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Cumulative Tale
In a cumulative tale, sometimes also called a chain tale, action or dialogue repeats and builds up in some way as the tale progresses. With only the sparest of plots, these tales often depend upon repetition and rhythm for their effect, and can require a skilled storyteller to negotiate their tongue-twisting repetitions in performance. The climax is sometimes abrupt and sobering as in "The Gingerbread Man." The device often takes the form of a cumulative song or nursery rhyme. Many cumulative tales feature a series of animals or forces of nature each more powerful than the last. History Cumulative tales have a long pedigree. In an early Jewish Midrash, considered to date from the sixth century AD, Abraham is brought before King Nimrod, who commands him to worship fire. Abraham replies that it would be more reasonable to worship water, which can quench fire and is therefore more powerful. When this premise is granted, he points out that the clouds, as sustainers of water, are mor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
This Is The House That Jack Built
"This Is the House That Jack Built" is a popular English nursery rhyme and cumulative tale. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 20854. It is Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index type 2035. Lyrics This is perhaps the most common set of modern lyrics: :This is the house that Jack built. :This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built. :This is the rat that ate the malt :That lay in the house that Jack built. :This is the cat :That killed the rat that ate the malt :That lay in the house that Jack built. :This is the dog that worried the cat :That killed the rat that ate the malt :That lay in the house that Jack built. :This is the cow with the crumpled horn :That tossed the dog that worried the cat :That killed the rat that ate the malt :That lay in the house that Jack built. :This is the maiden all forlorn :That milked the cow with the crumpled horn :That tossed the dog that worried the cat :That killed the rat that ate the malt :That lay in the house that Jack bui ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Giant Turnip
"The Gigantic Turnip" or "The Enormous Turnip" (russian: Репка, ', , literally "small turnip"; ATU 2044, ‘Pulling up the turnip') is a cumulative Russian fairy tale,_collected_in_Arkhangelsk_Governorate.html" ;"title="олше́бн ..., collected in Arkhangelsk Governorate">олше́бн ..., collected in Arkhangelsk Governorate and published in 1863 by folklore researcher Alexander Afanasyev in his collection ''Russian Fairy Tales'' (tale number 89). The story has been rewritten and adapted numerous times into other languages (e.g. into Ukrainian by Ivan Franko; into Polish by Julian Tuwim; into Bulgarian by Ran Bosilek). Plot It is a chain tale, in which a grandfather plants a turnip, which grows so large that he cannot pull it up himself. He asks the grandmother for help, and they together still cannot pull it up. Successively their granddaughter and pets are recruited to help, until they finally pull the turnip up together. The specific ordering and set of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rattlin' Bog
"The Rattlin' Bog" is an Irish folk song. It is a version of an internationally distributed folk song type. In the Roud Folk Song Index it has the number 129, and carries such titles as "The Everlasting Circle", "The Tree on the Hill", "The Green Grass Grew All Around", and "Down in the Lowlands", as well as "The Rattlin' Bog", The adjective ''rattlin''' means "splendid" in the context of this song. It is a cumulative song, similar to "The Twelve Days of Christmas", as it has a list at the end of each verse which grows throughout the piece. The Roud index lists 180 versions collected from oral tradition in English, and the song has analogues in French, Italian and German as well. Since it is a folk song, it has been transmitted over generations orally and aurally so many versions coexist and it may be impossible and even nonsensical to seek a single authoritative version of the song's lyrics. The earliest version appears to be "March to the Battlefield" in "Riley's Flute Melodies" ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And The Green Grass Grew All Around
"And the Green Grass Grew All Around", also known as "The Green Grass Grew All Around" or "And the Green Grass Grows All Around", is a traditional Appalachian folk song that was first noted in 1877 in (Miss M. H. Mason's book 'Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs' but is likely to be much older). Some sources give the author as William JeromeAxford, Elizabeth C. (2004). Scarecrow Press. page 20. and melody by Harry Von TilzerEgan, Bill (2004) . Scarecrow Press. page 16. in 1912. As a popular classic children's song today, it is an example of a cumulative song A cumulative song is a song with a simple verse structure modified by progressive addition so that each verse is longer than the verse before. Cumulative songs are popular for group singing, in part because they require relatively little memoriza .... It is similar to the Irish folk song Rattlin' Bog and versions exist in many other cultures and under many titles. A version of the song features in the Midsomer Murders epi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Singing Kettle
The Singing Kettle (also known as Artie's Singing Kettle) are a folk music and entertainment group from Scotland who perform traditional children's songs, along with live theatre performances. Originally from the village of Kingskettle in Fife, they were formed by established folk singers Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise, eventually being joined by musician Gary Coupland. In 2012, founding member Fisher retired from performing with the group, and Trezise not wanting to, did the same. Three years later in 2015 the group performed their last live shows as a collective. Trezise who has since split with Fisher, returned in 2019 touring with solo shows. The group were awarded a BAFTA for best children's TV programme and Fisher, Trezise and Coupland were made MBEs for their services to the entertainment industry. Career Husband and wife Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise started touring as a folk singing duo in the mid-1970s. The group name "The Singing Kettle" came about in 1982. Their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old American Songs
