Latin American Folktales

by John Bierhorst (Editor)

The wisdom and artistry of Latin America's storytellers preserve one of the world's richest folktale traditions—combining the lore of medieval Europe, the ancient Near East, and pre-Columbian America. Among the essential characters are the quiet man's wife who knew the Devil's secrets, the three daughters who robbed their father's grave, and the wife in disguise who married her own husband—not to mention the Bear's son, the tricksters Fox and Monkey, the two compadres, and the classic rogue Pedro de Urdemalas.

Gathered from twenty countries, including the United States, the stories are brought together here in a core collection of one hundred tales arranged in the form of a velorio, or wake, the most frequent occasion for public storytelling. The tales are preceded by a selection of early Colonial legends foreshadowing the themes of Latino folklore and are followed by a carefully chosen group of modern Indian myths that replay the basic stories in a contrasting key. Riddles, chain riddles, and folk prayers, part and parcel of the velorio along with folktales, are introduced at appropriate junctures.

The collection is unprecedented in size and scope, and most of the tales have not been translated into English before. The result is the first panoramic anthology of Hispano-American folk narratives in any language.

Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

Genres: Folklore, Mythology, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Folk Tales

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 18, 2001

About the author

John Bierhorst is the author, editor, or translator of more than thirty books on Native American lore, including Latin American Folktales, The Mythology of South America, The Mythology of North America, and The Mythology of Mexico and Central America.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't enjoy most of the tales. The editor did a good job collecting a large number of folktales from across Central and South America, but unfortunately most of them aren't very enjoyable to read. I feel a strange ambivalence—on one hand, I found many stories frivolous with no obvious meaning and/or endings that aren't resolved...but on the other hand, I found the westernized stories to be bland and "inauthentic." Of course, this is an outsider's perspective, and I shouldn't pass judgement on cultures that had no choice but to become subjects of Spanish colonialism. My least favourite stories were ones that are renditions of Biblical stories. There are also quite a lot of stories involving kings, queens, princes, princesses, and castles...at times I felt like I was reading a compilation of European tales (except that the royals eat corn and have burros).

The book is organized awkwardly. The introduction seems overly academic and doesn't actually add anything important; the tales are arranged seemingly at random, except for Parts 1 (colonization) and 6 (Biblical); and THERE ARE END NOTES. The end notes actually look like they could've been useful and interesting, but I had no way of knowing that they exist...until I got to page 329 and they smacked me in the face. But by that time, all of the tales blurred together and so it was pointless to bother reading the end notes.

There are a few good stories but I'm not sure that they justify the amount of space this book takes up on my shelf. My favourites are "The Cow," "Death and the Doctor," "Aunt Misery," "Pedro Goes to Heaven," "Good is Repaid with Evil," "The Rain of Caramels," "My Garden is Better than Ever," "The Moth," "The Condor Seeks a Wife," and "The Origin of Permanent Death."

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Spanish edition is definitely worth getting. The stories are obviously more vibrant in the original language -- and many are written down here in the criollo dialect. A great way for Spanish-language students to get used to "folk speech," since the language is still fairly simple.

These tales weren't creatures of the page. They were meant to be listened to. And the Spanish edition preserves a lot of that old "music."

Especially enjoyed the tales from northern New Mexico, where you'll see archaic words that survived into the early 20th century -- words like "muncho" (mucho), "le jijo" (le dijo), "el güen amu" (el buen amo), and a sentence like "Lo llevó a una grande sala 'onde 'stab'una mesa llena 'e to'o los manjares que se pue'en desiar. Ai habí' vino y licores 'e to'as clases" (lo llevó a una grande sala donde estaba una mesa llena de todos los manjares que se pueden desear. Allí había vino y licores de todas clases.")

