Reference Sources

Some specialized Encyclopedias and Handbooks include:

• African Folklore: an Encyclopedia (Ref GR350 .A33 2004)
• American Folktales: from the Collections of the Library of Congress (Ref GR105.5 .A44 2004) 2 vols.
• American Regional Folklore (Ref GR 105.34 .M66 2004)
• Chicano Folklore: a Guide to the Folktales, Traditions, Rituals and Religious Practices of Mexican Americans (Ref GR111 .M49 C37 2001)
• Folk and Fairy Tales: a Handbook (Ref GR550 .A77 2004)
• Folklore of the North American Indians (Ref Z1209 .U4)
• Greenwood Encyclopedia of African American Folklore (Ref GR 111 .A47 G74 2006) 3 vols.
• Greenwood Encyclopedia of World Folklore and Folklife (Ref GR 35 .G75 2006) 4 vols.
• Greenwood Library of American Folktales (Ref GR 105 .G75 2005) 4 vols.
• Medieval Folklore: an Encyclopedia of Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs (Ref GR35 .M43 2000) 2 vols.
• Motif-index of Folk-literature: a Classification of Narrative Elements in Folktales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends (Ref GR67.T53) 6 vols.
• South Asian Folklore: an Encyclopedia: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka (Ref GR 302 .S68 2003)

Books and Media Materials

Use "Books & Media" in the library database to locate books and media items in the GCC collection as well as other libraries in the MCCCD system. Search for your topic as a SUBJECT. Typical subject headings include:

• Folktales
• Folktale
• Folk Tales
• Folk Tale
• Folklore
• Tales
• Folk Literature
• Storytelling
• Fairy Tales
• Myths
• Legends

Library of Congress Classification Ranges

Here are just a few of the places folktales can be found at the GCC Library Media Center :

• E 98/99-Native American Tales
• GR- Folklore
• GR74 World Folklore
• GR98 Jewish Folklore
• GR111 African-American Folklore
• GR111 Hispanic Folklore
• GR115 Folklore- Mexico
• GR141 Tales- England
• GR161 Folklore- France
• GR166 Tales- Germany
• GR176 Tales- Italy
• GR202 Tales- Russia
• GR250 Tales- Balkan Peninsula
• GR305.5 Tales- India -Tamil Nadu
• GR308.5 Hmong (Asian People)-Folklore
• GR312 Tales- Thailand GR335 Tales- China
• GR338 Tales- Taiwan
• GR340 Tales-Japan
• GR342 Tales- Korea
• GR350.3 West African Folktales
• PS-American Literature (includes Tall Tales and Legends)
• PZ-Various folktales, both collections and individual tales, are located throughout the Juvenile Literature Collection. Examples include:
  • Dillon, Leo and Diane. The People Could Fly: American Black Folktales (PZ8.1 .H154 Pe)
  • Haley, Gail E. A Story, a Story: an African Tale (PZ8.1 .H139 St)
  • McDermott, Gerald. Arrow to the Sun: a Pueblo Indian Tale (E99 .P9 M25 2004)
  • Robbins, Ruth. Baboushka and the Three Kings (PZ8.1 .R5 Bab)
  • Zemach, Margot. It Could Always Be Worse: a Yiddish Tale (PZ8.1 .Z4)

Magazine, Journal, and Newspaper Articles

These can by located using our databases. Use "Articles & Databases" on the Library's home page to get to the full list of the LMC's subscription databases. The above-listed subject headings for locating books usually will be appropriate for searching the databases as well. The General category of databases can be the best place to start.

Journal Subscriptions

Some folktale/folklore journals can be found only in specific databases. Below is a sampling of some of those journal titles with the dates of database coverage. Journal coverage in the databases is subject to change.

Asian Folklore Studies:
From 4/01/1992 to 2007 in Academic OneFile
From 10/01/2000 to 2007 in Academic Search Premier and Religion & Philosophy collection
From 1963 to 2007 in JSTOR Arts and Sciences III Collection

Cricket ( La Salle ):
From 05/01/1990 to present in MasterFILE Premier

Journal of Folklore Research:
From 01/01/2000 to present in Academic OneFile and From 01/01/1995 to present in Literary Reference Center
From 01/01/2003 to present in Project Muse

Websites

General Folktale Websites

These web sites provide links to many other web sites.

• Encyclopedia Mythica
• Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
  Edited and or translated by D.L. Ashliman, University of Pittsburgh
• South Mountain Community College Storytelling Institute
  • Storytelling Websites listing
    This excellent list has pertinent URLs, the content of each, and comments about the site.
    
• SurLaLune Fairy Tales
  Full-text of fairy tales with annotations, history, and listings of similar tales from other cultures and/or countries.

Texts Online

Fables

• The Ass in the Lion's Skin
• The Bat and the Weasels
  
• The Fox and the Hedgehog
  
• The Fox and the Leopard
  
• The Fox and the Monkey
  
• The Goose with the Golden Eggs
  
• The Lion, the Fox, an the Ass
  
• The Monkey and the Camel
  
• The Mouse, the Frog, and the Hawk
  
• The Sick Lion
  
• The Tortoise and the Hare

Fairy Tales

Hans Christian Andersen

• The Snow Man
  
• The Snow Queen
  
• The Goblin and the Grocer
  
• The Red Shoes
  
• The Elderbush
  
• The Tinder-Box
  
• The Shoes of Fortune
  
• The Flying Trunk
  
• The Darning-Needle

Grimm Brothers

• The Brave Little Tailor
  
• Diamonds and Toads (Perrault)
  
• The Story of a Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was
  
• The Singing Bone
  
• The Peasant's Wise Daughter
  
• The Queen Bee
  
• The Wise Little Girl
  
• The Girl without Hands
  
• Six Swans
  Bearskin

Myths

• Egyptian Creation Myth
  
• Ra and Sekhmet
  
• Norse Creation Myth
  
• How Coyote Stole Fire
  
• Pegasus and the Chimaera
  
• Attack of the Mammoth
  
• The Maid of the Mist
  
• The Centaurs
  
• Pluto and Prosperine
  
• The Odyssey
  
• Melusina
  
• Loki and the Master Builder
  
• Theseus
  
• The First Tears (Inuit)
  
• The Spirit Lodge

Legends

• Blackbeard: Pirate Terror at Sea
  
• History of the Kilt in Scotland
  
• Legend of Standing Rock
  
• How the Rabbit Lost His Tail
  
• The Warlike Seven
  
• The Army of the Dead
  
• Kate Shelley Saves the Train
  
• Windigo
  
• Spuyten Duyvil
  
• Lost!
  
• The Talking Mule
  
• Legend of Standing Rock
  
• Tommy Knockers

Tall Tales and Folktales

• How the Rabbit Lost His Tail
  
• The Warlike Seven
  
• Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett
  
• How Selfishness Was Rewarded
  
• Sal Fink: The Boatman's Howling Daughter
  
• John Henry
  
• Brer Rabbit Fools Sis Cow
  
• Babe the Blue Ox
  
• Pecos Bill Finds a Hard Outfit
  

Trickster and Noodlehead Tales

• Last of the Thunderbirds
  
• The Snake with the Big Feet
  
• Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby
  
• How Brer Fox Is Outdone by Brer Buzzard
  
• Gollywhopper's Eggs
  
• Jack and the Giant's Newground!
  
• Sop Doll!
  
• The Rainbow Serpent
  
• Raven and the Crow's Potlach
  
• Jack and the King's Girl

Prepared by Shelley Mosley.

Updated by Allison Ringness, Fall 2012.