Folktale

Folktale is an oral tradition spreads across Egypt’s different cultural regions (rural, urban, desert and coastal areas), historians were always interested in documenting Egyptian folktales when they described folk habites and dailylife traditions (like  Herodotus 5th century b.c. ), Arabian Nights considered as the most important and famous tales which translated to many foreign languages first by the orientalists before the folklorists started to document and classify it . There are many classifications for the Egyptian folktales ; Animal Tales, Fairy Tales, Riddles Tales, Humorous Tales. Folk Tales transmitted from generation to generation orally, most of the time by grandmothers who are keen to transmitt the community values and morals through tales, its cultural and social functions combine entertainment and education. Folktales are flexible and open to modification ; same frame for the tale but the character’s names change according to the community. Folktale has many names according to the geographic region «  Hadouta, Khourefah, Hegwah, Hekewah,,, »  normaly it starts and ends  with a traditional phrases like ; once upon a time there was a king and there is no king but  god, or there was a Sultan but no Sultan but god, Pray for profit Mohamed..and ends with Touta Touta the tale ends is it good or no waiting for an answer from the kids who are usually the tale’s audience. From the most famous tales ; Miss beauty and aesthetics ‘belladonna’ which corresponds to Cinderella universal fairy tale, Clever’s tales « clever Hassan, clever Ali, clever Mohamed… » are very commen but varies from community to another. Tales carry the principles, values and culture, for example Bedouins in the desert communities transmit the oral history of the tribes by folktales which also includes the bedouin culture and reflects their relationship with other sectors of the society like the tale of the bedouin and the farmer. The bearers of the folktales are from different ages (young/old) and gender (men/women) with a varient levels of its components and imaginations.