Cumulative Genre - Fat cat

So what I wanted to talk to you about today, was, uh, I'm an expert, of course, in Norwegian and Scandinavian folklore because I'm a native of Norway. I'm still not a U.S. citizen. So that's my area of expertise. And I wanted to tell you something about the types of the folk tales and you might have learned about some of them. And I'll give you some examples. So folk tales, just like folklore can be broken down, folk tales can be broken down in different types. And in the days before television, before radio, before going to the movies, or plays or theater, or what you guys do for entertainment, people sat around telling stories. So they were in a way the movies or the television, before books, and before all of those things were invented. All right? So a lot of people, especially adults, for some reason think that all folk tales are meant for little kids. And that's - can I use the word baloney? - That's a bunch of baloney. Absolutely not true. Folk tales were meant for everybody, kind of the way television is meant for everybody, but just as in the case is for television, there were certain types of stories that you would tell just when all the little kids were also awake, you know, like after school. Right? The shows that are on after school are very different from the shows that are on at say 9 or 10 o'clock at night. You all agree? Yeah. It's exactly the same with folk tales. So there's some ... you know you may think that this belongs to the ancient world, but actually, it's not that different. So the tales that were told when the little kids were still awake were first of all a kind of story which we'll call a cumulative. And a lot of you know those stories. Have you heard a story about, um, the pancake, or "The House That Jack Built"? What happens is you have the addition of one detail after another so it doesn't have as much of a story line, but the fun of it is kind of the addition of details. A story that I often tell for very little kids, and oh they just love it because you know how little kids always say I'm going to eat you up, they always like stuff that has to do with food, is a story called the Fat Cat. I would normally only tell this for, this is the kind of television, or kind of story, that's really good for 2 to 5 or 2 to 6 years of age. And I'll just sort of very briefly tell you parts of that story so you can get an idea of it. It's a story I love to tell called the Fat Cat, so that you have a clear picture in your head. Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was an old woman who had a cat. Well, one day, she made herself a nice big pot of gruel. As she was about to sit down to eat the gruel, she realized, oh, she didn't have any cream or sugar. It was going to taste terrible! So she said to her cat, "I'm going to run over to the neighbors and get some cream and sugar. You stay here and don't get close to the gruel." So she left. As soon as she was out the door, the cat walked up to the gruel, (sniff sound) sniffed it and thought "Ooh, that smells so good" (sniff) and he thought "Oh, she'll never be able to tell!" so he went (slurp sound) and he took a little lick ... "So tasty!" So he bent down and (slurp) took another and (slurp-lick-slurp-slurp) ... before he knew it, he had eaten up all the gruel. He was still hungry. So he ate the pot as well. Well, just then the old woman walked in the door. And she looked at her cat and said "(gasp) My little cat, you are very fat! What have you been eating?" "And the cat said, I ate the gruel and the pot. And now I'm going to eat you!" (Munch-gulp sounds) If you were a little kid you'd be squealing by now. "Ahhh!" You've got to get into it! But he was still hungry, so he walked out of the house, down the road, until he met Skalinkulot. And Skalinkulot said "My little cat, you are very fat. What have you been eating?" And the cat said, "I ate the gruel, and the pot, and the old woman too, and now I'm going to eat you!" (Growl-munch-gulp eat sounds) And he ate Skalinkulot. But he was still hungry. So he walked on down the road, and down the road, until he met Skahotentot. And Skahotentot looked at this fat cat and said "My little cat, you are so fat, what have you been eating?" And the cat said...if you were little, you'd go, "I ate the gruel, and the pot and the old woman too, and Skahotentot and now I'm going to eat you too!" (um yum yum, munch crunch) and he ate up the Skahotentot. But can you believe it he was still hungry? So he waddled on down the road, and down the road he went until he met five birds in a flock. And the five birds said, "My little cat you are so fat, what have you been eating?" And the cat said, ... and you know the drill. "I ate the gruel and the pot and the old woman too. Skalinkulot, Skahotentot and now I'm going to eat you!" And he ate the five birds in the flock. So he keeps on going, next he meets seven girls dancing, the old lady with the pink parasol, the parson with the crooked staff. Each time the thing gets longer and longer and longer. Finally he meets a woodcutter. And the woodcutter is a smart little guy. "You are so fat, what have you been eating?" And the cat said "I ate the gruel and the pot and the old woman too, Skalinkulot, Skahotentot, five birds in a flock, seven girls dancing, the old woman with a pink parasol, the parson with a crooked staff, and now I'm going to eat you!" "Oh, no you are not!" said the woodcutter. And he got out his axe and he sliced a great big hole in the cat's tummy and out jumped the parson with the crooked staff, the old woman with the pink parasol, the seven girls dancing, five birds in a flock, Skahotentot, Skalinkulot, the woman jumped out and grabbed her pot and ran home as fast as she could go. So the woodcutter took the cat, stitched up its stomach and put a great big Band-Aid on it and brought him home to live. And that night the cat had such a bad stomach ache that he promised himself he would never eat that much again ever. And he never did. And don't you do that either. Oh, {italic}Snipp snapp snute her er eventyret ute!{plain} Which is Norwegian and means "Snip, snap, snout, this tale is told out." Which you're going to have to learn. {italic}Snipp{plain} (Class repeats) {italic}Snapp{plain} (Class repeats) {italic}Snute {plain}(Class repeats) {italic}Her {plain}(Class repeats) {italic}Er {plain}(Class Repeats) {italic}eventyret {plain}(Class repeats) {italic}ute. {plain}(Class repeats.) When your parents say to you "What did you learn in school today, dear?" You can say "I learned Norwegian."