摘要：distinctively Tamil colors. Besides humans, animals, and demons, Hindu gods, such as Siva,
Parvati, Kali, and Ganesa also ³gure in them. Most of the tales belong to the tales of magic
(AT 300-749), novelle (AT 850-999), and jokes (AT 1200-1999); the number of other tale-
types is considerably smaller. As folktale is a living genre in India, the reader can ³nd refer-
ences not only to the realia of the past but to modern inventions such as an electrical fan, a
lorry that is needed to bring home the gifts of the heroine, and photos that help to identify
characters. The marvelous elements, regarded by some researchers as the key for understand-
ing fairy tales, appear in many tales. We read about various transformations (for example,
snakes and scorpions who turn into jewels and gold, a man who turns into a hawk); talking
ants and animals who help the heroes; a human’s marriage with a rat-wife; the revival of
somebody whose body has been cut into pieces; a little ³nger that substitutes for the heroine
and talks with wild animals, and so on. Disjunction between the poetic realm of folktales and
the every-day world is evident. The author does not focus, however, on the fantastic elements,
but instead stresses the importance of moral lessons in his reading of the tales, where crimes
tend to be followed by punishments. According to Blackburn, tales “register the moral con-
cerns of the narrative community” (277). This thesis connects different narrative genres of
Tamil folklore introduced in the book and sounds convincing. Following the observances of
Ramanujan, Blackburn draws attention to the contrast between the religious and philosoph-
ical law of karma and the mechanism of punishment in folktales. The notion of retribution
through karma is extremely rare in them; punishment is usually carried through by human,
demonic, or divine agency. Thus, in spite of the fantastic elements, the folktales offer a more
rational theory of retribution than the Hindu law of karma, which is an issue of religious
belief.
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