Landscape with a Whining Shinbone: On a Legend in the Estonian Folk Tale Anthology by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald
Landscape with a Whining Shinbone: On a Legend in the Estonian Folk Tale Anthology by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald
Author(s): Mare KaldaSubject(s): Customs / Folklore
Published by: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum
Keywords: intertextuality and intratextuality; legend textualisation; localisation of legend; published legend; the influence of published texts on oral tradition; thick and sparse text corpus thick and sparse text corpus
Summary/Abstract: The article is a diachronic analysis of a legend in the folk tale anthology by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Eesti rahva ennemuistsed jutud (‘Ancient Estonian Folk Tales’, first edition published in 1866). The compiler of the anthology gave the tale the title “The Whining Shinbone” (in Estonian Vinguv jalaluu). The legend is about a corpse left behind in a valley after an ancient war, and which began to make itself known at nights as a whining bone, until some brave man gave it a proper burial and the dead soul eventually found peace. Almost as a reward, the man in question later came upon an enormous fortune. Intertextual analysis of all the times the legend has been textualised reveals the extent to which a published version of the legend has influenced (and still influences) the oral spread of the tale. The features of this influence can be observed while comparing the published texts and tales recorded from memory or oral lore.
Journal: Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore
- Issue Year: 2008
- Issue No: 40
- Page Range: 45-72
- Page Count: 28
- Language: English