Foxfire and the roots of folklore

There's an interesting article by Micah Hanks at Mysterious Universe, about research into the ancient roots of folktales. The example given is the story known as "The Smith and the Devil," which - according to researchers - has been traced back as far as the Bronze Age, and may be as much as 6000 years old. (The illustration shown was for a version from Norway published by Peter Christen Asbjornsen.)
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/03/a...thologies/

Hanks also links to an earlier article which I found even more interesting, about a widespread but also very specific folkloric association between showers of rain when the sun is shining, and foxes' weddings - and also supernatural lights associated with foxes:
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/08/f...st-lights/

There's an interesting article by Micah Hanks at Mysterious Universe, about research into the ancient roots of folktales. The example given is the story known as "The Smith and the Devil," which - according to researchers - has been traced back as far as the Bronze Age, and may be as much as 6000 years old. (The illustration shown was for a version from Norway published by Peter Christen Asbjornsen.)
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2019/03/a...thologies/

Hanks also links to an earlier article which I found even more interesting, about a widespread but also very specific folkloric association between showers of rain when the sun is shining, and foxes' weddings - and also supernatural lights associated with foxes:
https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2016/08/f...st-lights/

Courtesy of the Daily Grail - here's a longer and much more detailed article about the "phylogenetical" analysis of folktales, by Ferris Jabr, in Harper's Magazine:
https://harpers.org/archive/2019/03/the-...rytelling/

One rather mind-bending fact is that one researcher believes that the essential story underlying the legend of Odysseus and Polyphemus the cyclops is more than twenty thousand years old, and diffused through Africa and then Europe in parallel with the spread of livestock farming.

One rather mind-bending fact is that one researcher believes that the essential story underlying the legend of Odysseus and Polyphemus the cyclops is more than twenty thousand years old, and diffused through Africa and then Europe in parallel with the spread of livestock farming.

On the topic of longevity of traditions, I had the idea, though I don't think there's any way to properly test it, that the tradition of bullfighting in Spain and France is connected by a direct line to the cave paintings in those same regions dating anything from 12000 to 35000 years, perhaps more, where the bull is featured prominently - along with other animals which are now extinct or not found in those regions nowadays.