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 Gingerbread Man (also known as The Gingerbread Boy) is a fairy tale about a gingerbread man's escape from various pursuers until his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox. "The Gingerbread Boy" first appeared in print in the May 1875, is ...

." The device often takes the form 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 ...

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

. 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 ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...

, considered to date from the sixth century AD,

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

is brought before King

Nimrod Nimrod (; ; arc, ܢܡܪܘܕ; ar, نُمْرُود, Numrūd) is a biblical figure mentioned in the Book of Genesis and Books of Chronicles. The son of Cush and therefore a great-grandson of Noah, Nimrod was described as a king in the land of ...

, 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 more worthy of worship, and then that the wind that disperses them is more powerful still. Finally he confronts Nimrod with the observation that "man can stand up against the wind or shield himself behind the walls of his house" (

Genesis Rabba Genesis Rabbah (Hebrew: , ''B'reshith Rabba'') is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical inter ...

xxxviii). There is a similar tale,

The Mouse Turned into a Maid The Mouse Turned into a Maid is an ancient fable of Indian origin that travelled westwards to Europe during the Middle Ages and also exists in the Far East. The story is Aarne-Thompson type 2031C in his list of cumulative tales, another example ...

, in the

Panchatantra The ''Panchatantra'' (IAST: Pañcatantra, ISO: Pañcatantra, sa, पञ्चतन्त्र, "Five Treatises") is an ancient Indian collection of interrelated animal fables in Sanskrit verse and prose, arranged within a frame story.

, in which the mouse-maid is successively introduced to the sun, the cloud, the wind and the mountain. She prefers each in turn as stronger than the last, but finally a mouse is found to be stronger than even the mountain, and so she marries the mouse. Stories of this type, such as the Japanese

The Husband of the Rat's Daughter The Husband of the Rat's Daughter is a Japanese fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in ''The Brown Fairy Book''. It is Aarne-Thompson type 2031C, a chain tale or cumulative tale. Another story of this type is '' The Mouse Turned into a Maid'' ...

, are widely diffused.

Classification

In the Aarne-Thompson classification system, types 2000–2100 are all cumulative tales, including: *Chains Based on Numbers, Objects, Animals, or Names 2000–2020 *:How the rich man paid his servant 2010 *:The house is burned down 2014 *:The goat that would not go home 2015 *:

Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie "Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' as tale 131. A nonsense tale, it was introduced into the first edition as number 45 of the second volume.D. L. Ashliman,Fair K ...

2019 *Chains Involving Death 2021–2024 *:The cock and the hen 2021 *: An Animal Mourns the Death of a Spouse 2022 *Chains Involving Eating 2025–2028 *: The Fleeing Pancake 2025 *: The fat cat 2027 *Chains Involving Other Events 2029–2075 *: The Old Woman and Her Pig 2030 *: The Sky Is Falling 2033 *:

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 l ...

2035 *: The Mouse Who Was to Marry the Sun 2031C (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

) *: Pulling up the turnip 2044 *: Tales in which animals talk 2075

Other examples of cumulative tales

* "The Death of the Little Hen" *

Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears ''Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale'' is a 1975 children's picture book by Verna Aardema and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. Published in hardcover by Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House, ...

The Fisherman and His Wife "The Fisherman and His Wife" (Low German: ''Von dem Fischer un syner Fru'') is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in 1812 (KHM 19). The tale is of Aarne–Thompson type 555, about dissatisfaction and greed. It may be classified as ...

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 Stonecutt ...

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, ...

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 ...

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. ...

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 no ...

* I Bought Me a Cat, featured in the 1950

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 Com ...

song set

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 Universit ...

The Old Woman and the Pig
* The Train to Glasgow by Wilma Horsbrug

later set to music by

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, ...

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 ...

and

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 Gre ...

Old MacDonald Had a Farm "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" (sometimes shortened to Old MacDonald) is a traditional children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer and the various animals he keeps. Each verse of the song changes the name of the animal and its respective noise ...

* A Fly Went By * Court of King Caractacus - song by

Rolf Harris Rolf Harris (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performan ...

, later recorded by The Singing Kettle *

The Twelve Days of Christmas The Twelve Days of Christmas, also known as Twelvetide, is a festive Christian season celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. In some Western ecclesiastical traditions, "Christmas Day" is considered the "First Day of Christmas" and the Twelve Days a ...

Green Grow the Rushes, O Green Grow the Rushes, O (alternatively "Ho" or "Oh") (also known as "The Twelve Prophets", "The Carol of the Twelve Numbers", "The Teaching Song", "The Dilly Song", or "The Ten Commandments"), is an English folk song (Roud #133). It is sometimes ...

No News, or What Killed the Dog?
by

Nat M. Wills Nat M. Wills (born Louis McGrath Wills; July 11, 1873 – December 9, 1917) was a popular American stage star, vaudeville entertainer, and recording artist at the beginning of the 20th century. He is best known for his "tramp" persona and for per ...

* Fruit dropping on animal, then animal & fruit in conflict. (New Guinea) * ''The Napping House'', by Audrey Wood, 1984. * ''Little John and Jacky'' FrenchClaudel, Calvin, and Jo Chartois. "A French Cumulative Tale." ''

The Journal of American Folklore The ''Journal of American Folklore'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Folklore Society. Since 2003, this has been done on its behalf by the University of Illinois Press. The journal has been published since the society' ...

'' 62, no. 243 (1949): 42-47.

Notes

Relevant literature

*Cosbey, Robert C. "The Mak Story and Its Folklore Analogues." ''Speculum'' 20, no. 3 (1945): 310–317. *Masoni, Licia. "Folk Narrative and EFL: A Narrative Approach to Language Learning." ''Journal of Literature and Art Studies'' 8, no. 4 (2018): 640-658 *Ramanujan, Attippat Krishnaswami, Stuart H. Blackburn, and Alan Dundes. 1997. ''A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India'', AK Ramanujan; Edited with a Preface by Stuart Blackburn and Alan Dundes. Univ of California Press. *Thomas, Joyce. "'Catch if you can': The cumulative tale." ''A companion to the fairy tale'', ed by Hilda Roderick Ellis Davidson, Hilda Ellis Davidson, Anna Chaudhri, Derek Brewer. Boydell & Brewer. (2003): 123–136. *Voorhoeve, C. L. 2010. 408–415. A Remarkable Chain Tale from New Guinea. In Kenneth A. McElhanon and

Ger Reesink Gerard P. Reesink (more commonly known as Ger Reesink) is a Dutch linguist who specializes in Papuan languages. Education He studied psychology at Utrecht University. He obtained his PhD in linguistics at the University of Amsterdam, where he com ...

. ''A mosaic of languages and cultures: Studies celebrating the career of Karl J. Franklin''. SIL International.

External links

The Old Woman and Her Pig
from "English Fairy Tales" by

Joseph Jacobs Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. Jacob ...

A shared chain story from three non-contiguous groups in Papua New Guinea
{{Children's poetry * Folklore Narrative forms Poetic forms ATU 2000-2199