[Kuba Skomorowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A day comes in the life of every white person when they have to choose a non-white culture to be weirdly interested in

[Friend of Pixie · Rating 2 out of 5]

For someone who likes folktales, L just didn’t find this very compelling. It’s more of a textbook, in the sense that these tales are often fragments of longer cycles. Why they couldn’t print the rest, I don’t know. It’s seems like it was put together more as a record of folktale tropes than for reading enjoyment.

We were mainly reading for the Indigenous tales and there weren’t many. The bulk of the book is European tales brought to Latin America mostly by the Spanish colonizers.. What few Indigenous tales there were were often so fragmentary as to not make sense. And then we only discovered at the end that there was a section of short notes describing the background of each story! Would have been nice to know that and even nicer if they’d just put those couple of sentences each with the stories, rather than making you flip back and then forth for every one of the many stories.

[First Second Books]

One of the stories in this book featured a king who told his wife, “I’d know you even if you’d been turned into corn soup.” This resulted in some confusion from the reading audience (ie, me). I have known (and eaten) many corn soups in my life, but none of them has had even vaguely humanoid qualities – at least, that I could recognize. Therefore, I issue this warning to friends, family, and acquaintances: if you are turned into corn soup, don’t count on me to figure it out.

[Thomas Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories from a real breadth of Latin American countries and cultures are featured in this collection. A good mix of subject matter and lengths, and I like the way they were transcribed and translated- to include the voice of the person who did the telling of the story. The editor explains the context and development of folktales, with reference to indigenous groups and colonial influences, and the whole thing is well thought out and structured

[Alexei López · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful

Whenever one thinks about folktales, dark forests, witches, children in danger, fairy, and magic come to mind: the irrational side of the enlightened continent (Europe) floods the landscapes of a land unconquered by reason. Field research of brothers Grimm, Perrault (and many others) this corpus has given form to what we know about the whole topic.

Without doubts Myth and folktales are profoundly rooted in the Western tradition but are not exclusive to it, psychologists and linguists alike have noticed that these manifestations of man's fears, interests -as well as creativity - seem to belong to all races.

This introductory volume contains fine pieces of folklore from Latin America that resonate powerfully with the Western tradition but show how different latitudes help narratives reach a personality of their own. In other words, it is noticeable that many of the stories are retellings of european counterparts, but are amazingly touched by the creativity of the new world tellers.

In addition to this, some stories indigenous to the land are collected here and show the powerful stream of narrative unique to America but - paradoxically - they reveal the universality of myth.
An incredible introduction to the stories developed in Latin America, what contributes to our understanding of ourselves.

[Austen to Zafón · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I’d known from the beginning that in the back is a short explication for every story. Would have been a lot more helpful to just put that sentence or two at the beginning of every story. Even if I had known, it would have been kind of a pain in the butt to have to flip to the end and find the story to read just a couple of sentences for every single story. Many of the stories themselves are just half a page long.

Also, although the book is broke into sections, there are appeared to be little rhyme or reason to the organizational logic.

While the stories themselves were good, I didn’t think much of the way the book was put together.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a relatively small book, this is chock-full of short folktales. There are two time periods represented, la epoca virreinal, and the 20th century, and the introduction explains the large gap between the periods and the noticeable changes in themes and styles between the two. Both the name of the storyteller and region (country, culture, etc) are noted when available. The indices are also quite helpful, with a notes section, glossary, and a directory dividing the stories by genre and themes.

[Carlos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta fue una interesante compilación de cuentos latinoamericanos desde la época de la conquista española al presente. Bierhorst busca darle al lector un entendimiento de la mezcla de las tradiciones indígenas con las europeas evidente en varios de estos cuentos. Como en toda compilación algunos cuentos no fueron particularmente interesantes, pero en general Bierhorst supo resaltar la picardía que llega a dominar la cultura criolla de Latinoamérica.

