Unpacking the Treasure: Searching for meaning in Tangkhul’s folktales
The purpose of storytelling in my culture is not to preserve static traditions; the stories are not rigid but dynamic. The purpose is to give psychological and social forces that created them. The great stories means they are the result of many reworking and refinements, it is the result of the verbal skills of many tellers.
In a printed stories the fashion of good narrative is one filled with suspense, what will happen next! Suspense does not play important role in the folktales of Tangkhul. The form of storytelling in our culture is different from the modern form of storytelling. One reason for the different is that Tangkhul developed their culture without writing. In a culture where nothing is written and completely dependent on the oral traditional, storytelling is extremely important and serves many practical functions. The art of storytelling and listening is not just a time pass venture!
Story largely constitute in a society where most of the culture does not exist until someone speaks. That is the reason stories are told over and over again. Many of the stories are as old as the words itself and many are centuries old. The stories had been retold for years, for decades and for generations and are familiar to everyone except youngest children.
