Roger Brown, Period 1, 9/27/21

Folktales are as ubiquitous in a society as language or culture. Every society has its own collection of stories and tales that are widely known and passed through oral tradition to the next generation. Because of this oral tradition of folktales, and their uniquity, they can provide a fascinating insight into the cultures of prehistoric peoples. Specifically, they can be used to trace back the cultural lineage of societies with shared folklore. 
        In “Comparative phylogenetic analyses uncover the ancient roots of Indo-European folktales” (Sara Graça da Silva and Jamshid J. Tehrani), the authors use statistical and analytical methods originally developed for tracing biological genetic ancestry to trace back the lineages of folktales. The folktales analysed were from the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index, a catalogue of folktales compiled by folklorists for use in folklore studies. They selected tales indicated to have been a part of Indo-European cultures, which covers an area from Scandinavia to South Asia. 
        The results of this study lined up with pre-established cultural lineages based on linguistic and archeological evidence, giving credence to this strategy of historical study. One interesting discovery made was about the tale of “The Smith and the Devil”, a tale that concerns a blacksmith that makes a deal with a supernatural entity to be able to weld any two materials together in exchange for his soul. When he is granted the ability however, he uses it to meld the entity to an immovable object so that he does not have to keep his end of the bargain. This story could be traced all the way back to Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor of every culture studied. This implies that the story and it’s main plot has remained intact since the Bronze Age, nearly 6,000 years ago. Another interesting fact is that the, perhaps more familiar story of “Beauty and the Beast” can be traced back to Proto-Western-Indo-European, which covers an area from the Baltics to the Mediterranean, placing it nearly as far back in time as “The Smith and the Devil”. Further use of this technique to analyse folktales could be used to gain a deeper understanding of the origins of certain narratives, myths and legends, as well as offer greater anthropological and historical insight into ancient civilizations.
Though this study is fascinating from a scientific and historical standpoint, it also serves as a great reminder of how connected we are to people far away from us in both space and time. These stories, passed down from generation to generation, spread thousands of miles across continents and thousands of years into the future, connect us all in a way that nothing else can. The power of folktale is to allow people to share in a universal experience, even if they may never, or could never, meet.