Shared traits of events that happen between East Asian tales, ATU123, and ATU333
| Trait (character number) | East Asian | ATU123 | ATU333 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voice operation (27) | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| Hand test (30) | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| Dialogue with the villain (32) | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| Rescue by passer-by (45) | 2 | 0 | 7 |
| Excuse to escape (47) | 9 | 0 | 3 |
This passage is adapted from Jamshid J. Tehrani, “The Phylogeny of Little Red Riding Hood.” © 2013 by Jamshid J. Tehrani.
The publication of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Children’s
and Household Tales two hundred years ago sparked enormous
academic interest in traditional stories and helped establish
folklore as a field for academic inquiry. One of the most
unexpected discoveries to emerge from these studies was the
recurrence of many of the same plots in the oral traditions
associated with different societies. Researchers have examined
the distributions of common plot elements within and across
regions to make inferences about past migration and cross-
cultural contact.
Other researchers have sought to classify similar folktales
from different oral literatures into distinct “international types”
based on consistencies in their plots. The most comprehensive
reference work in this field, the Aarne-Uther-Thompson (ATU)
index, identifies more than two thousand international types
distributed across three hundred cultures.
This study proposes an approach to studying cross-cultural
relationships among folktales that employs quantitative
methods of phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetics was originally
developed to investigate the evolutionary relationships among
biological species, and has become increasingly popular in
studies of cultural phenomena. In each case, the aim of a
phylogenetic analysis is to construct a graph that represents
relationships of common ancestry inferred from shared
inherited traits. The study focuses on one of the most famous
stories in the folktale literature, ATU 333 – “Little Red Riding
Hood,” believed to be based on an old folktale known as “The
Story of Grandmother.”
Highly similar stories to “Little Red Riding Hood” have
been recorded in various non-western oral literatures. These
include a folktale that is popular in East Asia known as “The
Tiger Grandmother,” in which a group of siblings spend the
night in bed with a tiger who poses as their grandmother.
Despite similarities, it is not clear whether these tales can in
fact be classified as ATU 333. Some writers suggest they may
belong to another international tale type, ATU 123, “The Wolf
and the Kids.” In this tale, a goat warns her kids not to open the
door while she is out in the fields, but is overheard by a wolf.
When she leaves, the wolf impersonates her and tricks the kids
into letting him in. Although ATU 123 is believed to be closely
related to ATU 333, it is classified as a separate international
tale type.
The ambiguities surrounding the classification of the East
Asian tales exemplify the problems of current folklore
taxonomy. The present study addresses two key questions: Can
the tales described above be divided into phylogenetically
distinct international types? If so, should the East Asian tales
be classified as variants of ATU 333 or ATU 123?
Data for the study were drawn from 58 variants of ATU
333/123 available in English translation from 33 populations.
Relationships among the tales were reconstructed using three
methods of phylogenetic analysis. The analyses focused on 72
plot variables, such as the tricks used by the villain to deceive
the victim.
Overall, the results demonstrate a high degree of
consistency in the groupings returned by the analyses. All three
analyses identified “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Story of
Grandmother” as a single tale type that is distinct from “The
Wolf and the Kids.” The East Asian tales, meanwhile, did not
cluster with ATU 333 or ATU 123. One intriguing possibility is
that the East Asian tales represent a sister lineage that diverged
from ATU 333 and ATU 123 before they evolved into two
distinct groups.
The publication of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s Children’s
and Household Tales two hundred years ago sparked enormous
academic interest in traditional stories and helped establish
folklore as a field for academic inquiry. One of the most
unexpected discoveries to emerge from these studies was the
recurrence of many of the same plots in the oral traditions
associated with different societies. Researchers have examined
the distributions of common plot elements within and across
regions to make inferences about past migration and cross-
cultural contact.
Other researchers have sought to classify similar folktales
from different oral literatures into distinct “international types”
based on consistencies in their plots. The most comprehensive
reference work in this field, the Aarne-Uther-Thompson (ATU)
index, identifies more than two thousand international types
distributed across three hundred cultures.
This study proposes an approach to studying cross-cultural
relationships among folktales that employs quantitative
methods of phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetics was originally
developed to investigate the evolutionary relationships among
biological species, and has become increasingly popular in
studies of cultural phenomena. In each case, the aim of a
phylogenetic analysis is to construct a graph that represents
relationships of common ancestry inferred from shared
inherited traits. The study focuses on one of the most famous
stories in the folktale literature, ATU 333 – “Little Red Riding
Hood,” believed to be based on an old folktale known as “The
Story of Grandmother.”
Highly similar stories to “Little Red Riding Hood” have
been recorded in various non-western oral literatures. These
include a folktale that is popular in East Asia known as “The
Tiger Grandmother,” in which a group of siblings spend the
night in bed with a tiger who poses as their grandmother.
Despite similarities, it is not clear whether these tales can in
fact be classified as ATU 333. Some writers suggest they may
belong to another international tale type, ATU 123, “The Wolf
and the Kids.” In this tale, a goat warns her kids not to open the
door while she is out in the fields, but is overheard by a wolf.
When she leaves, the wolf impersonates her and tricks the kids
into letting him in. Although ATU 123 is believed to be closely
related to ATU 333, it is classified as a separate international
tale type.
The ambiguities surrounding the classification of the East
Asian tales exemplify the problems of current folklore
taxonomy. The present study addresses two key questions: Can
the tales described above be divided into phylogenetically
distinct international types? If so, should the East Asian tales
be classified as variants of ATU 333 or ATU 123?
Data for the study were drawn from 58 variants of ATU
333/123 available in English translation from 33 populations.
Relationships among the tales were reconstructed using three
methods of phylogenetic analysis. The analyses focused on 72
plot variables, such as the tricks used by the villain to deceive
the victim.
Overall, the results demonstrate a high degree of
consistency in the groupings returned by the analyses. All three
analyses identified “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Story of
Grandmother” as a single tale type that is distinct from “The
Wolf and the Kids.” The East Asian tales, meanwhile, did not
cluster with ATU 333 or ATU 123. One intriguing possibility is
that the East Asian tales represent a sister lineage that diverged
from ATU 333 and ATU 123 before they evolved into two
distinct groups.