''Old American Songs'' are two sets of songs arranged by Aaron Copland in 1950 and 1952 respectively, after research in the Sheet Music Collection of the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, in the John Hay Library at Brown University. Originally scored for voice and piano, they were reworked for baritone (or mezzo-soprano) and orchestra. Set 1 was first performed by Peter Pears (tenor) and Benjamin Britten (piano) on June 17, 1950 at Aldeburgh. The version of Set 1 for baritone and orchestra was premiered on January 7, 1955, by William Warfield and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Alfred Wallenstein. Set 2 was first performed by William Warfield and Aaron Copland (piano) on 25 May 1958 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and later, in its orchestral form, by Grace Bumbry (mezzo-soprano) and the Ojai Festival Orchestra, conducted by the composer, in Ojai, California. Set 2 was recorded by Warfield and Copland on August 18, 1953, for Columbia Records but appare ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets ''Appalachian Spring'', ''Billy the Kid'' and ''Rodeo'', his ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores. After some initial studies with composer Rubin Goldmark, Copland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" (alternatively "There Was an Old Lady", "I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly", "There Was an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly" and "I Know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly") is a children's rhyme and nonsense song of a kind known as cumulative. The song tells the nonsensical story of an old woman who swallows increasingly large animals, each to catch the previously swallowed animal, but dies after swallowing a horse. There are many variations of phrasing in the lyrics, especially for the description of swallowing each animal. An early documentation of the story appears in English author Dorothy B. King's 1946 book ''Happy Recollections.'' Shortly afterwards, the journal ''Hoosier Folklore'' published three versions of the story from different parts of the United States (Colorado, Georgia and Ohio) in its December 1947 edition. The editor calls it a "cumulative tale", and asks readers for information on its origins. All three versi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drummer Hoff
''Drummer Hoff'' is an illustrated children's book by Barbara and Ed Emberley. Ed Emberley won the 1968 Caldecott Medal for the book's illustrations.American Library AssociationCaldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present URL accessed 27 May 2009. Written by Barbara Emberley, it tells a cumulative tale of seven soldiers who build a cannon named "Sultan", and Drummer Hoff, who fires it off, with the book exploding into a blast of colors. The last picture shows the exploded cannon at a future point in time among wildflowers and birds. The illustrations, done in woodcuts, evoke both 1960s psychedelica and Colonial American engravings. In 1969, the book was adapted into an animated 6 minute theatrical short, directed by Gene Deitch and produced by Morton Schindel of Weston Woods Studios. It was released on DVD in 2008. Characters (in order of appearance) *Drummer Hoff; the king's stone-faced drummer *Private Parriage; the young private of Drummer Hoff who brought the carriage *Corp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Green Eggs And Ham
''Green Eggs and Ham'' is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, first published on August 12, 1960. As of 2019, the book has sold 8 million copies worldwide. The story has appeared in several adaptations, starting with 1973's ''Dr. Seuss on the Loose'' starring Paul Winchell as the voice of both characters, and more recently an animated TV series of the same name on Netflix (which also gave the originally unnamed character Sam pesters the name "Guy-Am-I"). Plot Sam-I-Am offers an unnamed man a plate of green eggs and ham. However, the man refuses repeatedly throughout the story, saying "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am." Sam further asks him to eat that food in various locations (house, box, car, tree, train, dark, rain, boat) and with a few different animals (mouse, fox, goat), but is still rebuffed. Finally, Sam-I-am asks the man to try them, and he accepts the green eggs and ham. When he declares that he likes them, he happily says, "I do so like gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chad Gadya
Chad Gadya ''or'' Had Gadya (Aramaic: חַד גַדְיָא ''chad gadya'', "one little goat, or "one kid"; Hebrew: "גדי אחד ''gedi echad''") is a playful cumulative song in Aramaic and Hebrew. It is sung at the end of the Passover Seder, the Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. The melody may have its roots in Middle Ages, Medieval German folk music. It first appeared in a Haggadah printed in Prague in 1590, which makes it the most recent inclusion in the traditional Passover seder liturgy. The song is popular with children and similar to other cumulative songs: ''Echad Mi Yodea'', ("Who Knows 'One'?") another cumulative song, is also in the Passover Haggadah. Lyrics Symbolism As with any work of verse, Chad Gadya is open to interpretation. According to some modern Jewish commentators, what appears to be a light-hearted song may be symbolic. One interpretation is that Chad Gadya is about the different nations that have con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Stonecutter
"The Stone-cutter" is a supposed Japanese folk-tale published by Andrew Lang in ''The Crimson Fairy Book'' (1903), taken from 's ''Japanische Märchen'' (1885). However, the story has been pointed out to closely resemble the "Japanese Stonecutter" parable in Dutch novelist Multatuli's ''Max Havelaar'' (1860), which is in turn a reworking of a story written by Wolter Robert baron van Hoëvell aka "Jeronimus".(1842) The tale is closely related to the themes of ''The Fisherman and His Wife'', a well known fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. In the legend, a poor stone-cutter craves to become a rich man, then a prince, and his wishes are granted in turn by a mountain spirit. He then envies becoming the sun impervious to heat, then clouds undaunted by the sun, then the mountain which withstands the rain-clouds. But when a stone-cutter starts chipping away at him, he wants to revert to being a man, and comes to the realization that he is satisfied with his station in life as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
