KidLit Forum

Household tales with other traditional remains - The Endless Tale

A. Context.
— The tale is originating from the British Isles and its language of origin is English;
— Its original collector is Sidney Oldall Addy;
—The title of the collection is Household tales with other traditional remains, collected in The Counties of York, Lincoln, Derby, and Nottingham, written in 1895, collected in the counties of York, Lincoln, Derby, and Nottingham;
— The collection contains 52 household tales and 15 traditional remains.

B. Summary
The Endless Tale is a very short story of how a king’s daughter got to be wedded to a poor man, who had as task to tell the king an endless story or else he would be beheaded.

C. Position in the Aarne-Thomson-Uther Index.
Realistic Tales 850-999
The Man Marries the Princess 850-869
The Riddle of the Suitor 851
A princess is offered in marriage to the youth who can… He wins the princess's hand.

D. Characters and functions according to Vladimir Propp.
The Hero – tries to get the king’s daughter hand in marriage.
The Princess or Prize – waits for the suitor to succeed.
Her Father – tries to find the right suitor for his daughter.
Initial Situation – the royal family and their goal is introduced.
Testing – the suitor is tested by the king.
Task – the suitor needs to prove his wit by telling the king an endless story.
Solution – the suitor succeeds and the task is resolved.
Marriage – the suitor marries the princess or prize.

E. These kinds of tales show similarities to many other tales, in which the king gives his daughter’s hand to a hero that proves worthy for her.