Comparison of Slovenian and Estonian folk tales

In the first part of graduation thesis Comparison of slovenian and estonian folk tales a fairy tale is presented as a literary genre, along with its definition and types. The importance of fairy tale is explained according to various researchers in the field of folk tradition (Jack Zipes, Max Lüthi, Bruno Bettelheim, Alenka Goljevšček, etc.). In the following part children's literature is presented as a literary genre. Also, Slovenian and Estonian children's literature is explored. Finally, comparative folk-tale analysis (folklore theory, the structuralistic theory, literary theory, psychoanalytic theory, sociological theory, feminist theory, post-structural theory) are compared. The central part of the thesis contains a presentation of work by Hans-Jörg Uther and Vladimir Propp along with theoretical background. One of the notions in Uther’s theory is ATU index, acording to which fairy tales are selected. Propp’s theory includes the baseline situation, followed by presentation of thirty-one features characters. In the second part ATU types are presented. Each of the five types is illustrated with two folk tales – one Slovenianand one Estonian. The fifth slovenian fairy tale is authors fairy tale. Each of the stories is then analyzed according to Propp’s theory. Tales of individual types are compared with each other. The aim of the thesis is a comparative analysis meant to show the similarities and differences between folk tales. Despite different cultural and spatial influences, models of folk tales are similar with each other and yet, on the other hand, still different