Re: folklore/folktale question

moonlight.aileen@gmail.com said:
> Still mulling over your folklore question? I'm intrigued now.

Actually, I sent it to the list about a week ago.  I've been wondering why
there was such a roaring silence about it.  I saved the message, fortunately,
and I'll append it below.

                                Wayne




Earlier today, I mentioned that I've got a question about folklore and
folktales.  I finally wrote things down, and I hope it's coherent and
understandable.  It turns out it's a few more than just one question.


I was talking recently with a friend. She is Native American -- part Osage,
part Creek.  She was complaining about the old "Indian Princess" stereotype.
She said if there are Indian Princesses, then there must be Indian Princes
and she wants to know where all the Indian Princes are.

We also started wondering where the Indian Princess stereotype came from.
I think some say that Pocahontas was the start of the stereotype, or at
least she was the earliest well-known one.

I'm not very familiar with many details of the Indian Princess stereotype.
I think one of the common parts of the stereotype is that the Indian Princess
is the "prize", and she was usually (always?) pursued by white Europeans.

I started wondering about princesses in European folktales.  I don't know
piles of folktales, but I think that princesses in European folktales often
seemed to be prizes.  Kill the dragon, win the prize.  Perform the labors
of the king, win the prize.  Were there many European folktales where the
princess did more than act as a prize?  I'm probably more familiar with the
Disney versions of the folktales than the real versions.

What about the prize pursuer?  I think it was often a tailor or a peasant
or a jack, but was it often a prince?

Did the Indian Princess stereotype evolve from a generic European Princess
stereotype?  (Seeing as Native Americans were new and more exotic than the
boring old Europeans we've always known.)  Is there a European Princess
stereotype?  If so, did it get imported from somewhere else?  Is there a
generic Princess stereotype?  Before Columbus and co. started visiting North
America frequently, did different regions in Europe look at other regions
as being the exotics?  Did Spanish* folktales talk about the Swedes as
being the exotics?  Did the Finns look at Bulgarians as being ultra exotic?
I think I read that China looked at India as being the exotic, and that's
why Monkey went to India in "A Journey to the West."

I guess the basic question I have is about the evolution of princesses in
folklore.  Has any research in this area been done?  How 'bout the role of
the exotic in folklore?

                                Wayne

* For convenience sake, modern placenames are standing in for regions
  that have changed names piles o' times over the centuries.

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