Field Assignment 2: Legend and Belief

Assignment 2 (due November 13): Comparative analysis of a legend.

Document a variant of a legend similar to the legends we encountered in class (urban legends, ghosts, witches, faires/other supernatural creatures, historical heroes).
- The assignment works best if you report your conversation with another person.
  - (Optional expansion for an outstanding grade: record and transcribe an interview that you quote, word for word, in the annotation, Part #2).
- You may also write the story down from memory, or record yourself retelling it to a camera or audio recorded – but remember, you are studying somebody else’s beliefs about a legend they told, not you and your own beliefs.
- Before annotating, write a short summary of the text, and how you documented it.
Annotate this variant (125-250 words):
- Text: Point out significant motif numbers from the Motif-Index of Folk Literature
- (Links to an external site.)
- ; note how a motif is adapted to include people, places and things in the performer’s context.
- Variants: Compare your text to variants encountered in class reading assignments, or in other chapters of our main “archive,” the e-book, Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend
- (Links to an external site.)
- . Online variants can also be useful, but remember that you do not know anything about the actual beliefs and worldviews of anonymous online legend-tellers.
- Texture: Note traditional patterns; comment on performance style.
- Context: connect the text to its tradition (the storytelling that happened before or after your text), its performer & performer’s repertoire, and audience & their beliefs.
- You may include comparative notes, engaging examples from Module Three.

Privacy:

Only two people will see your work: Your teacher, and one student peer-reviewer. Your privacy and creative work is protected:

It is illegal for anybody to download or share your work outside of this class, without your written permission.

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