From literacy of classical literature to orality of folk literature with a focus on animal fables

This article delves into the transformative journey from formal literature to folk literature, scrutinizing the diverse forms and content that storytelling assumes during this transition. The theoretical underpinning of this exploration is grounded in the dichotomy between orality and literacy, as well as the concepts of presence and absence in oral storytelling elucidated by Walter Benjamin in "The Storyteller." Additionally, Marzolf's classification of literature into “formal”, “popular”, and “folk” genres provides a conceptual framework for understanding this literary evolution. Employing a qualitative-explanatory approach and relying on library research methods, this article conducts a comparative analysis of two renditions of the "Fair Division" folktale, classified under the Arné-Thompson type 510. The selected versions hail from both classical and folk sources: a moralistic interpretation found in the Javamehʻ al-ḥikāyāt by Ufi, and a humor-laden rendition from an Arakī folktale. The analysis concentrates on the thematic, linguistic, and structural attributes of these two versions. The moralistic tone of ʻUfī's version and the satirical tone of the Arakī version are discussed, highlighting the need to consider the political agency of vernacular literature. The linguistic and structural features of the two versions are also examined.