 in Roemer's chapter in this volume.
disorder and anarchy: a category in McMahon and Sutton-Smith's ty-
pology for children's subversive folklore that represents expressive behav-
iors as types of appropriation that demystify the structure of the dominant
culture by demonstrating its ephemeral nature.
distraction: a category in Radner and Lanser's typology for women's
strategic coding, adapted by McMahon and Sutton-Smith to indicate the
forms of children's folklore that subvert authority by drowning out a mes-
sage.
double dutch: a style of children's jump rope utilizing two ropes or
one long rope doubled, turned egg beater fashion. Typically, two people turn,
one at each end, with a jumper performing specific rhythmic motions in the
310 GLOSSARY
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? ? middle while stepping over the cascading ropes.
emergence: the process whereby expressive forms take shape in the
crucible of social interaction.
ethnomethodology: a research perspective that studies the organiza-
tion and achievement of everyday life, including that of everyday talk. See
Sudnow 1972 and R. Turner 1974.
experiment: a research method for investigating cause and effect un-
der controlled conditions.
failure: a category in McMahon and Sutton-Smith's typology for sub-
versive forms of staged incompetent behaviors that resist dominant group
expectations.
folktale: a form of folk narrative told primarily for entertainment,
with an emphasis on action and adventure within a fictional framework.
While the folktale as delineated in Aarne and Thompson's Types of the
Folktale (1961) has both simple and complex forms, the folktales discussed
in Tucker's chapter in this volume are all Miirchen, or fairytales in which a
single hero encounters supernatural influences and tries to succeed at a quest.
Generally, in magic tales, the hero and other deserving characters live "hap-
pily ever after" while villains are severely punished.
function: that which folklore "does" for the people who employ it.
funny-scary story: a folktale with a "catch" or humorous ending.
Children use this term to indicate that, while a story of this kind may seem
frightening, its climax has no truly fearful elements.
gesunkenes Kulturgut: the theory that folklore is directed downward
in social hierarchies.
imitative objects: things made by children that resemble larger arti-
facts in the adult world. An example is a model hydroplane abstractly made
from clip-type clothespins.
in-depth interview: a series of questions administered personally by
a researcher to respondents, allowing the respondent to reply in detail.
indirection: a category from Radner's and Lanser's typology for
women's strategic coding used to indicate expressive behaviors such as hedg-
ing or leaving out key words; similar to the genre of children's folklore that
Dundes identified as the "evasive answer" (1967). Indirection is another
category adapted by McMahon and Sutton-Smith in their refashioned ty-
pology for children's subversive folklore.
induced performances: folklore performances set up and encouraged
by a researcher in a not fully natural situation.
informed consent: describing to a research subject the nature and goals
of the research in which she or he is involved.
3''
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? ? interreference: the dynamic process that operates between two or
more cultures: central to the idea of "ethnicity," which Fischer (1986) views
as "a deeply rooted component of identity. "
interrogative ludic routine: small-scale verbal exchanges making play-
ful use of the interrogative system in a language.
intraconversational narrative: a narrative embedded in the natural
flow of conversation. Folklorists usually give careful consideration to the
entire conversation when considering the meanings of this kind of narrative.
inventive or manipulative object: things made from natural resources
into a new, more technical shape. An example is sand sculpture made by
children on a beach.
joking riddle: a type of riddle in which the proposition serves prima-
rily as a setup for the punch-line answer. For examples, see Roemer's riddle
examples nos. 36-37 in this volume.
kinesics: the study of body movement and human communication,
as pioneered by Ray L. Birdwhistell.
legend: less formally structured than the folktale, the legend features
realistic characters and may be told as a true story. Two popular subtypes
of this genre are the supernatural legend or "ghost story" and the horror
legend in which monsters, maniacs, and other nonsupernatural forces pre-
dominate.
Miirchen: the traditional European tale of wonder and magic; syn-
onymous with "fairy tale" and "conte des f6es. "
material folk culture: interconnection of mental concept and tradi-
tional design shared within a social group. Includes objects and environments
that characterize traditions of the group made by its members.
media narraform: a term coined by Sylvia Grider to classify the
children's stories based on movies or TV shows (see Grider 1981). These
stories, often diffuse and imprecise, may be told collaboratively in an effort
to create the best possible synopsis of the original show.
move: sociologist Erving Goffman has written of "the move": "Now
when an individual is engaged in talk, some of his utterances and
nonlinguistic behavior will be taken to have a special temporal relevance,
being directed to others present as something he wants assessed, appreciated,
understood, now. I have spoken here of a move. Now it seems that some-
times the speaker and his hearers will understand this move to be primarily
a comment on what has just been said, in that degree allowing us to speak
of a response; at other times the move will be primarily seen as something
to which a response is called for, in which degree it can be called a state-
ment" (1981, 71-71).
