Tales

       Tales are stories that have been told from generations to generations. They are usually considered as cultural heritages. Mostly, stories are not recorded but are told by speech.

         Folk tales are important for raising morality of people. Thus, they draw a lot of attention from philosophers, humanists, students and researchers in various areas. It is believed that tale telling began before history. Tales have been popular among people everywhere - from kings to common people. There is a story about how much angels love tales. Humans will be cursed if they tell tales during the day because angels have to have an audience with Siva. They cannot go to listen to tales.

          Although tales differ among various parts of the world, the objectives of tale telling are the same. One of the objectives is for entertaining. The other is religious related. Religious have influences over humans' mind and a lot of tales are based on faiths of people. (Kularb Mullikamas 1966: 99)

There are three common characteristics of classic tales, including:
1. They are told using common languages.
2. The stories have been told for a long time. They might be published later.
3. There are no evidences of who are the initial tellers. Tellers tell stories as they heard. (Pirod Lerdpiriyakamol 1969: 7)

Classification of Tales

          People who study tales attempt to classify them for ease of study. There are various ways of tale classification, for example:
          1. Classified by Region - Tales are classified by the location that they are told such as India, Islamic countries, Jew territory in Asia Minor.

          2. Classified by category of tales - such as:
               2.1 Old Tales
               2.2 Folk Tales such as tales about phenomena, faiths, heroisms, priesthoods, lost treasures and moralities
               2.3 Fairy Tales
               2.4 Tales about Animals - such as morality tales and endless tales
               2.5 Funny Tales

          3. Classified by types of tales - Tales are classified like the classification by category of tales but are sorted in more details

          4. Classified by Gist - This considers the elements of tales for classification and is the best way to classify tales
This text will classify tales by category since it is the most popular method and easy to understand.

Dirty Tales (Thai east northern)