[Mary Catelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A large variety. On top of tales, also riddles and prayers, and the tales come in all sorts of forms. Legends right after the conquest. Anecdotes. Christian legends with varying degrees of Christianity to them. Tales of fools and clever tricksters. A woman who climbs her daughter's hair from Purgatory to Heaven. Many fairy tales in distinctive variants, with the Parrot Prince who is injured by the heroine's stepsister; a boy whose godfather was the Devil but whose guardian angel intervened; the tale of rescuing three princesses from the underworld, only it's not three men, but two men and a widow -- she has the youngest princess marry her son, instead; a kind and unkind girl tale; and more.

[Nicolas McGuire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quality of stories does not dismiss any part of this book. Incredible, wide-reaching collection that I will return to often. Folktales are funny and strange and surreal and often have a logic of their own that modern fiction dare not replicate. We could use more simple stories where the moral is written out plain as day. Or even better, when a story about a condor marrying a woman takes a left turn into an explanation on the origin of parrots.

More of this in my life please!

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars really. Glad to have read it. Loved seeing well-known tales (Grimm etc.) in a very different setting/culture. Did feel like some stories were slightly lost in translation or would have benefitted from some editing for an English speaking audience, but I know that was not the point or ethos of the collection.

[Pamela Ornelas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting compilation of tales from all over latin america. The book gives a great insight into diverse cultures during different times. The tales, however, are not particularly interesting. I enjoyed more the short cultural explanations in between the tales than the tales themselves. Perhaps an edition with more context would make a better read.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent compilation of folk tales that consisted of over 100 unique stories from all over Latin America and clearly indicated where the tales came from and the background and methodology of collection.

[Ms.Caprioli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Son cuentos cortos, con algo de leyenda y otro poco de fábula. Igual el libro se hace pesado porque la misoginia y el sistema de clases sociales no se cuestionan siquiera en el análisis que introduce alguno de los capítulos.

[Marisabidilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book a long time ago in the NYC Taino museum.

It's an interesting collection, but at times repetitive. Guess what? Those novelas run deeper than sensationalized drama.

I enjoyed the Early Colonial legends and 20th century myths the most.

[Paul Mata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting read. The stories in this book are so beautiful and absurd but also provide such a powerful insight into the culture/history. I love being Latino and finding something like this where I can learn more about my culture was such a great win for me!

[Anita Rodz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es una compilación de cuentos cortos del folclor latinoamericano. Algunos son más interesantes que otros y tratan diversos temas como la religión, el matrimonio, la muerte, el trabajo, la vagancia y la envidia; entre otros!!! 💜🩷💜

[Krystal Galvis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the Colombian folktales...coming from a Colombian :D

[Sarah Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is not a book to read straight through. You can dip in and out of the Parts and the stories. It is fascinating how the colonizing culture informs the folk tales.

[Alex · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted more native stories not the retellings of other folktales. Most of the stories are not compelling at all, they lack morals or meaning, so what's the point?

[Lucas Fernandez]

It was good

[Clivemichael · Rating 5 out of 5]

An academic exploration of the roots and influences. Many familiar themes along with some entertaining riddles.

[Asaria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really disappointing. The book contains a wide representation from various Central and South America of Europeanized variants that bring nothing new to the table. I hoped for vibrant tales with sparkling wit and engaging prose. Interesting if one is fascinated by Latin American folk stories but boring to me. Your mileage may vary, though.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a decent compilation of folktales from Latin America, but most of them are REALLY short. That can be a good thing or a bad thing -- it makes them easy to read, but sometimes I found myself in a pattern of just reading as fast as I could because they were so quick. There wasn't enough time to really dig into them.

One interesting thing was comparing these stories to other folk-/fairytales I've read. There were a LOT of stories that were similar to ones in 1001 Arabian Nights (or whatever version of the title that you use), as well as creation tales and other random places that I couldn't remember.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahh, the perils of e-reading. Wish I'd read the notes simultaneously, they are super informative and I found myself wishing for more context as I made my way through the stories without their benefit.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good, colorful stories. You can't beat fairy tales and short stories for a good read, and it has a good Latin American flavor.