31i2 GLOSSARY
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? ? mutation: an expressive item that has been altered through perfor-
mance.
narrative: prose utterances with a sequential plot that may be fictional
or nonfictional. Folktales, legends, and media narraforms are among the
most popular narrative told by children.
oicotypification: the adaptation of an expressive item to fit a specific
social and cultural environment.
open (or complex) society: heterogeneous social group marked by high
degree of individuation. Usually associated with urban, industrialized na-
tions.
parodic riddle: a type of joking riddle that extends the humor of the
answer to the realm of the fantastic or the absurd. What the riddle as a whole
proposes is nonsensical, given a conventional understanding of the "real"
world. See examples in this volume by Roemer, nos. 38-44.
participant observation: a method in which researchers systematically
observe people while participating in their routine activities.
psychoanalytic method: analysis of folk narratives that relies upon the
precepts of Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell, and others. Sexual
symbolism that comes from the unconscious is a major focus in this school
of interpretation.
riddle act: a unit of social interaction that consists of all the interac-
tional moves involved in posing and responding to a single riddle proposi-
tion. The riddle act is the basic interactional unit of riddling. See Burns 1976,
142.
riddle session: a unit of social interaction during which a series of
riddle acts is produced. The riddles may be interspersed with other perfor-
mance material or with conversation. See Burns 1976, 142.
routine: a set of sequentially produced discourse acts (utterances, ges-
tures, strategic use of silence) that is organized beyond the level of the indi-
vidual sentence. A riddle act is a routine that is characteristically produced
by more than one participant. See Hymes 1971.
semantic field: in discourse study, a domain of content or meaning.
solicitation: a type of speech act whose function is to elicit a verbal
or physical response. See Bauman 1977b, 24.
story: synonym for narrative, defined above.
structuralism: analysis of the sequence of plot elements, called "func-
tions" in Propp's Morphology of the Folktale (1958). Propp attempted to
explain the structure of all Russian folktales, while Dundes further devel-
oped Propp's approach using the term "motifeme" in lieu of "function" in
his Morphology of North American Indian Folktales (1964a).
313
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? ? subversive folklore: mulifaceted expressions of a group that under-
mine the authority of the dominant culture; also, any folklore involving vic-
timization of others in the same group-such as children by more powerful
children-which in effect also subverts adult authority because it involves
taboo behavior.
survey research: a research method in which subjects respond to a
series of questions in a questionnaire or structured interview.
syndesis: term used by anthropologist Robert Plant Armstrong to
describe an object that grows from repetition of smaller units. Two examples
are an ordinary spot in the woods converted to a child's shrine and one's
fingers used to make a steeple (whose reverse is the people).
synthetic objects: things that are combined or built up from existing
objects. An example is a Halloween effigy.
taunt: a malicious verbal expressive activity involving a victim.
tease: a verbal expressive activity involving a minimal degree of vic-
timization, usually with "fun" rather than hurt as the motivation.
tenor: in a metaphoric construction, the subject word to which a meta-
phoric word (that is, the vehicle) is applied (M. Abrams 1957, 61).
transcription: the act of writing down verbatim actual interaction or
dialogue, usually recorded first on audio or videotape; can refer to the text,
conversation, or nonverbal communication or the written record of such
translation.
transformational objects: commercial or adult things altered to suit
children's needs and images. An example is a "half-ball" used for alley
stickball and made by slicing a whole rubber ball.
triangulation: a methodology for collecting folklore that does not rely
on any single method but instead is a combination of several techniques.
trick: a deceptive expressive activity with minimal victimization or
harm intended, with "fun" as the motivating force.
trivialization: a category in Radner's and Lanser's typology for
women's strategic coding, adapted here to indicate children's subversive ex-
pressions that play off dominant culture expectations about what is trivial.
true riddle: a type of riddle that involves "a comparison between the
unstated answer and something else that is described in the question"
(Brunvand 1986, 90). The answer to a true riddle can be reasoned out based
on information supplied in the riddle proposition and the respondent's ad-
equate experience with and recall of tropes, symbols, and other relevant con-
ventions shared within the particular culture. See Taylor 1951 and examples
by Roemer in this volume (riddle nos. 1, 2, 4-8, 32-35).
