Gypsy Folk Tales

by Diane Tong

Stretching back many centuries to its origins in India, the Gypsy oral tradition has accumulated a vast, diverse treasury of folktales. The eighty tales in this volume are gathered from thirty-one different countries. Each tale has a headnote elucidating the tale’s background. Index; photographs.

Genres: Mythology, Folklore, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthropology, Anthologies, Folk Tales

252 pages, Hardcover

First published April 19, 1986

Reviews

[Isabella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a fun and unique collection of stories. I really like how the collection of gypsy stories was gathered from all around the world and how at the beginning of each story there is a short paragraph about the story's origin. Some of the stories in this book were very familiar to other folk tales from different cultures, which shows that even though gypsy culture has a strong foundation it was still influenced by outside cultures.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting collection of folk tales from a segment of society I don't know much about.

It was 80 stories in 252 pages, so a lot of them were very short. It made this a very quick read, but also a slightly fragmented one. Most of the tales felt familiar, like fairy tales I grew up with, either told from a different perspective or with a Romani protagonist. Some of the stories weren't even overtly Romani; they were about a generic king, or princess, or man.

The author's notes at the beginning of each tale didn't always add something, but they were often helpful, and pointed out what aspects we were finding out of Romani culture.

Oddly, this is the first time I feel like I got a balanced view of Romani culture. While many of the Romani in these stories were thieves or cheaters, there were a lot who were clever, hard-working, or just plain misunderstood. It gave a number of different perspectives, instead of presenting the stereotype or the extreme end of placing a whole culture on a pedestal to treat them as if they're magical.

I enjoyed this book, and the bibliographic references are a gold mine of further information.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was fun book to read. Many of the tales are the same, with the word "gypsy" instead of farmers daughter, princess, etc. etc. Having recently had gypsies living next door to me, even reading these tales helped me to appreciate their feeling of uniqueness more than I had. Our neighbors were very nice, but ah, yes different. Finally got themselves evicted. Nana liked to give me food, as she usually cooked too much.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this collection to be well presented, well referenced, informative and easy to read. Each folk tale is presented with a short blurb explaining where and when it was collected as well as any other relevant informaiton that might help a reader to understand it. The collection is a joy to read. I would highly recomend this book to people interested in folklore.

[Zíem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sin más. Al principio bien, luego ya aburre porque es siempre lo mismo.

[Claire Binkley · Rating 3 out of 5]

These folk tales were both valid research for my story (the origins of the Gypsies she travels with) and nice to share with my family whenever they ask me what I'm reading.

This book's a compilation of what people say. Also, it was helpful to identify this kind of people, not necessarily "from Romania" as I'd supposed in the past but they can come from everywhere, the thirty-one countries. It's more a lifestyle than a national origin.

So I am thankful to have pulled this book off the shelves.

[Cory Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong, thorough, and broad assembly of folktales from the Rom people. Tales appear from a variety of sources, frequently introduced by editor Tong's notes on the stories. Linguistic clarity sometimes gets sacrificed to authentic voice. Good primer on basic Romani folklore, with a degree of cultural awareness built in by the editor.

[MBC · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of gypsy folk tales from Europe and America. A number of the stories are similar to folk tales found in most cultures, but others were completely unfamiliar to me, including explanations of why gypsies wander and tales justifying gypsy begging.