13th Congress of the International Society for Folk Narrative Research

Presentation Abstracts

GOLDBERG, Christine

At the Ogre's House

This is a comparative study of an event common to many folktales: the main character (male or female, child or adult, alone or with companions) encounters a supernatural figure. In the full form, the hero sees a light that turns out to come from a solitary house. Knocking at the door, he or she is admitted by someone who warns that a man-eater lives there. However, the hero insists on staying. The doorkeeper may hide the visitor when the chief ogre returns, and this ogre may smell the human and threaten to eat him. Readers of English tales will recognize part of Jack and the Beanstalk.

Substantial pieces of this scene are evident in a variety of circumstances. The ogre can be a helper (or one of several helpers) instead of the chief adversary. The meeting may take place on the road instead of in a house. In Arab tales, a ghoul is kind to the hero because he or she has offered a polite greeting. In novella tales, the supernatural element is absent.

The scene can be interpreted in several ways. The ogre often comes from current or archaic folk belief. Structurally, using oral formulaic terminology, this is a ‘type scene’ that narrators can adapt as necessary. Functionally, the scene warns the audience or the reader of the tale about events that are to come.