vehicle: in a metaphoric construction, the metaphoric word itself. In
314 GLOSSARY
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? ? the sentence "John, the pawnshop owner is a shark," the word shark func-
tions as the metaphoric vehicle.
video ethnography: the use of video in ethnographic or qualitative re-
search, where the examination of video records serves as the main documen-
tation for a specific social phenomenon.
visual descriptive riddle: a type of riddle in which the proposition
consists of a sketch and some version of the question "What is it? " The an-
swer consists of a sketch in representational terms, for example "a popcorn
lid seen from the inside. " For examples in this volume, see nos. 28-31 by
Roemer.
Wellerism: a type of proverb "in the form of a quotation followed
by a phrase ascribing the quotation to someone who has done something
humorous and appropriate" (Brunvand 1986, 77).
word charade: a type of riddle in which the proposition divides the
answer word into syllables and provides a description of each. The riddle
answer supplies a referent word (or morpheme) for each of the descriptions
in the proposition in the order in which those descriptions were given. The
resulting series of referent words forms the answer word. See Abrahams and
Dundes 1972, 135. In this volume, see Roemer's example, riddle no. 5.
315
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? ?
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? ? BIBLIOGRAPHY OF
CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
Thomas W. Johnson
(supplemental entries by Felicia R. McMahon)
A comprehensive bibliography of works on folklore of and for children has
yet to be compiled. It would certainly consist of a book far thicker than this
entire Source Book. What follows here is a combined bibliography for all
of the articles in this volume, plus a number of important additional works
on children's folklore that did not happen to be cited by any of the authors
included here. For these additional items, I have tried to select those I deemed
to be most important to the field and likely to be readily available in any
medium-size college library or through interlibrary loan. Each citation lists
the most recent reprint I could find, rather than a possibly obscure first print-
ing. Recent scholarship has been emphasized, and early works are listed only
when they are especially significant or are excellent examples of a type of
approach. There is also an emphasis on the folklore of American children,
although a few works on children's folklore from other regions are included
where there were especially good collections. The emphasis, as in this en-
tire work, is on the folklore of children, rather than folklore for children,
although a few significant works for children have also been included.
In addition to the somewhat limited listing which follows, there are
a number of other sources that should be pursued by the dedicated scholar.
Several bibliographies of children's folklore appear in this listing, all of them
as well as a large number of additional sources that could not be added here
for reasons of space. The reader is referred especially to Grider (1980b),
whose excellent bibliography has been so thoroughly incorporated into my
personal listing that it is impossible for me to separate it from items I dis-
covered through other sources. It forms a significant part of the base of all
that follows, although it also contains many items that were omitted here.
Halpert (1982) has provided a supplement to Grider that is especially use-
ful for European materials. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1976a), Mergen (1982),
and Schwartzman (1976 and 1978) have compiled excellent bibliographies
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? ? on children's toys, games, play, and speech play. Dundes (1976b) provides
access to the many M. A. theses and Ph. D. dissertations on children's folk-
lore. Though generally difficult to access, these are an important and an of-
ten neglected resource in the field.
The Journal of American Folklore and Western Folklore seem to de-
vote the greatest space to children's folklore of any of the many journals in
the field, although other journals in folklore and in many related disciplines
(such as anthropology, education, psychology, and sociology) frequently pub-
lish interesting articles as well. The Newsletter of the Children's Folklore Sec-
tion of the American Folklore Society (which is the organizational sponsor
of this volume) carries news of recent developments, as well as some brief
articles and commentary. This has become the Children's Folklore Review
since 1990, under the editorship of C. W. Sullivan III. The Australian
Children's Folklore Newsletter and the Newsletter of the Association for the
Anthropological Study of Play (TAASP) are also excellent resources, con-
taining useful articles as well as news of the associations. TASP (formerly
TAASP) has also produced a series of volumes of papers presented at their
annual meetings (beginning in 1975), many of the articles being about
children's play (see Lancy and Tindall 1976; Stevens 1977; Salter 1978;
Schwartzman 1978; Cheska 1981; Loy 1982; Manning 1983; Sutton-Smith
and Kelly-Byrne 1984; Blanchard 1986; Mergen 1986; and Fine 1987. )
Thereafter the articles of this society appeared in the journal Play and Cul-
ture, 1988-92; and in the journal Play Theory and Research, 1993. Volumes
on the folklore of a place often contain a chapter on children's folklore and
are another resource to be checked. Welsch (1966b) is included in this bib-
liography, not only because it has significant data on children's folklore but
also to serve as an excellent example of this type of work and a reminder of
its importance.
In the listing that follows, I have placed an asterisk (*) before items I
consider not only the most interesting but the most basic to the study of
children's folklore. This is a purely idiosyncratic listing, and one that I am
certain each of the authors in this volume would dispute. It is included to
provide a starting point for beginners in the field. The square brackets [ ]
enclose brief annotations of some of the works, providing some indication
of their content and significance beyond what their titles convey.
This bibliography, like any, should be viewed as a work in progress.
While I was on sabbatical leave in Japan in 1993-95, Felicia McMahon con-
tinued to keep the bibliography up to date. In spite of our efforts, it is hope-
lessly incomplete, although a good beginning for research in a fascinating
but understudied field.
318 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF CHILDREN'S FOLKLORE
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? ? Aarne, Antti, and Stith Thompson
1961 The Types of the Folktale: A Classification and Bibliography. Helsinki, Fin-
land: EE Communications #184, Scientific Finnish Academy.
Aaron, David
1965 Child's Play: A Creative Appeal to Play Spaces for Today's Children. New
York: Harper and Row.
Abernethy, Francis Edward (ed. )
1989 Texas Toys and Games. Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, no. 48.
Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press.
Abrahams, Roger D.
1963 "Some Jump-Rope Rimes from South Philadelphia. " Journal of American
Folklore 8 (January): 3-5.
1969 Jump-Rope Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press.
1980 Counting-Out Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press.
1981 "Shouting Match at the Border: The Folklore of Display Events. " In And
Other Neighborly Names, edited by R. Bauman and R. Abrahams, 303-21.
Austin: University of Texas Press.
Abrahams, Roger D. , and Alan Dundes
1972 "Riddles. " In Richard Dorson (ed. ), Folklore and Folklife: An Introduction.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Abrahams, Roger D. , and Lois Rankin
1980 Counting Out Rhymes: A Dictionary. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Abrams, David M. , and Brian Sutton-Smith
1977 "The Development of the Trickster in Children's Narratives. " Journal of
American Folklore 90:29-47.
Abrams, M. H.
1957 A Glossary of Literary Terms. 3d ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Win-
ston.
Adams, G. B.
1965 "Counting Rhymes and Systems of Numerations. " Ulster Folklife 2:87-97.
Adams, Henry
1918 The Education of Henry Adams. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society.
Adams, M. A.
1976 "Hospital Play Programs: Helping Children with Serious Illness. " Ameri-
can Journal of Orthopsychiatry 46:416-24.
Addams, Jane
1907 "Public Recreation and Social Morality. " Charities and the Commons. Au-
gust 22-24.
Adler, Elizabeth Mosby
1981 "Creative Eating: The Oreo Syndrome. " Western Folklore 40:4-10.
Ager, Lynn P.
1975 "Storyknifing: An Alaskan Eskimo Girl's Game. " Journal of the Folklore
Institute 11:187-98.
Ainsworth, Catherine Harris
1961 "Jump Rope Verses Around the United States. " Western Folklore 20:179-
99. [Results of a mail questionnaire to seventh-grade teachers; 152 verses from
nine schools in as many states. ]
1962 "Black and White and Said All Over. " Southern Folklore Quarterly 26:263-
95. [Collection of 535 riddles from ninth-grade students in six states. ]
1973 "Hallowe'en. " New York Folklore Quarterly 29:163-93.
Alcott, Louisa May
1963 Little Men. New York: Macmillan.
Allen, Patricia R. Boyd
1969 An Annotated Bibliography of Play Environments: Planning, Design
and Evaluation. Chicago: Council of Planning Librarians, Exchange.
319
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? ? Bibliography no. 1184.
Altman, Terry
1978 "Folklore and Education: A Selected Annotated Bibliography of Periodical
Literature. " Keystone Folklore Quarterly 22:53-85.
American Playground Device Company
1974 Catalog. Anderson, Indiana.
Ames, Kenneth L.
1980 "Folk Art: The Challenge and the Promise. " In Perspectives on American
Folk Art, edited by I. M. G. Quimby and S. T. Swank, 293-324.
